Marcus Buckingham Module 5: Looking through a ‘Lovingly Lens’

Summary

“So, how do we build a more loving world?” asks New York Times bestselling author Marcus Buckingham.

It won’t be easy, he says. Currently, we live in a world he calls “transactional,” “exploitative” and “immoral,” one where humans are seen as elements of a financial equation.

The ideal goal, he says, is to create a more loving world. But how? 

To achieve this, there is a sequence of emotions that can be moved through to reverse engineer love, Buckingham says. “If you back up from the person on the right, who was walking around with loving their heart for you, there is a sequence of emotions that you can move people through.”

By doing that, you can create a “lovingly lens” to bifurcate the world into loving and unloving things. Unloving things include large spans of control, which can lead to burnout and stress. Meanwhile, loving things include frequent light touch check-ins between team leaders and their team members, which is the single most powerful driver of performance and engagement.

Remember, says Buckingham, the perfect span of attention is more important than the span of control.

Discussion questions

1. Thinking about the experience continuum of loving and unloving, what might your organization approach differently?

2. What parts of your customer engagement might be considered unloving and how could you change those aspects?

3. How could your organization connect with, communicate to and care for your employees more lovingly?

4. What interactions in your professional or personal relationships could benefit from looking through a lovingly lens?

Related Resources

Marcus Buckingham on ‘Love + Work’ [Member Exclusive]

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