Blogs – Page 6 – People Smart

Pivoting your culture of ‘me’ into a culture of ‘we’

Where we’ve come from – The journey to ‘me’

The narrative of the individual has been the dominant voice in our culture since the birth of the Enlightenment (“I think, therefore I am.”) Each person was raised to be individual, autonomous, self-reliant, and high achieving. It has been a glorious age of the individual – celebrating our break from the clutches of monarchy to individual freedom and creative expression that resulted in ground-breaking achievements in science, medicine, technology, and education.

Where we are – where’s that selfie-stick!

The rise of the internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s and Web 2.0 (creator culture) ushered in the Instagrammer and Youtuber generation who epitomised the ultimate ‘me’ culture and this has morphed into society – many children now aspire to be the next YouTube star! It’s easily accessible using free platforms to become a ‘star’ but where is this taking us, in society and in the workplace?

Office star shining bright or a full-on galaxy ready to discover?

Let’s face it, the vibe in the office, whether physical or virtual, has a significant bearing on happiness, well-being and productivity so it’s essential to get it right. We all know companies which have a culture of fear where every man and woman are for themselves and this obviously isn’t a recipe for success especially given the current context.

We are rapidly moving into the 4th industrial revolution where technologies (Artificial Intelligence, blockchain and the Internet of Things) are playing a more significant role in our everyday workflow and collaborators are having to adjust their approaches to virtually all aspects of their work accordingly.

It is no longer acceptable to be a ‘me first’ entitled collaborator and a recent study by the University of New Hampshire concluded that in environments of this nature:

Conflicts are more likely

Constructive feedback can be more difficult to receive
Job satisfaction is lower
Expectations can be unrealistic
Passing the blame for failure to others is more likely
The likelihood of taking undue credit for successes is higher

‘Me’ leaders fared even worse as it was concluded that their effectiveness and ability to lead high performing teams was substantially reduced.

Our future will be determined by our ability to get back to ‘we’ and communities will lead the way – if we embrace this collective power

Paradigm shifts do not just happen by chance. They are evolutionary, driven by agents of change – scientific, cultural, philosophical and technological. It is now increasingly believed that refocusing a culture back to an inclusive ‘we’ culture is what is needed to successfully navigate our way into the looming 4th industrial revolution.

Communities will take on more power in organisations and bottom-up, consensus decision making is on the rise. This is surely a good thing but a change of mindset right through the organisation is required for this shift to be realised in an effective way.

5 ways culture-first start-ups are leading the way

Hiring for the best cultural fit is the most important aspect of fostering a community that will be led by consensus decision-making and collaboration. Involving the current collaborators in the hiring process can really help with finding the right cultural fit and also the engagement of existing collaborators. It’s a win-win! For example; pair up team members to interview a candidate around one of the company’s values.

Working environments are also fundamentally important as a basis for a successful ‘we’ culture. Having communal working areas where impromptu conversations or meetings can take place (if face-to-face) and organising virtual coffee breaks if working more online can all help foster a positive vibe.

Technology has a huge influence on our work nowadays so it has to be embraced in an intelligent way, but there is the real risk of over-complicating simple processes and the tech can easily switch from being your friend to your enemy if not managed correctly. Tip: keep it simple and clearly lay down the rules for which apps and software can be used and stick to it by creating a ‘tech charter’ which everyone agrees on. This way, miscommunication can be avoided and face-to-face time can be maximised.

Celebrate your successes! No matter how small, make sure to always acknowledge and celebrate the small wins (as well as the big ones of course!) as business should also be fun. Some companies have a bell that they ring when a deal is closed and others arrange social BBQ nights once per week (socially distanced of course now). More and more companies are progressively getting back into having yearly offsite trips abroad to foster cultures of collaboration and inter-team connectivity which goes a long way to building trust and long-term performance. In short, it works so it’s worth the investment.

Many KPIs are outdated and aren’t suited to a modern collaborative culture of ‘we’ so it’s wise to take a close look at the underlying KPIs in your organisation as these will be driving a lot of the behaviour that can be observed. In order to install and nurture a community culture of ‘we’ focus the KPIs around outcomes not activities. The team members will hence be more focused on putting their energy into achieving the desired result through working closely with their colleagues with a clear focus. The other benefit is that they will be more likely to take ownership of the outcome of their work which will lead to increased job satisfaction. Tip: this can only be achieved if there isn’t a culture of fear (of making a mistake).

It’s safe to say that this road to a ‘we’ culture will be long and windy but it is definitely worth starting out on this journey right now as the companies which do so, will surely be ahead of the pack and quite possibly, some of the leaders of tomorrow.

Article written by: Jeremy Peter Williams

Building a Learning Community with Ian Hardie (Part 1)

As we continue this fascinating series in partnership with The Business Transformation Network, around Leading into the future, we welcome Ian Hardie (Founder at Hardie & Company).

This conversation brings to life Ian’s view on how we can create more ‘pull learning’ situations through technology rather than the historic classroom push learning. Learning needs to be happening in the workplace, in which case for a lot of organisations, video is now a large part of the workplace.

Technology has always however been a large barrier to virtual learning. Individuals have to be taught technology first before getting them to do the learning you need them to do. Despite this, the advantage of everyone now using technology is that everyone now knows how to work, operate and connect virtually, and therefore those barriers of technology can be voided.

As the technology barrier is down, organisations need to think about what the triggers are. How can they encourage and motivate people to want to learn and identify what the impact of learning is? On the other hand, face to face learning will not completely die out and therefore, there will be some occasions where you have to meet in person to be successful

Ian then goes on to discuss whether the move to more virtual environments has created a new challenge for learning, in which he explains that having a learning mindset is key.

“Everyone does their best when they are motivated to do their best.”

This is one of the responsibilities of people who deliver training, learning is to ensure that the brand and desirability is built into the provision they create. Organisations need to ensure that their people are drawn into it.

A phrase identified by Ian is ‘Learning works’ – If people see what impact learning has, then they are motivated and drawn to it even more. The key is that individuals need to understand what will happen once they are engaged in learning and what will happen if they don’t. They need to identify what the missed opportunity is which enables them to want to learn and do things themselves.

Ian acknowledges that we are seeing a variety of trends. Some include:

The modularisation of learning – Learning is being broken down into smaller and smaller chunks. However, with this in place, there is also the risk of taking away that interest and fascination of long term learning.
We will see this facilitation and connection with a coach, mentor or expert which will mean there is more facilitated learning going forward.

Power of Purpose with Jerry Pico (Part 2)

In this interview with Jerry Pico, Co-Lead, Global Culture Initiative at Daiichi Sankyo Co., he talks about his company’s purpose – “To contribute to the enrichment of the quality of life around the world” and how his pharmaceutical firm has a social mission to ‘give back’ through the three core values of “integrity, accountability and innovation”.

Next Jerry explains that, as part of the company-wide culture change they are in the middle of, they administered a diagnostic that led to the ability to link each person’s individual purpose to the company’s purpose, values and strategy.

Another value emerged. Instead of the leadership being more HQ centric, thanks to the pandemic global leadership can be exercised virtually and is more fluid. By embracing diversity and inclusion a leader can contribute whoever they are and wherever they are based.

Jerry ends by describing how pleased he was when a senior leadership group chose to vote for self-awareness as the number one most important leadership competency. A leader cannot be authentic without this. And what does being authentic mean in practice? It means asking questions, listening well, ‘exuding empathy and compassion’ and being true to oneself.

Power of Purpose with Jerry Pico (Part 1)

As we continue our ‘Leading Into The Future’ TV Series, in partnership with The Business Transformation Network, we are eager to welcome and hear from Jerry Pico, (Co-Lead, Global Culture Initiative at Daiichi Sankyo Co), who will be discussing the ‘Power of Purpose’.

With great clarity, and based upon his years of experience in the corporate world, Jerry Pico shares his view that of course it’s OK for a leader to have his or her one values that are not included in the company’s set of core values.

But it IS vital that the leader supports the purpose and strategy and, above all the CORE values of their company.

The leader cannot lead authentically if they do NOT believe in those core values. They must ‘walk the talk’ and the culture must encourage people to call out and give feedback to those who don’t do this.

Jerry Pico says there should be consequences for not doing so and if they do not truly believe in the company’s core values they should leave the organisation.

When asked if there was any potential downside to a purpose driven organisation Jerry says that people could lose sight of their own purpose and blindly follow a leader who does not have the right values, a leader who only wants to control, manipulate and degrade people and the organisational culture.

Building a Learning Communities

If you are a Human Being reading this article then you are at the right place to understand why belonging to a community is important for each one of us!

From childhood our life is built around them: first, our family, then friends with common interests or passions, then colleagues or professionals that share the same experiences or knowledge and many more in other fields of our life. I am sure you see what I mean here: communities are essential for all humans.

And learning capabilities is no exception.

Learning is necessary and important for each person individually, but it also has many benefits in the business environment – among many other factors it contributes to improved performance. Below I would like to look at WHY to buil a learning community, WHAT is done in it and the ADVANTAGES of creating them.

1. WHY is it important to build Learning Communities in your organization?

Learning is an experience!
Do you agree? When you learn something new there is nothing better than putting it into practice. If you are just trying to memorize theoretical concepts, you might not remember a lot. However, if you try and fail and try again the things you theoretically learnt then you are truly learning. And of course, if you succeed in your trials, this is the best part!
Learning communities improve motivation, collaboration and knowledge-transfer
What if your learning experience could be shared with a group of colleagues in a safe environment where everyone can share their own practices? Belonging to a community is essential when learning something: we all are “in the same boat”, we can help each other, there is strong solidarity that is naturally created. The people with whom you are sharing this experience are bound to you in some way. Have you ever experienced this?
In your organization, if you can create learning communities around specific topics it will definitely reinforce your employees’ motivation and collaboration. At Hewlett Packard an informal community of practice emerged around a customer software: employees scheduled a monthly call where attendance was not mandatory. People could come if they were willing to come and available. Thanks to this community, the software significantly evolved and attendance to the monthly meeting was steady, showing the attachment that employees had in this community and the will to help each other to make things better.
Finally, another great reason to build learning communities is the knowledge transfer from one person to another (known as “peer-to-peer” learning). When you create learning communities on specific topics within your organization you are also mixing profiles and experiences. This is a wonderful way to encourage and support internal knowledge-transfer. This was the case for the US airline company JetBlue which implemented a program with senior employees transferring their knowledge to other employees (program was named “JetBlue Scholars”) and resulted in 86% of employees who felt more engaged and 96% willing to stay in the company.

2. WHAT is done in a learning community?

Wenger defined several activities that can be done within a “community of practice” which can also be a learning community. Here are some of them:

Problem-solving
Searching for information
Sharing of experiences
Identifying gaps
Growing confidence
Brainstorming innovative ideas
Developing critical thinking

All these activities cannot be done only at an individual level. If you need to solve specific issues for your business you could create a community of practice around the topic to collectively find and test the solutions.

3. What are the ADVANTAGES of learning communities?

The list of advantages can be very long and here are only just a few ones:

Diversity (views, knowledge, people)
Take a step back on your own practices and knowledge
Engagement & motivation
Integration and satisfaction (promotions in schools
Friendships
Opportunity to know and work with people you might have not had the chance to meet otherwise
Take ownership of your learning (involvement)

4. HOW can I implement learning communities in my organization?

The good news is that you don’t need much to build a learning community! The only thing you have to do is find a topic and create a group of people that are interested in it. Of course, it can start with a “formal” training with an expert, but it is certainly not the only way – the key point is to make people regularly interact and share ideas and experiences on the topic of interest.

Another good news is that you don’t need to have physical communities; people can work digitally (even if the benefits of physical meetings are proved in terms of people’s emotional connections) the key here is that you make sure they have the available tools to communicate properly.

If your learning communities start with a “formal face-to-face” training then make sure that you’ll have at least one facilitator to encourage and bring dynamism within the community.

Do you want to go further? I suggest you read articles and books from Etienne Wenger who has studied in detail the concepts of communities of practice.

PeopleSmart has significant experience in thought partnership, design and delivery of learning community solutions, so if you would like to know how we could help you build your culture and communities around learning, and so much more, it all starts with a conversation.

Building a Learning Community with Martin Barner (Part 2)

In this Part 2 of Martin Barner’s interview about ‘Building a Learning Community’ he poses some key questions including “What do you want to learn?” “What’s the purpose you’re striving towards?”. Martin feels it’s important for people to take ownership of their own learning and answer the question “Where and how do I want to learn?”

A benefit of virtual learning is that it has become more accessible and even ‘democratised’ through being more scalable and not limited by travel. Martin mentions the Novartis ‘Unbossed Leadership Experience’ (a self-awareness program) that is now being rolled out to five thousand leaders a year at the company thanks to the virtual nature of the program.

Another question Martin answers is: “Will the rise of remote working widen or narrow the talent pool?” He says that it does widen that pool and explains with concrete stories how it can broaden it. Integral to this expansion is remote and flexible working conditions.

Join us in this episode, in partnership with The Business Transformation Network (The BTN) to know more about building a learning community and some of the initiatives that Novartis rolled out internally to develop their employees.

Building a Learning Community with Martin Barner (Part 1)

For the next episode in our ‘Leading into the Future’ series, a partnership with The Business Transformation Network (The BTN), we are eager to invite Martin Barner (Head People & Organisation Global Product Development, Sandoz at Novartis) to share his thoughts about building a learning community.

Martin starts by talking about the way the virtual environment will align with a lifestyle of learning culture & the role of self-service culture and the enablement of technology.

Join us in this episode to know more about building a learning community and some of the initiatives that Novartis rolled out internally to develop their employees.

The Hybrid Leader with Sabine Weishaupt (Part 3)

In the 3rd and final part of this series with Sabine Weishaupt, we explore the role of trust within virtual environments.

Sabine shares her knowledge about building trust across teams within virtual environments and how empathy and the right skill set can operate in physical and virtual contexts. Sabine also highlights the emotional capacity and the sense of self-awareness that a leader should have.

The Hybrid Leader with Sabine Weishaupt (Part 2)

We know, by now, that listening capabilities and digital literacy are essential attributes to help leaders bring their employees together.

Please join in on the 2nd part of our video interview series where Sabine Weishaupt shares examples that facilitate employee growth and examples that Deutsche Telekom has been implementing to empower their employees to help them work together within teams and produce better results.

The Hybrid Leader with Sabine Weishaupt (Part 1)

As part of PeopleSmart’s focus around Leading Into the Future, in partnership with The Business Transformation Network (The BTN), we are eager to bring you Sabine Weishaupt (Chapter Lead Future Leadership Design at Deutsche Telekom).

Sabine is passionate about empowering, encouraging and energising people to grow for success and happiness. In her current role she a team of leadership development, learning and transformation consultants spread over 7 countries and with a broad range of backgrounds from engineering to sales to HR.

Sabine joins this Leading Into The Future series, to share some of the challenges and opportunities for the hybrid leaders.

One of the first topics that Sabine mentions is the important role of certain set of skills that the digital leader needs to have, as opposed to an in-person leader. Sabine highlights the importance of listening capabilities and digital literacy as essentials attributes to help leaders bring their employees together and shares examples that facilitate employee growth.

Sabine also shares a few examples of what Deutsche Telekom has been implementing to empower their employees to help them work better within teams.