How often do you take time out to pause and contemplate on people’s everyday lives – lives that are lived so differently to our own?
Today’s world bombards us with reams of imagery that cover all extremes of emotions in all corners of the world, from conflicts that crush our souls to juvenile human behaviours that make us laugh out loud – LOL! Such polarised emotions can leave us exhausted, but fortunately for most of us, we’re often able to park such emotions in a place that allows us to function in a relatively normal manner.
Of course, troublesome emotions are not confined to daily newscasts and social media channels, but are often playing out within our workplace too, making them more difficult to ignore. And, with no ‘magical microscope’ to see into the minds of those around us, how can we work with staff members whose thoughts or personality traits are holding them back from showing their emotions?
Often, consideration for staff can easily slip off the radar when managers are purely focused on tasks and results to be achieved in the organisation, leaving little room – let alone time – for the airing of unhappy staff members’ worries or discord, until it’s too late. This is when we may, for instance, find staff feeling underappreciated, disengaged, or not knowing how to develop their skills or perform at their best.
There are many ways in which work environments can be created that make it less likely for such problems to occur and persist.
Four ways to improve work environments
Demonstrate a sense of urgency
Problems that relate to people at work are often not recognised as quickly as they should be and deserve to be. Issues in the work place (actual or virtual; from shopfloor to ‘WFH’) that seem relatively minor from the perspective of an outsider can in fact be of huge importance to those who are experiencing it first-hand. Erring on the side of caution and showing respect for others suggests that having a sense of urgency is often beneficial here.
Regular communication
Employees, workers, staff and colleagues need, and expect, to feel heard and valued, especially by their manager, team leader or colleague to whom they report. They want to – sometimes literally – be seen. This doesn’t mean that long meetings or check-ins need to be held at a fixed frequent interval with a set minimum duration; it means that staff feel that, in the way they communicate, their colleague shows genuine interest and maintains close communication channels: an open-door policy with few exceptions.
Values that are put into practice
Leaders have a responsibility to create, or at least uphold, a values system that is lived and respected by the members of the organisation – including themselves. Discussing the values of the team and exploring what they mean for the workers helps to ensure these values actually contribute to how people do their work and how to work together. Values that are put into practice become lived, real values.
Psychological safety
Organisations that address issues, challenges and frictions make them discussable and invite different viewpoints. When organisations do this, they encourage a sense of psychological safety. This enhances employee engagement, creativity, learning and satisfaction at work. Doing this helps to address risks and ultimately reduce harmful outcomes and unwanted practices. Such risk management means facilitating psychological safety. Good for staff, the organisation and its customers. A safe bet.
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