Optimise your teams through psychological safety.

Psychological safety, the belief that you can express thoughts, ideas, and concerns without fear of negative consequences such as ridicule, embarrassment, or punishment has been found to be essential to the success of an organisation. This has been shown recently in research from Google’s Project Aristotle where psychological safety was found to be the single most important factor for effective teams.

Now, with the lack of equity, diversity, and accessibility, falling levels of retention and productivity and a rise in burnout all pointing to people feeling unsafe and unhappy in their workplaces, surely, it’s time for the psychologically safe workplace to play a key role in optimising teams.

In a psychologically safe environment, people feel comfortable taking interpersonal risks, sharing their opinions, and being vulnerable without the fear of being judged or criticised. This sense of safety promotes open communication, collaboration and innovation within a group or organisation. People are more likely to engage in constructive dialogue, provide feedback, and contribute to problem-solving efforts which also enhances creativity, productivity, and overall team performance.

To be effective psychological safety needs to be taken up by employees at all levels in an organisation. Team culture reflects the actions of its leaders so to establish and maintain a psychologically safe workplace, leaders must consistently adopt inclusive behaviours to build new team norms over time and identify when an employee’s threat responses are triggered, and how to effectively deal with them.

Overall, psychological safety creates a supportive, inclusive, and collaborative work environment that enables teams and individuals to perform at their best, contribute their unique perspectives, and drive organisational success. Conversely, when psychological safety is lacking, people may hesitate to speak up, withhold their opinions, and avoid taking risks. This can lead to a culture of silence, poor decision-making, and stifled innovation within a team or organisation.

By prioritising psychological safety, organisations can create an environment where individuals feel valued, empowered, and motivated to contribute their best, leading to higher levels of collaboration, innovation, and overall well-being.

The benefits of team collaboration.

A highly-motivated and engaged workforce that's in-tune with one another not only improves productivity and efficiency, but also the long-term well-being of individuals as well as enabling better idea-sharing and problem-solving.

A recent Stanford University study highlighted the benefits of effective team collaboration by showing that employees who were primed to act collaboratively stuck to their task 64% longer than those that worked alone, The research also reported higher engagement levels, lower fatigue levels and a higher success rate whilst another report by the Institute for Corporate Productivity showed that a collaborative approach helps companies by revealing that firms promoting collaborative working are five times more likely to be high performing.

Team collaboration refers to the process of working together towards a common goal or objective. In a collaborative team environment, individuals come together to share ideas, insights, and knowledge to achieve a shared goal and this is essential for achieving success in any organisation, as it allows individuals to leverage their unique strengths and expertise to create innovative solutions and drive results. When teams collaborate effectively, they achieve better outcomes than individuals working in isolation, by drawing on the diverse perspectives and experiences of all team members.

To foster effective team collaboration, it's important to establish clear communication channels, roles and responsibilities, and to set expectations around how individuals, teams and departments work together. This may involve defining shared goals and objectives, establishing processes for sharing information and ideas, and providing feedback and support to team members.

It is also essential to build a positive team culture that encourages openness, trust, and mutual respect among team members that will promote a growth mindset, continuous learning and development, and the recognition and celebration of individual and team achievements. The correct tools are also required so collaboration software and tools, such as project management software, communication platforms, and file-sharing tools, as well as training and support to help individuals use these tools effectively need to be in place.

Collaboration is all about making staff feel part of a team that is working towards the same goals so when everyone is fully invested and pulling in the same direction, the end result will be far more positive, for both the team and the company.

Ultimately, team collaboration can lead to more effective and efficient work processes, improved outcomes, and a stronger sense of community and purpose within organisations.

Never go back?

When people resign from a position it generally means they’re finished with that company permanently but that's not always the case. Following the Great Resignation, a large number of people are going back to their former workplaces as returning employees. In fact, a recent study by UKG shows that 43% of people who quit their jobs during the pandemic think they were better off in their old job with almost 1 in 5 of those who left jobs during the pandemic returning to their previous employer.

People can change jobs for many reasons such as improved salary, increased job security, flexible work options or simply a change of scenery but, during the pandemic, many of these things took on greater importance. Organisations entered a survival rather than an expansion mode so there were few new opportunities, which left employees, stuck in their role with limited options for change. Many decided to move elsewhere but now, as the pressures of the pandemic recede, their original companies are coming back with new opportunities and working conditions. So, as the original reasons for leaving lessen, we’re seeing the rise of the boomerang employee!

A boomerang employee is someone who leaves their organisation but then chooses to return after a period of time and it's a move that can be beneficial for both the employee and the organisation. For the employee they may bring new skills, perspectives, and experiences gained from their time away and these new credentials can be useful tools for negotiating a return to a higher position, improved pay or a more flexible work arrangement. Organisations may benefit from boomerang employees because they already have an understanding of the company culture, policies, and procedures, which can mean lower training and on-boarding costs. Because they want to return, whether its because they miss the culture, people or work itself, they will be motivated and want to succeed which can only be good for productivity and overall performance. 

There are a few downsides though. Returners may be coming back to the same problems they faced previously, they may just want to return to their comfort zone and there could be personnel issues with employees who stayed with the organisation and have not been promoted. Some organisations may have a different mindset around rehires. Given that these employees have already left once, does it appear to be rewarding disloyalty and encouraging other employees to leave and, if companies are looking at re-hiring former workers, where does that leave the labour market going forward?

The pandemic has delivered many new social and work trends and one is the opportunity for employers to engage with and truly listen to what their workers want and need. Maybe, as well as being an indicator of what motivates people to leave a job, boomerang employees could show what could make them stay?

The rise of the resentful employee

Over the past couple of years we’ve seen the rise of a number of workplace ‘buzzwords’ that describe the growing number of employees leaving their existing roles or becoming dissatisfied with their working life. ‘The Great Resignation’ and “Quiet Quitting ‘ have become well-established terms for people who are no longer satisfied with their work-life balance or are actively reassessing how work fits in with their priorities or lifestyle.

Now though there’s a new word hitting the world of work. Resenteeism is seen as a successor to ‘quiet quitting’ and describes a situation where employees are staying in jobs where they are fundamentally unhappy, feel underappreciated, undervalued and aren’t bothering to hide their dissatisfaction from their employer or co-workers!

This new trend seems to be in response to the unstable economy, challenging cost of living and redundancy and recession fears that are all prevalent at the moment. Employees who were thinking about leaving their existing roles are staying put so feel ‘stuck’ and frustrated by the lack of opportunity. This can very quickly create a negative work culture that discourages open communication and collaboration, affects the morale of colleagues, decreases productivity and engagement and increases workplace conflict.

In the Gallup State of the Global Workforce 2022 poll, the UK was ranked 33rd out of 38 European countries for workplace engagement with just 9% of UK workers being ‘actively engaged’ in their jobs. That’s worrying and really highlights how important it is for employers to have policies in place that head resenteeism off and ensures a productive and engaged workforce is maintained.

In what is a very volatile work environment, employers who promote a positive work culture that values employee well-being, encourages open dialogue and provides resources and support for managing physical and mental wellbeing, will be in a better place to halt the rise of the resentful employee.

Gen Z. Do they have the skills to thrive in the workplace?

Ever since Gen Z entered the workforce, concerns have been raised as to whether this online generation possesses the soft skills necessary to thrive in the workplace. The underdevelopment of these skills is blamed on an overuse of technology and time spent online but research has shown that large numbers of Gen Z realise that these skills are missing and are keen to take on the training and development needed to enhance their career prospects.

With few in-person opportunities to observe how the workplace ‘works’ or to experience formal and informal in-person interactions during the pandemic, its little wonder that Gen Z are behind on the skills needed to thrive in the workplace. They have learned to work independently with little collaboration or interaction and, without regular practice, we all lose the ability to communicate  – to make a point clearly and confidently, contribute effectively in meetings, take part in discussions calmly and rationally and to be confident talking with peers.

Gen Z priorities have been shaped by vastly different experiences and upbringing. Their values and attitudes demonstrate that authenticity, empathy, inclusiveness, and flexibility are important to them but they also hold learning opportunities among their top priorities. This of course creates an opportunity for organisations to attract, cultivate, attract, and retain this new talent.

The World Economic Forum expects that by 2025 Gen Z will make up 27% of the workforce so it makes sense that organisations are seen as an attractive proposition to this new generation. Gen Z-ers are looking for companies that will support them through a continuous learning process that will help them reach their goals. Whether that’s through formal training, coaching or mentoring, Gen Z want to ensure their employer gives them the best chance of a stable, long-term career.

The growing importance of ESG in recruitment and retention

Companies may risk losing talent if they don't take account of the greater ethical awareness of younger jobseekers and employees, with the majority willing to sacrifice earnings for their value.

Over the past few years we’ve seen businesses move their priorities to embrace environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Whilst it may not seem like the most exciting element of a remuneration package, increasingly job seekers are highlighting that its effective implementation is one of the reasons that leads them to initially accept a position and then stay with an organisation.

The influence of millenials and their commitment to social contracts is already being felt across business. Research by Robert Half shows that 38% of employees would look for a new role if they thought their organisation was not doing enough on ESG issues, and this rises to 47% of 18-34-year-olds. 53% said they would never work for an employer they thought was unethical, regardless of the salary on offer and this increases to 59% among the younger group.

When it comes to attracting new talent, it’s no longer as easy as offering the most competitive remuneration package. 22% of the 18-34-year-old group listed corporate values as their leading concern when choosing a new role, with 50% saying they research potential employer’s corporate values before making an application.

In a tight recruitment market a clear ESG strategy is becoming a vital tool for differentiation. If it came down to two employers offering the same salary, 69% of the 18-34 group said they would review the companies’ corporate values before making their decision.

Young professionals are looking to make a positive impact, in the workplace through the work they do and the choices they make. To attract the best and brightest talent, it’s vital to remember that todays and tomorrow’s job seekers aren’t just considering salaries and benefits. ESG has become a critical part of recruitment and retention especially among younger employees who want to work for an organisation that has a clear, demonstrable ESG plan in place with tangible, measurable actions.

Loneliness and isolation in the hybrid workplace

Long before the pandemic and the rise of working from home, loneliness and isolation was something felt by a number of office-based employees. Even if they were based in modern, open-plan offices designed to help collaboration, there was often little actual face-to-face communication. The increase in hybrid working has in many instances led to workers becoming even more isolated from other team members.

A report by Buffer (State of Remote Work 2022) found an increase in the number of remote and hybrid workers struggling with loneliness, from 20% in 2020 to 24% in 2022. It also found that 52% of employees globally felt less connected to their co-workers since they started remote working. Another study from Totaljobs found 60% of employees reported feeling lonely in their professional life, citing continued home working and irregular office patterns as increasing the problem.

By its nature hybrid working can accentuate feelings of isolation and disconnection by allowing siloed cliques and networks to develop and create distinct work experiences, cultures, and groups. Employees who are back in the office full-time can become dominant as they are able to centrally control information, knowledge and responsibilities. Teamwork, which generally improves the quality of a person’s working life, simply increases the issues within teams that have always existed - composition, interdependence and differences in working hours – whilst meetings where part of the team is in the office and the other is remote can easily become unbalanced and increase feelings of disconnection.

The feelings of isolation however, are not always related to the lack of interaction with colleagues, but rather to the feeling of exclusion that they have. In a 2020 Igloo study, almost 60% of teleworkers surveyed said they didn’t have certain information because it was communicated in person with 55% reported being excluded from meetings because they weren’t physically present.

Social isolation is one of the greatest risks hybrid workers face but there are some activities and strategies that can stop employees from feeling professionally isolated:

1. Regular face-to-face interactions

Make sure colleagues often meet in person by creating opportunities for informal chats, so people can share information and get to know one another better.

2. Communicate well

Use different channels to communicate with colleagues. Be transparent, and keep everyone in the loop in terms of work and, if they are happy to do so, what’s going on in their personal lives.

3. Evolve learning and development

Set up processes that work in a hybrid setup, e.g. days when junior employees can work with their line managers in the office. If possible invest in learning platforms and tools suitable for hybrid environments to enable people to develop their knowledge and skills.

4. Improve leadership

Leaders need to know how to manage in the hybrid world, to understand and spot any potential challenges and provide a role model to their teams.

5. Enhance onboarding

An in-person onboarding process is essential.  As well as work-led and social buddies, leaders need to be involved in the process to enable new employees settle smoothly into the company and their role.

Although hybrid working is often presented as the future of work and does bring many benefits, it is becoming obvious that there are some problems in its implementation and one of these is that more people feel lonely at work than ever before. A feeling of isolation at home, a lack of genuine connection to other team members, lack of belonging within the company culture, or even lack of visibility and recognition can all contribute to a sensation of loneliness at work.

Loneliness and isolation can be an issue regardless of whether employees are in a physical or virtual working environment but if a company doesn’t make an effort to address these issues, the hybrid work model will only have a negative impact on employee cohesion and motivation.

Desk bombing? Why it’s good to talk.

Desk bombing seems to have become the most recent buzzword to hit the workplace. It’s a phrase that appeared recently in a Financial Times feature where highlighted the incident of a worker who’d received no response to emails they’d sent to someone in the same office. It was suggested that they walk over and get the matter resolved but the worker refused, saying they didn’t want to “desk bomb” their colleague.

The idea is to encourage workers to think about whether they need to get up from their desk to discuss something with a colleague or if what they want to ask can be put in an email. To critics, the one-on-one is considered a waste of work time and 'intrusive', with mailing or messaging being preferable and less invasive. To others though, face-to-face contact is part of being human and an essential part of a flourishing workplace culture.

Communicating with co-workers has always been fundamental to building and maintaining strong working relationships and in creating a healthy working culture. So what’s changed? Is it that working from home has somehow damaged working relationships? Do some workers now feel uncomfortable or anxious interacting with colleagues and clients face-to-face after working on their own during lockdown? Do employees who prefer being ‘left alone’ really welcome the idea of desk bombing becoming an HR or contractual issue if someone turns up at their desk unscheduled?

We all have moments when we’re really under pressure and don't want to be disturbed so its important to recognise personal space.  If someone looks totally engrossed in what they’re doing or are wearing headphones it's a sign that they don’t need or want to be disturbed. That's all good but we need to remember that it’s impossible to build a strong team if some of its members are unable or unwilling to talk to others.

Good communication is an essential tool in maintaining strong working relationships at all levels of an organisation and conversations with co-workers are an important aspect in creating a healthy work environment. 

Personally, after the last few years working from home with endless Zoom calls, actually talking face-to-face seems a far more enjoyable method of communication - as well as being more efficient by not generating a long and unwarranted email trail.

Intimidating? Me?

Nobody likes working in an intimidating work environment. The problem is some people don’t know the effect they have on people. They think they operate in a collaborative culture and value input from their staff but the office goes quiet when they walk in, people won’t look them in the eye and are nervous when asked to complete a task!

Intended or not, intimidation implies a threat and some people just aren’t able to regulate their responses to others. They lack ‘Emotional Intelligence’. Their mood or emotional state makes them seem threatening and they use phrases and body language that are ‘too powerful’. That said, most people don’t deliberately try to intimidate their co-workers - it's obviously much better to motivate and inspire your team rather than intimidate them into action.

Whilst the intimidation could be created by something you can’t actually control, such as being taller and towering over other people, it is possible to change some of your actions to help foster an open environment where employees feel able to express themselves. 

• Look for what people do well and congratulate them

• Focus your attention solely on the person you’re talking to

• Be an active listener

• Ask how you can help

• Use open body language

• Maintain good eye contact and smile

• Admit to mistakes you make

• Try to be more relaxed

• Be a continuous, lifelong learner

• Ask for constructive feedback

Very few leaders set out to be intimidating. Most have a real desire to get along with their employees and build relationships based on mutual trust and respect but no one is immune to intimidating staff.

By better understanding how to moderate unspoken gestures and spoken reactions, being real with other people, setting aside the quest to win or be perfect, and being as compassionate to those around you as you would be to yourself means you’ll be better equipped to avoid being seen as intimidating.

Above and beyond? The trend of quiet quitting

In the midst of everything that's going on around the world, one thing that has been trending consistently over the last few weeks is ‘quiet quitting.’ But is this really anything new? There have always been employees who check out because they are exhausted, bored, stuck or fed up with the amount of work they’re asked to do. So has the huge change in the way people view their lives and work and consequent revaluation of priorities and work/life balance that was driven by the pandemic simply provided a new label for disengaged employees?

Previously of course dissatisfaction with your job was something just people close to you knew about but now it’s out there on social media that the employee experience just isn’t what it should be. Of course there are some people who feel their work/life balance is a problem and are close to burning out but there will be others who are simply sitting it out because a new job might come with more problems than their existing one.  

Having an employee who although physically present at work is so disengaged that they just do the bare minimum to keep their job can cause huge damage to a team and to the wider business. Improving the employee experience is therefore essential - getting feedback, ensuring realistic workloads and boundaries, open and honest relationships, stress management policies and structured career paths with achievable goals will all help to manage expectations and contribute to a positive work culture where employees feel engaged, valued and don't quit – quietly or not.

The cost of a toxic workplace culture

New research shows two-thirds (61%) of people have taken long-term leave after experiencing a toxic workplace. The research, which was undertaken by Culture Shift, looked at responses from 1,000 people in a variety of sectors including the financial, healthcare, legal, insurance and public sectors. It looked at the workplace culture in their respective organisations and whether they’d experienced negative behaviour.

The results showed what a detrimental effect a toxic workplace can have on employees. 44% of those surveyed said they’d experienced problematic workplace behaviour such as bullying or harassment with two-thirds (61%) taking long-term leave as a result of negative behaviour, 42% of respondents said they’d left a workplace permanently because of a toxic culture. Other recent research from Glassdoor found that two-thirds of candidates would not take a job with a company with a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed.

As well as being damaging for employees, a toxic culture is costly for the business. As well as the cost of recruiting and training new staff - with the possibility of losing them too if the culture remains unchanged - any employment tribunal resulting from the behaviour could also end up being very costly.

With employees increasingly prioritising their work-life balance above all else, businesses need to offer not just a good salary but also a people focused environment.

Gender, sexuality and communication.

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released, Resilience Unravelled – Gender, sexuality and communication.

In this episode, Dr. Russell Thackeray talks to Georgie Williams, a specialist in gender and sexuality whose work focuses on how gender and sexuality varies in different communities and cultures around the world and how the Wests influence on those communities has shaped those identities.

Georgie identifies specifically as genderqueer and as pansexual. Georgie’s recent papers have focused predominantly on marginality pertaining to queer and specifically non-cisgender identities, but has also written about aspects of sexuality, structural violence, borders and bodies as sites of resistance through interdisciplinary and intersectional lenses.

Gender and sexuality play an integral role in all of our lives. Our dynamics, our sexual and non-sexual relationships and the roles assigned to us socially are often based around our gender perceptions of one another. In understanding how gender and sexuality vary, we can understand miscommunications between communities and cultures based on a mistranslation or misalignment of norms and practices.  If we understand them, that exclusivity is a means to create productivity, symbiosis and communication within communities. Understanding sexuality is about communication, something that benefits all of us

Georgie feels that the younger generation, in particular Generation Z, engages and focuses with this message more than many of the older generation. By focusing on visibility and representation, community based social change and practice can happen which really matters as it gives voices to individuals who were not afforded that opportunity in the first place. She thinks that globalization and access to the internet virtual spaces and social media has given younger people the opportunity to congregate and find their community.

The younger generation has been raised in a time where conversation around gender and sexuality is more open than ever before.  People can discuss sensitive matters in confidence with others who have gone through it before. In time social change can be enacted and communities will become more visible in non-virtual spaces. Small communities and marginal groups have always existed and found ways to congregate but now this is more feasible and visible.

One of the benefits of engaging with diversity in the workplace is that it focuses a brand new lens on what an organisation is doing. This will help shed light on potential blind spots that existing team members may have missed because of their own standpoint or experience.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Georgie here. Our previous podcast episodes and upcoming guest list are also available. Our full blog archive is also available.

You can find out more about Georgie at /slashqueer.com

Trends in Organisational Development

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released, Resilience Unravelled – Trends in Organisational Development

In this episode, Dr Russell Thackeray talks to Dr Jonathan Westover who is based in Utah and describes himself as a scholar/practioner. He has been an Associate Professor at Utah Valley University for 11 years and leads the Organisational Leadership Department which focuses on organisational development and change, human resource management, organisational behaviour and leadership. He also undertakes research on global comparisons in worker engagement and satisfaction, and the drivers of worker motivation across the world. Through his consultancy, Human Capital Innovations, Dr Westover helps organisational leaders better manage their people, improve leadership their skills and ultimately have high functioning organisations and teams that maximise the potential of their people.

There seems to have been a trend in the academic world over the last 20 years or so to stretch boundaries and come with new and interesting ideas to push forward organisational design and leadership. There have been academic and practioner fronts but academia has always tried to push the edge of knowledge. Although there have been major advancements in statistical methodologies that provide more insight into the theoretical world, the major principles and theories of organisational behaviour have been in place for decades. There have been tweaks and relabeling but no major advancements.

Dr Westover feels that this is because when organisational behaviour emerged as a stand-alone discipline originally it was an amalgamation of different social sciences and their take on organisations. Over time it became one discipline and it started to uncover the drivers for organisational human behaviour, group behaviour and effective leadership. These are in the main very down-to-earth, common sense ideas that sometimes get lost when fire fighting or in the day-to day grind. There is an ongoing need to remind people of the basic principles so they can be effective and drive innovative cultures but the major aspects have always been in place.

As a leading expert in global comparative studies as it relates to organisations, Dr Westover has studied the complexity of global systems as they influence organisational dynamics and the motivation of employees. One of the major things to come out of this is the recognition that a theory cannot be applied in the same way to every country and context throughout the world. Their needs to be a contextulisation of theories and their applications because they do not work in the same way in every country so generalised models break down.

Many countries still default to the west for ideas and best practice but although the principles can be similar there can be major differences. These need to be taken into any models or false conclusions about human capital, the workforce and skills emerge.  Ideas then emerge that there are problems with the workforce whilst the issue has more to do with the management structure, organisational style and work allocation.

Whilst leaders like predictability and consistency and would like to see generic policies and procedures across all their sites, if you’re a multinational based in 50 different countries it simply will not work.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Dr Westover here. Our previous podcast episodes and upcoming guest list are also available. a

You can get in touch with Dr Westover at innovativehumancapital.com