Employee Benefits Live 2024: In an opening keynote address entitled ‘How to create a culture where people can win and succeed’, Karen Blackett OBE, former president of advertising and communications agency WPP, discussed how leaders and managers can create the best possible organisational culture that enables employees to succeed in their career.
Addressing delegates at ExCel London, Blackett outlined the external factors that can impact workplace culture. Firstly, modern workplaces are facing challenges of living in a VUCA world: the managerial acronym that stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity and relates to the challenges the world has faced in the last four years, leading to high levels of anxiety that employees bring into the workplace.
In addition, technological developments mean that people are working harder and for longer in different ways. Blackett explained how people are concerned that artificial intelligence (AI) presents a threat to their ways of working and to workplace culture.
A learning dip that most people experience when they are promoted or placed in a new role can also impact the workplace. A performance dip occurs while a person is learning a new role but faces fears of the challenges it brings. The fear of perceived incompetence while learning can lead to poor mental health issues.
The last big factor that impacts upon a successful culture is the act of a person covering at work; whereby an individual downplays their natural traits in order to fit in with their perceived mainstream workplace culture and attributes. This could include covering their appearance, affiliation, advocacy and associations.
Blackett said: “If people are spending so much of their time at work covering who they are, they are not going to be particularly happy; they are not going to be particularly productive, and, in the private sector, you are not going to have individuals who contribute to profitability.”
To address these factors, employers need to understand how important trust is in workplace culture.
“Healthy brilliant workplaces, brilliant leaders, know how to build trust,” said Blackett. “Trust in each other, trust in your colleagues, trust with clients and external partners.”
She explained that inclusive leadership is a necessity to creating a workplace culture that enables people to succeed. The attributes of an inclusive leader include: asking questions in a humble manner; listen attentively; thanking people, no matter how big or small the achievement is; acknowledging others; body language; and sharing the spotlight and giving credit.
“I believe that inclusivity is a skill that can be taught, and it’s something that all leaders need to have,” said Blackett.
