3 ways to create a work culture that brings out the best in employees | Chris White | TEDxAtlanta

Remember when 20,000 people walked out of Google in protest of the company's unfair and unequal treatment of women in a single day? The protest was dramatic, grabbed headlines, and sent a clear signal that we will no longer check our identities and values. at the

work

place door was also the exception rather than the rule because, while certainly Brave, Google

employees

felt safe enough to organize collectively without fear of reprisal, they felt safe enough that even if they lost their jobs, they would probably still be highly employable. in other places not everyone has that luxury not everyone feels that way when speaking at

work

social movement Scholars would call the Google strikes mobilization structure, others mobilize in different

ways

depending on their context and their cause, In fact, strikes happen almost every day in the workplace, they are usually not done with our feet, but they are exits, there are invisible exits that happen with our hearts, our hands and our voices, and let's be honest, between Ted's group here, almost all of us have checked it out.

At some point in our careers, right? When we feel psychologically insecure or devalued we protest silently, sometimes even silently or unconsciously, perhaps we stop trying as hard at work, or perhaps we act in

ways

that subtly undermine leadership or act against the organization's goals. Just a little in corporate speak, we disconnect or actively disengage, like 70% of the workforce, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars a year to the global economy, so if you are an executive and you want to avoid strikes or payouts before they become problems in your organization, there are three things you can do first to unblock communication, Strikes and walkouts occur when we feel that we are not heard, respected or considered in the place of work and almost all of us have experienced When it happens that our ideas are shut down or ignored in the workplace, when it happens, we tend to experience it as a threat to our identity.

Some of us respond by shutting down, shutting down when we feel like we don't belong or aren't important. Our reaction. It's about stopping caring so much about our jobs and the people around us, so I remember feeling heartbroken when I was a new manager. I just asked a colleague of mine with decades of work experience to recommend a problem she had brought to me and we stood in agonizing silence as she searched for an answer, any answer, after a long pause, she looked up and said: I have never been asked what I think at work before, that is tragic and very common, and we should avoid it.

The problem is that we must continually invite people to speak at work because making these invitations just a routine part of how we relate to each other in the workplace actually lays the really important foundation needed for those moments when that people have to speak and have to be heard on issues that are difficult for management to hear, cornered by the scale and intensity of the protests. Google CEO Sund Pai had the choice of responding in a way that would close the door on people acting in line with his values ​​or he could choose to open it wider.

Pai's public response to the protest was not defensive; instead, he sent a company-wide email. He said: I understand the anger and disappointment that many of you feel, I feel that I feel it too and I am fully committed to making progress on a problem that has persisted for too long in our society and yes, here at Google, to inform the managers about the planned activities, he assured the Protestants that they would have the support they needed, but take a look. Managers have to proactively unblock the organization, they need to ask questions, they need to solicit input, they need to foster creative conflict, but especially in that fragile moment when people have the courage to challenge us, we too must accept them, but then we must be receptive.

Because we know, don't we? that it is not enough to simply listen to people, words without action breed cynicism, they lead, they lay their seeds for the future. strikes and payouts the Google strikes were not a first step, they were a last resort, Google

employees

had already spoken to managers, HR and people, this was an escalation because they felt their issues were not being addressed, no He was taking them seriously and although Pai's response was good, it was supportive. Some people continue to protest to this day on Google because they don't feel enough action was taken after the words of support.

Now that managers and employee activists are on the same page, then action is the natural next step, but Here's what we won't always agree with: Sometimes employee activists will raise issues that managers simply don't agree with. agreement and in that fragile moment we will determine what kind of

culture

we will have, whether we will participate in dialogue and debate. we will remain united even in descent or we will choose SC over our differences we will allow our relationships to become inauthentic and our identities to be diluted what will be okay at the very least? we can try to have a dialogue we can try to resolve our differences and find common ground which even if not ideal for any of the parties may be acceptable to all and sometimes even if it is too difficult common ground cannot be found and in that difficult place we have three options first if we feel that we cannot live. with resolution, then we can choose to leave the company, we can find employers whose values ​​align more with ours or secondly, we can choose to stay with the company, we can compartmentalize, continue doing good work and wait for a problem, search.

It is a time to address the problem again in the future. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is an advocate of a third way. He says let's disagree and compromise. Let's address the problem head-on and he'll ask his team to look. I know we don't agree here, but we will. you bet with me and if your reserve of trust in your relationship is deep enough, you can continue to move forward with the work and agree to keep working on the issue as you go. Either of those options is better than the alternative of verifying. Find out what a sure path to organizational demise and professional misery is, so finally aim higher.

Doesn't that seem like a low bar just to avoid boxes and strikes? Shouldn't we strive to achieve more? We need to invite people to put their full effort into work. because when everyone can contribute their life experiences we have much more to offer we are more than the sum of our resumes she is Joan Bohan Joan is the financial director of Disney Europe she is also a mother and her son Roman has dyslexia, did you know that? That one in 10 people lives with dyslexia, which is a huge population, serves a huge potential market for a company like Disney, so when Disney announced an internal competition for new and impactful business ideas, Joan couldn't resist applying. , I had heard of modifications that made it easier for the dissection 6 to read wider eh White different larger fonts wider spaces between letters governing between lines, but these were not widely available.

Could Disney help with that because Disney invited Joan to work with all of her being and all of her unique strengths and values? passions experiences can now better serve millions of people with dyslexia so this all sounds good unlock communication become responsive aim higher Where do we start? Well, I would like to finish by offering you a brief test. I would like you to come Monday morning. Back to work and I'd like you to walk around and, after a nice chat, talk to 10 different people and ask them this question. Hello, what aren't we talking about here?

What we really should be talking about. You'll probably get one. of those awkward silences and it's okay if they pause and then say come see me later tell me what you find if no one has anything then your organization is probably blocked but it's okay to ask the question you pointed out openness keep going keep asking the questions A Ari Weinig, CEO of Zingman, likes to say that success doesn't mean we don't have problems, it means we have better problems and my last wish for you is that you win better problems by unlocking communication by becoming receptive over time, every time. more people will open up. and start sharing more of yourself, your ideas, your unique offerings, and in time you'll have a new, better problem to harness that energy and aim higher, thank you.