It is the water that reigns

According to a global annual survey by Gallup, 60% of people who go to work are stressed on a daily basis, 56% are worried, 33% struggle with physical symptoms, 31% are angry, and 19% feel miserable. Perhaps the most alarming is that 60% are quiet quitters: they have already given up, they go to the office but only do what is absolutely necessary.

Leadership needs rethinking

Social psychologist Elliot Aronson believes that prolonged emotional stress leads to psychological, physical and mental burnout. The last three years have done exactly this to us. A lot of emotions have come to the surface and in the past managers have always asked employees to leave their emotions at home, but people are no longer willing to do this. The only way to make room for all of this is a new type of management, and the time has come for managers to engage in very serious self-reflection.

Corporate culture can support transformation

Around 75% of today’s managers are asked to realise some kind of transformation of the company but 97% fail. Not because they lack the skills or the money, but because they don’t take one thing into account: corporate culture. Corporate culture can be supportive of transformation through its ability to take strategy on board. This requires courage, entrepreneurship, information sharing, feedback, curiosity, passion and contribution, rather than a compulsive desire to create the kind of impression that makes us accepted at the company – this refers to employees and managers alike.

A psychologically safe environment

Ten years ago an experiment at Google revealed that a team can only work well in a psychologically safe environment. The term “psychologically safe environment” was introduced by Amy Edmondson, when she was studying US hospitals and noticed a strange data alignment. She found that workers felt most comfortable in hospitals where the medical staff made a lot of mistakes. The reason is simple: due to the nature of the work, mistakes are made in these hospitals, but those who feel safe and comfortable aren’t reluctant to come forward with their mistakes and ask for help. This is the basis of psychological safety.

Criteria for psychological safety

One of the most important factors in psychological safety is diversity, i.e. acknowledging and valuing our differences. At the heart of diversity we find difference of experience: the fact that we all have different experiences, upbringings, perspectives, mistakes and failures. A psychologically safe team allows me to be my true self at work. This carries a huge liberating power for managers too. Diversity presupposes that I accept myself with everything, e.g. my quarrelsome nature, my constant jokes, etc. These differences allow us to see our own vulnerabilities, which makes the manager’s job a lot easier, because from then on they no longer have to be the smartest, they can ask others for their views, exchange opinions and admit when they are wrong. In 2022 nearly 90% of those looking for a new job were first and foremost looking for a psychologically safe job.

No one wants to be a human resource anymore

It is a big mistake that managers today still think of employees as a resource: they no longer want to be human resources, because resources can be used and exploited. A company’s competitiveness depends on the kind of people it has in its ranks. This is why those who see employees as the company’s main asset rather than a resource are guaranteed to be in the top 3%, who will be able to overcome the economic and other challenges that lie ahead. //