Our Research
Learning About the Impact of Love and Fear
The message, principles, and practices of A Human Workplace are based on the primary qualitative research of founder Renée Smith.
She sought to better understand the impacts of fear and love on individuals, teams, and workplaces. What she learned from her first 50 interviews was sobering. Smith has continued interviewing people as well as listening to and learning from hundreds of stories in the workshops she leads. Interviews illuminated six types of fear stories and three love stories as well as clarity about the operational definition of “love at work”. These insights create a roadmap for workplaces that want to let go of outdated industrial-era mindsets and practices to make work in the 21st century more productive, effective, and sustainable by making work more loving and human.
Renée shares insights from her research outcomes in keynote talks and workshops, in blogs, articles, and podcasts. She is also writing a book. This research forms the underpinnings of all the programs and services offered by A Human Workplace practitioners. Renée and the AHW Team continue to expand this research, collecting more stories to better understand and explore different aspects of fear and love in the workplace, their causes, meanings, consequences, forms, solutions, and more. And the ultimate purpose remains the same: To help workplaces around the world shift from a fear-based way of working that degrades people and diminishes potential, productivity, and the planet to a love-based way of working that uplifts people, possibilities, and the planet, AND fostering the positive results organizations seek.
What about you? Would you like to share your stories?
We would love to interview you about your fear and love stories at work. If you participate, your confidential stories will be included in this growing body of research, data combined with others to gain insights that will inform our advocacy and teaching about creating more loving, human workplaces.
Interested? Schedule an interview to share your stories today!
1:1 Interviews
If you’d like to contribute your story to this body of knowledge, we would be honored to interview you. One-on-one interviews take about an hour and can be in person by Zoom, in person, or over the phone. Contact renee@makeworkmorehuman.com to schedule an interview. We will share the formal research protocols with you. The interview is built around two basic prompts:
1. Share a story about a time when you experienced fear at work.
What happened? What did you do? What did others do? How did this impact you? Your team? Your organization? Your customer? Your work? Your personal life? Your physical and emotional well-being? What did this mean to you?
2. Share a story about a time when you felt loved at work.
What happened? What did you do? What did others do? How did this impact you? Your team? Your organization? Your customer? Your work? Your personal life? Your physical and emotional well-being? What did this mean to you?
Fear + love research workshops.
The concept is simple: Gather a diverse group of 6-8 people for one day to share stories of fear and love. Begin by building trust and connection. Create safety and agreements about confidentiality. Then pair participants up and guide them to explore their stories of fear in the morning, and love in the afternoon (because love should be in the afternoon, right?) We listen, value, empathize, and reflect. Then the group discusses insights and so better understands fear and love at work. Workshops are coordinated periodically. Contact us if you are interested in participating in or hosting a workshop.
Insights + impact.
The insights from these stories are having a profound impact on leaders and teams all over the world and helping organizations shift from fear-based workplaces to more loving, human-centered workplaces that are more effective AND good for people. We are learning how to make work more human!