By Sean Sullivan
We’ve all been there. The uncomfortable workplace. The bad boss. The crabby coworkers.
So it may not surprise you that 1 out of every 5 American workers has left or wanted to leave a job due to workplace culture. After a bad day at the office, 45 percent of employees who had been with their companies less than a year admitted to applying for new jobs, according to a 2018 study by the Work Institute.
People leave their jobs when they feel unappreciated, overburdened, excluded, unsafe or besieged by personal conflict. Unsatisfying work is a product of an unsatisfying workplace.
That is why it is so important that our organizations get workplace culture right. Culture is what motivates and retains talented employees. It’s behind every business decision. And a healthy workplace culture—one that is fair, inclusive, high-functioning and free from harassment—is a critical business asset and force multiplier.
To emphasize the importance of strong workplace cultures, SHRM recently launched a national initiative on workplace culture, which debuted at our Annual Conference & Exposition in June in Las Vegas. (You can learn more by visiting www.talkworkculture.com).
Honest conversations
Sounds interesting right, but how do we actually make our cultures stronger and healthier? First, we need to understand what’s working—and what’s not. And that requires open, honest conversations with those who experience the culture every day. When employees understand and feel connected to their organization’s beliefs and values—and feel free to share their own—they are more engaged, and productivity goes up.
People managers, along with HR, play an outsized role in understanding and shaping workplace cultures on a day-to-day basis, including anything from employee engagement and satisfaction to productivity and profitability. So, what could change if bosses spent as much time listening as managing?
That is why SHRM is encouraging people managers and HR professionals to develop an ethos of strategic, issue-driven conversations that can improve company cultures. When managers and their reports—and peers with peers—sit down to talk about specific workplace issues, real change can happen. Solving issues like harassment, ageism, skills gaps, inclusion and equity in the workplace is a collective effort.
These conversations should not be top-down communication, but should take the shape of pre-planned, one-on-one social encounters, where each person is on equal footing.
Tips for constructive dialogues
- Commit to having the conversation. All too often, strategic, issue-driven conversations are absent from the calendar. Take the time to think through what you really want to talk about, why you want to have the conversation and the desired outcome.
- Decide who to talk to on your team. Pick an employee you feel has useful insights on your company or team culture. It’s important that the conversation offers opportunities for learning and discovery that can lead to culture change, and that you are inclusive when selecting employees to engage.
- Select the right time and place. Plan a one-on-one social encounter, like talking over coffee, and choose a meeting spot that’s on neutral ground and convenient.
- Get into the right mindset. Before the discussion takes place, check any preconceptions and assumptions at the door and be aware of your own unconscious biases.
- Begin the conversation by setting the stage. Explain why you are interested in the employee’s views and what the outcomes might be.
- Listen to understand, not to solve. Don’t attempt to address problems or issues in the moment. Ask good questions and process the conversation as it happens, so you are fully understanding the employee’s views and ideas, not just responding to them.
- Support a “we” attitude. Using “we” in conversation reinforces that you are in this together and working toward a shared goal of improving culture at your company.
We at SHRM invite you to keep the conversation going by visiting www.talkworkculture.com. There you can find conversation starters and more information on the power of culture to shape our workplaces.
We can shape better workplaces—and a better world— with a cup of coffee and an honest conversation. “Real talk” can bring people together, solve problems and transform workplace cultures.
SHRM’s CHRO
Attendees at SHRM’s 2019 Annual Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas had the opportunity to test their culture conversation skills at the Workplace Convos & Coffee experience. This fully functional pop-up coffeehouse was designed to encourage one-on-one dialogue about the issues HR and people managers confront every day. The experience began the moment participants stepped onto an interactive floor, where workplace topics appeared under their feet. As they moved around and encountered others, topics came together to illuminate thought-provoking questions designed to spark critical conversations.
The focus on workplace culture at Annual Conference marked the beginning of a SHRM national initiative, which will continue with an experience in late September in New York City.