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.
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.
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.
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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