Bring Your Authentic Selves to Work
Regardless (or maybe because) of the pandemic, many of my friends and acquaintances have decided to change the job. I wish all the best to all of you joining the new organisations and offer you one piece of advice – now is more important than ever to bring your authentic selves to work, rather than conform and blend to (monolith) organisational culture.
When conditions are uncertain and changing, organisations are hindered by people who stick to ingrained and obsolete definitions of being a “good fit” and doing “good work”, and who hold back the best parts of themselves. Professor Cable and his colleagues from Stanford used to teach newcomers to bring their best selves to work by prompting them with the following questions:
1. What three words best describe you as an individual?
2. What is unique about you that leads to your happiest times and best performance at work?
3. Your personal-highlights reel: reflect on a specific time - on a job, or at home - when you were acting the way you were born to act.
4. How can you repeat that behaviour in a new role or even your current job?
For us who are welcoming newcomers to our teams, let's keep in mind that it’s time to move away from monolithic cultures that promote consistency and conformity, to more flexible cultures that celebrate and draw on everyone’s signature strengths and quirks. Doing so will help our organisations develop the flexibility and innovations required to survive and compete in the coming years.
Remembering former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, famous for his emphasis on employee self-governance, or holacracy: “Organisations get stuck because they want predictability of structure. But if it’s the wrong structure, what’s the benefit of being predictably wrong?”. This unconventional CEO, was not afraid to create “a little weirdness.” In fact, it’s Zappos’ core value. He has proved that organisations are more likely to innovate and thrive when they unleash the potential of individuals and the power of self-organising teams. At Zappos, they've always encouraged employees to move around to find the intersection of what they are passionate about, what they are good at, and what adds value to the company. For doing it right we all have to bring our authentic selves at work.