We’re back!… Did you miss us?
The team behind Culture Correspondence are back from the USA after networking our socks off at the world’s largest HR Technology event.
Want to know what’s going on at the cutting-edge of transformation in People Ops? Well you lucky lot, stay tuned for next week’s issue and we’ll give you a wrap-up of everything Ginni learned while she was there.
For now, we’re concluding our Stress Awareness series by getting to the core of so much workplace stress and anxiety; low-trust environments.
We’re asking whether low-trust cultures of the past have caused a sort of workplace trauma that threatens current progress.
In our last ‘hot take’ we said that quality line management - the sort that can turn your managers into stressbusters, and enable them to outwit stress and anxiety within their teams - needs to be a real and tangible part of the modern day Employee Value Proposition (EVP.) Evidencing this quality of management and providing new and existing employees with demonstrable examples of it, is something we predict will start arriving at the forefront of more and more employer brands going forward.
We also said that the sort of high quality line management we’re talking about, needs to be borne of the following principles; individualisation, flexibility & choice, greater employee voice (*a quick guide to some core associated management practices, is at the bottom of this blog post)
But, is there something holding this back? Something that we should all pause to consider as we regroup and look forward…
Trust & Trauma: Breaking the Cycle
I’ve heard the same things, time and time again in workplaces; statements or comments made in passing and often by founders or leaders about how much trust is present culturally, and how that trust is interpreted in day to day norms and practices.
Indicative comments are things like “yeah but, they’re not really doing as much work from home are they?” and “well I’ve got kids too” and “I know we are flexible in theory, but….”
Now, these sorts of comments could reflect the projection of an old fashioned and cynically fixed mindset, or they could instead constitute someone getting something that might be creating internalised tension, off their chest with a trusted People & Culture peer…
How’s that for a reframe?
While sometimes I have felt the comments to be passive aggressive and deliberately targeted at a trust-based People function that is delivering to in reality, fairly low-trust leaders… sometimes these comments have just felt like psychologically safe offloads, and in any remit of executive coaching that I’ve had, I’ve of course treated them as such.
As a result, I’ve seen an interesting pattern; people at the top of the organisational hierarchy, removed from the day to day for the majority of people in the company, often earning the largest salaries in the organisation sharing their deep-set gripes about the productivity they perceive elsewhere in the organisation. It’s also always the sort of ‘one rule for us, another for everyone else’ stuff that, when it comes to trickling-down, does, reliably, actually trickle itself all the way down through the organisation. When senior leaders demand trust in how they conduct themselves and manage their time, while operating consistently on the basis of low-trust and even micromanaging others, everyone feels it. The hypocrisy is too glaring to hide.
So why does this keep happening?
It’s easy to get pulled into a debate about which of the polarised opinions posited at either end of the ‘we’re being too tough’ or ‘we’re being too nice’ spectrum of operational philosophy is ultimately going to win out. And, companies are indeed giving into the tension, undoing the adaptations they’d made and forcing employees back into offices full time.
But there is something else to add to the pattern I’ve observed. In nearly all cases, low-trust mindsets have been formed as a result of careers that didn’t afford any of the trust-based culture the modern working ecosystem demands, and no examples of this being a ‘better way’ have presented themselves as a result.
The workplace trauma of the past, that was endured by many who are in influential leadership positions today, was just that; and ‘trauma’ in my experience (when empathising to uncover why these opinions are so firmly held) is not too dramatic a word… it would just never have been recognised as such at the time.
It’s important to remember that fixed mindsets can change. Neuroplasticity is a real thing and we can all embed new or changed habits.
We need to avoid letting the trust-related trauma of the past continue to roll on, continuing to cause the damage it has previously.
I believe this requires one simple shift, just one thing that if we can all turn into active, mindful practice on a day to day basis, will make a difference… By assuming the best of your team members, people are more likely to take ownership of their work and perform at a higher level. It’s simple. Certainly not rocket science.
Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reframe and change its structure based on experiences, thoughts, and behaviours. It's not an overnight process, but with consistent effort, we are all capable of a ‘rewire’ that can change the ways we approach our teams and create a more positive and productive work environment. Certainly, brain science.
Of course, there will be times when individuals don't live up to our trust, and it's important to respond and address those situations directly and professionally.
However, dealing with these situations as exceptions, rather than the rule, is more likely to result in positive outcomes.
There will always be the occasional jerk - and those jerks may have been incredibly formative in getting someone to their current low-trust mindset and we need to be empathetic…
…but robust cultures famously don’t tolerate jerks, even the brilliant ones.
So in summary;
- The future of work demands a new approach to people management that builds its practices on individualisation, flexibility & choice and greater employee voice, and…
- …All of that relies on the assumption that we trust our employees!
- More trust = lower stress
- Neuroplasticity provides a way to reframe your mindset and become a more effective manager, leader and active creator of high-trust culture.
So, what are you waiting for?
* Management Principles for the Modern EVP
1. Individualisation:
- Recognising team members’ needs, goals, and challenges feel personal and unique, and treating them as such
- Customising development plans, work schedules, and support systems to accommodate a diverse range of employees
- Management role-modelling; understanding and articulating our own stress responses and flight, fight or freeze moments first, if they’re to help their teams with theirs
2. Flexibility & Choice:
- Demonstrating that employees are trusted and (in every relevant application) providing options to choose from > a set menu
- Embracing flexible work arrangements, and giving employees the autonomy to choose when, where, and how they work
3. Greater Employee Voice:
- Fostering a culture where employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, ideas, and concerns
- Providing platforms for employees to voice their opinions
- Doing something in response! (Is your engagement survey a commitment to action for your people? Really??)
Word From The Street
Ginni’s favourite quote of the week from the HR Community
We mentioned that Culture Correspondence’s main correspondent (Ginni) has been hanging out in Vegas at an HR Tech event, by way of a quick lid-lifting, here’s a key takeaway:
“The definition of HR remit and the definition of the “engagement” we’re focusing on as practitioners, is transforming and fundamentally shifting; from one that focuses on the employer<>employee relationship only, to an ecosystem approach where employees, fractional workers, gig-workers, freelancers and agency workers, wider communities and technology (including AI) blend to form a network of important influencers and stakeholders, that all need enabling”
Recommended
No cookie cutters or silver bullets here, just things Ginni thinks are interesting and/or useful.
AI & ChatGPT have got a few people a bit flustered! Not least HR practitioners who are concerned about things like AI’s inherent biases and how it holds up when it comes to legality, compliance, GDPR etc.
A recommend read is the Chief People Officer’s Quick Guide to Generative Artificial Intelligence.