What Would Make a Happier Workplace?

(Please note the Dilbert Cartoon is under license to use for this blog post only. Please do not download or copy)

I was quite astounded by my students’ responses to the Disciplined Agile Mindsets during a class discussion in recent weeks. The D.A mindset states the following:-

I was astounded by student’s response to the D.A mindsets

One student says her experience of workplaces she had been part of for the past 20 years do not in any way reflect the D.A mindsets. She was lamenting the days which her seniors were abusive to the juniors and there were very little care for the staff.

Another student agreed with her, although his work environment had not been as bad, to say that in general it’d be difficult for him to imagine a workplace that can implement the D.A Mindsets.

We are talking about very experienced professionals who are high performers in their own respective fields of profession, which made me think about my own experience.

It’s true, I have been in extremely toxic corporate environments before, so I won’t disagree with my students that some places can be like that.

However, there have been plenty of instances where I was able to turn around a toxic workplace culture into a place where people want to turn up every morning looking forward to the day ahead.

I was able to turn around a toxic culture..

How did I do it? I believe that the type of corporate culture established at any workplace is the responsibility of the management. The water always flows down, never against the gravity. In the same way, where there is a will (by the management), there is always the possibility of shaping the type of work culture that will encourage people to perform at their best and keep them happy at the same time.

The d.A mindset is a starting point for a better workplace culture

If you are in a management role in your workplace, ask yourself these questions:-

Do we encourage psychological safety, hence allowing our people to speak out their minds without the fear of retribution?

Do we encourage the customer-first mindset?

Do our claims of work-life balance for our staff have substance or are they just a feel-good rhetoric?

In my experience, if you look after your staff they will look after your business, but this good-will sequence almost always will need to be initiated by the management team