People First for Business Success

I was delighted to be invited to join the Human Givens ‘Ask The Expert’ Podcast, to discuss connecting our psychological selves with commercial success. It was great to unpick what makes the biggest difference to companies by focusing on people and meeting their needs.

You can listen here: Adopting a holistic approach for business success.

 

I was able to share an approach to mental wellbeing in the workplace that is about leadership, work culture and employee experience, in other words, a lot more than out-dated views of wellbeing that may focus on mental ill-health or traditional bolt-ons.

 

We covered a lot in an hour that adds value to leadership in terms of questioning how things are done and the impact they have…

• People want a job that meets their emotional needs, and those companies not recognising that, are losing their workforce.
• Many companies have the right intention but many also fail to hit the mark, ticking the box or adopting a silo-approach that does not impact across the company in the right way.
• Many organisations bypass the responsibility of leaders to create the right experience for employees to be able to feel good and work well. There is a big difference between, for example, helping employees become more resilient, and creating the right environment in which employees can feel and be more resilient. Consider, also, leaders who tell people that they can enforce boundaries (eg around work hours) vs leaders who demonstrate the need to have boundaries, and who check-out with employees why they need to work outside of expected patterns.
• Accidental managers are a group that I empathise with. These are people who are employees themselves, with needs, yet who are often expected to perform in a role that they have not had adequate investment and support to fulfil well.
• Empowerment of employees feeds into psychological safety, yet there is common disconnect between reality and what leaders think they are providing.
• Unpacking terms such as wellbeing and resilience is vital to prevent them being nominalisations. Challenging what these mean to your people in the current climate is a must.
• People need to understand how to maximise brain performance to increase performance, what gets in the way, and how to take control.
• The relevance of the Human Givens principles in business, for example, around security, particularly around the ability for all employees to navigate change and uncertainty, connection, recognition, meaning and purpose. We also touch on the misuse of imagination – you can find out more about this in a podcast where I specifically explore imagination within a work context Beyond the Numbers Podcast.
• The link between work culture and mental health, knowing that when people are enabled to do what they do well, to use their strengths, enjoy their achievements and feel aligned with company values, they experience better mental wellbeing and healthier relationships in teams,
• Consideration of where to start… with mental health/ wellbeing, or employee experience? The important message is the need to punctuate the system somewhere to start the ripples spreading. If you take a systemic approach to reduce the number of boxes, join the dots and build on the great work already in place, the impact is so much more powerful.
• I outline a case study to explore putting this into practice, and changing a company from one with a ‘problem’ to one that is show-cased for good practice.
• How to go about developing a strategic approach to business success.

 

 

Of course, listening to the podcast is one thing and it will help you to reflect on and evaluate practice within your organisation. Exploring these points within your own context and the opportunity to consider your specific challenges, will make a real difference. I am always happy to have an initial conversation to help you get the ball rolling. And if you’d like to invite me to help you on your journey, I would be delighted. Drop me a line.