Episode 175: Three Ways to Add More Humanity to Your Workplace with Anna Oakes
You work with people, but how much of your daily tasks have to do with understanding those people in a way that will change the way you work together?
As a change agent focused on restoring humanity into both our work and workplaces, Anna Oakes takes on the question of bringing your attention back to the people, no matter what your job title is.
ICYMI – Your Post-Episode Homework: Ask yourself these three questions: 1) Am I trying new things and are we giving people permission to do that at work? 2) Are we investing in leadership? 3) Are our benefits in line with our company values? Answer these three questions, send it to someone on your team, and have a conversation around this episode.
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Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
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Episode 175 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Welcome to the Improve It Podcast. Welcome back, improve it peeps. This is part two of our three part series with Anna Oakes. If you have not yet listened to episode 1 74, how to be an entrepreneur and reclaim ownership of your career, go back, hit play on episode 1 74 cuz we're building off this incredible conversation. Now, today's episode is going to literally blow your mind. I hear from a lot of you and I know you and I can tell you that you need a pen and paper. Get your pen out, get your paper, get your notepad because you are gonna want this information. Now we are talking about three ways to add more humanity to your workplace. And these three ways are super tangible. They are super, super important, and they really can impact your organization. So have a pen and paper ready. Now here's something else I wanna mention. If you have not yet grabbed our inner child guide, our play your way into Wellness workbook and tick in our quiz on how you show up for yourself and your self-awareness. You can go on the show notes. There is a link there to take our quiz, which will take you to our play your Way into Wellness workbook. It goes hand in hand with what we're talking about today and it is all about experiencing and reconnecting to your inner child, which ultimately will help bring more humanity to your workplace. Let's go ahead, let's get to it. Let's improve it with Anna Oakes.
Erin (01:56):
Let me ask you this, because the theme of the show this year, or no this year, this month, is connecting to your inner child. And when I think of that I just again, you know, bringing back that joy moment and what brings you joy When I think of reclaiming ownership in your career and how when you're genuinely happy, you're also ki you are working from a place of joy, which leads to reconnecting with that inner child, which leads to showing up and having meaningful experiences at work. How does this idea of owning your career help create meaningful work experiences? Do you agree with that? Tell me, tell me some of your thoughts on that.
Anna (02:48):
So how does owning our career help us move things forward? Right? Yeah. How does it help us find more joy? Ok. You know, here's where I have to say, there's two people in the driver's seat. There really are. It's like we've got two steering wheels. There is the individual who's obviously in the driver's seat, and I want you to take back that steering wheel more than we're giving it up, right? And I get it, Erin, we've been trained since a young age to like say yes to things. And so like we had to ask permission to go to the bathroom. Makes me so furious when my kids tell me like, oh, so and so said I couldn't go to the restroom today. It's like, well what <laugh>? Yeah. Like this, people were raised in systems. So then we get into the work world and we're, you know, waiting for this long list of to-dos and I wanna get through them all.
Anna (03:29):
Look, we've gotta pair humanity and operations in our organizations. And so yes, is it up to us to know what season we're in? Is it up to us to push in when we really can and push back when we don't? Yes. But what's on the companies, what's on the systems themselves is to fix the operations. Because you said something earlier, yes. Like it, it is up to us to be the entrepreneur, but put me in an organization who's got crappy operations, who doesn't know their mission, their vision or their values or their key behaviors. And I will die on the vine. I will not be an effective entrepreneur. If you are hoarding information and not giving me and telling me how to be better at my job, I'm done. I'm gonna probably start coasting right then it's on you that I did the quiet quitting thing.
Anna (04:15):
I'm like, okay, you don't want my ideas, you don't want me to push into this further, let me step back. So it's gotta be this pairing. Organizations love me cause I come in and say like, be an entrepreneur. Woo. Yes. And I also talk in that very same talk or workshop about what's on the companies, what do they need to do? And by the way, it's not up to hr, it's up to the company leadership. Erin, yes, HR is a tool in their tool belt, but they better have more than that. Don't put it on the hrs head or shoulders to carry that load. They can be an effective tool to improve it because they've got a lot of data and they see a lot of things and they hear a lot of things, but don't put it all on them. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, it's gotta be a good effort,
Erin (04:56):
Anna. I'm super here for that. I am super here for that conversation because it does start from the top. You literally witnessed your leadership say one thing and do another. You're not. It's, it's just, it's not an effective workplace. And so I love this idea that you talk about, and I've, and I loved coming into this research when I was knowing you were coming into the show. You talk about adding humanity to work. So if you could give us three ways that you could add more humanity to our workplace right now, what would you say are three ways that we could add that humanity to work? And if you're not a senior leader listening to this show, you can still make an impact. You can still take this information and drive it, drive it up, manage it up, lead it up. But what would you say are three ways we can add more humanity to work?
Anna (05:53):
Yeah. I love that you said we, we should be pushing for this because if you find yourself in an organization where you're like me being an entrepreneur here. Yeah. Right, right. There's too much red tape. I have dust, 10 people before I can have a signature. Like if you are one of those people, please know that if you're going to choose to stay at that company, you can either choose to pause and coast or continue to push into it because there might be candy on the table, right? They, you might be able to work on a project, know what's left on the table before you are like, Hey, I'm out of here. Are there opportunities on the table that are really gonna help you? So here's three things that I think we can do to get more humanity into the work. One is the career, right?
Anna (06:32):
Organizations and individuals can start giving more permission that we can try new things, right? I love project-based work. I love things where we're forming a group of people that have a start and an end date. Something in mind that they're trying to accomplish. If we can move towards project-based work and look at our career in that way, then we're starting to be honest with our leaders who say, just like I talked to my people, what candy's on the table this year? What candy do you wanna grab? Cause here's some of the candy I was thinking about for you, but what are you interested in? I'll never forget, I was a, a leader in an HR team and I was working on a real tough cookie on my team. Just didn't was hard to build trust with, right? Amazing human, but hard to build trust with.
Anna (07:12):
Finally got there with 'em. And what I discovered is that they wanted to do more flower design. They were volunteering at a local flower shop in Chicago and they wanted to do more. So I was like, cool, how do we do more of that? Because that's what's gonna bring you joy. And guess what? She didn't quit. She stayed. And I even gave her more volunteer time. We started measuring, as long as you're getting your things done and you're engaged, she started to get more done. And it's not like I'm like, woo, I won because now she's more productive. No, I won. Because now she's more joyous. Yes. Now she's, and she's putting it back into her work, both in the flower shop and at home with this at hr, right? I needed both. So career is one of 'em. Invest in leadership. That's a no-brainer. But I think we need to invest in leadership differently. I'd love to see onsite coaches, whether it's the business partner team within an HR structure, or you hire onsite coaches. There's a little bit of onsite therapy starting to happen in certain organizations, but I think that's gonna be a while till that takes hold. Let's invest with these leaders. Just like if we were on the ground. I, I hate using war analogies, Erin, but this is a good one. No, I'm
Erin (08:16):
Super here for every single <laugh>
Anna (08:20):
We're on the ground. Like there are. So think about, I don't even know what they're, I probably should. There are so many layers of leadership within like the Army or the Navy. And if they're, if they're on a, on a mission, somebody's got the strategy. Somebody's executing on that strategy. What they have that normal workplaces don't have is clear direction and instruction. Yeah. They're on the same page. They know what the mission is. Everybody knows their job. And most workplaces, Erin, most people don't know their job. Yeah. Most people are. And they're making it up and they're wasting a ton of time. I've, I've run huge initiatives where we've come in to make organizations more efficient, more effective, or maybe I've been there, right? As an entrepreneur, Bayer, for example, we ran a huge productivity effective me effect. Let's see, productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. Project saved tons of hours.
Anna (09:05):
But guess what? It wasn't just about saving hours so we could get more out of our employees. It was so we could put more into them. Sure. That's how we arm and arm with leaders teaching them how to be better leaders. It's too hard of a job to keep short changing. It really is. Okay, you can build more humanity into your workplace by looking at your benefits. Do a big analysis, right? If you're not looking at family planning, at fertility benefits, if you're not taking care of your caregivers in u unique ways, they're gonna boot. They're gonna boot. We've got some pretty interesting things coming from some organizations this year, but one of the big ones is people are gonna start looking more at values. You know, we think they're just work. Oh, these values, they could be if you're just putting them on the wall and walking away.
Anna (09:49):
But these values, let's talk about those all the time because let's just say we're on the same team, Erin, and we say curiosity is one of our values. Or let's use one of the ones from my company. It's Bob and Weave, right? That's how we, we, the shorthand of is Bob and Weave. We've got to Bob and Weave. But how Avery on my team, Bob's and weaves is very different than I do. So we talk about how are we gonna live out this value? Avery's role is different from mine, so they're going to live it out differently than I do when I'm interacting with my clients more, right? So it's talking about those values, it's bringing those behaviors to life. That's how we're gonna put more humanity in. And those are the organizations gonna get the best talent. Oh
Erin (10:27):
My God, I'm so here for this. I am so here for this. Okay, so I wanna dive into these a little bit. I love this, this so good. So good. Okay, so first you said career permission to try new things, which I'm obsessed with. I love this flower shop example. That brings us too, this idea of inner child, right? Giving this person something that sparked joy for her so she could show up at work knowing that her outside interests were valued. That she was showing up as her whole self because you actually took the time to see here and listen to what she wanted out of life and out of her career. And you gave her not only a salary with a job that she liked, but you gave her time to pursue things that really brought her joy, which is unbelievably huge. I love that you said number two, invest in leadership. Can
Anna (11:18):
I say one more thing about inner child?
Erin (11:20):
Yes.
Anna (11:21):
I love that you're speaking to my heart. First of all, I was raised by hippies. So like, this thought of like, knowing who your inner child is, is just ingrained in who I am. But I've also been through a shitload of therapy. So like I've been through it. I know like you need to be in touch with that inner child. I wanna go back to before my kids' age, because guess what they're getting asked and they're having every semester is this career day where they're asked, what do you wanna be when you grow up? Like, I wanna get rid of that question. I want us to go back and just understand what it was like for us to be curious about the world. And we don't have to go, like for me, I could look back and then say, oh, I grew up in this neighborhood with almost all boys.
Anna (11:58):
And boy, I was the mother hand. I was like the teacher. I was in the basement with the chalkboard. We were playing teacher, we were playing war in the, in the fields. Like, oh, she's a national born stu teacher, maybe. But guess how many different ways I've applied that in my career. You can see, right? Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, I've worked this job. I grew up in operations. I ran my own company. I was a head of people. I now, I'm an editor. Completely different role. I've had so many roles that are brand new to me because I can flex and flow with that.
Erin (12:24):
I freaking So
Anna (12:25):
Getting in touch with our inner child is about being grounded and whole isn't human, but it can also guide us in that career. You're nailing it.
Erin (12:33):
Oh my god, I'm so here for that. And I, as a person who has gone through a self-healing journey in the past year, I will tell you that being in touch with that inner child, I wasn't raised by hippies, but I hope I raised my child like I am. You know, he's, I hope he says I was raised by a hippie mom. That's like my goal. But I'll tell you <laugh>, it is, it's the most self-aware you can be when you are really understanding what brings you joy. And guess what? If we allow our teams to bring that joy to work, we're saying, Hey, show up as your full self.
Anna (13:11):
Yes, yes.
Erin (13:12):
Bring that. I'll accept all of it. Mm. And it, and it really just, it makes people, it's what we call an improv. Yes. And it makes them feel not, they don't feel judged. They feel welcomed, they feel heard. And even if we aren't like, Hey, I don't wanna go make flowers with you after work, and, but I'm gonna say yes and to that, I'm gonna support you in that because that's what brings you joy. And I'm gonna add to that and say, go do more of that. If you can show up here for me, go, go do that and bring joy to you because that's gonna show up completely at work tomorrow, the next day and the next day.
Anna (13:49):
You talk about self-awareness. Cornell did a study that the number one predictor of success for CEOs. So think about it. These are people that lead huge companies with millions, billions of dollars under their realm. Yeah. The number one predictor of success is self-awareness. Oh. So that's the only skill or mindset that you try to accomplish. Everything else becomes easy. I called it earlier in courts of work. I called it for the year. I said, we wrote a piece called awareness is the meta skill of the future. Yeah. Like we're calling it awareness as a meta skill and a meta skill for people who aren't as nerdy. It's the skill that helps you build other skills, right? So it's like a multiplier. If you can build awareness first self, that leads to better other awareness, which leads to better organizational awareness. Organizations are way down here, Erin. They're pointing at the third one saying, oh, why aren't you organization aware? Why don't you just intuitively know what we need to get done? It's because we haven't done the work. Right. To say, I'm good at this and not good at these things. Put me in coach over there. Yep. That's self-awareness of what we are good at and what we are not good at. Why do we, why do we ask all the things of all the people? It's too much.
Erin (14:58):
Can you send that link to that article that you're mentioning and we'll put it in the show notes for everybody. I'd love to read it too. I love this so much, Anna and I. Okay, let me get to number two because I feel like I'm just, yeah. I'm like, I I could do this all day. Okay. So when you said number two, invest in leadership, it made me think of a quote that, you know, it's, I don't know who said it, but it's what c e O says to A C E F O. Well, what happens if we train our leaders and they leave and the CFO F says that the c e o. Well what happens if we don't train them and they stay? Woo. Yeah. And I love that for so long as a person who's in professional development and training. When I hear, I actually heard a leader a long time ago who had a, he, he was in charge of a group of mostly college graduates, very emerging leader type organization.
Erin (15:56):
And he said, I'm not gonna train them because they're going to leave. The turnover is so high. And with that mentality, let's call him Steve. His name's not Steve. Steve, okay. <Laugh>. They're gonna leave. Cause you're just willing it to happen. And so this investment in our leaders is so important because when they, and I firmly believe this, and I'm so here with you on this topic. When someone feels invested in that feeling is going to trickle over. It's a domino effect to every single person they lead. Yes. They're gonna wanna invest in the people that reporting to them. And I, I'm so happy you said that because it's humanity in the workplace starts with showing that we care about the whole person. And that's what you're doing starting from the top down. Because as everyone knows, and I love that army and, and analogy again, this metaphor, I was super here for it.
Erin (16:54):
It's like I'm a parent, right? You have, you have sixth graders. I have a a three and a half year old. And it's almost, it's like if I didn't give him structure or I didn't give him what the definition of good behavior looked like, he's not going to know what good behavior looks like and he's not going to know how to go about his day. Same thing exists even in, I mean, as as human beings, as adults, we need to understand what our roles are and we need to understand how we can show up and how we can bring the best of ourselves to work.
Anna (17:28):
Right? And it's a complicated order. That's a tall order. Erin, if we just listed all that in a job description, it would freak everybody out. But that is the job of a leader and it's the job of a parent. I compare our jobs a lot. We didn't get an owner owner's manual. Maybe we go to like one parenting course or read a parenting book. Maybe somebody sends us to a leadership course once a year. Like we need more support for that. These leaders need somebody in the trenches with them that can totally trust. So when I probably, honestly, if I had to say what was my best job ever, HR business partner, because I gotta be in the trenches with them and I gotta be their consigliere, right? That's a mob turning guy behind the guy, right? The guy whispering in the ear saying, Hey, do you know what's happening over here?
Anna (18:10):
Or Hey, look over there. Leaders need that and they don't have it. So whether they find a chief of staff or it's an HR business partner or the C H R O, somebody in the organization to give these leaders what they deserve, their role is almost unfair because their players and coaches. So what gets rewarded often is players. So then they're over here not coaching, it's just pure human nature. I think a lot of leaders suck Aaron, but we won't know if they suck until we remove all the organizational barriers that we talked about. Until we look at our operations, until we know what all the things that are hindering their job. We don't know who's really good at this and who's really not. And we don't allow them the decision to make that because we've only given them one path up.
Erin (18:53):
Oh my God. Yes. That's what's up Anna. That is what is up. I am so here for this conversation. So many people listening. Please send this episode to anyone in your HR department, anyone in your senior leadership department, anyone who needs to hear this message. It is insane. It's, it is beautiful. This what you're dropping here, these wisdom nuggets. Okay. And then the last one you said was looking at your benefits, which is huge. I can't even express how just delighted I was when you said you understand your values of the organization. Make sure that's expressed in your benefits. Yep. You've gotta take care of your people. You have to take care of your people. And I love this concept, so much humanity in the workplace. It should have been in the workplace a long time ago, but if we're not focusing on this, we are not going to attract, we're not going to retain, we're not going to be productive because Right. We are not caring for the people that make it work.
Anna (20:00):
Yeah.
Erin (20:08):
Okay. She's amazing. I'm here for all of these conversations. Anna Oakes, you are an angel. Here's what I want you to do. You're tangible for today, my friends. I want you to think about the way that you are showing up at work and your workplace. Are you career driven? Does your team have permission to try new things? Are you investing in leadership? And does your benefits align with your values? So I want you to listen to today's episode and ask yourself these three questions. Am I trying new things and are we giving people permission to do that at work? That's number one. Number two, are we investing in leadership? And number three are our benefits in line with our company values. This is one of the most mindblowing episodes. I'm truly so here for this conversation. So here's what I want you to do. Answer these three questions and then I want you to send it to someone on your team.
Erin (21:14):
I want you to have a conversation around this episode. It is so important if you wanna impact your company culture, let's start with treating people as humans. These three questions and these three reasons are fantastic. I'm so here for this conversation. Share it. Give it to somebody on your team. Give it to a friend at another organization, especially if you know they're struggling with their company culture. And stay tuned for part three of this three part series, episode 1 76 with Anna Oakes. You know what I'm gonna say? Keep failing, keep improving because this world needs that very special it that only you can bring. I'll see you for part three. Hey Fred, did you enjoy today's show? If so, head on over to iTunes to rate and subscribe. So you never miss an episode. Now, did I mention that when you leave a five star review of the Improve It podcast, an actual team of humans does a happy dance? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. That's right. So leave a review for us on iTunes, screenshot it, and send me an email at info learn to improve it.com. I'll send you a personalized video back as a thank you. Thanks so much for listening. Improve It Peeps. I'll see you next Wednesday.