Surrounded by Hope
I looked around the Zoom screen at the client team. I knew from preliminary conversations this team of leaders, managers and assistants were carrying a lot of emotions, like so many of us these days.
Leaders of the organization reached out to us because they were struggling to build a safe, trusting work environment and because they were worried about their team members who were suffering from numerous stressors dragging down their well-being. They wanted things to be different and needed help. Human-centered help.
They’d shared transparently about the team’s fear, anxiety, and stress. They were all overwhelmed by what COVID had done to them and struggled to cope with the changes to their relationships, operations, culture, and retention. They were deeply impacted by the racial reckoning and committed to making progress together. And they’d also faced significant issues with trust and change fatigue long before 2020.
If this sounds like your organization too, in reality, it is the profile of many teams and organizations we work with. We also repeatedly hear from them about weariness with the history and norms of industrial area workplace which is so out of sync with today’s team members and all that we know about human behavior. They describe how that out-dated way of working is de-personalizing, extractive, and untrusting; how it uses people up and still demands more. In fear, everyone, both leaders and team members, hustle to keep up, sacrifice their health and quality of life, and feel betrayed by the system.
Even with this, or maybe because this has been THE way of being professional for as long as anyone can remember, I am sometimes asked, “Do people really want and believe in a more human way of working? I mean, I want it,” they tell me, “but I’m not sure that anyone else does.”
This uncertainty about others’ desires and intentions is understandable. It comes from being subject for so long to this outdated, harmful industrial model that insists we subvert our true selves and our better instincts and behave like machines. Few feel comfortable questioning this and most have felt compelled to quietly endure, afraid of losing security, livelihoods, and opportunities. This social control creates distance and keeps us from really knowing what people think and feel.
And now we are even more distanced from each other, physically and emotionally, politically and socially, that we can’t see each other. We are masked from each other, sometimes with N95s but even more so with the masks of our pain, stress, and circumstances. This trauma makes us numb and causes us to withdraw further in self-protection and hide from each other. The common longing to be fully human and alive is buried and so we think, “I must be the only one, and if I’m the only one, then what hope is there?”
But you are not the only one.
In fact, you are surrounded in your workplace, in your social circles, and in your community by others who also want to be human, to be well, to be healthy and happy, to feel loved and accepted, and to belong and contribute. The longing for peace and certainty is universal. So is the longing for connection across divides and differences.
We at A Human Workplace have the great privilege of stepping into your worlds and learning about both the depth of your struggles AND the vastness of your hearts, hopes, and humanity.
You tell us of your desires for meaningful work, for authentic human connections, for belonging in your community. You tell us proudly that you want to contribute but no longer by sacrificing your life, your health, and your relationships. Many have never experienced a compassionate, happy workplace, where really great things are done together as a trusting team. Many have gone through decades on guard. They’ve felt the need to hide their true desires behind skepticism that anything better is possible. But the fact is, they are not alone in those longings. You are not alone in those longings. Most people have these same deep desires for work, community, and life to be more human. And by that I mean more kind and compassionate, meaningful and challenging, respectful and healthy, and accepting of who we are.
If you have those longings, it is my experience that you are surrounded by others who deep down want work and life to be that way too.
In that Zoom meeting with our clients, we invited them to step out of their solitude to share how they each related to making work more human.
And they did.
An executive spoke of leading with the heart. Two described the importance of servant leadership. Another manager cited evolving with compassion and empathy. Others spoke of unleashing human potential, of the power and possibility of people, and of honesty, truth, and trust.
Emerging from the pain and fear, their values and common humanity joined together as a source of light and a foundation. With that common ground and illumination, we can build trust and plan humanely. We can take tangible actions to heal, and we can help them live into a new way of being together in the workplace. It’s a lot of work, to be sure. But being separated and in pain is much more costly. Denying our humanity is drudgery and dismemberment. Fear, hustle culture and fracturing from each other are literally killing us.
We prefer the hard work of love.
Today you can open the door to find the shared human vision of those around you. Begin by naming your desire for helping your team be great for people, “I know times have been tough and we face a lot of challenges. So I want to do what I can to help make this team a positive experience for everyone. I am going to do my best to support that happen by…” and commit to some simple actions like the ones listed below. “Please let me know if there’s something else I can do or we can do together. I’m all in.”
Greet people and if you are remote, schedule time to start the day and wish people a good day.
Carefully and intentionally practice listening and believing.
Welcome new people and take time to get to know them, not because it is part of a program but because it is the human thing to do.
Check-in to see how a colleague is doing.
Remember when people share about their kids, their pets, their trip, their lives and follow up with them.
Notice if someone is private and chooses not to disclose. Find ways to meet them where they are at, engaging them on their own terms with respect and without judgment.
Invite someone to coffee or to go on a walk, virtual or otherwise.
Ask people if they need any support and pitch in if you can.
Tell your colleague what you appreciate about their work.
Similarly, notice and amplify others’ contributions or ideas in the group.
Ask people what would make their day a little better and then see if you can help make that happen.
Share what you value about your team with your team.
These kinds of simple acts begin to bridge the divide, healing our pain and weariness through connection, kindness and care. Each day, right now, we can each live into our longings and our deepest desires to be fully, truly alive, loved, and loving.
Remember that the hope you seek is probably present in the people you work with. Hope is in the people in the squares on your screen. Hope is in the cubicle down the hall when you are in the office. I am here to tell you what I see: You are surrounded by people who want a human way of working too. Your unmasked care can invite your colleagues to reveal and act on the human way of working they secretly want too.
