The human spirit cannot be contained. At our best, we acknowledge and allow it to shine brightly, to march to the beat of its unique drum.
WorkHuman 2017, a Human Resources (HR) conference that honors, appreciates and recognizes what it means to bring your whole self to work, continued its unique drumbeat today.
(You can read my reflections on the WorkHuman movement, and highlights from Day 1 of WorkHuman 2017.)
Day 2 began with a panel of corporate HR executives who believe in the power of building great places to work. In breaking away from the traditional molds and models of employee management, these executives shared stories of how their reward, recognition and performance management programs were elevating the employee experience, offering simple ways for peers to help each other move and bond through challenging work projects, and providing holistic approaches to wellbeing that helped some employees detect illnesses before they became life-threatening.
Having attended these annual WorkHuman conferences since their inception 3 years ago, I see these rule-breaking voices gaining more clarity, depth and courage. Theirs is not an easy path. They’re visionary salmon swimming against the tide of traditional work cultures, low-diversity leadership teams, and an overriding resistance to change.
A refrain that began in WorkHuman 2015 continues to ring out during speakers’ Q&A time, or in private hallway chats. How do we get our senior leaders to buy in? What can we say to help them, or the broader organization, see why human workplaces make for better-performing workplaces?
While some senior leadership rocks remain hard to budge, and some return-on-investment (ROI) barriers still prove hard to crack, WorkHuman speakers are offering more concrete examples of how they’ve managed to make it work, and they feed visionary attendees with more inspiration to do something different and better for their employees.
Some of today’s mold-breaking conference track sessions included:
- Data-driven research and modeling to help define and optimize the employee experience, so that HR practitioners can offer better evidence to senior decision makers when reimagining HR practices and processes
- The practice of honoring relationships at work ie. developing simple and effective “rules of the road” to help us connect with each other as human beings, device-free
- Connecting diversity & inclusion programs to business strategy so that a stronger business case can be made, and a talent through line is created from hiring through employee development and marketplace impact
- Harnessing the power of improvisation at work to help employees think on their feet
The mold-breaking theme extended to today’s keynote speakers:
- Organizational psychologist Adam Grant shared 5 ways to create a culture of original thinkers, based on his latest book “Originals: How Non-Conformists Rule the World”. These included running entry instead of exit interviews, having leaders who are willing to be criticized in public and generally making it safe to speak up and solve problems collectively.
- Multiple award-winning comedic actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus (of “Seinfeld” and “Veep” fame) has built a career on her terms. She still plies her craft with fun and enthusiasm, and remains committed to finding good material that she can bring to life. She regaled us with stories of balancing motherhood with career, career with activism and contribution with wealth. And she spoke to the importance of respect and diversity at work. When asked for her final thoughts, she sent a ripple of appreciative applause through the room with a simple and heartfelt, “Kindness will win the day.”
I spent some time in WorkHuman Central today, an interactive area for attendees to recharge, recognize a fellow attendee at the Gratitude Bar, purchase speakers’ books or add their profile photo to a giant mosaic of conference images. WorkHuman Central adds an organic and serendipitous element to the conference experience, where new conversations can unfold and new ideas can be sparked.
The mold-breaking drumbeat of WorkHuman 2017 ends tomorrow - I’ll post my final piece then.
[Disclosure: Globoforce, host and sponsor of the WorkHuman conference, grants me a free pass to attend and cover the event as an influencer. Unless otherwise sourced or quoted, thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are my own.]
Afterword
I’m sharing highlights from each day of WorkHuman 2017 here on HuffPost, and deeper post-conference reflections on my magazine LeadfortheWorld.com. I hope you’ll join me on this journey as it unfolds between May 30 and June 1.
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