031 Creating the Dream Workplace

Fit for Work

Let’s picture for a minute your dream workplace…
-What would it look like?
-What sort of culture would be present?
-What would leadership look like?
-What value would be placed on health?
-What attitude would people have to Safety?
-What level of engagement and productivity would exist?

Hosting the Fit for Work Podcast has really quenched my thirst for growth fuelling goodness. As I combed through the shownotes in preparation for this special episode of highlights from the past 30 episodes, I was struck by just how much the words of my guests have stayed with me. Undertaking this podcast has been a labor of love, and has taken immense discipline to produce weekly, yet the benefits to my personal and professional growth has been undeniable. My hope is that the same has happened for you.

By offering you the opportunity to eavesdrop on my conversations with professionals in the Workplace Health, Safety and Leadership spaces along with researchers, educators, front-line staff from both white and blue collar, private and public sectors, I hope you’re better for it. I hope that together we’re better from having exposed ourselves to inspiring, interesting, progressive and experienced individuals making a positive dent in the world.

As much as I don’t know everything there is to know about workplace health, safety and leadership, I feel I now know more thanks to my wonderful and brilliant Podcast guests. If you’re listening a MASSIVE thank you for sharing your message with those who I like to dream ‘can do something about it’.

Off the bat I wanted to showcase the most popular of the 30 Fit for Work Podcast episodes – as in the most downloads – and encourage you to have a listen if you haven’t already.

022 Claire Ebstein – Keep calm and become emotionally intelligent
023 Jim Kelly – The Modern Day approach of the WHS regulator
020 Pete Zmuda – Breaking out of the safety comfort zone
013 Rory Darkins – Become a Corporate Athlete
012 Danni Hocking – Linking wellbeing to productivity, ROI and ROV

I want to also invite you the opportunity to say thanks for the gift of this podcast by contributing to my charity Mercy Huts – our NFP surf retreat in Indonesia. We’re currently holding a raffle so we can build our pool. Tickets are $40 which enter you into the draw to win 2 weeks holidays at Mercy Huts every year for 10 years. The prize is valued at over $30,000. It would mean the world to me if you’d consider contributing as a way of saying thanks for the 300 hours or so that I’ve invested into delivering this thought leadership to you, and what’s more you may even win 10 years of holidays. You can buy your raffle ticket at www.mercyhuts.com/win. If you could share this link with a friend too that’d be hugely appreciated.

To celebrate the 30 episodes of the Fit for Work Podcast I’ve consolidated the key messages under the themes of Health, Safety and Leadership. I’ve entitled this episode ‘Creating the Dream Workplace’. Let the growth fuelling goodness flow…

I don’t know about you, but I think about what the Dream workplace would look like often. And speaking with the borrowed credibility of my podcast guests, I thought I’d paint you a picture of my dream workplace as though this dream workplace was a product of the wisdom of each of my guests…

LEADERSHIP

MY DREAM WORKPLACE … HAS EXTRAORDINARY LEADERSHIP

Self-leadership is practiced and encouraged: My colleagues and I (from herein referred to as we) have taken the time to reflect and create our own definition of success, not one others have created for us. Ultimately we’ve realized that success is a product of our true nature in action.

We’ve learnt from Nicole van Hattems story in Ep9 where her definition of success as a high-flying HR executive in Dubai shifted from power, prestige, diamonds, holidays, fancy cars, travel… which came with endless to-do lists, survival mode, striving, no sleep/rest, relationship breakdown, high stress, caffeine dependence, distraction and adrenal fatigue.
To a NEW definition: healthy body, calm mind, rest, sleep, joy, peace, happy relationships, reflection, thriving, resilience…

As Rory Darkins in Ep13 encouraged, we’ve flipped our definition of success to recognize ‘wellbeing brings success’ ‘not success brings wellbeing’. We recognize that it’s the PROCESS that nourishes us NOT the outcome. We’ve established a sense of identity that’s transcendent of what we do. We’re not seen as a unit of labour or a cog in the wheel, nor do we see ourselves as one. Our identity is bigger than our circumstances and isn’t dependent upon being a CEO, engineer, tradie or elite athlete. In doing so we’ve harnessed our passion for work and now exercise Harmonious Passion having control over our work and work hours rather than our work activity having control over us.

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE…WE SUPPORT HIGH PERFORMANCE THINKING

We’ve heeded the advice of Dr Jenny Brockis in Ep11 and have created a brain-friendly workplace that outperforms our competitors. The way we work supports high performance thinking so you won’t see us working skipping lunch breaks, multitasking or working silly hours as we know that beyond 48 hours a week presenteeism is rampant. Instead we’ve each reflected on our ultradian rhythms and identified our peak energy pockets and its during these windows of 3hours that we punch out our most important work. We take regular brain breaks and enjoy shifting gear with a nourishing lunch and often a social catch up with each other. After all getting to know each other socially works wonders in getting stuff done professionally.

We also exercise self-leadership through operating in BEING mode rather than perpetual DOING mode as Claire Ebstein of Ep22 encouraged. Some of us cultivate being mode through embracing formal practises like daily meditation, mindfulness or yoga whilst other prefer informal methods –which actually translate to effective work – like being an active listener, mindfully eating, being aware of our body and deep breathing. BEING MODE helps us achieve a calmer state, conserve energy and improve emotional intelligence verses when we find ourselves in permanent doing mode.
Learning from the wisdom of Beau Corazon in Ep4 we’ve embraced the motto “Be the coolest guy in the room and you’ll be the smartest guy in the room”.

Another key aspect of MY DREAM WORKPLACE IS … HUMAN LEADERSHIP

The leaders of the business speak HUMAN not Corporate BS – as Jen Jackson of Ep14 encouraged – which helps us resonate with them as people and to their vision and strategy for the organization.

This humanness flows over into how we communicate to all levels of the business. We recognize our people have different style preferences – for example 75% of frontline staff prefer video whilst 57% of executive staff prefer text. We adapt our delivery methods but ultimately our human shines through which helps us connect.

Another point of connection that honors our humanness in my dream workplace, is that we collaborate. To steal the expression from Zoe Cole of Ep 27 – we strongly believe that ‘Silos are for storage, not humans’. Our best ideas have been birthed out of collaboration with every level of the business, and it’s these ideas that have been met with the greatest enthusiasm when rolled out.

Innovation is also part of our workplace DNA. Everyone regardless of role or rank is actively encouraged and assigned ‘creative space’ throughout their work week to innovate. We have meetings dedicated to it, we regularly go out in nature, and each quarter we have a whole workday dedicated to coming up with new ideas. This quarterly event is called ‘innovation station’ and during these days we’re prevented from performing any tasks associated with our job role and instead work in teams to come up with a new product, design or process idea. We then present this innovation to the workplace, get voted by our peers and rewarded if our idea is deemed the stand out! If you want to see this concept in action check out how Tech company Atlassian do it.

Part of this human leadership in my dream workplace is that collectively we don’t condone bad behaviour. Our culture depends on it. We understand that our culture is shaped by the lowest common denominator and as such we take responsibility for leading both the legends and the laggards, the rebels, the terrorist as Garry Davis of Ep21 called them. To echo the powerful words shared by Pete Zmuda in Ep20 – ‘Never underestimate the power of the silent majority’, we realise that by tolerating rather than challenging the bad behaviour of the terrorists, that the result is toxic to our workplace culture. So leaders – management and peers alike – remain curious about bad behaviour, challenge where appropriate and work to regain trust ‘fix what was broken’. If what was broken can’t be fixed then managers help the laggards exit the organization.

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … WOMEN ARE WELL REPRESENTED IN LEADERSHIP

Part of the catalyst for this shift in my workplace which is conventionally regarded as a masculine industry, is acknowledgement by executives that diversity is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do. Workplaces with greater female leadership have a competitive advantage as supported by research as shared by the passionate Kelly Lovely in Ep6.

Another contributor to more women in leadership is through HR’s overhaul of job role descriptions. Understanding women are less inclined to apply for roles if they don’t meet all the selection criteria or if the job appeals to more masculine characteristics, HR have taken this into account. They are attracting gender diversity via listing non-technical and soft skill requirements in job ads to engender confidence in women applying for leadership, trade and health and safety roles. A fabulous resource promoting diversity is Teagan Dowlers book ‘The Rules of the Game: Women in Masculine Industries” – I highly recommend.

SAFETY

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … SAFETY IS JUST GOOD BUSINESS

Being safe is normal, intuitive and efficient. This culture has been bred out of asking good questions, highlighting the positives, embracing better practise and bottom up leadership. Thanks for those insights Alanna Ball of Ep3.

Our safety professionals use soft-skills, storytelling, qualitative metrics and fail safe experiments to optimise health and safety outcomes as was encouraged by Kelly Lovely of Ep6.
Safety Professionals have future-proofed their role by:
– Moving more into the role of a coach rather than the fun police
– Thinking big and linking their strategic plans to the bottom line
– Focusing on health and wellbeing as a core part of the safety professionals impact
Thanks Sarah-Jane Dunford of Ep19 for your insights into how we can safe guard ourselves against having a robot steal our jobs.

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … SAFETY IS EFFICIENT & EFFECTIVE

In my workplace the safety manual isn’t so large it could take a life. The safety headlines are known and embodied by those on the frontline. Ask them and they’ll tell you what matters when it comes to safety.

They know that we’re focused on the high risk stuff in line with the WHS regulator, like decreasing serious injuries, musculoskeletal diseases and fatalities, including those work-related suicides. Thanks for detailing these priority areas for us Jim Kelly of SafeWork NSW in Ep23.

Another key part of our efficient safety approach is the use of technology to streamline the compliance process – thanks Jayme Smith of Ep28. We use apps, automation, augmented reality and online platforms to capture, analyse and report on safety inputs and outputs. Daily we’re being challenged to break out of safety comfort zone and are being rewarded for speaking up about inefficiencies and innovations – again a parot of Pete Zmudas wisdom in Ep20. It’s a team effort really.

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … SAFETY IS PEOPLE CENTRED

To sum this point up here’s a recent job ad I read from Don the HSEQ Manager of UCG

“Looking for an adventurous and motivated team player to join the HSEQ Team. Must bring great ideas on promoting an even better safety culture. Great CEO and supportive Senior Management Team, but still there is work to be done. Must have a thick skin, battle scars and a great sense of humour. If you can recite line and verse of legislation, please do not apply. If you are compliance driven please do not apply. There will only be one interview question: “How will you ensure the health and safety of the workforce and others, if there wasn’t any WHS legislation?” Now that’s a people-centred job ad for a safety professional.

HEALTH

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … HEALTH IS A VALUED CURRENCY

Just as with financial and operational targets, health and wellbeing is part of the DNA of my dream workplace. Health has made its way into meeting agendas, crib room conversations, tool box talks, Safety moments and is effectively and periodically measured as part of our leading indicators.

My dream workplace leadership looks at ROV (return on value) not just ROI – a concept introduced by Danni Hocking in Ep12. We recognize that if employees are engaged, love their workplace, have flexible work options, feel career and health supported, they’ll stay longer and be more productive.

To fund our wellbeing initiatives the financial team did an audit of our Workers Comp premiums and discovered there was a substantial difference in the amount we’d be paying if we had no injuries verses what we were paying. They had the foresight to direct funds into wellbeing and prevention initiatives and consequently have seen their investment returned through a dramatic reduction in injuries and therefore premiums – thanks for this tip Mark Stipic in Ep26. Additionally they accessed the 2% funding available from our Insurance Provider dedicated to proactive health and safety interventions. Apparently, it was as easy as phoning our Workers comp insurer and asking them to donate risk management funding.

We introduce long-term, staff-determined wellbeing initiatives that run for a minimum of 3 years. We as staff still have to pay something towards the health initiatives run at work. It’s great because it just gives you a taster of whats out there, makes you own some responsibility and being able to do it at work ensures that health becomes part of the daily routine, rather than getting squeezed out with all of lifes other priorities.

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … WE HAVE HEALTH CHAMPIONS

The wellbeing initiatives are really owned by the workers rather than just paid lip service to by leadership. We own it, design it and champion it and in doing so our mates at work get on board. This concept was introduced by Lisa Kelly in Ep18.
Our Health Champions are supported by management in dedicating some of their time to rallying support and informing staff of health initiatives. Then to support the Health Champions, we have Health Leaders. These Health Leaders have applied for these positions which enable them to dedicate 10-20% of their time purely to facilitation of health initiatives. Then to support the health leaders is a dedicated Health and Wellbeing Manager aka ME, and my role is to resource, inspire and coach the health leaders and champions in the workplace. The best job ever!

We don’t expect perfect health and guard ourselves against the ALL or nothing approach by instead embracing the 80:20 Lifestyle encouraged by Paul Taylor in Ep16. This aims to practice health behaviours 80% of the time, whilst allowing margin for enjoying our less healthy indulgences 20% of the time. The consensus has been that this approach is much more sustainable long-term.

We’ve also directed our energies into cultivating keystone habits – those habits that have a compounding positive effect. For example exercise boosts mood, self-concept, mental clarity, willpower plus a whole host of other physical benefits. Sleep is another keystone habit many have mastered and experienced the benefit in work and life.

Having been introduced to the health continuum by Merv Neale in Ep 2 – where 10 is healthy, 0 is sick and 5 is not sick – not healthy and we can pendulum swing between 0 and 10 throughout different seasons of life. We’ve now shifted our goal from being a 5 ‘not sick’ to being 7 or more. That way when life gives us a knock, we don’t pendulum back into the sick range but instead remain in the 5-10 part of the continuum.

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … THE ENVIRONMENT IS ENGINEERED TO BE PRO-HEALTH

Work design has been carefully considered so it enhances health via movement, ergonomic, technology, food, fitness and social design considerations.

Some of my favourite work design initiatives have been:

• Standing work stations supplied to all staff
• Backtone biofeedback devices fitted to encourage posture training in both sitting and manual handling situations – goodbye to trying to remember to have good posture as well as to the fatigue, fear, reduced mobility, lower self-esteem, poor concentration and compromised productivity associated with poor posture – thanks Lorainne Josey of Ep8.
• 10 at 10 – an alert sounds at 10am that signifies the start of 10mins of health enhancing behaviour chosen by each individual. Some of the favourites are 10mins of stretching, meditation, walking, reading, breathing or some have been to have a LLD ‘little lie down’. Both office folk and frontline staff do 10 at 10 – its just part of our culture.
• We have a real kitchen equipped with an oven, blender for smoothies, sodastream for healthy softdrinks and a juicer which happily devours goodness from the weekly fruit and vege box delivery.
• We also have a healthy vending machine with trail mixes, muesli bars, fruit chews, protein bars and energy balls.
• One of my favourite things is the massive dining table that promote social cohesion as we all take our lunch break – yes we take our lunch break, why wouldn’t we as its an entitlement and is proven to support high performance. These lunch hangouts help promote a sense of family.
• Oh and don’t forget the sleep pods – perfect for those 20min power naps

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … WE KNOW STUFF ABOUT HEALTH

Thanks to the worker-determined health initiatives we’ve introduced through our health champions and leaders, we’ve learnt how to look after our health.

We’ve attended workshops and then had the option to pursue further coaching around topics like:

• Fighting fatigue
• Financial literacy including budgeting, retirement planning and avoiding the golden handcuffs.
• Mental health literacy and how we can look out for our mates work
• Stress management and Mindfulness
• Injury proofing an ageing workforce
• Food fitness and practical cooking demos
• Fitness that fits your life

Plus all of these health topics have resources populated on our online health hub. As encouraged by Georgie Drury in Ep17 we leverage technology to prompt and track health behaviour change. Technology is personalised and user-friendly and is introduced thoughtfully with ample training so that staff don’t get disillusioned with the tech. Many of us have chosen to purchase tracking devices – partly subsidised by work – and enter into physical challenges. Some of the favourites were Step challenges DURING the work day where we aim to get over 5000 steps whilst AT work as well as the Beat the Boss challenge – hilarious and highly motivating.

IN MY DREAM WORKPLACE … WE CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER

Seeing we spend more than half of our waking lives at work, why not make the effort to get along with those we work with?
Some of the things that have supported team cohesion and civility in our workplace are:

• Coffee Roulette – the gesture of pulling 2 teammates names out of a hat weekly who get to enjoy a 30min coffee break and get to know each other.
• Measuring the mental health pulse of our workplace via SuperFriends online tool to benchmark us against other Aussie workplaces then against ourselves as we conduct this survey annually – thanks Margo Lydon Ep15.
• Supporting those with mental illness to recover AT work as often this is a more conducive environment for recovery than sitting at home alone for days or weeks on end. Our RTW Coordinator leads this process is and is backed whole-heartedly by the teammates of the staff member having a tough time.
• Mental health literacy training delivered by MATES in Construction.
• One of the most impacting parts of the MIC training was Jorgens of Ep29 quote “If you see something that doesn’t look right when it comes to mental health, you have a choice: you can do SOMETHING, or you can do NOTHING. Doing SOMETHING, if you’re wrong can cause some awkward laughter, but you’ve told someone you care. Doing NOTHING, could mean you lose someone and may forever ask yourself “Why didn’t I do SOMETHING?”.
• Another thing that’s bonded us is that each year the top performing team gets gifted a FREE trip to NFP Surf Retreat Mercy Huts in Rote Island Indonesia. The purpose of this trip is to reward performance with a relaxing and adventurous holiday surfing diving and fishing. Plus encourage a holiday with purpose as team members support the community development initiatives that accompany the mission of the charity. The team gets involved in activities such as visiting the local childrens home who financially benefit from profits from the surf retreat, visiting local schools and assisting in education in English, health and hygiene; visiting the local noodle business and assisting with education in tourism and hospitality. As well as catching some great waves and fish, team mates get to feel part of something bigger and helping a community less fortunate. This is always a bonding experience for those lucky enough to win the annual trip.

And I think that pretty much sums up my dream workplace. Were there parallels with what you’d paint as your dream workplace? Remember you do hold a paint brush so don’t be afraid to use it to make that picture of your dream workplace become reality.

This week I listened to TED curator Chris Anderson who shared in a Podcast about the evolution of the worlds biggest forum for idea sharing – technology, entertainment and design. He spoke of guest Monica Lewinski being the most terrified he’d witnessed before she spoke about surviving public shame, so much so she almost pulled out. Chris observed the thing that have her the courage to continue was the words she wrote on her page in bold letters THIS MATTERS.

Listening to that statement sent a jolt of energy through me as I related it to the mission of this Podcast and whether I should continue it. To me IT MATTERS that we share thought leadership and make workplaces great. I’m so convinced of this and feel that each of us have a responsibility to ourselves and our workmates to bring our best to work. We can do this through GREAT health, safety and leadership.

A heartfelt thanks to those that have taken the time to tell me the podcast has made a difference to them. As I consider if and how the podcast might look for Season 2, I encourage you to let me know what you think if you haven’t already. Your advice, ideas and positivity really does motivate me to keep believing that this Podcast and what it represents MATTERS.

Again if you’d like to say thanks for season one of the Fit for Work Podcast can I ask you to head over and buy a raffle ticket at mercyhuts.com/win. And share the link with just 1 friend. If you win you could join Paul and I who are headed over to Rote Island in August this year. It’s seriously such a beautiful place for a holiday WITH purpose.

Until next season please CONTINUE being part of the solution in taking your workplace from good to GREAT.

Continue the conversation at www.fitforworkaustralia.com.au, say hi on LinkedIn or flick us a personal note at [e-mail].

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