Knowing me, Knowing you – Embracing the importance of differences at work
A Culture-First workplace eminates from developing strong Human Connections and Embracing our Differences
Understanding one another's differences in cultures, backgrounds, preferences, and motivations, helps us to develop stronger connections with each other
In our previous blogs we covered the importance of transforming ourselves from identifying as'mediocre leaders'to 'stepping up as exceptional leaders' in embracing a 'culture-first' leadership style, to develop positive transformational change and improve human connections at work.
In this blog, we explore how, by developing stronger human connections with one another helps us to better understand each other, encouraging collaborative relationships that motivate, inspire, and provide us with the support needed to improve positivity and productivity at work.
Why is it important to get to know one another better, and to Embrace Differences?
A recent study by Enboarder and Airspeed found that:
• Employee connection is the number one challenge cited by C-suite survey respondents
• 95% acknowledged that their company culture and sense of connection needed improvement.
• 75% of executives believed their employees would leave to work for another company where they would feel more connected.
• 34% of employees felt disconnected from their colleagues due to a lack of understanding between co-workers of different personalities and workstyles (social Identities).
Those organisations who have a connected workforce increase their productivity by a third, resulting in them becoming more resilient and more profitable.
Organisations that lack human connection suffer the consequences of crippling employee engagement and retention. “It is one of those things we never knew we were taking for granted – until it was gone…”
In a similar study where 151 full-time workers were rated by their emotions, productivity, and engagement, it was revealed that human connection and having more conversations, and ‘small talk’, at work was uplifting and it promoted employee wellbeing. In this study:
• On the days where workers engaged with each other more, they experienced more positive emotions and were less burned out.
• Similarly for remote workers who have less daily contact with other working professionals, having more conversations with colleagues helped to alleviate negative feelings of loneliness and burnout.
Talking and sharing with one another helps us to get to know each other more. We gain a better understanding of our differences in the way we think and work, which enables us to adapt our style of communication and approach to situations so that we can work more cohesively and collaboratively as a team.
Having open and honest conversations drives psychological safety too
Having regular and open conversations can encourage small personal disclosures that builds trust amongst colleagues. Ultimately, when disagreements do arise, colleagues feel they can speak up, and disagree productively – leading to better outcomes.
Embracing Allyship
In developing our human connections and embracing our differences, we start to build a system of support in having an Ally to talk to as a trusted confidante to share our workplace and personal issues with.
Being an Ally helps us to recognise when change happens in a person’s behaviour, and to be proactive in providing the support and encouragement they may need. A change in their behaviour could be because of their ill mental health, or experiencing bullying at work, being overwhelmed by work overload or burnout, or suffering the effects of menopause at work, etc. Whatever the cause, taking 10 Minutes together regularly, will help to establish a connection of support.
Effective communication is the framework of a strong company culture
‘Culture First’ organisations who are committed to invigorating their company culture, are often quick to address whether their people are communicating effectively with one another. They look at ways to improve communication channels to pave the path for two-way communications, and look at how they can improve employee connections to help co-workers of different personalities and workstyles to relate to, and understand, one another better.
For example, engaging in ‘small talk’ with someone who has an Analytical or Structural mind will not be helpful! Sometimes, and often over time, we naturally pick up on an individual’s persona and adjust our way of navigating the situation appropriately and are able to communicate more effectively and with the correct level of empathy and engagement.
Organisations can use profiling tools like Emergenetics® (link to Emergenetics website), as well as more traditional tools such as Insights, MBTi, and Disc, to create an accurate profile of each individual employee to help identify and harness the strengths of diverse teams.
Profiling is used by managers to help them to better understand and improve their engagement with individual team members to develop a more dynamic and cohesive team. For colleagues, having access to their co-workers’ profiles, helps them to gain an understanding of their personality types, so that they can relate more appropriately to their individual preferences and perceptions.
However, understanding ourselves first in how we interact with others is important. It helps us to develop deeper insights into our own preferences and perceptions and identify that of others. Perceptions based on our lived experiences, our genetic tendencies, verbal, and body language – these may all trigger our emotions and reactions toward one another and shift our perspective to another vantage point.
Thinking Differently...Together
Encouraging and building on employee connections and journeying together on the path of awareness in embracing differences, is pivotal to the framework of a strong and transformational company culture.
For more information about the topics mentioned in our blog, please visit:
About the Embracing Difference Programme
Podcast: Improving Leadership Engagement with Individuals
Do you sometimes feel like you don’t quite understand why someone did something at work or why reacted the way they did?
