BACK TO BASICS: HUMANITY AND WORK.

It seems to me that many of the issues that are currently being debated about leadership and employees could be solved if we just went back to the basics.

What do I mean??As in anything, there are always two sides - sometimes more - to any story. There are great employers and there are terrible employers. There are great employees and terrible employees. It’s not exclusively up to either the employer, or the employee, to ‘fix’ all the issues that seem to be rife in the workplace.?

I see many posts, articles, discussions and debates from both sides of the equation and it really seems to me, that more often than not, the issues stem from a lack of basic common courtesy and basic respect.? Plus a large dose of inability to communicate. When I say ‘communicate’ I’m talking about a two-way flow of information. Articulating and listening. Being clear in what we say and not just hearing noises coming out of the other person’s mouth, but actually actively listening and hearing and understanding what they’re saying. ?

As I said, it’s a two-way street. We can articulate as clearly and accurately as we like, but if others aren’t listening, hearing or understanding, there’s a failure to communicate. We can listen, hear and process what someone is saying, but if they’re not articulating clearly or accurately, we will never understand what they’re telling us.

Not to mention the silent communication - all the ‘behind-the-scenes’ messages conveyed by facial expression, body language and tone of voice.

So that leaves us with a difficult challenge. If it’s not any particular group’s ‘problem’, but it’s ‘everyone’s’ problem, how on earth do we overcome and rectify the underlying factors of all the unhappiness being expressed about the workplace?

I’m not a psychologist, a therapist, a communication expert or a mediator, I’m a tech C.E.O.?with an earlier background in H.R. These are simply some things I’ve observed and the thoughts I’ve had about them. As you know, if you’ve been following me for any length of time, my passion is helping make our work life better, easier and more efficient so that our work life doesn’t become our life’s work.?So what I’ve been observing is concerning because it affects life in multiple areas.

My thoughts on how to ‘fix’ things are simple.?Maybe not easy, but simple. If we would all do three things, it would eliminate a huge percentage of the issues, conflicts and misunderstandings we face on a daily basis. I think it would also help those who are neurodivergent, or otherwise ‘different’ in any way, from the majority and create environments where inclusion, diversity, equality and so on didn’t need to be talked about because it would be a normal part of life.

Of the three things necessary, this one is the most important in my opinion:

Respect people as human beings because they are human beings.

Remember that every other person we come in contact with is a human being. As such they are just as worthy of respect, compassion, civility, etc. as we ourselves are. That can be summed up in the instruction: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”?This is irrespective of them ‘earning’ respect - I’m not referring to the kind of respect that is earned. I’m talking about a respect based on the intrinsic value of any human being.

This alone would solve so many issues.

Is the person you’re dealing with ‘different’ to you in any way??Well, of course they are. Even if you share many characteristics, either physically, mentally or in any other area… you are both individuals and therefore have independent emotions, thoughts, influences etc. each of which makes us unique individuals and different from everyone else.

Respecting these differences and being courteous and considerate removes artificial barriers that often get in the way of good communication and cooperation. Even if we disagree, we can still be respectful and treat the other person as we would like them to treat us when we disagree.?

The second most important thing is:

Listen. Hear. Understand.?

It’s not that difficult to listen. All you have to do is stop talking.?Stop thinking about what you want to say.?Restrain the impulse to immediately fire back a response, and focus your mind on what the other person is saying. When you do that, you will have a much better idea of what they’re trying to communicate. Then, in order to make sure that you’ve really heard them and accurately understood what they’re saying, it’s a good idea to repeat back to them what you think they’ve said so that they can either confirm or clarify.

The third most important thing is:

Practice accurately sharing information. ?

Most of us are under pressure during the work day. Everything has to be done a.s.a.p…. or so we feel. So whether we’re speaking, or writing, we tend to fire off our message with little thought to the actual words we’re using. To us, it’s clear. We have the background, the context and the end result clear in our minds. Unfortunately, the other person mostly does not. They can’t see into our minds, read between the lines, fill in the blanks and jump from A to Z accurately… We lost them at about C. ?

I’ve written some time ago about how to communicate clearly so I’m not going to go into a whole lot of detail on that now.?

Suffice it to say that I’m really proud of what we’ve created in #Optevo to help facilitate the way we work and make the workday easier for all of us. But, the 3 things I’ve highlighted in this article are are on us to do…?And they’re not that difficult either, but they are life-changing. It’s up to each of us to internalize and become constantly aware of, and hone our skills.

I believe that if we do, we will see some amazingly positive changes happening both at work and personally.

What do you think? What would you add to this?

#Communicate #ActiveListening #Respect #Employee #TeamMember #Leadership #HybridWork #RemoteWork #Optevo #CWM #business #technology #innovation #FutureOfWork?