I work with the CEO and the C-suite, the Change team, the Communications team, and the people. Step by step, sometimes person by person, I focus on the level of receptiveness, the timbre of communication, the willingness to connect and commit, and the perception of personal wellbeing while supporting the corporate aims of change.

In collaboration with respective stakeholders, I devise tools, games, programmes, projects, workshops, individual /group coaching sessions, assignments … and all sorts of mental activity, emotional experience or physical endeavour … that would get each and every employee on board either believing in or at least hoping for the Change. Not rocket science by any count. Most times, it is just plain and simple – just common sense with a large dollop of humanity and concern for the human spirit.

For instance, take company A. A new ambitious property development firm building mega-million dollar high rise office suites led by smart dashing young CEO fast blazing a go-green trail in the world of mortar and stone. Foundation stone laid, piling works completed, construction on schedule, first sales done – brilliant!

Then the exuberant energy and euphoria gave way to emotional fatigue of the determined dozen. Sales lagged. Office bickered. Sluggish atmosphere prevailed. HR suggested teambuilding.

A quick conversation with the CEO led to ‘bizarre’ proposal of a year-end staff tea party. “We are talking about getting our employees to work together better and you suggest a tea party?” Yes! Yes! Let’s have a party and I shall organise it. Yes? Trust me, it’s cheaper than hiring me to run a workshop and more effective!

Picture a highly enthusiastic coach with the dejected dozen - wearing looks of incredulity - at our first and last planning meeting. So we had an eager volunteer to provide F&B, an offer to dig into the photo archives for photos of significant milestones, an entertainment coordinator, and various ‘volunteers’ who would share their best moments/memories/achievements thus far.

Three nail-biting weeks of non-intervention later, enter a group of tentative not-sure-what-to-expect dozen with the CEO and the highly skeptical Executive Director, into the sales lounge. It was a place transformed by tempting smells of fresh-baked pies and cakes, and aromatic coffee, and the upbeat rhythm of soft lively music. Small groups milled around in conversation wondering what was next. Then magic happened!

With coach as MC, we started with the CEO’s dream and vision, followed by a picture slideshow of the high points of the year that was and the presenter’s personal experience of each of those. Stories of personal triumphs and favorite memories followed. A fresh newcomer brought in a 3 ft x 7 ft oil painting that she had done during the year. Tea, coffee, cakes and pies went around to warm stomachs even as hearts were warmed by remembrances of positive emotion, shared triumphs and exhilarating teamwork. Faces broke into smiles and laughter rendered background music redundant.

A well-prepared audio-visual quiz on how well the team knew each other – music, colour, favorite phrase, habits, dress style – regaled the group, cementing camaraderie. The Executive Director volunteered that the sincere heartfelt testimonials had greatly moved him to realise that in the melee of business exigencies, the human aspect of working together had been sacrificed thus causing corporate dissonance. He expressed the hope that the esprit d’corp recovered that afternoon would hold strong into the future. The happy ending: in the next two months, the sales team scored a hat trick – selling off all three towers of office space. I got a free lunch!

The types of positive interventions vary – ranging from organising talent fairs (where strength-and-passion based talent swaps across an organisation to match interest and calling to job role), to simply putting up a ‘grouse board’ camouflaged as Suggestions for a Happy Creative Productive Workplace. Learning Labs and mini-workshops are designed to raise awareness of better ways to interact, live and work, and to develop positive traits, strengths and relationships.

The objectives are the same :-
• to provide a forum for employees to express what they are thinking, feeling, and wish for
• to let employees know that management cares, listens and responds
• to show that employees matter and their opinions matter – they have a say
• to evoke the intrinsic human desire to learn, contribute and be recognised
• to give reason to be optimistic, continue to hope and develop resilience.

Additionally, to transform lackluster business-as-usual workplaces into vibrant creative high performance hubs, employees crave clarity, trust and challenge. Where are we going? What do we want to achieve? Who do I report to? Will my efforts be supported? Who will be there for me? What’s in it for me? What if I fail? Can I do something new or introduce something novel? Will my boss stand up for me, be fair and be proud of my accomplishments? Will what I do make a difference and how? How am I doing?

These are questions sometimes unasked for fear of disapproval or reprisal, and just as often unanswered notwithstanding the KPIs, job descriptions and employment contract terms. Employee engagement involves humanising and personalising corporate endeavours and aspirations. When people know that what they do matter and that they - as individuals - matter, they are more likely to be willing to do whatever to turn the impossible into possible.

Every one of us wants to be significant and to grow in mind, body and soul. Like plants striving for sunlight and water, we need to reach deep within ourselves and to stretch upwards towards that which illumines us. Deep within each of us lie dreams which are mired in a confusion of desire and fear, strengths and talents, past hurts and falls, encouragement and criticisms enmeshed in childhood emotional bliss and scars as well as learning aids and psychological crutches.

Conversely, like sunshine which warms and lights us up, our hopes and dreams call to us, our strengths and talents nag at us to become more, and the world of unlimited possibilities beckons. How high and fast we fly depends on how our roots support or trip us and how compelling the draw of our best possible self is.

In organisations or any human institution (family units, schools, communities, etc), we sometimes treat people as homogenous beings. We forget the individual deep inside every person. We fail to acknowledge and appreciate the personal journey he/she undertakes in riding on our corporate mission.

Let us preserve the dignity of each person as we go about ordering the world they live/work in. As leaders (or parents, etc), we set the stage for each individual’s successful navigation towards striving for higher goals whether personal or corporate.

So yeah! I have a lot of fun at work. I get to do what I love and I love what I do. Can all our people say that?