A Battle Worth Fighting For

By Stuart Taylor,  Chief Executive Officer of Springfox (formerly the resilience institute Australia).

Creating a resilient corporate culture takes time and effort, but you won’t regret it.

Stress. We all experience. We all talk about it. Even seeing the word in print stirs at least a little discomfort in most.
Removing stress from the workplace sounds like a great idea in theory. In reality, though, a certain amount of stress can be beneficial and, in some cases, necessary to drive individuals and corporations to higher levels of performance. However, there is a tipping point at which pressure to perform has counterproductive effects.

The focus of modern cultural change programs shouldn’t be on removing stress, but rather on creating an environment where people are able to process, rationalise and view pressure as a opportunity. Employers don’t need to create stress-free organisations, they need to create resilient organisations.

Organisations exist for people and through people. It is true that modern organisations are increasingly characterised
by technology, systems, processes and rules, but at the core they remain much like any other group of people or tribe. And just like any other tribe, members look to the chief to rally them in times of trouble.

A resilient corporate culture is one that is able to balance the drive for high performance with a focus on maintaining the safety, well-being and effectiveness of its people. Resilient organisations understand that high performance is very different to sustainable high performance. And it all starts at the top.

“In a volatile, uncertain and complex world, resilience is a strategic asset.” – Stuart Taylor

Disruption, resulting from technological advances and geo-political shifts, personifies the modern corporate battle ground. This places people under increasing pressure and strain. The persistent change in the world and the pressures on us to transform and adapt require agility.

To thrive in this environment, organisations must commit to a systemic approach to fostering a resilient culture where people feel respected, trusted and supported. Leaders must be role models. When they fail to engage, the tribe loses trust in its chief.

Our organisation’s study of 26,099 professionals over a six-year period revealed confronting insights about our modern workforce. More than half of those surveyed (55%) worry excessively, 50% are hyper vigilant, 45% experience distress symptoms, and 30% experience excessive work intensity, and/or have impulse control problems.

The research clearly demonstrated that the workforce is anxious and overloaded, contributing to a prevalence of absenteeism, presenteeism, conflict and attention loss in the workplace. The effect of absenteeism alone costs the Australian economy more than $44 billion a year.

Here are some simple steps leaders can can take:

  1. LEAD WITH COMPASSION

    Resilient organisations are possible when you lead with deep care and the ‘greater good’ in mind. Sometimes this requires tough love, however, it will build trust and respect.

  2. SHOW VULNERABILITY

    A powerful way to demonstrate your trust, compassion and respect for your people is to ask the same of them. Leaders who aren’t ashamed to show their shortcomings demonstrate that what is expected is commitment and effort, not perfection. This breeds a culture of accountability, where people are willing to admit they need help or have made a mistake.

  3. TALK TO YOUR PEOPLE

    People perform best when they understand what’s expected of them. Make your strategic priorities clear and resist the urge to use corporate jargon.

  4. FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE ARE GOOD AT

    We all do best when we play to our strengths. A concerted effort should be made to help people understand what their natural strengths are. This can contribute to an organisation’s strategic priorities.

  5. CONSIDER DIVERSITY

    Does your organisation accurately reflect the world outside? It is critical  that people feel comfortable to be themselves at work, regardless of age, gender, sexuality or cultural beliefs. A considered diversity strategy is critical for any modern organisation.

A Few Home Truths On The Future of Work

 

IBM and Yahoo say get back in the office but advocates of remote working are adamant it’s the way to go. By Kate Jones

 

 

Remote work has been hailed the way of the future, yet leading tech companies are starting to swing away from the trend.

IBM, a pioneer in the work from home movement, is the latest organisation to summon its employees back to the office. The tech giant had allowed its staff to work from home since the 1980s and had long touted the benefits. Between 1995 and 2008, the company said it had reduced its office space by 7 million square metres and sold most of that space of $2.4 million (AUD). By 2007, 40 per cent of IBM’s 400,000 global staff was working remotely.

But in a statement to staff, IBM management said bringing staff to the office would foster more powerful and creative teams. They denied it was a cost-cutting measure.

IBM is not the first big name to reverse its remote work policy. Yahoo axed its work from home program in 2013, with CEO Marissa Mayer copping widespread criticism for the move. Other US-based firms Best Buy and Reddit have also recalled their employees back to the office.

Supporters of traditional office working say pulling employees together results in more collaboration and ultimately, innovation. Yet critics say giving employees the freedom to work where they want allows them to be more productive and engaged.

 

 

“Being outside the office is really linked to creativity because you’re not disrupted by that work environment.”
– Ush Dhanak, Collaborate HR

 

 

One in three Australians now regularly works from home – a 10 per cent increase in 15 years, according to data from the Australian of Bureau Statistics.

Collaborate HR’s Ush Dhanak says the pros of working from home definitely outweigh the cons.

“There’s the time you’re not spending on travel to and from work – people I’ve spoken to have said they’ve gained up to two-and-a-half hours a day,” she says.

“I think another pro is to be in an environment outside of the office. That’s really linked to creativity because you’re not disrupted by that work environment.

“The biggest benefit is building better relationships with your leader or your manager because there has to be an element of trust if you’re going to be working from home.”

Employees feeling isolated or tempted to procrastinate are downfalls of remote work, but these can be managed, Dhanak says.

“Have expectations, clearly communicate those expectations and have measures in place and also balance it out by making sure they’re still part of the team,” she says.

“They’ve still got to have a touch point for employees and managers.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

How IBM Crowdsourced Its Own Personality

 

It’s been four years since strategist Megan Dalla-Camina left IBM, but she can still rattle off the company’s three defining statements without hesitation.

“They were: dedication to every client’s success; innovation that matters – for our company and the world – and trust and personal responsibility in all relationships,” she recalls from her days as head of strategy for IBM Australia and New Zealand.

Now a consultant, coach and writer, Dalla-Camina (pictured) says those values became part of the DNA for employees of the company, making it a highly regarded training ground for leaders.

This is a real advantage for IBM alumni: “When I’m at a client meeting or a speaking event and [another alumnus] knows that I’m a former IBMer, they still feel that connection — even if it was their dad, or brother or sister that was an IBMer.”

Dalla-Camina says the defining statements were very much part of the conversation when developing strategy.

“In some other organisations, values are an afterthought. With IBM, they were always at the very front,” she says.

Dalla-Camina joined in 2004, just after the company had gone through an exhaustive process of inviting every employee to contribute to writing the statements.

IBM had already transformed its business model to survive a crisis, switching through the 1990s from being a manufacturer of computers to a services and software-based company.

It was a near-death experience, following combined losses of $US15.9 billion over the three years to 1993.

In the aftermath, it was decided to replace the old three “beliefs”: Respect for the individual, the best customer service in the world, excellence.

Around 50,000 employees came together over 72 hours in 2003 in a “values jam” to come up with the words that would encompass IBM’s new vision.

Once those values were established, IBM’s then-CEO Sam Palmisano charged a senior executive with the task of identifying gaps between the values and company practices, collating all the emailed feedback from employees.

“Some of the comments were painful to read,” Palmisano told the Harvard Business Review at the time.

“I printed all of it out — the stack of paper was about three feet high — and  took it home to read over one weekend.  On Monday morning, I walked into our  executive committee meeting and threw it on the table.

“I said, ‘You guys ought to read every one of these comments, because if you think we’ve got this place plumbed correctly, think again’.”

Palmisano told HBR the assessment sparked improvements to business practices, such as the way prices were set. Leaders already knew this needed to be done, but nothing was done until the values-discovery process forced them to confront the issue.
– By Fiona Smith