You’re on a mission to drive employee engagement and unify everyone under a shared vision. But it feels like you’re hitting a brick wall when not a single question pops up in your all-hands meetings or company offsite.
So, let’s chat about Penguins.
What’s more similar to a penguin, a finch, or a dolphin?
This was the question posed by researchers keen to understand if our perceptions of a penguin are universally understood.
Spoiler alert: they’re not.
In fact, there’s merely a 16% chance we’re thinking precisely the same thing when I mention the word ‘penguin’.
In the world of communication, we often seem to miss each other by a mile. Imagine the mismatch when I say workplace culture, psychological safety, or team norms.
I’ll bet most of your folks remain silent in Q & A sessions because they don’t feel secure enough to voice their thoughts, fearing they might get it wrong.
Running a Q & A session isn’t enough.
Here’s a snippet of feedback from a Culture Design session I recently facilitated at TouchWood:
“I’ve never experienced a workplace that actually listens to their employees or conducts sessions like this!”
The team at TouchWood are typically busy crafting bespoke playgrounds for clients like the Eden Project. But last week, they traded in chainsaws for post-its, and together we made the vague concept of workplace culture tangible.
They had the chance to voice their thoughts on what makes their culture truly fantastic, what might need some tweaking, and what ideas they had for potential improvements.
Everyone shared their unique perspectives, and before we knew it, we were all speaking the same language.
I could literally see change unfolding in the room.
The results were:
✔ Engaged and enthusiastic employees
✔ Silos vanished in thin air
✔ The culture became tangible and real
✔ Teams were more aligned with the vision
If they don’t become more productive, make superior collaborative decisions, enhance their meetings, and find even more joy in coming to work – I’ll eat my hat.
If it sounds like a Culture Design Session could be a good fit for you, hit reply to schedule a no-obligation chat.