A soul filled way of work...

This week I had a catch up with one of my team members and got to talking and reflecting on her career aspirations and the fact she wasn't sure what she wanted to do next. In the corporate world there is so much pressure to have a definitive answer and 'plan' for your career, climb the corporate ladder, be promoted, achieve, achieve, achieve. I reflected back on what I would have liked to have heard when I was younger and trying to find my way in the corporate jungle. Rather than come up with some philosophical answer, I simply told her, 'it's ok'. We don't have to know the answer. In my opinion, every step we take, whether it be upwards, sideways, backwards (although I don't believe there are any backwards steps, it's all learning). By backwards I mean in the traditional organisational setting where taking a lower level opportunity with less responsibility would be viewed as a sign of weakness or a 'demotion' of sorts.

We chatted through my colleague's plans to travel, explore and experience the great beauty that this world has to offer. It got me thinking back to my early 20's and the path my life has taken since then. I still reflect on that time as the most enjoyable, frightening, enlightening, experience of my life (followed closely by becoming a Mother).

At the end of 2018, after taking a step back in my career to start and raise my family, I decided to jump headfirst back into HR. When I left the industry in 2015 I had felt that maybe it wasn’t for me anymore. I was becoming increasingly disheartened by workplaces, the hierarchies, the politics and the constant management of egos. I felt more like an umpire who spent all day pushing paperwork than anything else. It wasn’t the way I had envisaged a career in the ‘people profession’ to be.

Consulting for the best part of 2.5 years was a wonderful learning experience, it gave me exposure to a number of business models across a range of industries. Providing adhoc HR support to clients who had no HR function felt great (for a time) until I started to realise how much ‘sales’ was involved in running a consultancy. It felt very much like a ‘fear’ based model of working. If you don’t have this contract and this policy in place, you run the risk of being sued etc etc. I despised the legalities, and the direction HR was continuing to head. I missed working closely with a team and getting to see and feel the impacts of your work in a more meaningful way. Being a consultant is great, however after a while it became demotivating to work alongside small businesses who didn't always understand the true value of their people or who really should be investing in a permanent support for their own teams, rather than just calling in the experts to ‘fix’ a problem at the last minute.

Returning back into a corporate workplace recently, commuting 3 hours each day, I have quickly realised that the very factors that made me fall out of love with HR those years ago are still plaguing the modern-day workplace, only to a somewhat stronger degree now that people are seriously burnt out after 2 years moving through a pandemic. Resilience and motivation are low. Mental Health is a real challenge. Particularly for people in customer facing roles, these teams have faced the brunt of the very worst in human nature and I don't blame them for feeling a little disillusioned as to what's next.

I feel a major shift is in the air. Employees are wanting and expecting more!!! The pull to start designing a more modern, conscious workplace is being felt and society is at a major turning point right now. If there is one thing the last 2 years has taught us it’s that we never really know what is around the corner. The ability to pivot, respond quickly and adapt to change are the most in-demand skills of this century. Gone are the days of unnecessary bureaucracy, meetings for the sake of meetings, bosses that try to exercise control over their people. Let's face it, we are all adults here right! We want to work in a manner that fits with our lifestyle and be trusted to do the job! Come together in collaborative online spaces to share information, brainstorm ideas and check in with each other. Get together physically every so often, enough to satisfy our innate need for human connections. Receive a simple 'thanks' and get good quality feedback. (Check out Frederic Laloux's amazing work https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/).

The future of work will be soulful and soul filled. Being alive to witness the development of this new landscape is exciting and scary all at the same time but I'm here for it!!!

Which way will you chose???