A Human Side of Workplace Culture

One of our recent blog posts talked about the power of teams-based wellbeing programs – there is more strength in team components than relying on the individual to navigate wellbeing programs alone. Enhancing the physical, mental, and emotional health of employees enables them to better manage the challenges faced inside and outside of the workplace.

The importance of team strength and team ethic cannot be understated, but as buy-in from employers is needed, so too is buy-in from employees. Often this can be phrased as ‘engaging the unengaged’, and it’s a common scenario across workplaces. How do we engage the unengaged, bring them into a team, and enable them to feel part of a collective?

We recently came across a situation of an employee feeling disconnected and struggling to engage. A result of this was less enjoyment in their work, reduced productivity, and a sense of being lost within the organisation. How do we bring people back from the edges of our organisations? In a scenario like this the wider team ethic has to take a backseat to the immediate micro-team around the employee.

Regardless of the size of a workplace, there is a need for creating effective micro-teams. Each employee has their own set of values, and for the people leads around these employees the ability to identify and understand each person’s uniqueness will improve connection to the unengaged and enhance the micro-team. So what are some effective ways to increase connection across all team clusters within the larger team ethic?

• Place human-centred people in key positions
• Create environments where openness is the norm
• Recognise that workplace culture is interconnected

As true as ‘one bad apple can spoil the bunch’, one good apple amongst a micro-team can have similarly lasting effects in a positive manner. As we hire, place, and promote people in our organisations, perhaps as much as asking ‘what can this person do for our company’ we should be asking ‘what can this person do within our company’. People leads who are human-centred and can work with the values of the less engaged will increase return far greater than the people lead who isn’t able to identify with or connect to their immediate team.

A direct result of populating teams with human-centred leaders is the enhancement of environments where employees can feel listened to, and therefore forge trust and belonging. If an employee has no person to speak to, or feels unable to speak because of fear, that employee will quickly further disengage. If an employer sees openness and honesty as a fault, even if it’s to their own cost, that employer may spend more time recruiting than leading. A healthy workplace environment provides our people with the knowledge that they can talk openly about the issues affecting their work and know the focus of the leader will be on helping remedy the issues rather than place a subtle black mark against someone for speaking out.

Providing our unique people with safe places to work and flourish requires continual thought and attention. From a new employee to a long-standing one, each person needs to feel comfortable within their micro-team to allow the greater team to come together and succeed. A sports team will have areas of the pitch where patterns of play and combinations are well-honed and effective, which in turn interconnects with other areas of the pitch and team. A workplace comprised of micro-teams that work effectively and interconnect with other areas of the organisation will likely be far more successful in terms of output, positive culture, and individual wellbeing.

It’s worth noting that connection and engagement are crucial when we look to support our people in the workplace. Our workplace wellbeing programs are centred around enhancing culture through a combination of teams-based initiatives and content relevant to an individual in keeping with their own specific values and interests. The blending of a team is most effective when individuals feel empowered and valued, and that is achieved first by looking at and listening to our people. The solutions to many organisational wellbeing problems can often be answered by the employees if the employer or people lead is the right person to listen.