Healthy workplace - balance between relationship and performance
Prosperous companies through a good corporate culture
When company is described as 'prosperous', our thoughts often turn to the company performing well, making money and generating returns. When the workplace described as well-being, our associations often go to more relational elements. Employees enjoying their work, good leadership and good values. We are convinced that the road to prosperous companies, organisations and workplaces goes through a corporate culture where people thrive, develop and perform.
Psychological safety in the workplace
This autumn, after the pandemic, we have seen an increased demand and interest in psychological safety in the workplace. The concept of psychological safety comes from Harvard professor Amy C. Edmonson's research on what characterises high-performing healthcare workplaces. Some of her conclusions are that high-performing healthcare units are characterised by psychological safety. This means, among other things, that employees are driven by ambitious goals and have a desire to excel in the common mission. They treat each other with warmth and empathy, have good forums for development and are not afraid to fail or make mistakes.
The consequences for unethical behaviour and rule breaking are consistent and known to all. Security thus includes more than just relational elements, it also includes shared ambition, clarity of direction and basic behaviour.
Imbalance between relationship and results
If there is an imbalance between these two areas, relationship and results, it will negatively affect performance. If the relationship focus is higher than the result focus, it will be too tolerant, with a negative impact on performance and goal fulfilment. A higher focus on results than on relationships will be perceived as hard and demanding, performance will be strained and suffer.
Security and well-being come not only from people's propensity to empathise and cooperate, but also from the joy of achieving results. However, it is easy to fall into an imbalance where relationships, values and behaviours, goals and results are managed separately.
Balancing relationship issues with performance issues
Our thesis is that healthy workplaces endeavour to balance relationship issues with performance issues. The tougher the goal and performance focus, the stronger the relationship focus required. Usually it is at this point, when the focus on delivery and goals is turned upside down, that the time to also meet in questions about how to best cooperate is prioritised. Similarly, results and target fulfilment cannot be disconnected when interaction and relationship issues are handled; they are closely linked and are each other's prerequisites.
Well-being - when good things come together
In the prosperous workplace it is not ok to achieve results at any cost, being a so-called "brilliant jerk" is not accepted, but neither is the opposite, i.e. nice and low-performing. The long-term prosperous workplace exists where commitment, job satisfaction and the desire to do good things meet.
To create healthy workplaces:
- Set high ambitions and enable people to reach them
- Imbalances between relationship and performance issues harm performance and negatively affect well-being.
- Manage performance and relationship issues simultaneously, not separately, training the organisation to take in the whole picture.
Create a thriving company culture with YesP
Do you want a workplace where employees thrive, develop and perform? Contact YesP to help you balance relationships and results for a thriving company culture.