Guest post by Jenny Trinh from ThinkChangeGrow
Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher once said, “change is the only constant in life.” In the workplace, this is definitely no exception especially when it comes to leading your team through the uncertain changes that the future of work will bring.
As a leader, this requires you to understand the unique and diverse strengths of your team. It requires you to create and maintain a genuinely inclusive and diverse team environment. This is crucial if you want your organisation to thrive for the long-term.
Bringing out the best in people is no mean feat. Who is on a team is less important than how people interact with each other, organise their tasks and value their work.
According to Harvard Business Review, leaders and their teams alike fear change because of factors like a loss of control to concerns about competence. So what steps can we take to future-proof our team?
It all boils down to our workplace culture. Ask yourself these questions:
- Is my workplace culture open in a way that individuals are not afraid to speak up?
- Is my workplace environment one that celebrates diversity and wants everyone to succeed?
A diverse and genuinely inclusive organisation not only increases performance but is also a key competitive advantage. How do you build a culture where everyone can thrive and inclusiveness is part of everything we do?
Think about:
Biases
Diversity and inclusion are more than just box-ticking, right? Getting the numbers right is only the first step towards creating an open-minded, genuinely inclusive work environment. By sensitising employees to the various kinds of bias that can exist – and equipping them with the cognitive tools to deal with it when it arises is how you will grow a culture of equality and fairness.
Trust
Do your team members feel encouraged to try and fail?
Celebrating glorious failures is as important as rewarding innovation. To do this, you need an environment with high psychological safety – a workplace in which employees feel safe to be vulnerable in front of each other without feeling insecure or embarrassed. This will result in more innovative and successful teams where people aren’t afraid to go out on a limb or think outside the box.
Vision
If you can’t see the meaning and value of what you’re doing, it’s very hard to remain motivated and work to the fullest potential. Having a clear vision and a set of values and mission statement to match is key for a thriving team that will have a clearer understanding of where they’re headed and why, and will actively push themselves to new limits. Thinking about implementing an effective diversity in your business? Find out the steps to do so in a guest blog from Lawpath.
About us
ThinkChangeGrow is a people and culture consulting agency founded by Google alumni, Hiam Sakakini and Monika Gisler. We are all about developing people and organisations to create enduring positive change in workplaces across the globe, bringing proven strategies and ideologies to organisations of all kinds that will help them change for the better and thrive long term.
