Engagement - what everyone wants. Sustainability - the big kid on the block who wants everyone to pay attention. Alignment with mission - what does that even mean to someone who didn't write the statement? The buzzword hive is active but people are lost in translations and the world is not getting any easier to live in.
Most people are still afraid to admit to a mental health issue for fear of management finding out, while portraying a scenario of self-controlled commitment to a cause they don't feel party to. More than 99% of those I've surveyed in the past year put Family in the category of 'what gives most joy' - bonds are still strong in the conscious mind. Yet in the workplace, traditionally divisive behaviours still hold sway,; there's cause for concern that this new era of advancement will lead to more cracks than can be easily papered.
Relationships in the workplace are critical for the health and welfare of the company. Asked what they want to see changed, few even think about the wage packet - they want better communication, more things to get involved in, more understanding of what's going on. For everyone to take more responsibility and positive attitudes to be visible commodities. This is engagement in commonplace language, and you don't get it from a textbook or email exchanges or even from in-house training, you get it from enabling staff to live the way they want to live while working in the environment they are making for themselves, For that to happen, they have to learn how to think about the workplace differently, to co-create a culture that fosters free communication, trust and opportunity. That people want to take the company to the next level up is not in question at all. But how they can actively contribute to that success is beyond them. From management to shop floor, no-one knows how to really give traction to the vision.
Some get it, effortlessly reaching the heights of success as they perceive it to be, simply by forging those positive relationships from the outset and keeping them intact. But for a company that's lost its grip on retention, losing good people to a pound difference in wages, the story is very different. They have to rewire across the whole matrix, and relearn what it takes to thrive in this day and age when the populations of the world are getting restless.
Relationships in the workplace are strained for one reason only - leaders are afraid to let go of traditional management systems. People want to evolve, we're programmed to do so, that's why society changes so quickly. We're now looking for a balance between self-worth and self-preservation, one that enables us to take care of what matters while at the same time making sure the best really is more than good enough.
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