Questions as Answers: Workhuman Live 2023

I have just returned from my third Workhuman Live conference emcee'd by Kiesha Garrison . This conference fills my soul because, as Workhuman says, “Without humans, it’s just work.”

The best part of this conference is the amazing people I meet: HR and other leaders looking to build high-performing and fulfilling workplaces.

The second best part is the speakers; this year did not disappoint. As I do every year I've compiled some key takeaways from the three days of presentations and panels.

This year I have done so via a series of questions you can bring back to your workplace.

Reshma Saujani , Founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First?

Opening speaker Reshma couldn’t say it any clearer - we will not close the workplace gender gap without:

1. Pay Equity,
2. Paid Parental Leave, and
3. Affordable Child Care.

When you ask her to dig into that (as I did), she explains that policy changes are only the first step; changing the workplace culture to support these shifts is the only way for them to make a real difference. She suggests corporate leaders ask themselves:

“What is the work we need to do to create a culture where women can ask for what they need versus hiding what matters to them?"

One of the audience members did just that, mentioning that the mother’s nursing room did not have refrigeration. “We’ll get on that!” Workhuman’s Sarah Whitman responded.

Eric Mosley , Founder and CEO of Workhuman

I have previously shared Workhuman and Gallup data showing that a culture of appreciation and respect was the first thing people wanted from their workplace. People want to be acknowledged and have their efforts and value recognized. At a time when 43% of employees report “feeling invisible,” this is more important than ever.

Eric also showed that giving recognition benefits the giver in several fundamental ways. They are more likely to:

• Love their job
• Recommend their company
• Identify as highly engaged
• Say they have a positive work experience

Have you recognized someone at work in the last two months?

Esther Perel, Psychotherapist, Author, Podcaster

Esther opened her keynote with this statement and question: “The quality of relationships determines our quality of life. How much do we actually invest in our relationship skills at work?”

Since she is a relationship expert, Esther discussed how romantic and professional relationships are on parallel tracks, experiencing the same three significant shifts:

1. A rise of unprecedented expectations — Our romantic partners and jobs are expected to provide so much more meaning for us now. Partners are expected to be soulmates, and jobs are expected to provide us with purpose, meaning, belonging, and community.
2. A rise in “emotional capitalism” — In romantic relationships, we use language like “hedging our bets,” “in the market for,” and “supply and demand.” Finding a partner has become like a job search. And vice versa, we now bring traditionally personal, emotional terms to work — authenticity, vulnerability, trust, psychological safety, and passion.
3. A shift from a production economy to a service economy — Committed relationships used to be about putting food on the table, and now we talk about having partners that help us become the best version of ourselves. People used to leave marriages because they were unhappy; now people leave because they think they can be happier. Similarly, at work, we expect managers to help us develop, or we go. Plus we are showing less patience, becoming the equivalent of “swiping left” at work.

Her advice to deal with these shifts is to ask the team, and yourself:

How would you like to be supported?

Eric M. Bailey , Author, The Cure for Stupidity

Ask any manager what the hardest part of their job is, and the majority will say, “dealing with people.” But ask them the best part of their job, and they will say, “The people I work with.”

So which is it? Eric says we like to think the problem is “THOSE people” — those that are hard to communicate and connect with, but connecting with people is not as complicated as we pretend.

Eric gave us two simple lists of questions to spark conversation. Below is the first list; you can have him speak at your company to see the second list and a dozen more insights that were a part of his fast-moving cornucopia of laughs, inspiration and a well-placed video from LL Cool J!

How are you connecting with people at work?

Claude Silver , Chief Heart Officer, Vayner Media

What is a Chief Heart Officer? Here is the simple job description and associated mission:

Claude plays her described role full-out. She told the audience we need many things to achieve greatness — knowledge, determination, and grit. But there is one thing that often gets overlooked: it drives innovation and increases happiness levels. It supports well-being and even positively affects the bottom line: EMPATHY. Claude considers it non-negotiable.

How is your organization infusing empathy in a way that impacts every single employee?

Side note: I think a Chief Heart Officer role might be the only job that would pull me out of corporate retirement!

Cy Wakeman , NY Times Best-Selling Author, Researcher, Speaker

Cy thinks that we are coddling our people in harmful ways. A lot of what we have been trained to do is enable our employees to be dependent on us rather than have shared accountability.

We are increasingly becoming energy wasters, and this is critical because we use energy for three things:

• Results
• Engagement
• Well-being?

Leaders need to be energy translators so that we stop indulging and enabling employees and allow them to rise. Managers can be kind and empathetic without being enablers.

Cy shared a plethora of tools to empower employees, and one was called “SBAR” originally created by the US Navy. These are four simple steps for bringing a problem to someone else’s attention. The employee prepares the SBAR before coming to their manager with the challenge, turning a 45-minute discussion into a more legitimate “Do you have a minute?”

What will you say the next time one of your people asks if you have a minute?

Elizabeth Derby , Kincentric

Elizabeth facilitated a panel to discuss Kincentric’s research on Five Key Game Changers for talent outcomes. Details from their research are available here .

She asked the audience:

What is the most significant barrier to achieving your desired talent outcomes?

Our number one choice was Lack of Manager Capability, followed by Resistance to or Fear of Change. Of course, the least selected option was Limited HR capabilities and skills, proving that a room full of HR people are indeed human!

Luvvie Ajayi Jones , NY Times Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Troublemaker!

This keynote started with stories of a cheeky Nigerian girl named Luvvie, who was unfiltered and courageous. The now adult Luvvie tells us it’s not easy to be the troublemaker, namely, the person who says, “I think we should think about this differently.”?

It is easier to be one of the people who think:

1. This is not my department, not my job, or not my concern?
2. I disagree, but I’m worried about the ramifications if I speak up?
3. I am TIRED of being the one who always has to speak up or speak out; it’s someone else’s turn

We have all been one of those three people at some point, and Luvvie’s call to action is to break that thought pattern to embrace being a professional troublemaker. She gave us conversation starters to enable that role:

• I think we can make it a little more thoughtful and inclusive.?
• I will challenge complacency today. Can you be the second or the third?
• I’m going to say this in the best way I know how.
• I want to be proud of anything I have my name on.
• I will show up as my full self; I need you to do the same.

Luvvie left us with this question:

How can you move forward with less fear?

It is a question I will be reminding myself to ask every day.