working.culture

Never has behaviour in organisations been under such scrutiny.   The environment in which we work affects our physical and mental wellbeing.     Each week brings a new story highlighting how an organisation's culture has contributed to cases of discrimination, harassment or burnout.   While any responsible business wants to address issues like these, working out what to do can feel hard.  

A common response is to update policies and pay for a new training module.   It is easy to understand why this route is so appealing.  Budgets can be allocated and there is quickly visible activity to show something is being done.   However, if behavioural change is needed, policies and training cannot be relied on to do all the heavy lifting.   Take a recent oft-touted solution to increasing workforce diversity: unconscious bias training.  Study after study has shown that, while unconscious bias training may increase awareness and engagement, it does not change the decisions people make, particularly if the working environment remains the same.    So what else is needed?  

When change is needed in every day practices, then the starting point has to be understanding the every day environment.  We start by identifying the obvious and less obvious factors which are shaping people's attitudes and behaviours, working with a range of people from different parts of the organisation.  Policies, incentives, office layout and a whole range of organisational norms are just some of the elements that can play a part.    We identify the biggest points of influence, work with business teams to co-design solutions and then we test them to see what actually works.  

By applying knowledge gained from behavioural science and on-the-ground experience, we can help you find an easier and quicker way to embed a working culture you can feel proud of.  If this sounds interesting, get in touch.