Storytelling Creates Bonds—The World Of Work In 2021

As vaccine rollouts take place and we begin the return to our offices, what can leaders do to improve corporate culture and give every employee a voice?

I was pleased to speak to Fiona Mullan, Chief People Officer at Ding, whose past roles include VP of International HR at Facebook, Senior HR Director for the Asia Pacific region at Microsoft and HR Director at Accenture. We spoke about her career among the tech giants, the challenges and opportunities of Covid-19, about her key learnings, and hopes for the future.

Storytelling is an appropriate value for Irish people as their culture evolves ‘the gift of the gab.’ Mullan said, “Stories are compelling. They galvanize us. They represent the power of human connection. In telling our own stories and in listening to those others tell, we can overcome all kinds of perceived problems or divisions. Stories, of course, involve speaking but I find the power of stories is in the listening and the learning; the healthy curiosity in others and learning from them.”

At work, we most often share stories over a coffee in a kitchenette before the day begins, at lunch over a salad, or at after-work drinks. The challenge is to bring those stories and perspectives into the business, and to ensure employees feel safe in doing so. This is particularly important in the world of virtual, and for younger recruits who miss out on the casual conversation on the way to the taxi, or at the water cooler. It’s possible to address this in a structured setting through team-building or values based events, but takes specific effort. In this way it is possible to build a culture where people feel comfortable sharing their stories in their day-to-day work life. Storytelling creates bonds.

A huge interest in other people and places drives the quest for connection that has defined Mullan’s career, “I have always been passionately curious about other people; how they live and interact and how their culture shows within the workplace. My main learnings throughout my career have come from looking at and listening to people. My grandfather used to say ‘to travel is to be educated’ and that’s been as true in my professional life as it has been in my personal life.”

When we nourish our curiosity through other cultures, two seemingly paradoxical things happen: first, we understand how much we have in common and that’s so important in building relationships and setting common goals. Secondly, we come to see and appreciate what’s different about how we work and how we live. In that we can learn a huge amount from each other.

For Mullan, the quality she looks out for in employees is a spark of curiosity, the ability to bridge cultures through the stories we tell about ourselves and our work. “Curiosity is important at Ding too, and that’s why it’s such a good fit for me at this stage of my career. It gives us the ability to keep learning, and it defines an innovative workplace with a strong sense of community. As the saying goes, curiosity is the spark behind every great idea.”

In talking about her decision to go down the tech route, Mullan spoke about how she didn’t pursue an education in tech but has always been interested in it. In particular, the opportunity that tech brings to improve people’s lives. She said, “Everyone and anyone can be curious – it is inherently meritocratic, which are the same values, perhaps, that brought me to tech. When people have the power to communicate with each other, to access knowledge and educate and empower themselves, that levels the playing field like nothing else.”

A job in the tech sphere can offer more freedom to employees. You have the space to be more curious when you have more freedom, and we have seen this most clearly in the tech sector. Most industries and organisations, still follow a top-down approach where decisions are made by senior executives in a boardroom and employees are expected to implement them regardless of their ideas or opinions. In practical terms it is hard to break with this more traditional approach to the workplace. Tech generally doesn’t work like that. It’s one of the few sectors that had advanced remote working policies prior to the pandemic, partly because it’s well-suited to it being more tech enabled and having more geographically distributed teams, but also because of a deliberate decision to trust employees to do their jobs without being micromanaged.

Mullan maintains that to create this kind of environment, it’s crucial to allow and even encourage dissent. “You need to create an environment where employees at all levels feel they can speak freely. It’s important to ensure employees see no negative repercussions for speaking up about an idea. At Ding, we celebrate and encourage both curiosity and ideas.”

Structural changes may be necessary to achieve this more collaborative environment within a large organization. Mullan says you can break down barriers through all-hands meetings where employees at all levels get a voice, working to break down silos between departments, and dismantling parts of your corporate culture that reinforce hierarchies. “If all executives have fancy offices on the top floor and rarely interact with those below, it’s a very literal symbol of a top-down culture.”

Mullan outlined a cultural shift she has seen over the last decade where prospective employees are more conscious of the corporate values their employers embody. As a result, Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) issues as well as Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) have moved from being nice-to-haves to being core business values. “People care deeply about the environment, sustainability, and equality issues, and for millennials and Gen Z, these factors are just as important as a benefits package in choosing an employer. They want to hear their employer stands on these issues. For businesses that want to stay people-focused, it’s vital that values stay at the centre of decision making.”

In 2020, our teams showed us that they are capable, flexible, and resilient when working remotely and virtually. In planning for 2021, we must remember that. Recognise outstanding performance and reward it. Empower your employees and give them a voice. Encourage curiosity at every level. Listen to the stories of your team. The more you invest in ensuring that the people who work for you have these things, the more dividends you will generate in innovation.

Original Article: (https://www.forbes.com/sites/mandeeprai/2021/12/31/storytelling-creates-bonds————–the-world-of-work–in-2021/?sh=20c990ad3e88)