Building strong teams
Over the past couple of years Community Waikato has received an increasing number of requests from community organisations seeking support and assistance to address relationship issues that have become sources of significant conflict within the organisation. The sorts of issues experienced range and can be within governance, between governance and managers or within the operations of the organisation.
By the time Community Waikato assistance is sought, these issues have typically escalated in seriousness, resourcing constraints have prevented them seeking professional HR or mediation support and they have become quite desperate for help.
Specialist HR, legal and mediation services are not offered by Community Waikato, and we were keen to explore creative and innovative ways to make these supports available to groups who require them as well as looking for opportunities to grow skills and knowledge in this area.
In March this year, Community Waikato hosted a conversation with people from a cross-section of different backgrounds and expertise, to explore creative ways to equip the community sector with the tools and skills and enable access to external resources to deal with these types of challenges more effectively.
Our desire is to create an approach that will enable and empower community organisations to be good employers; create a culture for their people to thrive; effectively identify and manage risks; and respond to issues effectively and in a timely manner.
From the generous contributions of the 24 people who took part in the conversation, three clear needs were identified.
A Repository of Resources
Learning and Development opportunities
Access to Specialised Assistance
Working groups are in the process of being established to explore each of these areas, with the view to developing long-term and sustainable opportunities for the community sector.
In this article we have invited some of our generous contributors to share their tops tips for building strong teams.
Introducing our contributors
Everest
Founded in 2006 Everest all about People, is literally all about people! We partner with businesses to build capability and culture, provide practical human resource solutions and workplace advice, recruitment, training, coaching and conflict resolution. We have a team of specialists with decades of shared expertise.
Introducing two of our specialists, Sharon Jefferies and Jean Schoultz:
Sharon has extensive experience in career and personal development coaching, and employee wellbeing. Building and developing relationships with clients and businesses is what Sharon enjoys, through effective communication and interpersonal skills.
Jean specialises in conflict resolution coaching, mediation, employee wellbeing, and individual coaching. Jean believes that the key to personal and business success is through empowered people who take ownership, accountability and responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and actions.
HR Connect
HR Connect is a locally owned and operated HR consultancy providing HR specialist support; recruitment; and organisational development in the Waikato since 2003, and the Bay of Plenty and Auckland regions since 2010. We work in partnership with businesses to add value and minimise their exposure to risk.
Introducing our General Manager, Emma Fenwick:
As General Manager, Emma joined the HR Connect team in July 2022. With over 20 years’ experience in the Talent Acquisition and HR industry Emma has held a variety of senior leadership roles working across NZ and Australia for mid to large corporate organisations. Prior to joining HR Connect, Emma worked with Korn Ferry, a Global Management Consultancy firm for 16 years as Vice President of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Business managing large talent acquisition teams providing onsite support to various clients such as Fonterra, Vodafone, NZ Post, Jetstar, Qantas, Nike and Aon. Here Emma partnered with businesses to provide both strategic and operational support across Talent and HR.
Our Minds Matter
Kia ora, I’m Rhonda Parry, a professional transformational and leadership coach and founder of Our Minds Matter. I’m also a mum of five and wife to Dean the Builder. My career includes 25 years in global corporate environments helping organisations flourish at the highest level. Sadly, I also witnessed too many people – including myself - punish themselves in that pursuit of ‘success’, and yet when it arrived, still not being happy. Chasing happiness, living by the hormones of stress and wishing 'things' were different. Stress, sabotage and suffering! Sigh.
Fast forward (skipping the burnout phase!) and I’m now running my own business, super passionate about helping people transform the way they live by learning to lead from the inside out. I know, it sounds uncomfortable! Put more eloquently, I help people learn how to manage their mindset, emotions, unconscious operating system, behaviour and responses. AND identify the aligned action required to turn 'knowing' into 'doing'. Because knowing is one thing, doing is another!
What does workplace wellbeing look like to you?
Sharon and Jean (Everest): We believe people thrive in the workplace when they are actively valued and respected by their direct leader/manager and their employer. Psychological safety plays a key role in wellbeing, and this means it is safe to have an opinion, share ideas, give feedback, confide in the employer and know that there is no threat to their safety.
Emma (HR Connect): It’s an essential investment in the physical, mental and social health of your people, to help them feel safe and to be their best self both inside and outside of work. For many years workplace wellbeing was defined as the ‘physical’ wellbeing of staff driving organisations to invest in things such as fruit boxes and free gym memberships. Whilst these are still very important aspects of workplace wellbeing, these things alone are likely to make very little difference. True workplace wellbeing takes into account many other aspects – emotional, financial, social and career wellbeing.
When an organisation actively supports a culture of wellbeing and their employees consistently have positive experiences, employees are more likely to give their best at work in in their personal life, therefore increasing productivity and engagement.
Rhonda (Our Minds Matter): To me, what makes a workplace thrive is less about what it looks like and more about what it feels like. It’s the sense of ‘humanness’ inside a workplace that means it feels safe to be ‘me’. Safety, and belonging.
Psychological Safety is key to ‘everything’ because when we feel safe, we’re operating from the part of our brain that gives us access to creativity, emotional regulation, resourcefulness, decision making skills, compassion, empathy, logical and conscious reasoning… And a myriad of other AWESOME skills we need at work, play and home – especially in these times of uncertainty, volatility and Mother Nature’s wrath!
Basically we all, fundamentally, need to know that the answer to the question “Can I be who I am and still belong to this group of people? Is it safe to reveal my true self, be authentic, share my ideas, put my hand up, own my mistakes.… ? is a resounding YES.
Imagine what that would feel like in a workplace gathering? Knowing you belong no matter what. That looks, feels and sounds like workplace wellbeing to me!
What one action could improve workplace culture?
Sharon and Jean (Everest): Sharon and Jean both agree that setting Team Expectations and Agreements and clear communication are key to improving workplace culture.
Emma (HR Connect): Having a work ‘culture’ that truly prioritises wellbeing. Too often wellbeing is just a ‘buzz word - show your people you are invested in them, by leading this from the top down, providing an environment that values wellbeing a much as performance and financial results. Make time to really get to know your people and what is important to them. Understand why they are working for your organisation and ensure they know how they contribute.
Rhonda (Our Minds Matter): To foster team psychological safety, I encourage all managers, leaders and parents to remember these three human truths:
No one is perfect. We’re all perfectly imperfect whole beings!
No one is immune from adversity, and the rough stuff. COVID proved that.
We all want the same things in life – love, belonging, purpose, safety, peace, contentment….
This requires you to be vulnerable and admit to your own fallibility. This is code for accepting the perfectly imperfect human being you are and being prepared for this to be seen! People want to see the human in you!
That’s what grows connection. So share information about life outside of the office (within reason), admit your mistakes and failings, and role model having the courage to be vulnerable. It will encourage others to step up and do the same and create an environment of empathy and trust.
What is one piece of advice you would give to managers and board members of community organisations when it comes to employing staff?
Sharon (Everest): Reference checking is a critical part of the recruitment process. Do not take a short cut! Do the mahi.
Jean (Everest): Be clear about the skill set you need and the attitude you want in your business/team.
Emma (HR Connect): Take the time to get it right! Have a clear understanding of the requirements, skillsets and background needed – understand what the ideal candidate profile looks like and how to identify and engage with this demographic in the marketplace.
Don’t take shortcuts, run a robust and inclusive process remembering we are in a candidate short market so they are assessing you and your organisation as much as you are assessing them.
Rhonda (Our Minds Matter): To create that psychological safety right from the get-go, I strongly encourage managers and board members to be super mindful of someone’s emotional intelligence when employing staff.
EQ. Unlike IQ, EQ can be learned. Yet so often our employment processes have a heavy bias on qualifications, skills and experience – the IQ or humandoing side of someone.
What if, instead, you flipped your employment practices and employed based on EQ (and trained for skills once you got the right person in the seat)? Research is showing that someone’s emotional intelligence will have a greater bearing on psychological safety, therefore culture, therefore team effectiveness and therefore workplace wellbeing than their technical expertise ever will!
When thinking about someone’s EQ, ask questions that flush out their levels of empathy. Can they understand and connect with others' emotions, perspectives, and experiences? Can they foster a supportive and inclusive work environment? Can they own up to their own humanness and admit mistakes? Or speak up calmly and confidently when they don’t agree with a proposed idea? Can they regulate their emotions when the proverbial hits the fan? And how self-aware are they about the ways in which they trip themselves up and self-sabotage? Any and all of these sorts of enquiry will give you an idea of how much EQ they have, and whether they’ll add to or deduct from the sense of EQ in the workplace.
What is your favourite season of the year? Why?
Sharon (Everest): Summer, I love the warmth and bright early mornings and longer nights so I can be outdoors.
Jean (Everest): I love autumn, the temperature is cooler! Beautiful crisp clear mornings and the extraordinary colours of the changing season.
Emma (HR Connect): You can’t beat a good old Kiwi summer (other than this year’s)! Beach, sun, swimming; spending time with friends and family and BBQs are my happy place.
Rhonda (Our Minds Matter): My fave season has got to be winter – log fires, winter walks, gardening in the rain and hot showers, what’s not to like!?