Joy at Work(er) Blog
Nurturing Trust
Trust shows up frequently as a corporate value, a desirable commodity. It is inscribed on our money (“In God We Trust”) and in our nation’s official motto. But for something that is valued so highly, organizations struggle to explain what Trust is. They seem unclear about how to get it, how to nurture it, and how it erodes. They often make decisions that seem blind to the impact of Trust on their members.
Organizations often expect their employees to think of Trust in terms of actions:
“I can depend on you to do what you say.”
“They’ve got my back and I’ve got theirs”
“We are all in it together.”
Although these are fine statements and positive situations, they miss an important point, an idea that has lived in the research literature about the individual but needs to expand to that of the organization -- psychological safety.
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Measuring Belonging
Written by Ed Cook
In particular, we want to measure belonging. Although we believe there is much that humans can simply intuit about joy attributes, such as belonging, we have found there is power in using the tools of analytics to gain insights that might not otherwise readily reveal themselves. Here’s what we mean by belonging.
“My unique capabilities and contributions have value here. I know that because I can see for myself how my capabilities and contributions have value in delivering the organization’s purpose and others communicate my value back to me as...
The Perils of Declaring: "I'm a Change Agent."
Written by Ed Cook
Joy Research
Since the start of 2020, we have engaged in a fascinating project: Joy Research. This plays into informing the mission of The Change Decision - to bring Joy at Work. We have been interviewing CEOs and senior leaders about how leading teams, managing change, and group decision-making impact Joy at Work. There are so many enlightening elements of this research that we are going to do a free Webinar. If you’d like to hear the full story, please sign up here. This post is a taste of what we have found. One discovery is that the phrase, “I’m a
Change Agent” is an indicator, a canary in the coal mine, for the organization’s culture.
Before describing why that is so, some background in what we have found through the Joy Research will be helpful. First, there is some difference between managing change and managing a project. In our Joy Research interviews, leaders tell us it is possible to...
What does empathy mean now?
Written by Roxanne Brown
Empathy became a popular word to use at work a few years ago. Have you thought about it lately?
I admit I can be a bit jaded about words that become popular in the workplace because I’ve seen them enter the vernacular with good intention, then end up being meaningless or used to appear informed. Sadly, they can become another source for breeding employee cynicism and even weaponized. Adding to a kind of workplace blather.
The word "vulnerable" has been through this cycle, ironically. And, so has the phrase “failing fast”. It sounds great but talking about it without examining the lack of safety (in the practices that a culture values) just grows more cognitive dissonance which subtracts time and energy from creating value, the purpose of the company.
So, have you thought about empathy lately?
Take a look at these synonyms for empathy:
What do these words mean to you now? Do you have more of this at work? Less? How do they show up...
How to Build and Sustain Trust on a Virtual Team
Written by Ed Cook
As to why would we want to build trust, especially in a team situation, the value is clear. The team is stronger. This makes sense if the team is...
