Beyond The Posters In The Tea Room

Most of us have seen the posters, been in the morning teas and have read the emails from management teams giving everyone tips on how to look out for one another.

We've heard the quarterly or annual updates from executives, espousing the company 'values' and telling everyone how important they people are to the success of our organisation.

We've read company reports outlining the commitments to social change, environmental sustainability and the desire to engage with 'worthy causes' both here and abroad.

There has never been a shortage of lip service and performative opportunities to talk about what matters to an organisation and their aspirations for their people and the world around them, but after the posters in the tea room and the morning teas, then what?

What happens at your organisation after a strategy meeting when the walls are covered in butchers paper and post-it notes? Are they scrunched up and popped in the bin, never to be properly addressed again? Are concerns from staff, clients and the community dismissed as being too hard to deal with? Too complicated to address? To small of an issue to spend time or money on?

Do you work in an organisation that has an EAP service, but no measurable way to report and discuss issues within management chains? Do you give staff mental health days but not produce meaningful development plans and opportunities for advancement?

Are you part of an organisation that claims to care about the people that it works for, or with, that holds out on paying invoices to suppliers? Do they do things that clearly indicate a lack of care or understanding for staff or the community, but make those decisions as 'business decisions' or out of 'budget concerns'? There are so many organisations that claim to care about 'people' and 'community', but when push comes to shove, consistently make decisions that prioritise short-term cash or earning potential under the guise of 'necessary business decisions'.

When your organisation gives you a day, or half a day to take some 'mental health leave', 'volunteer days' or just to have a breather, do they also reduce your target hours for the month? Sales Targets? Billable hours? Or does the half-day of work simply have to be made up across the rest of the week? Are you expected to volunteer your time doing something outside of your skill set? Doing menial, unskilled work which is supposed to share the double benefit of 'social impact' and 'team building', regardless of what it is or what your team actually does every day for work?

Are you expected to work more than 40 hours a week, under-resourced, without appreciation for the effort, or recognition of the additional hours? Working without a commitment to improve the resources at hand to help you do your job? Is it a matter of course that you have to do more than regular hours, do you feel like it's worth it and that you're valued for that consistent extra effort?

Social Impact, Mental Health, Inclusivity, Diversity and Company Culture cannot be separated and treated as siloed items to be ticked off boxes through a panel discussion once a year or a morning tea, or posters in the tea room. There needs to be more nuanced discussion at the intersection of good business outcomes, and good human outcomes for those inside and outside of your organisation. Different industries, different organisations, different people within each organisation bring a wide variety of opportunities to make change and have positive impact, but broad-strokes, lowest-common-denominator prescriptions for integrating change are inadequate at best, and damaging at worst, to those efforts.

This is not about simply getting a certificate, or ticking a box, or arbitrarily meeting some targets to certify that you are doing good. This is about creating meaningful, long-term, integrated change that supports those inside your organisation and those outside. Improving access to opportunity, and leading the way towards the gold standard of impact.

The Just Be Nice Project work is not simply some paperwork to fill out, or some excursions to meet a need for positive PR. We integrate like any C-Suite function; marketing, operations, technology, human resources... Impact. Expert advice, frameworks and management to not only identify and leverage your unique opportunities for fantastic impacts inside your organisation, but to also deliver access to an eco-system that allows you to participate and contribute to the best possible impact outside of your organisation as well. Taking responsibility for coordinated, managed outcomes - working to a world with equality of opportunity, where everyone is housed, employed and has good mental health.

You don't guess your tax obligations or your marketing plans, so don't guess your opportunities to better look after your people and the communities around you. It is time that we continue to move beyond the posters in the tea room, and change business, for good.

If you are looking for ways to integrate meaningful positive impact into your organisation, become a character-led individual or business; Get in touch with any questions and stay up to date HERE - We'd love to have you on board.

If you'd like to support our work, and ensure that we don't leave anyone in-need behind, you can do so by joining our community of subscribers who are committed to the best possible outcomes for those in need here. It helps us continue to write, share and work with those in need.

JBNProject.com