March 29, 2024

3 ways to create a work culture that brings out the best in employees | Chris White | TEDxAtlanta



Published May 21, 2023, 8:20 a.m. by Arrik Motley


In today's business world, it's more important than ever to create a work culture that brings out the best in employees. After all, happy and engaged employees are more productive, and that's good for business.

So how can you create a work culture that brings out the best in employees? Chris White, TEDxAtlanta speaker and author of "The culture Blueprint," has three suggestions.

1. Encourage employees to be themselves.

Too often, employees feel like they have to conform to a certain mold in order to be successful at work. But that's not true! Encourage employees to be themselves, and you'll create a more positive and productive work environment.

2. Encourage employees to take risks.

Innovation comes from taking risks. If you want your employees to be innovative, you have to encourage them to take risks. Of course, not all risks will pay off... but the ones that do will be worth it.

3. Help employees find their purpose.

When employees know why they're doing what they're doing, they're more likely to be engaged and motivated. So help your employees find their purpose, and you'll create a work culture that brings out the best in them.

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[Music]

do you remember when 20 000 people

walked out of google

in protest of unfair

and unequal treatment of women at the

company

on a single day

the protest was dramatic it was headline

grabbing it's done a clear signal

we will no longer check our identities

and our values at the workplace door

it was also the exception rather than

the rule

because while brave

certainly brave the google employees

felt safe enough to organize

collectively without fear of reprisals

they felt secure enough that even if

they lost their jobs they'd still

probably be highly employable somewhere

else

not everyone has that luxury

not everyone feels that way about

speaking up at work

social movement scholars would call the

google walkouts uh mobilizing structure

others mobilize in different ways

depending on their context and their

cause

in fact

walkouts do happen pretty much every day

in the workplace

they're just not normally done with our

feet

instead they're

checkouts

they're invisible walkouts that happen

with our hearts and with our hands and

with our

voices and let's be honest amongst the

ted group here

pretty much all of us have checked out

at some point in our careers haven't we

when we feel psychologically unsafe or

unvalued we protest quietly

sometimes even silently or

subconsciously

maybe

we stop trying as hard at work

or maybe we act in ways that subtly

undermine leadership or act against the

organization's objectives just a little

bit

in corporate speak we become disengaged

or actively disengaged

like 70 percent of the workforce

at a cost of hundreds of billions of

dollars a year to the global economy

so

if you're an executive and you want to

avoid walkouts

or checkouts

before

they become issues at your organization

there are three things that you can do

first

unblock communication

walkouts and checkouts happen when we

feel that we're not being heard we're

not being respected or considered in the

workplace

and just about all of us have

experienced having our ideas shot down

or ignored in the workplace

when it happens we tend to experience it

as an identity threat

some of us respond to that by closing

down

shutting off

when we feel that we don't belong or

that we're unimportant

our reaction is to stop caring as much

about our work

and caring as much about the people

around us

so i

remember feeling heartbroken when i was

a new manager

i just asked a colleague of mine with

decades of work experience for a

recommendation on a problem that she

brought to me

we stood in agonizing silence

while she searched for an answer any

answer

after a long pause

she looked up and said

i have never been asked what i think

at work before

now that is tragic

and it's all too common and to avoid

this pitfall we need to continually

invite people to speak up at work

because making these invitations just a

routine part of how we engage with each

other in the workplace actually lays

really important groundwork

that is needed for those times when

people have to speak up and have to be

heard on issues

that are hard for management to hear

backed into a corner by the scale

and the intensity of the protests google

ceo sundar pichai had a choice

he could choose to respond in a way that

would close the door to people acting in

line with their values

or

he could choose to open it wider

pichai's public response

to the protest was not defensive

instead he sent an email out to the

whole company

he said

i understand the anger and

disappointment that many of you feel

i feel it too

and i am fully committed to making

progress on an issue that has persisted

for far too long in our society

and yes here at google

too

he informed managers

of the planned activities he reassured

protesters that they would have the

support that they needed

but checkouts

because they're invisible are even

harder to notice and address then a 20

000 person walk out instead managers

have to proactively unblock the

organization they need to ask questions

they need to invite input they need to

foster creative conflict

but especially in that fragile moment

where people have the courage to

challenge us

we too need to embrace them for it

but then

we need to become responsive

because we know don't we that it's not

enough just to hear people out

words without action

breed cynicism they lead lay their seeds

for future walkouts and checkouts

the google walkouts were not a first

step

they were a last resort

the google employees had already spoken

to managers and hr and ombuds people

this was an escalation because they felt

their issues were not being addressed

they're not being taken seriously and

while pichai's response

was a good one it was supportive

some people continue protesting to this

day at google because they do not feel

that sufficient action has followed the

supportive words

now

when managers and employee activists are

on the same page then

action is a natural

next step

but here's the thing

we're not always going to agree are we

sometimes employee activists will raise

issues that managers just don't agree

with

and in that fragile moment

we will determine what kind of culture

we will have

will we engage in dialogue and debate

can we stay unified even in descent

or will we choose to

skate over our differences allow our

relationships to become inauthentic

and our identities to become diluted

what will it

be well

at a minimum we can try

to

have dialogue we can try to resolve our

differences and find common ground that

even if it's not

ideal for any one party might be

acceptable for all

and sometimes though that is just too

hard the common ground can't be found

and in that difficult place we have

three choices

first if we feel we can't live with the

resolution

then we can choose to leave the company

we can find employers whose values more

closely align with our own

or second we can choose to stay with the

company

we can compartmentalize keep doing a

good job and hope for an issue look for

look for a time to address the issue

again in the future

amazon ceo jeff bezos is an advocate of

a third path

he says let's disagree and commit

address the issue head on and he'll ask

his team

look i know we don't agree here but will

you gamble with me on it

and if your reservoir of trust in your

relationship is deep enough you can

continue to move forward on the work and

agree to keep working on the issue as

you go

any one of those options is better than

the alternative of checking out which is

a surefire path to organizational demise

and professional misery

so finally aim higher

doesn't it seem like a low bar just to

avoid checkouts and walkouts shouldn't

we strive for more

we need to invite people to bring their

whole selves to work because when

everyone can bring their life

experiences we just have so much more to

offer we are more than the sum of our

resumes

this is joan bohan joan

is a finance director at disney europe

she's also a mother

and her son roman has dyslexia did you

know that one in 10 people live with

dyslexia

that's a huge

population server huge potential market

for a company like disney so when disney

announced an internal contest

for new and impactful business ideas

joan just couldn't resist applying she'd

heard about modifications that made it

easier for just like six to read

wider

wipe

different larger fonts wider spaces

between letters

rulering between lines but these weren't

widely available could disney help with

that

because disney invited joan to bring her

whole self to work and all of her unique

strengths values passions experiences

they can now better serve

millions of people with dyslexia

so all this sounds good

unblock communication become responsive

aim higher where do we begin

well i'd like to end by offering you a

short test

i'd like you on monday morning to go

back into work and i'd like you to walk

around

and

after some pleasant chit chat talk to 10

different people and ask them this

question

hi

what don't we talk about around here

that we really should be talking about

you'll probably get one of those awkward

silences

and that's okay

if they do pause then say come to me

later tell me what you find

if no one has anything then your

organization is probably blocked

but that's okay by asking the question

you have signaled openness

keep going

keep asking the questions

ari weinsteig ceo of zingerman's like

say success doesn't mean we have no

problems it means we have better

problems and my closing wish for you is

that you earn better problems

by unblocking communication by becoming

responsive over time more and more

people will open up and start sharing

more of their selves their ideas their

unique offerings

and over time you will have a new

better problem

harnessing that energy and aiming higher

thank you

you

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