PeopleSwitch John Mullins

This week we explore how some values are more valuable than others and importantly, if we don't get serious about establishing purposeful values based cultures, we could be opening up our organisations to the irrational behaviour that comes with the negative elements of bias.

We were fortunate to have Deirdre Jensen from Game2Change join us for this episode where we explored game based learning and how this positively impacts employee engagement and culture. We asked Deirdre to share her insights and experience working with this relatively new methodology and how she sees companies improving employee engagement with better learning experiences.

We explore the danger of office politics and why we shouldn't be trying to manage it, but rather rid ourselves of this 'dirty game.'

In this episode we explore the importance of making culture a "contact" activity. Too much analysis and theory can come across as expert and aloof. Culture happens at team level, amongst people who interact with each other. If you want to shift culture (and behaviour), you have to get involved and in amongst the people. Be leader led and people driven. Be in contact. Talk to eachother and build a culture everyone feels part of.

Too many organisations pay lip service to a set of core values and expect that their workplace cultures will automatically align. It takes effort to build a culture of authentic experiences. In this episode we explore the example of how Uber was undone with a toxic culture crafted from the very top. We also explore the notion of culture fit and this could be part of the problem. Finally, we hear some wisdom from Celynn Morin on how stressful workplaces impact on employee well-being and how we can change small habits to be more resilient.

This week we sit with Elaine Rumboll for a fascinating discussion on how a fresh approach to leadership that unlocks creativity helps build a more engaging, inclusive and thriving culture in the workplace. Elaine shares with us some practical approaches that can help leaders and managers to initiate cultures that promote greater collaboration, care and creativity. You can find Elaine at the Creative Leadership Consultancy in Cape Town.