Toward a Human-Centered Workplace
Nearly two years into the pandemic, my clients and other leaders continue to describe feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. In addition to the illness, staffing, and childcare challenges that have accompanied the latest COVID-19 variant, nearly all cite overwork as a key ongoing problem for themselves and their teams.
“Overstretched” describes not only the employees but the organizations themselves. During the pandemic alone, institutional focus has pivoted from remote work, to anti-racist initiatives, to hybrid work options, to retention efforts. In truth, this well-entrenched pattern predates the pandemic. Overstretched organizations take many shots on goal. They pursue a dozen strategic aims simultaneously. They say “yes” to every idea – after all, it might be a home run.
This mindset may derive from organizational DNA. Several companies’ value statements I’ve observed recently feature a variation of “we always give it 110%.” And yet over time, the incessant, hectic sprint reduces effectiveness and overwhelms employees.
Leaders of overstretched organizations can reduce excessive demands in three ways:
1. Pull back on the pace.
As with the fabled hare, quick sprints don’t guarantee a fast finish. One such approach is to embrace the 85% rule in which organizations intentionally aim to reduce their pace. Elon Musk adopted this approach in a November 2021 staff memo:
“What has happened historically is that we sprint like crazy at the end of the quarter to maximize deliveries, but then deliveries drop massively in the first few weeks of the next quarter. In effect, looking at over a six month period, we won’t have delivered any extra cars but we will have spent a lot of money and burned ourselves out to accelerate deliveries in the last two weeks of each quarter.”
Consistent permission to decelerate can erode the assumption that 110% yields our best results. Indeed, we should find a sustainable pace. Like distance runners, we must all learn and practice our gears in order to know what pace is sustainable for the long haul.
A slower pace requires a less full plate, yet strategically choosing what to forgo can be challenging. What should guide the decisions about where to focus?
2. Lean into human-centered values.
Recently, a client of mine, the CEO of a small consulting business, had tough news to deliver. He feared that his team, already overwhelmed, might buckle under the news that the firm had restructured the organization and broken ties with a key partner. By grounding his decisions in a key firm value – supporting staff – he explained that restructuring reflected the organization’s focus on setting its employees up for success. In this case, he made key decisions about the future of the company based on human growth and learning. As a result, his team understood what the organization was focused on and why changes were being made.
Another example of a leader promoting resilience over productivity culture comes from Basecamp CEO Jason Fried, who has been loudly championing the importance of sleep. It cannot be emphasized enough: improved sleep habits are incredibly helpful for work performance. Fried has publicly discussed the value of sleep and imported it into Basecamp’s culture.
As with any organizational value, human-centered elements like sleep and inclusion are best realized when systematically embedded into the fabric of day-to-day work. These values have a place in the company’s routines, operations, and professional development systems. For one approach in weaving these concepts into the fabric of the organization, check out Brené Brown’s resource on operationalizing organizational values.
3. Start with yourself.
Embedding holistic human needs into your organization requires that leaders align their personal systems accordingly. Leaders profoundly shape the behavior of those around them and can’t expect others to follow them if they haven’t shifted this mindset.
I regularly hear from leaders who want to restore balance to their teams in order to reduce burnout and turnover. All too often they admit they themselves do not live up to the work-life balance expectations they’ve promoted. If an organization has identified sleep as a value, then its leaders must first commit to working on it. These nine actions help leaders build habits that put their well-being first. Leading by example enables espoused values to become lived values.
Teams work too much when they don’t have a focused plan. Without knowing what we’re striving for, many of us are prone to overwork. Pulling back invites a clearer definition about what matters.
Centering a culture around well-being has the potential to attract and retain top talent; it also can be the catalyst for recognizing and pursuing the work that matters most.
