How to enhance Your Job Experience
3 ways to create a work culture that brings out the best in employees | Chris White | TEDxAtlanta
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[Music]
do you remember when 20,000 people
walked out of Google in protest of
unfair and unequal treatment of women at
the company on a single day the protest
was dramatic
it was headline-grabbing it's done a
clear signal we will no longer check our
identities and our values at the
workplace door it was also the exception
rather than the rule because while brave
certainly brave the Google employees
felt safe enough to organize
collectively without fear of reprisals
they felt secure enough that even if
they lost their jobs they'd still
probably be highly employable somewhere
else not everyone has that luxury not
everyone feels that way about speaking
up at work social movements scholars
would call the Google walkouts
mobilizing structure others mobilize in
different ways depending on their
context and their cause in fact walkouts
do happen pretty much every day in the
workplace they're just not normally done
with our fee instead they're checkouts
they're invisible walkouts that happen
with our hearts and with our hands and
with our voices and let's be honest
amongst the Ted group here pretty much
all of us have checked out at some point
in our careers haven't we when we feel
psychologically unsafe or unvalued we
protest quietly sometimes even silently
or subconsciously maybe we stop trying
as hard at work or maybe we act in ways
that subtly undermine leadership or act
against the organization's objectives
just a little bit in corporate speak we
become disengaged
or actively disengaged like 70% of the
workforce at a cost of hundreds of
billions of dollars a year to the global
economy so if you're an executive and
you want to avoid walkouts or checkouts
before they become issues at your
organization there are three things that
you can do first unblock communication
walkouts and checkouts happen when we
feel that we're not being heard we're
not being respected or considered in the
workplace and just about all of us have
experienced having our ideas shot down
or ignored in the workplace when it
happens we tend to experience it as an
identity threat similar us respond to
that by closing down shutting off when
we feel that we don't belong or that
we're unimportant our reaction is to
stop caring as much about our work and
caring as much about 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 for a recommendation on a
problem that she brought to me we stood
in agonizing silence while she searched
for an answer and the answer after a
long pause she looked up and said I have
never been asked what I think at work
before now that is tragic and it's all
too common and to avoid this pitfall we
need to continually invite people to
speak up at work because making these
invitations just a routine part of how
we engage with each other in the
workplace actually lays really important
groundwork that is needed for those
times when people
to speak up and have to be heard on
issues that are hard for management to
hear backed into a corner by the scale
and the intensity of the protests google
CEO sundar Pichai had a choice he could
choose to respond in a way that would
close the door to people acting in line
with their values or he could choose to
open it wider
pachow his public response to the
protest was not defensive instead he
sent an email out to the whole company
he said I understand the anger and
disappointment that many of you feel I
feel it too
and I'm fully committed to making
progress on an issue that has persisted
for far too long in our society and yes
here at Google too
he informed managers of the planned
activities he reassured protesters that
they would have the support that they
needed but checkouts because they're
invisible
are even harder to notice an address
then a 20,000 person walkout instead
managers have to proactively unblock the
organization they need to ask questions
they need to invite input they need to
foster creative conflict but especially
in that fragile moment where people have
the courage to challenge us we too need
to embrace them for it but then we need
to become responsive because we know
don't we that it's not enough just to
hear people out words without action
breed cynicism they leave labor seeds
for future of walkouts and checkups the
Google walk outs were not a first step
they were a last resort the Google
employees had already spoken to managers
and HR and Ombuds people this was an
escalation because they felt their
issues were not being addressed they're
not being taken seriously and while
perch eyes response was a good one it
was supportive some people continue
protesting to this day at Google because
they do not feel that sufficient action
has followed the supportive words now
when managers and employee activists are
on the same page then action is a
natural next step but here's the thing
we're not always going to agree are we
sometimes employee activists will raise
the issues that managers just don't
agree with and in that fragile moment we
will determine what kind of culture we
will have will we engage in dialogue and
debate
can we stay unified even in dissent or
will we choose to skate over our
differences allow our relationships to
have come inauthentic and our identities
to become diluted what will it be
well at a minimum we can try to have
dialogue we can try to resolve our
differences and find common ground that
even if it's not ideal for any one party
might be acceptable for all and
sometimes though that is just too hard
the common ground can't be found and in
that difficult place we have three
choices first if we feel we can't live
with the resolution then we can choose
to leave the company we can find
employers whose values more closely
aligned with our own or second we can
choose to stay with the company we can
compartmentalize keep doing a good job
and hope for an issue look for look for
a time to address the issue again in the
future
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
is an advocate of a third path he says
let's disagree and commit address the
issue head-on and he'll ask his team
look I know we don't agree here but will
you gamble with me on it and if your
reservoir of trust in your relationship
is deep enough you can continue to move
forward on the work and agree to keep
working on the issue as you go any one
of those options is better than the
alternative of checking out which is a
surefire path to organizational demise
and professional misery so finally aim
higher doesn't it seem like a low bar
just to avoid checkouts and walkouts
shouldn't we strive for more we need to
invite people to bring their whole
selves to work because when everyone can
bring their life experiences we just
have so much more to offer
we are more than the sum of our resumes
this is Joan bohon Joan is the finance
director at Disney Europe she's also a
mother and her son Roman has dyslexia
did you know that 1 in 10 people live
with dyslexia that's a huge population
serve a huge potential market for a
company like Disney so when Disney
announced an internal contest for new
and impactful business ideas Joan just
couldn't resist applying she'd heard
about modifications that made it easier
for just like 6 to read wider what what
different larger fonts wider spaces
between letters ruling between lines but
these were widely available to Disney
help with that because Disney invited
Joan to bring her whole self to work and
all of her unique strengths values
passions experiences they can now better
serve millions of people with dyslexia
Stahl this sounds good
unblocked communication become
responsive aim higher where do we begin
well I'd like to end by offering you a
short test I'd like you on Monday
morning to go back into work
and I'd like you to walk around and
after some Pleasant chitchat talk to 10
different people and ask them this
question hi what don't we talk about
around here that we really should be
talking about
you'll probably get one of those awkward
silences and that's okay if they do
pause then they come to me later tell me
what you find if no one has anything
then your organization is probably
blocked that's okay
by asking the question you have signaled
openness keep going keep asking the
questions re whine strike CEO of
Zingerman's likes a success doesn't mean
we have no problems it means we have
better problems am i closing wish for
you is that you earn better problems by
unblocking communication by becoming
responsive over time more and more
people will open up and start sharing
more of their selves their ideas their
unique offerings and over time you will
have a new better problem harnessing
that energy and aiming high thank you
