The importance of the "emotional economy"
A look at the Gallup Organization's newest publication on the "emotional economy" titled 'Follow This Path' in this San Francisco Chronicle story:
[Co-author Curt] Coffman said in an interview that although "Follow This Path" focuses on relationships with customers, it explains how much money businesses lose when they fail to get employees emotionally connected to their jobs.
"We now have a vast emotional economy within our organizations that we need to manage," Coffman said. "Employees don't leave an organization because of rational reasons. Employees don't commit to an organization because of rational reasons."
The book is not a bunch of knee-jerk theories. It is based on Gallup's studies of more than 10 million customers, 3 million employees and 200,000 managers.
....Coffman said in the interview that bosses underestimate how crucial emotional connections are. Talented workers in particular may need office friendships and encouragement more than others because they put so much of themselves into the job.
"The very thing that connects them sometimes provides challenges for managers," Coffman said. "Talented people a lot of times look more like Dennis Rodman than like Michael Jordan."