Alright Already! Enough Workplace Doomscrolling
I’ll lead off with an idea split into two, see which one sticks with you. (See @Gary Vaynerchuk)
1. Bad news sells. Like rubbernecks at a fender bender, we turn our attention to the drama of others, or in the world of work perhaps we want to understand just what latest work culture phenomenon is happening to us. Then, the pernicious algorithms kick in and we get fed more of the same news and then, what once was novel or one-off colors our world and we have a new truth that spreads.
…but,
2. Good Always Wins in the end.
Okay, that was a bit of cheat…this is not a binary argument (thankfully), but one where both can be true. Like you perhaps, I scroll the feeds of LinkedIn and other media and am exposed to lots of articles about quiet quitting, the Great Resignation, workplace toxicity and bad bosses. And, yes, those things are true and real social and occupational trends. But here is the question, what if we get ahead of this and instead of reacting after the fact, we engage in planful work that prevents these toxic and problematic events from happening in the first place? Naïve? I don’t think so. Hopeful? Definitely. It speaks to what is actually popular right now.
Looking at the list of LinkedIn’s most shared articles for 2022 a curious thing emerges. Of the five categories that were created to sort all of the top articles, the leading category in terms of shared content was on Empathy and Leadership. The most shared piece of content on LinkedIn in all of 2022 was a short post by Matheus Richard - Working in My Native Language Requires Empathy. Amazing. All top four articles in that category are worth a read, and one of them The Future of Leadership is Kindness by Carina Parisella is my recommended article of the week. It’s opening line fits so well into the Inspired Results Group mindset, “Listen up companies big and small: move over command and control; there’s a new leadership style in town” - Seems to me, kindness is cool.
Parisella goes onto say, Modern leadership in the 21st century requires kindness which creates a healthy breeding ground for three very critical ingredients in successful teams which retain talent: effective communication, psychological safety and growth opportunities.
So, here’s the thing. Psychological safety is not a given from the start. It must be created. It is a series of deliberate and practiced behaviors that support the development of a high expectation, high performance culture that can impact everyone across the organization. Amy Edmondson states, “Psychological Safety is not the fuel that is required to be successful. It is merely taking the brakes off a vehicle. The leader has two jobs, create conditions for success and define what success is by the communication of high standards of performance.
If organizations are serious about psychological safety, please, for the love of all things, stop treating it’s like another task to be checked off. It is not a one and done. It is not a checklist. It probably shouldn’t be delegated to your own HR or OD team. It takes time, it takes commitment, and it takes the risk to be vulnerable and to grow. Where are you at in this regard? Where is your organization at? Are you equally committed to the development of both “hard” and “soft” skills? If not, why not? And finally, in 2023 how are you ready to act in kindness and what are you prepared to do about it?
Now stop. Go back to that last question and assume it is not rhetorical. Assume we are having a conversation and I really want you to contemplate your answer. Be honest with yourself. On a scale of 1-7 (7 being very highly motivated), how ready are you and how ready is your organization to seriously take on the challenge of either creating or improving on psychological safety? If you answered 4 or higher, read on…
I’m delighted to now reference the soft launch of the Inspired Results Group curriculum on psychological safety, “Inspired Minds at Work” it is a positive offering that has the flexibility to range from basic education through to embedded enterprise-wide training and coaching. For organizations and leaders who are interested in understanding the huge potential for growth through psychologically safe practice, reach out to us. More details on this very exciting program to be announced in the coming weeks.
Written by: Dave Harrhy, Associate Coach, Inspired Results Group