Bring Your Soul To Work
Gustavo Razzetti
Demystifying Culture | I equip leaders with actionable insights and tools to accelerate team collaboration and innovation | Change facilitator and best-selling author ??
We live in a strange paradox: technology has blurred the lines between work and play. Yet, it feels more socially acceptable to answer an email during the weekend than to express our personal passions at work. People are not enjoying work as they used to: only 13% of the world’s workforce is actively engaged, according to Gallup, while the majority is either disengaged or actively “boycotting” their employer. The workplace has become so self-less and soul-less that “employees” seem to be paying it back in its own coin.
Trust Means Speaking Up
Individuals are treated as human resources rather than human beings
Traditional organizational structures prioritized obedience over trust. Being an effective leader means being in control, to ensure everyone follows the “marching orders”. Individuals are treated as human resources -rather than human beings- playing a part in a large chain of command.
A perfect example is the “opinions are my own” social media disclaimer. While I understand the need for organizations to protect themselves from misguided comments some employees might share online, are we sending the wrong message? Everything communicates, especially what we don’t say. It seems organizations don’t trust their own employees’ criteria nor encourage them to have a voice of their own. Encouraging group thinking, that disease that causes each team member to think exactly the same, is at the root of why everyone feels soul-less by keeping their opinions at home. I agree with Pichon-Riviere’s findings that the more heterogeneous a group, the more productive it will be. At LAPIZ, we have made a habit of challenging our inner perspective by bringing in outsiders or a fresh set of eyes when working on a project.
Alignment Should be Built on Differences
Every time I introduce this concept, people get nervous. Shouldn’t a group be aligned, they ask? It seems that promoting differences won’t help a group move forward as one. On the contrary, what I’m addressing here is that differences are what brings a group together rather than similarities. People want to learn from others, they want to be challenged by others; they need other perspectives to make their ideas even better. It goes without saying that it might be an uncomfortable and painful process. Alignment shouldn’t get in the way of using those different perspectives to really understand the problem and come up with better solutions. Let that tension happen first and seek for alignment later. If people discuss their differences in front of each other they won’t need to do it in water-cooler conversations.
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Lead Product Designer at Ascension
8 年Excellent Gustavo! When you feel safe around your colleagues you can bring your whole self to work. That is where innovation happens and progress is made. People are free to disagree and argue because it isn't personal – it is moving an idea forward. As long as you can end a conversation without being upset at your coworker or manager. I think everyone should have a human being department :)
Museum / Archivist
8 年So true Lance the paradox is incredible isn't it?
Bringing Responsible Leaders from Good Intentions to Action in Business and People Growth: AI | Cultural Change | Marketing | Innovation.
8 年Great article Gustavo. In the same way that change never comes from the mainstream, it will be always imposible to generate interesting work if everybody comes from the same place and walks exactly at the same pace. To start you need diversity of background and points of view but all this energy and challenging power only can be harnessed by embracing the messiness and accepting the chaos. No one corporate structure in America is tolerant enough to do this so as a poor substitute they adopt -buy- startups created by passionate people that discuss and create.
Enterprise AI innovator, Leader ? Entrepreneur ? Executive ? Strategic Sales & Marketing ? Technologist
8 年Gustavo thank you for sharing. It is great to hear how others are innovating within their organizations.
Marketing Media Consultant
8 年Certainly is more effective honest straightforward respectful communication than backdoor whining...