A few years ago, I experienced a panic attack and almost lost control of the car I was driving, putting myself and those driving around me in danger. This attack came on after a meeting with a leader at a former organization that left me feeling devalued, deflated, and abused. This wasn’t the first time I had been treated poorly in the role, but it would be the last. It had been two years, and my mental health was declining. It was past time for me to make a change.
And change I did. I quit, with no prospects for a new job, only prospects for a better life, and that was more than worth it. Luckily enough, I landed on my feet, but I couldn’t help but think I wasn’t the only one dealing with the effects of an unhealthy workplace. As I talked to friends and family, I realized that most of us, at one point or another, have dealt with behaviors at work that negatively impact our personal lives. Working is a part of the human experience, and most of us are OK with this setup. In some cases, we find meaning and purpose in our work and are happy to contribute. In others, we are just looking to pay the bills. No matter the reasons we work, working in unhealthy environments should not be a certainty. Workplaces can and should be safe places for people to do good work together. Every bit of research on workplace cultures is clear; poor behaviors create toxicity. Every day, poor behaviors reduce the dignity of many people, especially those traditionally unheard, unseen, and underrepresented in leadership. When left unchecked and unchanged, these behaviors turn people into casualties. But we know all of this, right? So what do we do? I am no psychologist, but I believe many of the tenets of a healthy relationship apply in marriage/partnerships, friendships, family relationships, and working relationships. Below are some areas we can all reflect upon and change in to help build better workplaces. Psychological Safety Psychological safety — the belief that one can speak up without the risk of punishment or humiliation — is critical to building healthy relationships of all kinds. Creating this safety at work is one of the primary responsibilities of leaders. Jean Marie DiGiovanna has six questions to help create psychological safety for teams:
Boundaries Simply put, boundaries are what is ok and what is not ok (Brené Brown). Everyone should be allowed to express their boundaries and have them respected. I also believe boundaries set up the right amount of closeness and distance required for all relationships to thrive. Work should not permeate our lives in an inextricable way — we all deserve some space. Questions for leaders and employees to ask themselves:
Mutual Recognition We must have our contributions valued and recognized — leader to employee, employee to employee, employee to leader. Questions for leaders and employees to ask themselves:
Accountability We need to become accountable and hold ourselves responsible for how we treat our colleagues. If we make mistakes, we own them and apologize — leader to employee, employee to employee, employee to leader. Questions for leaders and employees to ask themselves:
Clear and transparent communication: Clarity is kind. We have to talk to each other and our teams about what is going on with us as people and with our work. Not sharing or sharing incomplete information causes tension and missed opportunities to support each other. As leaders, creating clarity for teams on the work they do and why it matters is essential. As team members, asking for clarity is just as important. Questions for leaders and employees to ask themselves:
This post is more than just an examination of what we can do better and how. Hopefully, it helps make a case for why we need to do better right now.
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"I learned early that you only have so much energy to give. You have to spend it correctly.” — Eva Gabor
Every year brings an opportunity for companies to rebuild a workplace environment where work is focused and people are flexible. Long gone should be the days of unproductive meetings, teams working on items that are no longer relevant, managers living in crippling indecisiveness, and individuals trying to maintain rigidity in their roles. This is why I think every year should be the year of managing energy. The better we become at creating clarity, getting organized and staying flexible, the more successful our teams will be at managing collective energy and performing better together. Here are some ideas to help you and your teams manage their energy:
I pose, that the above will not only put order to the work of the team, but will also help reduce the following energy-draining activities in your workplace:
Of course, managing a team and delivering work can be complex when balancing business, team, and individual needs. Very few decisions are simple and it can be hard to know how to make the ‘right’ next move. Hopefully, the above ideas will help you carefully consider what your teams do and how they do it so you can all feel that your collective energy is well spent. "Culture is about what makes us healthy.” — Alice Walker.
When I heard Alice Walker make the above comment in an interview, she was speaking about the contribution of art to a healthy society. As I turned over her words in my mind, I knew they applied to the workplace. Every company has a culture, and the root of that culture will determine that company’s overall health. Many companies can be financially successful for a period of time, even while the interactions between humans are full of behaviors that cause frustration, pain, and even trauma. But eventually, leaders will be forced to deal with the many ways people are harmed in the company they lead. To determine what causes a workplace to be unhealthy, they have to look at the foundation. Core to every human is the need to believe we are valued and respected. We all want to be treated with dignity. Dignity is about respecting who we are, valuing our humanity, and being treated ethically. Dignity is fundamental to well-being and to human and organization thriving, and it is the core to creating safe and healthy work environments. When the behaviors displayed at work are not aligned with dignity, and there is no intervention to stop these behaviors, workplaces become unhealthy and even toxic. When we work in a place where dignity is not the foundation of human interaction, we become defensive, are sometimes on the attack, and expend a lot of emotional energy. In unhealthy work environments, we have to fight every day to remind ourselves of our humanity and the humanity of others. This not only reduces our ability to have a good experience at work but also in life. We take the feelings of being devalued and disrespected everywhere we go. We talk about it constantly with friends and family. The quality of our lives is diminished. With dignity at work intact, we get to work excited, ready to do our best work and contribute to the teams we work with. We are not in competition, and we work collaboratively in diverse teams where everyone’s experience and contributions are seen as valuable. Where there is dignity, we all hold each other accountable and operate by what I like to call ‘The Dignity Standard,’ where our thoughts, words, and actions align with a shared value system. The Dignity Standard is the idea that every interaction with every human is based on dignity. Whether it’s walking into the office and acknowledging the presence of the person fixing the front door or creating a marketing campaign that will reach millions to sell a product, any time we are interacting with people, in any format, we start with dignity. In general, dignity is fundamental, and treating others with dignity seems easy, but the ways we can disrespect and devalue others can be complex. In my career, I have worked across continents with people from all over the world, and I can tell you that what one person sees as devaluing can sometimes not even be on the value scale for someone else. And in my experience, as people become managers, they can forget what it was like to be without the power of managing others. They become a part of a cohort with a different set of concerns. They rarely become the manager they always wanted, usually taking on the behaviors and actions of their managers and peers. Creating dignity in the workplace has to be intentional, everyone’s intention, for there to be a chance at creating a sustainable healthy work environment. But how do we get to the nuance of what it means to treat everyone we encounter with dignity? Here are some questions I believe we can ask ourselves to help self-reflect and correct our behaviors.
Generally, these questions are for everyone at every level in an organization. I do not believe leaders or managers are the only sources of behavior modeling. We are all responsible for how healthy our workplaces are, and we all deserve to come to work and be treated with dignity all the time. Let’s take the time to reflect on our behaviors to ensure dignity is the foundation of every human interaction. Let’s start anew. |
Nichelle ApplebyThoughts on the workplace, pay, and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. Archives
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