It’s time
On March 3rd I woke up and everything had changed. The day before was my last day as Director of Workplace Transformation for Washington State. For the first time in years, I had just one role, one email account, one website, one newsletter, one calendar, one computer, one cell phone, one team, and one coherent, clear purpose: To make work more loving and human around the world.
I’ve worked on two full-time parallel efforts for several years: One effort to make government more human for state government agencies and another to make workplaces everywhere more human.
It’s been an incredibly inspiring and instructive experience.
And it’s been a lot!
As a public servant last year I spoke at or hosted 80 events for Washington State agencies, and simultaneously my private work took me to 20 events in 15 cities and six countries around the world.
I’m ready to unify my efforts, wear only one hat, and live one coherent life!
It’s time to pass the baton to others working for the state who will expand, grow, and diversify human-centered government.
It’s time for me to lead A Human Workplace and actively contribute to the global movement to make work more human. It’s time to build out our team and to develop more resources to nourish the humanity in both public and private organizations, as well as to develop practical support for how to put love in action.
It’s time to hold up a model for A Human Workplace and to articulate clear principles and practices to rally around.
It’s time to train and support the hosts who’ve been waiting to hold Human Workplace Gatherings in cities and organizations around the world.
And it’s time to respond to the needs of this particular moment we now face, to support leaders and teams who are - or very soon will be - grappling with fear, potential isolation, sudden disruptions, and financial uncertainty as the world copes with the yet to be fully understood COVID-19 crisis.
Our challenges are looming and menacing. What we all know from research and our lived experiences is that our problems won’t be solved without trust and inclusion, courage and collaboration. This moment, like so many others we have faced and will face in the future, requires public and private workplaces to be psychologically safe. Now more than ever, we need leaders to welcome and celebrate people to speak up with ideas or concerns. Organizations need people to offer a contradictory perspective without fear of reprisal. We need teams to work across boundaries to find solutions, to find ways to keep creating value, and perhaps even to advance capabilities and results during this time.
Contrary to some opinions, such collaborations don’t happen on command. You can’t just throw people together at the last minute and expect excellence. Excellence stands balanced on the shoulders of trust. And so the building of trust must be tended, prized, prioritized. Such trust can’t be demanded but is offered - or withheld - of free-will. It is co-created and strengthened through respectful, dependable interactions over time. Trust is strengthened by knowing someone, as a person, and demonstrating regard for their humanity in the day to day moments that are fleeting but matter. With trust, we learn to effectively communicate together, to value nuanced perspectives, to give voice to wild ideas that come to us at night, and to give the benefit of the doubt. We learn to work together to do more than we thought possible.
Often when I speak to groups, some number of people will quietly tell me stories of shame, indifference, rejection, or punishment that lead to hesitance, withdrawal, appeasement, and fear. It’s clear that many teams have work to do to decrease fear and increase love to create trust and psychological safety.
We can’t wait any longer for love in our workplaces.
The needs are urgent.
It’s time.
