Introducing New Work into your workplace
On this score, New Work is practical and serious: if you really want to strengthen people, then the promulgation of a new consciousness, or of new values (as advocated by Nietsche and the Western philosophical tradition) will not be very effective. But changing work – creating a system that allows people to work at something in which they believe – has a chance. Once people discover their desires in relation to work, their understanding might spill over into other aspects of their lives. They might even uncover what they seriously desire in love. ―Frithjof Bergmann
👥 Serves: 11-25 people, 2-10 people, 26-40 people, 41+ people
🎚 Difficulty: Medium
⏳ Total time: Ongoing
🥣 Ingredients: Common purpose, shared values, psychological safety, empathy, connection with yourself
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Accomplishments, Community, Liberatory Learning, Meaning, Radical Care
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Accountability, Autonomy, Belonging, Challenging, Commitment, Feedback, Flourishing, Holding space, Legacy, Purpose
Introducing New Work into your workplace
📝 Description
Building the foundations of New Work in your workplace.
New Work is a buzzword that seems to be everywhere. Companies and organisations want to change the way they work to become more effective and to be able to navigate this uncertain world by enabling more people in teams to voice their opinions and to take part in decisions.
The measures subsumed under New Work however cover a vast range: from offering fresh fruit and table football in the office, to open work spaces, to agile methods like Scrum and Kanban, up to a deep transformation that leads formerly hierarchical teams to working without bosses, with shared responsibilities and everyone in the organisation working to their full potential. As you can see: there is a huge continuum between working hierarchically and being fully self-organised.
When talking about New Work here, we refer to a deep transformational process that changes work and power relationships dramatically. It entails reflecting on and getting a common understanding of the organisation’s purpose and values. It also means everyone in the team being able to be connected with themselves, knowing their strengths and weaknesses and being transparent about them. It is about fostering empathy, feedback, and multiple perspectives. It encourages curiosity towards the new, while at the same time getting to know one’s own biases. It also means creating psychological safety in teams, so everyone dares to speak up and everyone is heard. To sum it up: new work is about creating a work environment where everyone can show up as a “whole human being”, without hiding aspects of their personality, bringing their strengths, weaknesses and potential into the office. All of this is possible because individuals work together in an empathic, appreciative, and self-organised way.
What does this have to do with wellbeing?
New Work is an attempt to put the human being at the centre and design work around it rather than the other way around. If the system in which you work is inhumane, there is only so much you can do to look after your wellbeing. But by looking after the health of the system, it becomes easier for you to cultivate your wellbeing. Importantly, there is not “one way” to embrace New Work – every team must find its path. The following recipe introduces some of the key principles you might want to consider.
This recipe has been kindly donated by Roxana Baur of tbd*, one of our partners. Find out more about tbd*’s focus on new work here: https://www.tbd.community/en/t/new-work.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Start with the Why
Ask yourself and your team: Why do you want to work differently? What are the motivations for each member? What are their pain points and their yearnings? Reflecting on these questions will help you find out whether transformation is inspired by a mindset of fear and obligation or inspiration and possibility. If it is the former, whatever New Work methods you will introduce, they are probably not going to be very effective. You first have to address the underlying problems in the existing processes and structures.
Step 2 – Find a common purpose
By reflecting on the why, you bring up your common purpose, which is a critical element to work in a self-organised way. In fact, having a common purpose creates a shared understanding of the direction the organisation is going and informs the decisions you take. It offers guidance in a complex world.
Step 3 – Talk about values
Deeply linked to the common purpose are shared values, which offer additional grounding and guidance for the organisation. When talking about “shared” values, we are not referring to top-down values imposed by the CEO or “cool” words published on the website by the marketing manager. We are talking about a deep collaborative process that involves everyone in the organisation. Your shared values will then inform the culture of the organisation.
Step 4 – Work on your communication
Even with clarity around your common purpose and shared values, conflicts might emerge. These are often the result of miscommunication so it is important to learn to be better listeners and communicators. You can start by increasing the quality of your listening with this “Active listening” recipe. You can also learn to express your thoughts, feelings, and needs in a non-violent way with this “NVC dance floor” recipe. Finally, you might also want to have moderators during your meetings or mediators who can help the team process tensions with this “Transforming conflict” recipe. These skills and processes increase the psychological safety in the organisation.
Step 5 – Embrace feedback
In a fully self-organised organisation, there is no longer a need for a “boss” everyone reports to to evaluate their work. The team is empowered (and has adequate support structures) to provide constructive feedback to each other, in ways that support the team members’ growth without hurting them. A powerful feedback process is explained in this “Coaching feedback” recipe.
Step 6 – Experiment and adapt
Ultimately, there is no “one way” to embrace New Work. Luckily though, you can benefit from other people’s experience and wisdom. For instance, check out methods like Scrum, Kanban, Holacracy, Sociocracy, Liberating Structures, etc. Try them out. See what works for your organisation and what doesn’t. There are also tons of books, workshops, and organisations who might support you in this transformation. Check them out; talk to them; and be ready to experiment and adapt!