Overcoming the Resistance to the Human Work

Yesterday’s article tried to present a comprehensive view of both the causes and the symptoms of the resistance we all at times exhibit towards the human work.?

In today’s video , Ffion Jones talks you through some of the signs you can look out for to diminish the effects of this in your own workplace.?

If you’re a leader reading this then your role in the topic is evidently greater but it is vital to recall that we can all do better and assume a degree of personal responsibility regarding this and that irrespective of what level of the organisation you are in, and irrespective if you believe you can affect the attitude towards people work collectively or not, you can -and should- still check your own bias, unwillingness or lack of enthusiasm towards it.

In other words yes it is the organisation’s to-do to give you the tools and the space to do the human work, undoubtedly. And yes, their sincerity in asking for this work is easy to doubt judging on past performance and they will only be able to regain your trust when they would have replaced sterile surveys with genuinely useful software and strategies and then rewarded us all for engaging with them but, even before they do that, we still have to show up ourselves.

What “showing up” consists of is of course very personal and therefore different for all of us but it begins with unflinchingly admitting and internalising the need for the human work and it continues with a conscious effort of investing time into it with regularity.?

Paradoxically, the less we fight the need for the work -subconsciously as we may be doing- the less difficult the work in itself is.

This work, as Ffion rightfully remarks is both of an individual and a group nature.?

When it comes to individual human work - the self-care piece is finally starting to become integral and unquestionably needed for most leaders these days and ideally, that ought to trickle down in the organisation -hopefully in an intentional and intelligently driven way that is intended to lower HumanDebt and not “under wraps” or in a subdued fashion- so it is important that each of us does more to establish what that work looks like *FOR US* and do it consistently.?

But as the video reminds us, the group, team level human work is where the magic is at if we are after the higher performance that comes from psychological safety and flow and Ffion is urging us to be protective of those spaces of honest dialogue and of the times they inhabit because it is in those spaces that we can connect to the rest of the team and grow together by modifying our behaviours.

Chances are if you are seeing this video none of this is news to you and you are already a Human Work Superhero who has been advocating this for aeons, and in that case, all you can focus on is helping those around you stop rolling their eyes, stop citing excuses, stop using being busy as a reason not to do the work, stop complaining about the tools for the sake of it and stop postponing the hard work. Help them stop resisting the work by reaffirming the science and guiding them to as many quick wins as you can and then double your own efforts to protect and nurture yourself while you wait for them to arrive at the point you’re at.?

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At?PeopleNotTech ?we make?software ?that measures and improves Psychological Safety in teams, come see a DEMO.

“Nothing other than sustained, habitual, EQed people work at the team level aka “the human work” done BY THE TEAM will improve any organisation’s level of Psychological Safety and therefore drop their levels of HumanDebt?.”

To order the "People Before Tech: The Importance of Psychological Safety and Teamwork in the Digital Age" book go to this Amazon?link