Leaning into your role as a creator of culture

For many of the organisations we come across in our work, people are a little uncomfortable being really honest about improvements that could be made to their culture. 

It’s so much easier to talk about what’s right, isn’t it??

It's satisfying to tick boxes.

To celebrate our fruit on reception, our bike schemes. To shout about our wellbeing fayres for Mental Health Awareness Week on LinkedIn. 

If we want to unlock a culture of wellbeing and optimum performance, we have to start by exploring and exposing where there’s room for improvement. 

We have to move away from endlessly improving the lives of the 'already engaged', just 13%* of the UK workforce, and walk into the murkier waters of those who aren't – that’s everybody else then.

We have to uncover what's preventing the people in our organisation from thriving.

The wellbeing of a culture in an organisation is very similar to the wellbeing of us as individuals. 

Ill health starts with a few niggles. I personally ignored some physical and mental niggles when I was pursuing my career in marketing. A headache here, aches and pains there, a few tearful moments of overwhelm.

Fast forward a few years and I was utterly floored by a chronic disease which took me years to get a handle on.

In an organisation that might look like: engagement survey results dipping, the odd narky Glassdoor comment, a 'lifer' deciding to jump ship. 

These are like cultural niggles. A canary in the coal mine. Left unaddressed, they can, over time, grow and become toxic. 

Before you know it, the 8/10* people are already feeling burnt out, tip over into sick leave or leaving altogether. 

Or you end up like Brewdog and someone blows the whistle on the elements of a culture they can no longer withstand, with truly explosive outcomes.

I believe there is a common barrier to healthy culture and optimum performance and researcher Brené Brown has found the same on assessing 400K pieces of data from 150K Global Board Level leaders at companies as successful as Pixar and IBM.

Guess what that common barrier is from this list? 

1. Critical thinking

2. Inspiring innovation

3. Making tough decisions

4. Lack of bravery & courageousness

5. Lack of empathy and relationship-building

It’s 4 – lack of bravery & courageousness.

What's been found to be missing in these hugely successful businesses (at least some of the time) is……

• The courage to speak freely without judgement or consequence

• The courage to say no

• The courage to take smart risks

• The courage to opt into vital conversations

• The courage to learn and grow from mistakes

As a leader of your organisation, you are an expert, a gatekeeper, a potential agent of change. 

YOU can spot niggles and encourage your people to speak up with candour, by engaging in brave conversations and reflecting honestly with yourself and your fellow leaders. 

And then you have the intel to do something about it. To proactively create shifts that help people to thrive.

And those interventions will be completely bespoke to your organisation. Tailored to the pain points your people feel held back or harmed by. It might be:

• Reviewing systems and processes to improve efficiency

• Reviewing policies to make them fairer, more flexible or more trust based

• Putting in place new initiatives such as coaching, mentoring and reverse mentoring to provide more support

• Role modelling healthier boundaries around working hours

• Training line managers so that they have more confidence in managing performance

And this is not all for "the greater good", these types of measurable and targeted interventions also translate into engagement and productivity. 

Businesses that invest in their people's wellbeing outperform their competitive set - are 21% more profitable**, 20% more productive** and have 34% lower turnover***.

So what small action will you take today to lean into the reality of your culture? Could you…

·        Ask a direct report what’s holding them back?

·        Take a proper look at the engagement survey and identify meaningful action at a board level?

·        Reflect on your own experience of work – what small change would help you personally to thrive? Share it. Start a debate.

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” Plato.

So, ready to take the first step from reflection to action?

If you're serious about making courageous shifts in your culture, we can help you start with clarity and intention. Our coaching programmes are designed to support leaders to uncover blind spots, develop braver conversations, and turn insight into meaningful change.

👉 Register your interest in coaching today – Let's get started | TheActivationProject and let’s begin the real work of helping your people thrive.

 *Gallup 2024

**Gallup 2016

***Gallup 2010