How to help people love what they do at work
David Green ????
Co-Author of Excellence in People Analytics | People Analytics leader | Director, Insight222 & myHRfuture.com | Conference speaker | Host, Digital HR Leaders Podcast
We have to work in a more agile way where we have to give people freedom to learn
In many respects the COVID-19 pandemic is essentially a people crisis and it has been heartening to witness that many organisations we work with at Insight222 have put the safety and wellness of their workforce at the centre of their response to the crisis.
However, multiple studies show that an alarming majority of employees are actively disengaged and lack motivation. They are not helping their organisations and by suppressing what neuroscientists call “our seeking systems” organisations are not helping their employees by focusing on making work routine instead of creative and joyful.
My guest for this week's episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast is Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. Dan explains that because we spend most of our waking hours at work, his mission is to spend his working hours trying to understand how people can feel like work is part of their real life, rather than the long commute to the weekend.
After recording this episode with Dan, I had an extra zest and spring in my step for the rest of the day. I am confident that many of you will experience the same positive reaction after listening to Dan's energy, passion, ideas and the evidence he provides that backs this up.
HR’s goal is to create an organisation where people feel safe to experiment and learn and then share that learning
You can listen by clicking on the image below or by visiting the podcast website here.
In our conversation Dan and I discuss:
- Why biology as opposed to lack of motivation causes the malaise of workplace disengagement: ("We created organisations that are great for scale, but not consistent with how our brains evolved")
- How by galvanising three triggers, leaders can activate their employees seeking systems and drive exploration and learning: ("You don't need a 2 or 3 million pound budget to make this thing work, it really is more about getting a mindset of giving employees the chance to trigger what they already want to trigger")
- How HR can use job crafting to drive engagement, stimulate learning, create innovation and essentially enable people to bring their best selves to work: ("Job crafting is really disruptive because what it starts with is you don't know what the job is until you know the person.")
- Early insights from a real-life experiment Dan is leading with an organisation involving employees shutting down email, turning off phones and dedicating time to crafting their roles to their strengths
- Why leaders need to not only recognise the need for changing the way our organisations work, but need to act also: ("There is a difference between recognising something cognitively and acting different behaviourally."
- How helping employees understand the impact of the work improves resilience and creates innovation
- Examples from companies like Microsoft, Randstad and Dairy Crest who are using techniques like job crafting to drive employee experience and outcomes
- A three-step process for people to stimulate their full potential as outlined in Dan’s upcoming book, Exceptional.
This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how neuroscience can help drive culture, engagement and wellness in their organisations. So that is Business Leaders, Organisational Psychologists, Chief HR Officers, Senior HR Leaders and anyone in a People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.
By enabling employees to experiment, play to their strengths and personalise purpose, leaders can make organisations great places to work that unlock value, for customers, employees and the enterprise
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
To listen to the Podcast and read the transcript of my discussion with Dan, head over to myHRfuture by clicking on this link: How to Help People Love what they do at Work.
WATCH THE VIDEOS
As well as the podcast, there will be a couple of videos available on the myHRfuture YouTube channel highlighting two of the topics Dan and I covered in our conversation. In the video below, Dan explains how job crafting drives employee engagement.
GET INVOLVED
If you enjoyed listening to this week's podcast episode, I'd be grateful if you could take the following steps:
- Please subscribe to the Digital HR Leaders podcast and weekly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
- Please take the time to rate the show on iTunes. We rely on your feedback and support to make the podcast, so this is very helpful!
- Who would you like to see me interview in future episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
- Lastly, don’t forget to share on social media with your friends and colleagues, your support is always greatly appreciated!
THANK YOU
A huge thank you to Dan for such a lively, insightful and energising conversation and for sharing his time and knowledge. You can check out Dan's website at dan-cable.com (where you can pre-order Dan's new book Exceptional, and buy his first two books Alive at Work and Change to Strange), you can also connect with Dan on LinkedIn and follow Dan on Twitter @DanCable1.
I also recommend checking out the video below, which perfectly captures Dan's energy, style and ideas on why organisations need to adapt.
Thanks also to Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa, Caroline Styr and the myHRfuture team for creating the Digital HR Leaders podcast and video series.
CATCH UP ON THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST
If you haven't listened to all of the episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below.
- Summer Special #3: Torin Ellis - What is HR's Role in Creating Diverse and Inclusive Organisations?
- Summer Special #2: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic - What is the role of leadership in times of crisis?
- Summer Special #1: Amy Edmondson - How to create Psychological Safety at work
- EP 40: David Green - How can People Analytics drive business value?
- EP 39: Jeremy Shapiro - How People Analytics has progressed in the last ten years
- EP 38: Heather McGowan - How Covid-19 is accelerating the Future of Work
- EP 37: Thomas Rasmussen - How National Australia Bank has scaled People Analytics
- EP 36: Ravin Jesuthasan - Six imperatives for HR in the Future of Work
- BONUS EPISODE: Amit Mohindra & Dawn Klinghoffer - What is the future of People Analytics?
- EP 35: Peter Hinssen - What is the role of HR in driving and enabling innovation?
- EP 34: Bruce Daisley - What do business leaders want from HR?
- EP 33: Dirk Jonker - Why People Analytics needs to behave like a start-up
- EP 32: Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic - The role of storytelling in People Analytics and Data Visualisation
- EP 31: Piyush Mathur - How Johnson & Johnson uses People Analytics to drive business outcomes
- BONUS EPISODE - Heather Whiteman, RJ Milnor & Ian Bailie (Live at PAFOW) - How to develop the HR skills of the future
- EP 30: Katy Gray - How Arup uses reward data to drive behavioural change
- EP 29: Uri Ort - What is the future of talent assessment?
- EP 28: Zara Nanu - The role of People Analytics in Gender Pay Analysis
- EP 27: Julia Shaw - How can technology reduce bias in the workplace
- EP 26: Stela Lupushor - How HR can be a Catalyst for Change
- BONUS EPISODE: Volker Jacobs - How to scale Employee Experience
- EP 25: Julie Digby - How HR Drives Transformation and Org Design at Mars
- EP 24: RJ Milnor - How McKesson uses ONA to identify what drives high performance in sales
- EP 23: Rupert Morrison - Rethinking Workforce Planning & Organisation Design
- EP 22: Dawn Klinghoffer - The Evolution of People Analytics at Microsoft
- EP 21: John Boudreau - Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and it's impact on HR
- EP 20: Tanuj Kapilashrami - How Standard Chartered designed an exceptional Employee Experience
- EP 19: Anna Tavis: What is Agile HR and how are companies adopting it?
- EP 18: Sarah Johnson: How to use employee surveys to create strategic value
- EP 17: Leena Nair - How HR drives business value at Unilever
- EP 16: Keith McNulty - HR 3.0: more data driven, more agile and more business focused
- EP 15: Jason Corsello - The Shift From HR Tech to Work Tech
- EP 14: Jill Larsen - How does the CHRO successfully partner with the CEO
- EP 13: Frida Polli - How AI and Behavioural Science can reduce bias in recruiting
- EP 12: Ian O'Keefe - The Workforce Analytics journey at JP Morgan Chase
- EP 11: Dave Ulrich - The role of HR in the Digital Age
- EP 10: Jordan Pettman - How Nestlé uses People Analytics to measure Gender Pay Gap and Equity
- EP 9: Catalina Schveninger - The Evolution of Corporate Learning at Vodafone
- EP 8: Richard Collins - How is Automation, AI and Analytics changing recruiting?
- EP 7: Katarina Berg - Spotify's CHRO on Leading HR in a digital world
- EP 6: Nick Holley - How HR can become more business relevant
- EP 5: Eden Britt - How to build a People Analytics team in a global organisation | The People Analytics journey at HSBC
- EP 4: Yvette Cameron - How Blockchain will disrupt the Future of Work and HR Technology
- EP 3: Didier Elzinga - How to Create a Culture First Company
- EP 2: Edward Houghton - The Head of Research at the CIPD on Driving Business Performance with People Data
- EP 1: Sharon Doherty - How to transform HR to be more digital and building a culture of diversity
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David is a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As an Executive Director at Insight222, he helps global organisations create more cultural and economic value through the wise and ethical use of people data and analytics. Prior to joining Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David was the Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM Watson Talent. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations embark upon and accelerate their people analytics journeys. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast on myHRfuture.
Senior Tech & Marketing Recruiter | Talent Sleuth | Connecting Growing Businesses with Exceptional Talent at Capital Edge Recruitment
4 年Great podcast,?interesting and insightful. I would be interested in reading - Exceptional, Alive at Work.
Master Principal Solutions Consultant at Oracle
4 年I think you are absolutely right, David. There’s a delicate balance between managing development along lines directly relevant to the organisations needs and allowing colleagues a license to roam. The intersection supports the emergence of new approaches and even strategies that are colleague-led rather then centrally driven.
CHRO Navy Federal Credit Union
4 年Leaders focused on being empathetic and the best listeners. Throw out the job descriptions and encourage leaders to enable employees to create their futures and solve the biggest organizational problems through learning and entrepreneurship.
Job crafting sounds very interesting and love the way we are engaging neuroscience to ensure we generate affiliation and purpose dynamically - but are we moving back into person specifications vs jobs for the org structure - how rewards models align in this context would be interesting ??
Fractional CHRO | Helping Tech Companies Grow with Data-Driven People Management | Leadership Development | Emotional Intelligence Psychologist
4 年"It is also the case that if they are in charge of changing that organisation, they become a threat." I loved that Dan brought that up. It happens that people are hired to make changes, but fired because they do that. As a consultant I have to use all my psychological skills in order to read the unspoken text and grasp what CEOs really want to change in the organisation and on themselves. Making leaders understand the consequences of what they are asking for is crucial for the work to be done and change to happen.