Here is the transcript from a recent video that I made about the opportunity to approach things differently post lockdown.
(The video can be found below this transcript)

Hello

as you know the lockdown continues,
however, it will end so now could be a good time to think about those

things that we might need to do differently

when we get back into the working environment.

If we’re lucky enough to get back into the working environment. Some habits, we should probably keep, other habits.

we may need to change. I think we all need to bear in mind that the mental health

of an awful lot of people has been negatively impacted

because of the pandemic and the lockdown

and when people get back together there can be a cultural reset; that could be great.

I think it’s worth remembering that in the past toxic

cultures, toxic behaviors, toxic individuals existed

and that was bad enough, going forward from now.

I think if we allow any of that toxicity,

to manifest it could be extremely damaging and certainly unforgivable.

It’s not to say your culture was toxic at all.

Maybe it was great. Maybe it was mediocre.

But I think we have to be very vigilant.

I also think we need to consciously champion a much more emotionally enriching

place there’s a big opportunity here.

So how could we do that? Well,

I think the main thing that I want to talk about today.

There are several ways to do it. But the the main one for now to focus on, is focus,

its to be curious about other people now,

I don’t mean to suggest that you sit about six

and a half feet apart from somebody staring at them through binoculars.

That would be rather odd, wait

until they’re at least 16 feet apart, of course what I mean is that we pay attention.

We know that in terms of mental health it’s really important.

to connect, to ask how people are doing, we’re curious.

We genuinely want to know, this isn’t a perfunctory exercise.

How are you doing? What’s going on? How are you today?

What’s happening, and so on? Curiosity also has another function, it’s similar to that

but it’s connected to the running of the business

and how we interact not just one to one but in groups and teams,

Imagine the following, somebody comes in to a meeting.

They have an idea and it’s quite apparent that it’s not really being paid attention to

by the language and the body language

Or maybe somebody comes up with an idea or a proposal,

has a bit of input and they are slapped down viciously in front of everybody else.

Or imagine that somebody comes

in and they say something

and the person who is chairing

or leading or being given this bit of information seems to be okay about it.

But what they do is, you find out later, behind the scenes zigzag away, maneuver around

so that maybe two weeks later, the person who came up with this idea,

let’s say, gets a metaphoric slap on the back of the neck. How does that make people feel

in terms of some of the essential emotional

needs? The

sense of belonging the sense of security, do they feel they belong

in that place?.

This is secure? Not at all.

It’s the wrong way to do things and it’s one example of course of toxic behaviors.

The opposite could be to be very curious very interested.

I think that begins with Integrity, acting with Integrity telling, the truth,

even when that makes us very vulnerable, telling the truth,

even though we know there’s going to be a bit of a ruction, telling the truth

when other people aren’t. Acting with Integrity is of course also about

doing what we say we‘d do, and doing the right thing

when nobody else is watching. We access the moral compass

and act accordingly. The person who acts with Integrity is of course

very interested in the truth. The want to tell the truth at all times. The key is

that that can encourage other people to tell the truth. If we champion that, that’s not to say that you were not acting with integrity, but if we think back particularly

when the pressure was on sometimes it can be expedient not to say something

or just to go with the flow.

I think that’s wrong. But it is work in progress for all of us.

I think that now if we begin to flex that integrity muscle

and tell the truth, seek the truth as well, we won’t be perfect but we’ll be in a better place to help inspire other people to do the same,

because if you’ve got a culture, a team, a group, an environment

where people are encouraged to participate, and when they participate and they give their opinion, their truth, that it is

genuinely considered, talked about transparently, honestly, truthfully. What does that do to the sense of belonging

the sense of security? It increases it. Professor Amy Edmondson would call that psychological safety, where

not only are people encouraged to contribute,

but when they contribute it’s actually thought about properly it’s in the mix.

So in that environment people feel like their opinion their input,

even if it’s lateral or whatever

or very different is considered

and if the idea isn’t taken

and run with then they understand why because it was explained its all transparent.

It’s all honest. Imagine that culture, and to do that, to have that level of curiosity. What we need to do is to make sure that we understand that the people coming

in or that we access for opinions, will have different opinions from time

to time or maybe often, sometimes markedly different

and that’s okay.

It’s different from debates you see a debate is about using eloquence

and elegance and logic to defeat the other person

that person will try

and defeat you, there’s a place for debates of course, but that’s not what is required here.

And it’s not useful here. This is a dialectical approach where we go into

the situation expecting there to be differences,

which keeps the barriers down and we embrace those differences collectively.

Everybody’s in on it. Everybody goes in thinking,

hey, I might hear something different. But I want to find out what the truth is.

We can triangulate we can use all those different inputs to get the best solution, to be

as creative as possible. How useful

would that be going forward from now, when things are likely to be challenging at times, to be much more creative

and innovative? So that approach where the barrier is down is very

different from the approach where people are slapped down and you’ve probably also seen somebody

being attacked verbally, and how disgusting is that?

Somebody over here attacks this person and it’s an ad hominem attack.

It’s you’re rubbish. You’re this. you’re that, I didn’t think

this I didn’t think that. That’s not the truth.

That’s an excuse to have a go at someone.

That’s not telling the truth in this version, we seek the truth.

We want to know we want to know what is actually going on.

What is the solution? The person who attacks like that is lacking. They’re coming at that from a space of anger.

Perhaps jealousy. Bitterness,

maybe they need to dominate to make themselves feel better because they are not feeling great.

They need to work on themselves or get some help to work on themselves.

That is not good. That is unacceptable and yet you might be thinking well, would that go on?

I know that some people watching

and listening to this know that it does go on

and has gone on and I’ve seen it myself and it’s horrible.

It is disgusting. So we’ve got to call that stuff out, and leaders… we can all be leaders remember, step up to the plate,

we can all call this out, particularly however in this situation the people who are designated in the

org chart as being a leader need to lead by walking about

and chat to people, find out

what is going on, encourage this truth, transparency, and honesty, be curious because pockets of that toxicity

exist in many different teams and organisations,

but of course thankfully not all, but the person who is toxic like that.

What do you think? Do you think they’re great at looking good in front of the people that they feel

they need to look good in front of, think they’re good at that?

Yeah, they are really good at that.

So we’ve got to see behind some of this polish, shall we say, and focus on an enriching, emotionally enriching

environment, psychologically safe environment,

So…what are you going to do? And in fact…how are you doing?