Leaders in Conversation: Collective wisdom
Throughout the first season of Leaders in Conversation, guests discussed their perspectives on creating an inclusive and positive workplace culture where everyone can thrive. We brought together all of the leaders for a debate on the key themes of the series: how to thrive in the online space; the future of work; and the most important qualities needed for leadership. Here’s a flavour of what they discussed
What does it mean to be human at work?
Bella Abrams: I think being human is being “me”, not least because I am human but also because there has been an idea that when you are at work that you have to present a front, and that front is a corporate front rather than about bringing your whole self. I prefer not to do that. You can be authentic, you can have integrity, honesty and frankness. All of those things are about who you are and why you’re good at what you do. If you don’t bring all of those things with you, people would sense the lack of integrity and wouldn’t trust you.
Simone Fenton-Jarvis: Being human is about the connection that happens within teams. Love does belong in the workplace with colleagues. It’s got to be that connection, that belonging, where we have got a purpose. Also, being human recognises that we are not perfect and that things will go wrong. What matters is how we react to that, to recognise failures and push forward and improve — so, welcoming failure and being brave enough to own it and move past it.
Vimla Appadoo: It’s not just about being able to be yourself, it’s about having the choice to be yourself. I think it’s really important that we empower people to decide who they want to be and which parts they might not want to bring into the workplace and which parts they do. Creating a space for you to be whoever you need to be at that time.
Anne Archer: What Vimla said is really important. It’s about choice and psychological safety. You need feel that it’s okay not to speak up and that it’s okay when you do speak up. For leaders, one of the core qualities is being able to listen really well to the whole person. Is there something going on in the background that you’re not picking up? Can you allow space for that to be named and heard and talked through? Sometimes it’s as much about being able to listen really well and react and respond that helps to create safety. It’s when we don’t share and we don’t express that we can get ourselves into all sorts of challenges.
Penny Lee: What prevents humanness at work is bureaucracy and outdated structures, so the micromanaging, the structures, the desk sitting requirements, for e.g. people thinking that if someone’s not sat at their desk in the office for so many hours that they’re not doing the work. This time has really thrown that up in the air; everyone’s had to be not be in the office and have proven that they can be just as productive and sometimes even better.
AmandaMichelle Echevarria: It is absolutely important to be yourself. We have all this technology and now it’s saving lives because its creating safe spaces to talk to people and to talk about our fears. In the workplace, the great leaders are the ones who are talking and taking the time to make a deep connection with others through this technology. It won’t ever take the place of a hug but we can use what we’ve got.
How do we adapt ourselves to this virtual world? Where we are “face-to-face” but not in the traditional sense of the world and so are missing some of the social cues we would normally have when speaking with people?
Simone Fenton-Jarvis: Maybe we all need training because we don’t get the same cues. For example, you can’t see if I am fidgeting or if I am uncomfortable. There have been a lot of conversations around ‘how do we onboard people in the remote world and build trust? How do we get that relationship?’ There’s a lot to be said for being present with someone physically to build that relationship, and so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the coming months and years.
Vimla Appadoo: It’s the nuances: the fidgeting that you don’t see or when you walk into an office and you’ve had a crap morning and you feel like crying. Your manager might pick up on that and take you out for coffee. That’s just not seen any more. For me, if someone messages me and asks ‘are you ok for a quick call?’ I instantly think something bad has happened and I’ve done something wrong. Whereas if someone came up to my desk and just wanted to have a chat, I wouldn’t have that anxiety. It takes learning and leadership to guide and support people through online conversations in a way that we have not really had it before.
Anne Archer: I’m finding that people are being more understanding about the continuum of mental health and how we are all very ‘up and down’ and how some people are being really triggered at the moment and what conditions have been the trigger. Having more knowledge enables you to be less afraid of asking questions, and by having those open conversations you can listen to connect rather than listening to judge or ask your question.
Penny Lee: The phone can be good for listening. Sometimes Zoom is too much as it’s in your personal space and you may not want someone to see everything that’s going on behind you. A phone call is much easier. It’s more natural and you can just focus on the listening.
Simone Fenton-Jarvis: Our boundaries are being challenged. When else would you go on a call with a customer to look around your house or the bookshelf behind me? It feels like we’re bringing the work life into our home life. There are a lot of positives coming with that. It’s more human. But it’s also blurring the boundaries. Are we were sleeping at work or are we working at home? Some organizations have said that if you’re having a zoom call you must have your camera turned on, which is unfair and not the human way to do things. There’s been a lot of people push back on that. For example, some people have been asked to join calls at 9am when the kids are still in giddy mode from waking up or they’ve not had chance to grab a shower. They don’t want to be going on a zoom call and turning on the camera. The workplace needs to adapt to the real world that we’re all in if it wants to be more human.
Vimla Appadoo:One of the things I miss the most about being in an office is the walking meetings and just getting out into the fresh air. The more we’re forcing people to sit at a computer and be seen on a video, the less we’re encouraging people to get out and get fresh air. The big opportunity that I’ve seen missed is a voice call where everyone is encouraged to go out for a walk at the same time.
We’re so used to measuring output, be it hours in the office or by widgets produced. Do we need to measure things differently now?
AmandaMichelle Echevarria: I think we all need to revisit this in relation to our mission, our vision and our reason for being. If you go to a plant, they need to make quality products. But it’s about the quality of their lives also. To get results, you have to go through people first. There is a human side. Maybe it’s about asking different questions, such as how are you feeling about this? Are we getting the numbers? How are we going to get there? That will take a team effort and trust.
Simone Fenton-Jarvis:We can’t measure everything. I can think of people in my team that when they’re around I know the team performs better as they pick everybody up. We have a good laugh and we miss them when they’re not there. How do we measure the humanness that they bring to the team?
Anne Archer: Can I just have a shout out for Kate Raworth and Doughnut Economics. She talks about rethinking and redoing business, living and health. Its an integrated approach that measures success in different ways, not just economic metrics, but the quality of lives and the way education is delivered.
Bella Abrams: There are some easy metrics that I can use that show whether my team are delivering what they need to: it’s about whether the systems are up; whether the customers are happy; whether we are meeting project timescales. It’s not about the time that you’re at your desk, it’s about what you produce. It means you do have to spend a bit of time actually describing in simple terms what it is they are delivering and the kind of value and the output you are expecting. It’s not easy. There’s a need to lead from the front, to follow it up with examples of what you meant and to trust people. If others can see people who are taking the Mickey then it undermines trust across the whole team.
Leaders in conversation now has its own linkedin group where you can join the conversation: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8961007/ and its own youtube channel, where you can watch all of the past recordings: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjMIGWl59uH-sw-Yd2Hl5IQ
Series two starts 7th October. To be the first to hear about next series, please email amanda@northernvaluecreators.com
