Hi everyone. It’s Maree. Welcome to your Respectful Workplace Insights newsletter with weekly tips for building trust, safety and a thriving inclusive, performance culture.
In this edition we unpack the 5 levels of engagement for building a sustainable culture.
We focus on what it takes to elevate engagement to optimal connectivity … to close the gap between people and create a 10X TRUST sustainable culture.
Here’s the thing …
Trust is in crisis globally … distrust is rising in line with global trends.
So how do you build a healthy, thriving, productive workplace culture in these times of unprecedented change?
Trust is the glue that underpins engagement and performance
The fine line between protecting what you have (your existing culture), and creating what you aspire to, is the primary dynamic in shaping a culture.
Leaders set the tone for trust in a culture.
Your leaders are either limiting or expanding the growth of your culture.
The level of trust in any culture has a huge impact on levels of engagement and performance.
Let’s unpack the Elevation of ENGAGEMENT Model …
BELOW THE LINE – RESISTING
When people are resistingthey close down and protect themselves.
Growth is thwarted by fear driven ‘below the line’ actions which result in an unsustainable culture. It’s a climate of low trust, low levels of psychological safety and low performance.
At an organisational level, microcultures of resistance may coexist across business units, functions or different locations.
Individual leaders may create subcultures of toxic resistance within their teams.
Let’s unpack Levels 1 and 2 …
Level 1 – Lowest engagement – Toxic Unconscious
- A culture stops growing first and foremost through toxic residue in the space. At this level, people protect themselves and their turf. They may display active hostility and cause others to move into protective behaviour.
- These people are unconscious of their impact on others. They are unconscious of the strong negative currents they are releasing into their environment through high levels of cortisol (toxic chemicals) from the brain.
- They’re affecting their own health and the health and wellbeing of others around them through the negative energy space they’re creating.
Level 2 – Low engagement – Stagnant Autopilot
- People at this level may actively disengage others around them to keep the status quo intact. When a person is communicating from this position of entrenchment, it’s like having their foot nailed to the floor.
- Others around them adopt the group opinion as ‘this is the way we do things around here.’ They practise active avoidance rather than disrupting anything.
- With low levels of engagement there is little emotional involvement or connection. The mode is autopilot. With no room for movement, everything is stagnant … nothing shifts.
Shifting from Resisting to Generating …
ABOVE THE LINE – GENERATING
- Generating begins when people begin to move away from protecting themselves to partnering with others. They start being proactive and participating with trust based ‘above the line’ actions.
- As everyone shifts into higher levels of generating, skepticism starts to fall away, and ego positions are let go of. The passive tolerance of those sitting on the fence waiting to see what happens, falls away as they become open to willingly engage with others.
- The highest level of generating is co-creating with all others in a climate of mutual respect, building mutual success and a sustainable culture.
Now to Levels 3 and 4 …
Level 3 – Increasing Engagement – Intermittent Shift-able
- As people start to build trust, things begin to move forward. While engagement is increasing, it may be sporadic, occurring at irregular intervals, or only in a few places.
- The point is, it’s creating a lift into positive territory. The level of connection has become shift-able which means some people are choosing to look at positive options through partnering.
- A few shades of optimism start to emerge in different pockets within the culture.
Level 4 – Expanding Engagement – Strengthening
- This level is the tipping point as a critical mass of people within the culture are consciously choosing to proactively build trust and strengthen connection with each other.
- Task and relationship are brought together with an intent to convince and persuade others towards win-win solutions.
- People set out to engage and influence others which is useful at the level of decision making.
Level 5 …
Level 5 – Optimal Engagement – Transformational
- Optimal Engagement – Mutual Respect occurs when a culture on mass lets go of paradigms of communication from the past, and people shift from being I-centric to Creating WE in any conversation.
- When high intention, high impact and high influence are brought together, self-directed teamsexpand any conversational space through a stronger ability to bond with others.
- People release high levels of oxytocin (a bonding hormone) which promotes healthy exchanges and high levels of psychological safety.
- When creating deeper connection and transforming fear into trust, people begin to explore uncharted territory and co-create for mutual success with each other.
- This is where everyone has the tools to move the ball forward.
- This is where the heart of innovation happens.
- This is the source of mutual respect, optimal engagement and high performance.
A 10x TRUST Sustainable Culture
A foundation of trust is essential to navigate challenges and reach for aspirations.
A culture will flourish and be sustained through neuroscience-based, transformational interactions.
This is what’s necessary today to build a healthier, more resilient organisation in the face of unprecedented change.
The cost of inaction is a gradually depleting environment.
Like to know more about how you can build a 10x TRUST Sustainable Culture? Here’s a link to book a Chat with Maree or email maree@upshiftsolutions.com.au
Ref: – Conversational Intelligence®-Judith E. Glaser.
Respectful Workplace Insights is a weekly newsletter I am publishing on LinkedIn to highlight some of the things that get in the way of creating a respectful workplace culture.
Eliminating disrespectful unproductive and depleting conversations and behaviours that are getting in the way of building respectful alignment and performance is where we start.
Each week I’ll offer tips on how to do that so you can create a respectful workplace culture where everyone feels safe and included.
