The Optimistic Workplace

Creating an Environment That Energizes Everyone

Shawn Murphy

• Publisher: AMACOM
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780814436196
• eBook ISBN: 9780814436202
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

While you can't personally transform the corporate culture, you can influence the workplace climate and create meaningful and lasting change. Supported by the latest research, this eye-opening book argues that our best work is the product of a positive environment.

When it comes to work these days, we're expected to do more with less--but is this nose-to-the-grindstone philosophy the best way to run a business? Alarmingly low employee engagement numbers indicate otherwise. So, if pushing everyone harder isn't the path to productivity, what is? Advocating a steward model of management, The Optimistic Workplace reveals how to:

• Explore personal and organizational purpose--and align them for astonishing results
• Overcome resistance and skepticism
• Build camaraderie and deepen loyalty
• Increase intrinsic motivation
• Help your team find meaning in their work
• Identify goals collaboratively and track progress

Examples from companies large and small demonstrate how this people-centric focus ignites employee potential, increases innovation, and catapults the organization to new levels of performance. The Optimistic Workplace presents an array of surprisingly simple strategies as well as practical 30-, 60-, and 90-day plans designed to focus your actions and make employee optimism not just a worthy goal--but a real and measurable result.

CHAPTER 1

The Future of the Workplace

Of all human talents, among the most precious ones is this ability to discern opportunities around oneself, when others do not.
—MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, FLOW

FORGET ABOUT CULTURE. HOW’S THE CLIMATE?

In an underground space with no windows, the sound levels from conversations among team members are at first alarming but become charming. It’s an oddity, in the open workspace, to have something that can be described as “charming.” The casual observer may not see it. Only when you listen to what’s happening and soak in the industrial funkiness of the workspace does the charm become evident. The noise becomes white. The fervent conversations reveal intelligence, creativity, fun, connection, and even creative disagreements. The employees at Menlo Innovations in Ann Arbor, Michigan, love what they do, and where they do it fits their culture like a well-tailored suit, but you’ll not find anyone dressed in a suit or even wearing a tie.

Menlo Innovations is a software-development company, its name inspired by Thomas Edison’s factory once in Menlo Park, New Jersey. There are no managers overseeing the work. Instead, team members work collaboratively. When I ask some Menlonians (their term) who the boss is, there is no consistent answer. Even the founders are not unanimously thought to be chief anything. Though they have titles with chief in the name, they are treated as part of the team, not differently.

Serving as a meeting reminder, a dartboard hung on the wall signals all team members to stop what they’re doing and form a large circle. One Menlonian grabs a two-horned Viking hat and brings it to the circle. In less than 15 minutes, 50 or so people share project and company updates. All the information is relevant. People pay attention. As for the Viking hat? Well, everyone works in pairs every day at Menlo. For the stand-up meeting, each working pair holds a horn and gives an update. The hat is then passed to the next pair. Think of the Viking hat as an updated version of the talking stick.

What’s described above are elements of Menlo’s culture a la the tradition of a stand-up meeting facilitated by a Viking hat. Culture is how things are done in an organization. ¹ It’s the company’s history, stories passed down over time. It’s cultural artifacts like the Viking hat. As another example of culture, consider Menlo’s hiring approach. Large groups of potential candidates are brought in and paired with one simple instruction: Make the other person look good. Menlo’s interview process is how it weeds out those who wouldn’t fit into its highly team-oriented culture.

Yet what is equally important as culture is what it feels like to work day to day in the workplace. This is climate, and it’s the element of organizational life that isn’t discussed much. Harvard University psychologists Robert Stringer and George Litwin explain climate as the quality of the workplace environment and its influence on the work experience and team members’ behaviors and perceptions. ²

Think of organizational climate like walking into a party that you’re excited to attend. You arrive and feel the buzz from the lively crowd and happy music. You see people you want to meet. The feeling of excitement is palpable. You smile and allow yourself to enjoy the festivities. Of course the opposite could be true. You may have to attend as an obligation and arrive to the party feeling overwhelmed by the crowd and loud music. A feeling of dismay might overcome you as you find a quiet place in the party away from the crowd. Ultimately, the degree to which you enjoy the party depends on your expectations. Even previous experiences shape your perception of the party. But your perception of the party can be changed. How? The people at the party can make a fun party a blast or help you loosen up to enjoy the festivities.

Now take the party example and place it in an organizational context. How do people view your leadership style? How do you use your style to influence the climate? What does it feel like to work in your team? These questions focus on elements central to workplace climate. Research from Hay Group points to the importance climate plays in business results. ³ People in positive work environments outperform those who work in negative climates by 10 to 30 percent. In a positive work environment, people are more confident about their work. They enjoy working with one another. As in the party analogy, it’s the people who make the difference between a fun party and a dud. In the workplace, who has the greatest influence on the climate? According to Hay Group’s research, it’s the immediate leader—you. You set the mood in the work environment. In fact, your leadership style impacts climate by up to 70 percent. ⁴

Think about that 70 percent. It’s mostly how you show up and interact with others that shapes the climate that influences your team’s performance. For instance, consider these leadership styles:

Welcoming. Do you have a range of conversation types with your employees?

Curious. Do you inquire into how things are going on their projects? Into their personal lives?

Social. How often do you connect them to others within the organization that might help them achieve their goals?

Thoughtful. How frequently do you coach your employees to develop resilience in a demanding work environment?

It’s the words you use and the tone of your interactions with your team that influence climate. Purpose influences climate. Stringer and Litwin explain that clear role definitions help to positively shape climate. ⁵ High performance expectations are also essential. Autonomy shapes climate. Trust and a sense of belonging are also key to a positive work environment. These are all elements within your control. This is what makes climate a powerful influence.

From a leadership perspective, climate is easier to influence than culture and is useful in creating lasting change necessary for the organization to create value. Culture is embedded deep into the bedrock of the organization and is hard to change. It can take years to shift culture. Through your leadership style, you can shape the climate to positively influence how team members perceive, experience, and respond to work.

For positive workplaces to thrive, leaders must get to know the whole employee. Not only is this a fundamental belief that’s important to optimistic workplaces, it also requires a fundamental shift in thinking about your leadership style. Today you need to be relatable—you need to be more human. Also critical to shifting the climate is to demonstrate that you care about each person’s well-being: Do your employees have a healthy mix between their work lives and personal lives? The former leadership style of command and control has little relevance in the modern workplace.

For positive workplaces to thrive, leaders must get to know the whole employee.

TRANSFORMED WORK EXPERIENCE

It’s 8:00 a.m., and the first wave of people arrive at work. They shuffle their way to cubes and offices ready to do their work for the day. The next time this daily ritual happens, notice how it unfolds. Observe what people’s body language signals. Are they interacting with one another? Every person arriving at work is bringing with him the world he left behind and carries forward the anticipation of what the day holds for him. But there is more to this seemingly mundane ritual. If you look deeper, you’ll see on the faces how employees feel about the day. It’s in their arrival that you can check the pulse of what the work environment’s influence is and how it affects people. Is there anticipation? Eagerness? Or does body language signal something less motivating?

Between the endless offerings of meetings and the occasional break, the day is consumed by the needs of others and pressing deadlines. With this reality, it can be hard to imagine an aspirational tone making its mark on the workplace. How could it? After all, there is work to be done and no time for activities and interactions other than meetings and the work squeezed in between. This, though, is where the logic breaks down. The belief that there is no time for the leadership activities and interactions that yield optimism is as outdated as viewing employees as assets or resources.

In a 2014 study by LinkedIn of 18,000 employees, 15 percent were satisfied with their jobs and didn’t want to leave. Research by Gallup from the same year found 13 percent of people were engaged with their work. ⁶ There’s not much hope in those numbers. Pair these abysmally low numbers with the aspirations of employees and you can see that a desire for a better work climate lurks, but in most organizations there’s not much opportunity for it to emerge.

In a report from Net Impact, 58 percent of students identified with the importance of working for an organization that aligns with their values. In the same study, 54 percent said they believe it’s important to them to make a difference for others. Ninety-one percent of students— the future workforce—want a positive culture where they work. In the same study, 88 percent of all workers wanted the same thing. ⁷ These numbers reflect the aspirations of today’s workforce. What is being done about it in your organization?

Too many leaders are waiting for someone else to start the work to improve the culture or the climate. Certainly it is ideal to have a top-down approach to improving both. Yet today’s senior leaders are not effectively addressing people-related business concerns. In a Towers Watson study, fewer than half of the respondents agreed that their organization’s senior leaders were sincerely interested in their employees’ well-being. ⁸ How it feels to work in your team and within the organization is a critical workforce development issue. We need more leaders who are willing to choose to set a positive tone for their teams despite what senior management isn’t doing. This can be done by intentionally leveraging the nuances and interplay between what I call the Origins of Optimism. I’ll explain this a little later in this chapter. Will you choose to create a positive work experience even if your organization isn’t focusing on it?

WORKPLACE OPTIMISM

What is workplace optimism? If you think it’s viewing the proverbial glass half full through rose-colored glasses and thinking positive thoughts, you’re mistaken. It is more than a positive attitude. Workplace optimism shapes attitudes. It shapes a person’s and even a team’s spirit. It is the spark that fuels esprit de corps. It evokes positive emotions in team members toward their work and others. Workplace optimism is a characteristic of climate. The climate feels optimistic. People are inspired by their work and the possibilities inherent in it. Workplace optimism is the belief that good things will come from hard work.

Research shows that you can transform the work experience by focusing on the best positive potential realities. ⁹ R...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword By Dorie Clark
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Future of the Workplace
• Chapter 2: Destructive Management
• Chapter 3: The Power of Contagious Emotions
• Chapter 4: The Downside of Optimism: Missteps and Excess
• Chapter 5: Values-Based Leadership
• Chapter 6: It All Starts with Purpose
• Chapter 7: The Meaning Makers
• Chapter 8: We Must Change the Way We Work
• Chapter 9: Human-Centered Leadership
• Chapter 10: Next Comes Trust: Creating Community
• Chapter 11: The Cultivation of Optimism
• Afterword
• Appendix 1: The Optimism Planner
• Appendix 2: One-on-One Format
• Endnotes
• Index
• About the Author
• Free Sample Chapter From Make it Matter By Scott Mautz
• Copyright Page