The One-Off Training Trap
Have you had the experience of doing a one-off intervention for a complex culture challenge? Maybe for a while, everyone is energized. There’s a palpable sense of progress. And sometimes it sticks. But sometimes people slip back into old patterns. You’re trying to cure a chronic condition with a one-time prescription. Meaningful culture change isn’t a project; it’s a practice.
Building Caring Culture out of Conflict
A few years ago, a small company had a major workplace conflict that escalated to the point of someone being fired. For the people who were left, the whole thing felt horrible and confusing. They decided as a team that they needed to approach conflict differently going forward: not avoiding difficult conversations, nor jumping straight to escalation, but instead building the structures, skills, and culture to work through it generatively. Find out what they did.
Surfacing the Wisdom in “No”
You can probably think of a time when you were in a group that was making a decision, and you got the sense that things were heading rapidly in the wrong direction. Whatever the reason, you might have ended up in groupthink: when everyone gets swept along with an idea, and careful questioning and thinking about implications doesn’t happen. In these moments, it can help to spend some time looking for the wisdom in divergent perspectives.
We care so much it’s hurting us
Mission driven organizations have this very difficult dilemma. People feel like they need to do it all, because there is so much need, and they care so much, but then they are facing high burnout and losing people, which makes it impossible to do the work. As much as we wish we could do it all, when we set boundaries (taking care of ourselves) we become better able to take care of the people and communities we are trying to serve.
Leadership Behaviours For Regenerative Power
Power is not in and of itself a bad thing. However, in social change spheres we tend to notice how power causes harm and reinforces injustice and inequality.
Check out this framework for shifting leadership power away from the dominant ways that power shows up in the workplace, to a set of behaviours and mindsets that are more regenerative and restorative.
Psychological Safety, Two Ways
Psychological safety is very important but figuring out how to create it can feel like a big and confusing topic. This blog post offers an explanation and comparison of two frameworks for assessing and measuring psychological safety in the workplace to help you figure out the best approach for your context.
This is Your Brain on Work Relationships
People need a sense of belonging and purpose, and we thrive through connection and mutual trust, but our workplaces are not set up to encourage trust-based relationships. We can change those workplace structures and cultures by integrating greater practices of trust into our work.
High Conflict vs. Generative Conflict
Conflict does not have to be as bad as it often feels. Conflict is a source of energy for change, and it always has the potential to lead to new possibilities and deeper relationships. But for this to happen, we need to build the skills and determination to avoid the lure of high conflict whenever possible.
This is what is meant by the idea of generative conflict.
Why We Gossip About People at Work
Leaders often try to get people to stop gossiping without a deeper understanding of what is driving the behaviour. Is there conflict that needs to be addressed? Are there systemic issues that people are upset about? Getting people to stop the behaviour is very hard if we are not addressing the root cause.
Leading in High Pressure and in High Risk
Fear is a powerful emotion. It can change our judgement and decisions to be less aligned with our values and priorities. When leaders face pressure to make a decision, it’s important to find ways to get aligned with their purpose and the people they are responsible to.