7 Points of Transformation: Step-by-Step Blueprint for Building a Thriving Culture at Work
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
6 likes•2,198 views
As pioneers in their field, Dr. Rosie Ward and Dr. Jon Robison are known for challenging the status quo, and for introducing fresh, bold ideas for transforming workplaces based on the most up-to-date scientific revelations. In this fast-paced, 60-minute webinar, Ward and Robison lay the foundation for why we have been stuckwhen it comes to organizational and employee wellbeing. Then they provide their exclusive 7 Points of Transformation blueprint to help you leave decades of ineffective approaches behind, and begin a more sustainable, effective journey to building a thriving culture in your workplace.
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Similar to 7 Points of Transformation: Step-by-Step Blueprint for Building a Thriving Culture at Work
Similar to 7 Points of Transformation: Step-by-Step Blueprint for Building a Thriving Culture at Work (20)
More from HPCareer.Net / State of Wellness Inc.
More from HPCareer.Net / State of Wellness Inc. (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
7 Points of Transformation: Step-by-Step Blueprint for Building a Thriving Culture at Work
- 2. “ Just How Things Are Done Around Here “
- 4. Worksite Wellness At a Crossroads EVIDENCE BELIEF
- 6. FLAWED FOUNDATIONS: THE ROOTS OF OUR STUCKNESS
- 7. The Stuckness - The Old Paradigm Worldview— Mechanistic Science — Reductionist (Whole = sum of its parts) Culture — Control oriented Outdated Outdated (hierarchy, patriarchal) Health — Biomedical (fix the machine) Traditional Approaches to Change Extrinsic (controlled) Motivation PNI Quantum Physics Chaos & Complexity Neuroscience
- 8. The Stuckness - 17th Century Science Desire for & Illusion of Control Monkey on Our Back
- 9. The Stuckness - 17th Century Science Desire for & Illusion of Control Misconceptions about Health, Disease & Human Behavior Bad Science Poor Efficacy Iatrogenesis
- 10. The Stuckness - 17th Century Science Employee Wellbeing Desire for & Illusion of Control Organizational Wellbeing Behavior Change
- 11. The Stuckness - Organizational Wellbeing “Scientific Management:” (control the machine) • Human nature to “goof off” • Job tasks broken down to component parts • Micro-managing • Pay for production Frederick W. Taylor
- 12. The Stuckness - Organizational Wellbeing “Scientific Management:” (control the machine) “Each man must give up his own particular way of doing things, adapt his methods to the many new standards and grow accustomed to receiving and obeying instructions, covering details large and small, which in the past had been left to individual judgment. The workmen are to do as they are told.” C. Stephen Byrum. “From the Neck Up: The Recovery and Sustaining of the Human Element in Modern Organizations.” 2006.
- 13. The Stuckness - Employee Wellbeing “Health Risk Management” (control the machine) • Reduce and analyze • Measure and quantify • Scare, cajole, pressure, persuade • Behavior modification • “Get” people to change } Risk Factors Fear } Control
- 14. The Stuckness - Employee Wellbeing “Health Risk Management” (control the machine) “Wellness or Else” ! Pry, Poke, Prod, Punish
- 15. The Stuckness - “Getting” People to Change Trapped in Skinner’s Box “There is no place in the scientific analysis of behavior for a mind or a self” Skinner, American Psychologist, 1990
- 16. The Stuckness - “Getting” People to Change “Let’s face it… incentives are about getting people to do things they would otherwise not do” Absolute Advantage, WELCOA (2005)
- 17. The Stuckness - “Getting” People to Change
- 18. Worksite Wellness At a Crossroads EVIDENCE BELIEF How successful do we want to be ? How seriously do we want to be taken?
- 19. INTRODUCING THE 7 POINTS OF TRANSFORMATION A Blueprint for Getting Unstuck
- 20. The 7 Points of Transformation
- 22. New Paradigm Approach to Data Reality Check of Current State • Organizational Wellbeing Data • Employee Wellbeing Data • Dynamic Complexity / Holistic View
- 23. Organizational Well-Being Data Data to Collect/Analyze Frequency of Collection/ Analysis Key themes to Look For Workplace Culture Survey Every 2 years Disconnect between current and preferred state of organizational wellbeing Employee Happiness Daily / Weekly If there’s a downward shift in happiness, tend to it ASAP; if it’s increased, what can you learn about what may have contributed it (and keep doing it)? Turnover / Exit Interviews Quarterly Are departing employees top performers? Are there trends with exit interview feedback? Are there areas losing more employees than others? Employee Referrals Quarterly *depends on hiring needs/frequency Are employee referrals increasing or decreasing?
- 24. Employee Well-Being Data Data to Collect/Analyze Frequency of Collection/ Analysis Key themes to Look For Work Comp & Disability Claims Quarterly Are there red flag claims (Mon. morning or Fri. claims)? Increase or decrease in back and musculoskeletal claims Medical Claims Annually Claims that could be reflective of poor organizational wellbeing; possible trade-off for Work Comp claims; trends in Emergency Room claims; lifestyle claims Wellbeing Satisfaction Annually Is overall wellbeing satisfaction improving or not? Are there specific areas of wellbeing improving or worsening? Stress / Burnout Depends on how data is collected Are stress levels increasing more in one area than others? Do you see stress relating to feedback from organizational wellbeing data?
- 26. Begin with the End in Mind How will you Tell Your Culture Transformation/Wellbeing Story? • Strategic Thinking > Strategic Planning • Include EVERYONE! • Additional Wellbeing Metrics
- 27. Planning for a Sustainable Future Long-Term • Fast forward to 3-5 years from now; what are you wanting for your company? • What does life look like where organizational and employee well-being are thriving? • How will you know your efforts have been successful?
- 28. Planning for a Sustainable Future Short-Term • Given the long-term vision, current state of reality, etc. what is most important for the next 12 months? • What will make the biggest difference? • Who will be responsible for each task?
- 30. People Quit Bosses – Really! • 50-70% of employee’s perception of the organization’s climate can be traced to the actions of the leaders. • Leaders need to allow people on their teams to feel like valued individuals. Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations (2001); Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results (2012)
- 31. Leaders’ Role in Employee Wellbeing • Leaders shouldn’t ignore well-being as if it’s beyond the scope of their jobs. • People who agree their manager cares about them as a person: – Are more likely to be top performers – Produce higher quality work – Are less likely to be sick – Are less likely to change jobs – Are less likely to get injured on the job Rath & Harter (2010), Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements
- 32. Framework for Developing Quality Leaders
- 33. The Power of Self-Awareness
- 34. Shifting Thinking Patterns Christina Marshall “A paradigm changing approach to better results for, with, and through people” by “increasing people’s capacity to think better about choices, especially by increasing intrinsic thinking” (Intrinsic Solutions International) I > E > S Applied Intrinsic Coaching®
- 35. I>E>S Applied In Action From the Mouths of Leaders: • “I’m finally seeing how much I didn’t listen before! I’m much more patient and am not interrupting as much.” • “I’m managing my stress much better and being more thoughtful in how I respond to things – which my employees probably appreciate.” • “I was able to tap into this last night with my wife…pretty sure it kept me out of the spare bedroom!” • “It’s amazing how we’re able to cut through all the junk and deal with what is most important; the time we spend in meetings has decreased dramatically.” • “We should have done this a LONG TIME AGO!”
- 37. Creating a Supportive Climate • Leaders Intentionally Living Values & Desired Culture • Clear Purpose & Direction for Culture Change • Communication • Wellbeing = Platform for Employee Experience
- 38. Deliberately Developmental Organizations (DDOs) • Cornerstone for high-potential culture • Support people in turning personal struggles into growth opportunities • View work as an essential context for personal growth • People are expected to be working on identifying and overcoming patterns of thinking and behavior as part of doing their job well • Limitations embraced as “Growing Edge” to get to next level of performance. Kegan, Lahey, Fleming, & Miller (April 2014). Making Business Personal. Harvard Business Review
- 39. Why DDO? “To an extent that we ourselves are only beginning to appreciate, most people at work, even in high-performing organizations, divert considerable energy every day to a second job that no one has hired them to do: preserving their reputations, putting their best selves forward, and hiding their inadequacies from others and themselves. We believe this is the single biggest cause of wasted resources in nearly every company today.” Kegan, Lahey, Fleming, & Miller (April 2014). Making Business Personal. Harvard Business Review
- 40. Aligning Organizational & Individual Growth “Deep alignment with people’s motive to grow means fashioning an organizational culture in which support to people’s ongoing development is woven into the daily fabric of working life, visible in the company’s regular operations, day-to-day routines, and conversations.” Kegan, Lahey, Fleming, & Miller (April 2014). Making Business Personal. Harvard Business Review
- 42. 2 Types of Challenges Technical Adaptive Ronald A. Heifetz & Donald L. Laurie (December 2001). The Work of Leadership. Harvard Business Review, p. 131-141
- 43. Participation, Engagement & Incentives • Participation - the act of taking part in something • Engagement - how employees feel about their work Engaged employees are committed to and excited about their work and willing to go the extra mile to make a difference
- 44. Participation, Engagement & Incentives • Incentives increase participation • Claim improved engagement Bribing employees to participate may increase the numbers who do. But it says nothing about engagement - how they feel about their work. http://salveopartners.com/engagement-wellness-programs-separating-fact-fiction/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4j0u98gFj0
- 45. Supporting Change Without Incentives Create The Conditions “Don’t ask how you can motivate others. That’s the wrong question.” Ask how you can create the conditions within which others will motivate themselves.” Dr. Edward Deci - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGrcets0E6I
- 46. Supporting Change Without Incentives • Autonomy • Mastery • Purpose Create The Conditions employees being able to think for themselves and direct their own actions opportunities to learn, grow & become highly skilled •work that is meaningful & connected to a greater purpose
- 47. Supporting Change Without Incentives Create The Conditions “The Energy Project” 14,000+ global respondents, 24+ industries “No single factor in our study comes close to influencing people's job satisfaction and likelihood to stay at an organization as much as the sense that their work gives them a sense of meaning and purpose.” Tony Schwartz, What is your quality of life? TEP and Harvard Business Review, 2013
- 48. Supporting Change Without Incentives Create The Conditions • Start with Organizational Well-Being • Provide opportunities to develop better, constructive THINKING patterns, not control behaviors (Intrinsic Coaching®) • Focus on engagement, not participation • Focus on the Journey, not a pre-determined result
- 50. Employee Wellbeing 5 Universal, Interconnected Elements: • Career Wellbeing • Social Wellbeing • Financial Wellbeing • Physical Wellbeing – Emotional Wellbeing • Community Wellbeing
- 51. Evaluating Programs & Resources: Are They… • Addressing the issues that have the greatest impact on employee well-being? • Addressing the issues that have the greatest impact on organizational health? • Addressing the issues employees want addressed? • Promoting engagement?…or Inhibiting it? • Evidence and experience based? • Fiscally responsible?
- 52. Move Beyond Old Paradigm Programs Instead of These: • Biometric Screening • Health Risk Assessments Offer These: • Healthcare Consumerism • Chronic Disease Self- Management Program (CDSMP) http://patienteducation.stanford.edu/programs/cdsmp.html
- 53. Move Beyond Old Paradigm Programs Instead of These: •Weight loss programs, competitions, contests • Prescriptive nutrition & exercise programs Offer These: • Health for Every Body® • Intuitive Eating & Positive Body Image
- 54. Health for Every Body® - The Program Health for Every Body® is an on-site, 10-week program based upon the principles of Health At Every Size® (HAES®) offering employees an alternative, evidence-based approach for making peace with their bodies and their food.
- 55. What CAN Save Money ? State of The American Workplace 70% of U.S. workers are not engaged $450-$550 billion dollars a year Gallup Employee Engagement Insights for US Business Leaders - 2013
- 56. What DOES Save Money? • Company Sponsored Centers of Excellence • Leapfrog Hospital Safety Scores http://www.leapfroggroup.org/cp • Co-ordinated Care Model www.dismgmt.com – gold standard • Disease Management
- 58. Evaluate Efforts and Readjust…It’s a Moving Target Wellbeing Dashboard • Culture survey every 2 years (Thriving Workplace Culture Survey) • Annual well-being evaluation survey – Degree of satisfaction with each area of well-being – Assess engagement in own well-being, not participation in programs – Measure importance of incentives if “correcting” for them
- 59. Assessing Engagement in WB 59 Compliance or Engagement? •What is your primary reason for participating in the XYZ Program? – I’m personally interested in improving my well-being – I wanted the incentive – Other •How important was the incentive to your decision to participate in the XYZ Program? – Very important (wouldn’t have participated w/o incentive) – Somewhat important – Neutral – Somewhat unimportant – Very unimportant (would’ve participated regardless of incentive)
- 60. Beginning The Journey… It’s a JOURNEY, not a destination!
- 61. The Dangers of Paradigm Straddling Old Paradigm New Paradigm http://salveopartners.com/employee-wellness-organizational-health-professionals-beware-dangers-paradigm-straddling/
- 63. Put The 7 Points of Transformation into Action! Join Rosie and Jon for A Workshop Experience Like No Other! • One-Day Workshop • Tampa, FL • Tuesday, February 10, 2015 • Visit SalveoPartners.com/events for more info Rosie@salveopartners.com Jon@salveopartners.com
Editor's Notes
- JON: Story of the 5 monkeys …the power of Paradigms
- JON
- JON
- JON
- JON
- JON
- JON
- JON
- ROSIE 17th Century science is still rampant today in how organizations go about daily operations and how it translates into lack of organizational and employee wellbeing. In the early 1900’s, Frederick W. Taylor became well known as the Father of Scientific Management. Taylor believed it was human nature for people to “goof off” (what he referred to as “soldiering”). He spent his career finding ways to improve productivity and, in that regard, is responsible for the notion that our primary concern should be attending to the most efficient way of doing our work. So when you think of the growing popularity of LEAN manufacturing and LEAN in other businesses, and even pay for performance, it stems from Taylor’s work. Taylor employed the same approach to improving the efficiency of employees as he did to the machines on which they were working; he broke job tasks down to their component parts and calculated the one best way to do the job. True to the legacy of 17th century mechanistic, reductionist worldview, viewing men as machines and applying similar scientific methods to human work gained great popularity among managers. Taylor believed that men were motivated purely by economic self-interest. Based on this assumption, it made sense that if employees were paid for what they produced, they would naturally and eagerly embrace any approach that would maximize their earnings. However, the pitfall of Taylorism was that, in true reductionist fashion, thinking was separated from doing and decision making from the work. It is not difficult to pick out the flaws in this mechanistic, control-oriented approach to managing employees. When we separate thinking from doing, we limit the autonomy of employees. And much of the work we do today requires thinking, creativity and flexibility; we are increasingly a society of knowledge workers. With that, we know that what employees want is autonomy, responsibility and control over their work and the ability to think and do for themselves. However, many of the things organizations do to improve productivity and profitability is stuck in the 17th century worldview and erodes autonomy.
- ROSIE 17th Century science is still rampant today in how organizations go about daily operations and how it translates into lack of organizational and employee wellbeing. In the early 1900’s, Frederick W. Taylor became well known as the Father of Scientific Management. Taylor believed it was human nature for people to “goof off” (what he referred to as “soldiering”). He spent his career finding ways to improve productivity and, in that regard, is responsible for the notion that our primary concern should be attending to the most efficient way of doing our work. So when you think of the growing popularity of LEAN manufacturing and LEAN in other businesses, and even pay for performance, it stems from Taylor’s work. Taylor employed the same approach to improving the efficiency of employees as he did to the machines on which they were working; he broke job tasks down to their component parts and calculated the one best way to do the job. True to the legacy of 17th century mechanistic, reductionist worldview, viewing men as machines and applying similar scientific methods to human work gained great popularity among managers. Taylor believed that men were motivated purely by economic self-interest. Based on this assumption, it made sense that if employees were paid for what they produced, they would naturally and eagerly embrace any approach that would maximize their earnings. However, the pitfall of Taylorism was that, in true reductionist fashion, thinking was separated from doing and decision making from the work. It is not difficult to pick out the flaws in this mechanistic, control-oriented approach to managing employees. When we separate thinking from doing, we limit the autonomy of employees. And much of the work we do today requires thinking, creativity and flexibility; we are increasingly a society of knowledge workers. With that, we know that what employees want is autonomy, responsibility and control over their work and the ability to think and do for themselves. However, many of the things organizations do to improve productivity and profitability is stuck in the 17th century worldview and erodes autonomy.
- Jon’s notes here…
- JON
- JON
- ROSIE Now that we have a brief overview of the roots of our stuckness, we want to present our blueprint for getting Unstuck: The 7 Points of Transformation
- ROSIE We liken building a thriving culture at work that supports and enhances both organizational and employee wellbeing to building a structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing house. If you take shortcuts, skip an important step, or use outdated designs or materials, the house will not be able to withstand the tests of time – including weathering the inevitable future storms. The same holds true for organizational and employee wellbeing. We have found that when companies take shortcuts, skip important steps, and base their efforts on outdated paradigms, it’s like building a house on quicksand; it is not sustainable and can have dire consequences. It also takes an additional level of commitment to transform a house into a home – a home where people feel safe, valued and want to spend their time. Do your employees see your organization as a place where they can learn, grow, have meaningful work, build strong social connections, make a difference, feel energized and valued and be supported in their wellbeing? Or do they view your organization as temporary housing – a place to get buy until they can find the organization that will foster their growth and support them? We know that change is hard and recognize that this is a dramatic paradigm shift for many people, but we believe it is necessary and needed to make a real difference. So let’s start taking a closer look at how to create a workplace that frees, fuels, and inspires people to bring their best selves to work each and every day
- ROSIE Transformation Point #1 is Survey The Land via Data Collection and Analysis
- ROSIE Before embarking upon the journey to plan and build a new house, you first have to survey the land and have a reality check of your current state. Or as Randy Jackson said most every week on American Idol, “I’m just keepin’ it real, dawg.” That said, we need to broaden our perspective on how we use data. Too often management is addicted to numbers and measuring activities; they over-survey employees and often do nothing with the results and try to analyze every part of the system looking for weak areas to “fix” – which is clearly a throwback to the reductionist perspective of the 17th century. Instead, to be a learning organization, we need to be able to understand dynamic complexity, not detail complexity. It means taking a more thoughtful, holistic view of what is and isn’t working in your organization and how that relates to the desired culture you want to foster to support thriving organizational and employee wellbeing. Rather than the usual approach of over-analyzing data in silos, you want to look holistically for emerging patters, consider qualitative data, and shift how data is viewed in the first place – shifting from relying on the measurements to define what is meaningful to a helpful servant to provide feedback that supports employees in being empowered to learn and grow to better themselves and the organization. And because culture is a “moving target” and an ongoing journey, there needs to be flexibility to change what measures are right for your organization. That said, let’s briefly review some common data that can help shed some light on the current state at your organization and the employe experience.
- ROSIE There are many metrics that can provide insight into your current state of organizational wellbeing; this is just a summary of some of the most telling Workplace culture survey – this is not a health culture scorecard or audit or what most in wellness say is measuring a “culture of health”; this is truly measuring your current and preferred or desired norms and then understanding where you are and are not aligned with your desired culture. Employee Happiness – research indicates happiness is actually a leading indicator of employee engagement and that waiting for an annual engagement survey is too late. To be on top of employee engagement, find ways to get a pulse on a daily or weekly basis on whether your employees are happy and tend to it if they’re not. Turnover / Exit Interviews – look at trends with departing employees for insights into the current state of organizational wellbeing Employee Referrals – if your employees really feel valued and connected to the vision of your organization – have meaning and purpose in their work, you usually will see lots of employee referrals. You can also look at ratings on sites like Glassdoor and others for how your organization is perceived.
- ROSIE There are also many metrics that can provide insight into your current state of employee wellbeing; this is just a summary of some of the most telling Work Comp & Disability Claims– are you seeing red flags that could indicate underlying organizational wellbeing issues – like back and musculoskeletal claims. Are you seeing them come from one area that maybe also has issues with employee engagement, leadership, turnover, etc.? Medical Claims– again, this is not looking at claims to try to take an Old Paradigm approach to control health and lifestyle behaviors but to broaden our perspective to see what else might be going on and where opportunities might exist to support employees in receiving more appropriate care. Wellbeing Satisfaction – insert questions into an annual survey you already offer that asks employees to rate their level of satisfaction for each area of wellbeing and whether or not they even want resources and support. Stress/Burnout– Stress and burnout are huge issues with disengagement, injuries and more and are often overlooked. Our Thriving Workplace Culture Survey includes questions to also assess this, and you can find other ways to measure it. But you also can simply listen to people and pay attention and have a pretty good idea if stress levels are at an unhealthy level and if burnout is infecting your employees. Notice what we don’t have – Health Risk Assessments and biometric screenings. Yes, we know these have been a cornerstone of the Old Paradigm employee wellness programs, but they are a throwback to 17th century reductionism and biomedical risk factor reduction – which isn’t working and over-medicalizing the workplace (which we’ll address more in a little bit). So we’re going to save you thousands of dollars right now and tell you what pretty much every group HRA and screening report will tell you – your employees weigh too much, don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, don’t exercise enough and are probably stressed.
- ROSIE Transformation Point #2 is Create the Blueprint via strategic and annual planning
- ROSIE Once you have used the data we describe in Transformation Point #1 to provide feedback about the current state of wellbeing in your company, you can begin the journey of creating a thriving workplace culture. The journey begins intentionally with a vision for where you’re going – or your desired culture. Of course, moving away from the Old Paradigm means shifting how we think about and approach strategy and planning. In fact, the many in the field of strategic planning now advocate for shifting to focus more on strategic thinking. If you think about it, a typical strategic plan contains pages of detailed descriptions of the industry, processes with overwhelming numbers of goals and initiatives. The plan is usually created by executives and then handed down to mangers to execute. Managers then become focused on meeting the objectives in the plan instead of thinking creatively. But strategic thinking allows for focusing on the big picture rather than being immersed in the numbers and operational details while also being able to be acutely aware of what is happening now. Who should you involve in the planning process? EVERYONE! Or at least as many people as possible. The best way to create ownership is to have the people who are responsible for implementing the plan be part of developing it as well. People only fully support what they’ve helped to create. And by being part of the process, employees will have a better understanding of how they fit into the picture. Certainly there are some logistical considerations to do this effectively, but it can be done. At this point you also want to think about what additional metrics will help you tell your wellbeing story; what are the 2-3 metrics in each area of wellbeing you want to capture and track?
- ROSIE Here are some sample questions that can help guide the process to start creating your vision for your future desired culture. Ask employees to provide feedback for what they’re wanting for the company, what life looks like where people are freed, fueled and inspired to bring their best selves to work each day and how you know you’re moving in a positive direction. Ideally this planning is part of overall company strategic planning – so everything is integrated. That said, if your company has already completed strategic planning, then you can hold separate planning sessions from an integrated wellbeing perspective and then integrate wellbeing into strategic planning moving forward after that.
- ROSIE Once you have included as many people as possible to create your vision for the future, then you basically back it up from there and look at what will make the greatest impact in the short term and how you want to move the needle. And your plans are born – to be used as a fluid guide to your journey. It’s important to recognize that this is a JOURNEY, not a destination!
- ROSIE After you have a roadmap to guide where you’re going, you can embark upon Transformation Point #3 and Pour a Solid Foundation by Developing quality leaders In today’s competitive business world, being able to cope with change is critical to an organization’s success and requires strong leadership. And, ultimately, the success of any organizational transformation efforts depends on the effectiveness of leadership. That being said, it is not surprising that lack of quality leaders is the first place where you see cracks in your infrastructure.
- ROSIE We know that people quit bosses more than they quit organizations. Every interaction employees have with a leader reinforces their belief about the culture and whether or not they are valued. So if you have people in organizations like those spoofed in the movies, your chances of having thriving organizational or employee wellbeing are pretty much non-existant. You can’t layer employee wellbeing initiatives (especially if they’re 4P wellness or else programs) on top of dysfunctional leadership and think it will work!
- ROSIE And we know from the research that wellbeing matters and how leaders treat employees hugely impacts wellbeing; so if you’re not the person responsible for leadership development, we recommend you partner with who is and start embedding wellbeing into leadership development efforts so wellbeing is viewed as a critical part of running an effective business.
- ROSIE Because the quality of leadership is EVERYTHING, quality leadership development needs to be a cornerstone of any high-performing organization and thriving workplace culture and a pre-requisite for any successful employee wellbeing initiative. However, we need to think differently about how leaders are developed. Too often organizations don’t have a comprehensive plan and just offer a scattering of training programs with no over-arching strategy. And most of the training programs are short-lived in terms of having any lasting impact on change. So we advocate for a 4-pronged framework that, like culture transformation, takes an inside-out approach: Phase 1 is Enhancing Self-Awareness – you can’t expect leaders to DO differently until they are more self-aware and can BE differently. So this phase is a great place to embed wellbeing and allow leaders to have a greater awareness of when their thinking is and isn’t serving them well, how to tend to their own wellbeing and not burnout and what they need to bring their best selves forward. Phase 2 is Building Effective Thinking Skills – behaviors and what we do are merely outward observable actions of our thinking. So if we want a different employee experience, we need to support leaders in shifting their thinking and valuing employees differently. I’ll talk more about a specific methodology we advocate for in a moment. Phase 3 is Developing & Fostering Quality Relationships so Others Can Grow – great leaders support employees in thriving and let them know they are valued. Building effective relationships can only happen when leaders are more self-aware and can self-manage when their best thinking is not present and how to be more developmental – moving towards being a transformational and servant leader. Phase 4 is Growing the Organization – only when leaders have great self-awareness, can tap into better thinking and can foster quality relationships can they embark upon what is needed to grow the organization. Yet too often organizations start here or at phase 3 and ignore phase 1 and 2 all together. And the reason we start with self-awareness is simple – when you are able to be awakened and see more for yourself, that is when you can start the journey to BE differently. Trying to DO differently without BEING and thinking differently is doomed to fail because you will fall back on habitual thinking and behaviors.
- ROSIE It’s kind of like the experience Billy Williams is having in this picture.
- ROSIE For part of phase 1 but for sure phase 2, we use Intrinsic Coaching® as a cornerstone for developing leaders. It was developed by Christina Marshall who figured out how to crack open the intrinsic dimension of thinking, support people in being more self-aware and recognize when less effective thinking is dominating and then being able to intentionally activate better thinking. As a result, people report being more resilient, better in all relationships and getting more done with less time. It’s learned via the phone for 2 hours per week for a total of 50 hours and is very much experiential learning – putting little nuggets into practice and building new neuropathways in the brain. And the results are pretty profound…
- ROSIE These are just some of the things we’ve heard from leaders who have invested in this development.
- ROSIE Once you have a solid foundation, then you can frame the house – which is Transformation Point #4 – Create a Supportive Climate
- ROSIE Climate is really a manifestation of your workplace culture – the underlying attitudes values and assumptions that guide your organization. Changing workplace culture is an ongoing journey that starts from the inside-out with changing thinking. So it is important that your climate supports a culture where both organizational and employee wellbeing can thrive. A supportive climate starts with effective communication. Communication will make or break any human interaction and is often a point of breakdown for organizations. Communicating is a two-way street that requires disseminating clear, relevant information but also listening and incorporating feedback from employees. The right approach to communication will help create the framework for organizational wellbeing and ensure that employees feel supported in their individual wellbeing. The first step is ensuring the CEO and all leaders are clearly communicating about the culture change, providing clarity of purpose, and supporting employees so they know how they align with the purpose and fit into the larger picture. Then once the purpose and direction for culture change is clear, employee wellbeing efforts can better align with organizational wellbeing efforts. This starts by moving away from employee wellness or wellbeing programs – which imply something extra on employees’ already overloaded plates and something temporary that has a start and stopping point – to imbedding wellbeing into your culture; making it either an overarching benefit of employment or a platform that positions wellbeing as part of who you are as a company in terms of how you value and support your employees and the employee experience. It also means aligning organizational and employee wellbeing communication and moving away from the silo approach that cripples so many organizations. We also suggest moving away from wellness committees and champions to creating Culture & Wellbeing Teams and Ambassadors – so culture is intentionally created in daily operations and communication.
- ROSIE Some profound and revolutionary work that really speaks to creating a supportive climate and aligning both organizational and employee wellbeing is work by Robert Kegan and colleagues out of Harvard with what they call Deliberately Developmental Organizations (or DDOs). They have identified a small handful of these DDOs that they highlighted this spring in a HBR article, held their first ever DDO conference at Harvard in June and are releasing a book next year. What makes these DDOs unique and wildly successful is that they view supporting employees in doing profound work for personal growth and are supported in doing work to identify and overcome patterns of thinking and resulting behaviors that get in their way – this work is considered an essential part of their job. So instead of people running around trying to be perfect, a culture is created for people at all levels to be transparent and embrace their limitations as their “growing edge” that will allow them to get to the next level of performance.
- ROSIE So why on Earth would organizations strive to be a DDO? Because most people are really wasting lots of time and resources basically wearing a mask and trying to preserve their reputations and hide their inadequacies. So DDOs view putting it all on the table and aligning personal and organizational growth or really aligning individual and organizational wellbeing as helping reduce this waste.
- ROSIE And by aligning individual and organizational wellbeing and growth, it means that basically individual wellbeing is woven into the daily fabric of working life – of day-to-day routines and conversations. So this is much broader than just having a so-called culture of health where healthy foods and exercise classes are available.
- ROSIE This brings us to Transformation Point #5 – Wire the House by rethinking change
- ROSIE The first thing we need to be aware of in rethinking change, builds off the DDO work I just mentioned. There are 2 main types of challenges individuals and organizations face: technical and adaptive challenges. Technical Challenges are those that are more machine-like – where they are fairly predictable and we can draw off existing knowledge and resources to solve them. So if we need to get our car fixed or if an organization is installing a new computer system, we can look to how we’ve addressed these in the past and go to a fairly straightforward, prescriptive solution. Adaptive Challenges, on the other hand are more complex; we cannot use existing thinking or resources to solve them. Most change involving people is adaptive change work. So transforming a workplace culture as well as individual wellbeing requires new and different thinking. Understanding this helps us see where and how we’ve been stuck when it comes to change – we keep trying to apply technical solutions to adaptive challenges…and it doesn’t work! I’m now going to hand it back to Jon to talk a little bit more about how we can better support the adaptive change work that is required for thriving organizational and employee wellbeing.
- ROSIE Participation is simply the act of taking part in something – could even be completing a program Engagement is how employees feel about their work and if they are going the extra mile to help move the organization forward towards achieving desired outcomes They are not even close to being the same thing.
- ROSIE And if we go back to what we know about motivation, incentives can help increase participation. But the faulty belief and claim is that getting people to participate will somehow magically turn into people actually being engaged. And this is a widely held and very strong belief; but the evidence doesn’t support it. Are we paying attention to and measuring the right things? You can bribe employees to participate, but we suggest based on the evidence that participation isn’t what matters. Employees can be very much engaged in their work and their own wellbeing but not PARTICIPATE in wellness programs. Likewise, employees can participate in programs but not be engaged in their work or their own wellbeing. We suggest that ENGAGEMENT is what matters most. And when we focus too much on participation, engagement can actually suffer…
- ROSIE And if we go back to what we know about motivation, incentives can help increase participation. But the faulty belief and claim is that getting people to participate will somehow magically turn into people actually being engaged. And this is a widely held and very strong belief; but the evidence doesn’t support it. Are we paying attention to and measuring the right things? You can bribe employees to participate, but we suggest based on the evidence that participation isn’t what matters. Employees can be very much engaged in their work and their own wellbeing but not PARTICIPATE in wellness programs. Likewise, employees can participate in programs but not be engaged in their work or their own wellbeing. We suggest that ENGAGEMENT is what matters most. And when we focus too much on participation, engagement can actually suffer…
- ROSIE And if we go back to what we know about motivation, incentives can help increase participation. But the faulty belief and claim is that getting people to participate will somehow magically turn into people actually being engaged. And this is a widely held and very strong belief; but the evidence doesn’t support it. Are we paying attention to and measuring the right things? You can bribe employees to participate, but we suggest based on the evidence that participation isn’t what matters. Employees can be very much engaged in their work and their own wellbeing but not PARTICIPATE in wellness programs. Likewise, employees can participate in programs but not be engaged in their work or their own wellbeing. We suggest that ENGAGEMENT is what matters most. And when we focus too much on participation, engagement can actually suffer…
- JON
- JON And we also know from research that wellbeing is much broader than just biomedical health risks… This is not just a terminology shift, it’s an evidence-based paradigm shift to support the WHOLE person, not the pieces and parts like so many wellness programs do.
- JON
- ROSIE And if we go back to what we know about motivation, incentives can help increase participation. But the faulty belief and claim is that getting people to participate will somehow magically turn into people actually being engaged. And this is a widely held and very strong belief; but the evidence doesn’t support it. Are we paying attention to and measuring the right things? You can bribe employees to participate, but we suggest based on the evidence that participation isn’t what matters. Employees can be very much engaged in their work and their own wellbeing but not PARTICIPATE in wellness programs. Likewise, employees can participate in programs but not be engaged in their work or their own wellbeing. We suggest that ENGAGEMENT is what matters most. And when we focus too much on participation, engagement can actually suffer…
- ROSIE And if we go back to what we know about motivation, incentives can help increase participation. But the faulty belief and claim is that getting people to participate will somehow magically turn into people actually being engaged. And this is a widely held and very strong belief; but the evidence doesn’t support it. Are we paying attention to and measuring the right things? You can bribe employees to participate, but we suggest based on the evidence that participation isn’t what matters. Employees can be very much engaged in their work and their own wellbeing but not PARTICIPATE in wellness programs. Likewise, employees can participate in programs but not be engaged in their work or their own wellbeing. We suggest that ENGAGEMENT is what matters most. And when we focus too much on participation, engagement can actually suffer…
- ROSIE The final Point of Transformation is Maintain the House via Continuous Quality Improvement
- ROSIE In order to effectively navigate your culture transformation journey, you have to be able to know if you’re headed in the right direction or not and be nimble and flexible to course-correct when needed. We suggest creating a Wellbeing Dashboard – where you have the metrics you’ve chosen in one spot (usually something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet) where you can at a quick snapshot see how your wellbeing journey is going. In this Dashboard you want to have organizational and employee wellbeing metrics as well as look at culture survey results and how employees are perceiving their overall wellbeing; focusing on engagement and, if you’re using incentives, how effective your efforts are to correct for them. We advocate for approaching this in a manner similar to what is done in healthcare with Continuous Quality Improvement, where you are regularly looking at how you could improve and using that to inform and tweak planning and the direction of your journey.
- ROSIE With that, if you do currently heavily rely on incentives in your employee wellness programs, here are 2 questions you can insert into an annual evaluation survey or tack onto an engagement survey. This will tell you whether people are actually becoming more engaged in their own personal well-being versus just “doing stuff” for the incentive. If people answer the first question with anything other than they are personally interested in their wellbeing, you have compliance, not engagement. And if you’re effectively correcting for incentives and promoting engagement, you will see the importance of the incentive decreasing and becoming less important.
- JON Culture change and well-being are ADAPTIVE changes, not technical changes. Adaptive change is a JOURNEY, not a destination!
- JON
- JON And you can pre-order our book as well that details how we’ve been stuck and how to get unstuck via the 7 Points of Transformation
- JON
- ROSIE And here’s our smiling mugs. With that, we are happy to stay on and answer any questions you may have