Solving the great resignation one organization at a time by improving organizations’ internal capability to create psychological safety.
In a world where the average employee stays with a company for 4 years, it's impressive when a company can boast a turnover rate of less than 10%. According to McKinsey: over 40% of employees surveyed stated they had left their job without a new role to move into. In an effort to battle back against the Great Resignation, Aristotle Performance has focused on developing psychological safety while working with organizations to directly impact over 2500 teams, and help the companies they work with to achieve their goals. Aristotle Performance’s efforts have paid off in terms of improved practices by utilizing their scalable organizational solutions. One such scalable solution is based on the findings of Dr. Amy C. Edmondson, Aristotle Performance’s method of developing internal capabilities to gather data and engage teams in development sessions to improve psychological safety across the organization. Offering certification and training is one of the ways Aristotle Performance is working to consistently improve a variety of metrics within a diverse range of industries.
Take for instance one of Aristotle Performance’s clients–seeing a large impact on their day-to-day operations by an unfortunately high turnover rate, a large and world renowned marketing and advertising agency started analyzing their resignation rate. With a turnover rate that was nearly double the industry average they turned to Aristotle for a retention strategy that was sustainable and system wide. Determined to provide impactful change, Aristotle Performance uncovered that the focal point of the issue was that all team development programs being delivered focused solely on performance. This created an atmosphere that left team members feeling unimportant, unrecognized, and underappreciated--overall the company had low levels of psychological safety.
What was needed was not a focus on big change initiatives, but small achievable initiatives. The pandemic caused a lot of burnout, so focusing solely on high performance programs while attractive to company leaders was not improving culture for the employees. Employees were feeling more and more disconnected from the overall vision and strategy of the business. Aristotle Performance began focusing on psychological safety as the foundation to build this company's team learning and effectiveness, which was both good for the growth of people and teams and rewarded the company with improved culture and better retention.
Aristotle Performance continues to achieve success with businesses and individuals from a variety of sectors all across the globe. This is achieved by focusing on scalable solutions that are uniquely fitted to each company. These solutions are built upon three foundational drivers: Organizational Context, Team Relationships, and Leader Behaviors. These drivers are also key to psychological safety and team effectiveness, a focal point of Aristotle Performance’s work. The focus for the large marketing company noted above was no different.
Organizational context refers to the nature of work, organizational structure, performance expectations, alongside implicit and explicit workplace cultural norms. Getting to the root of the problem and understanding what factors drive behavior allows for Aristotle Performance to identify areas of growth opportunities. Through consultation and advisory, Aristotle Performance is often able to identify small cultural shifts to change behavior through their adaptive programs.
The research shows the importance of focusing on team relationships . This includes elements like interdependence, building better relationships, team characteristics (like how and when a team comes together), and improved platforms for communication. All of these attributes are different areas to not only analyze areas for improvement, but also implement meaningful change. Aristotle Performance works to develop team relationships through internal training, making sure that the team’s focus and needs are addressed on a regular basis.
Leader behaviors are a key factor in all of the 2500 and counting teams that Aristotle Performance has been able to influence. This does not imply that leaders are the problem, just the opposite, leaders are a key part of the solution. Leaders need to focus on developing their people and leading rather than just managing tasks. Creating a learning organization is possible when leaders are offered development opportunities and the support needed to create, repair, and leverage high psychologically safe environments..
Aristotle Performance has helped a multitude of companies find success by using their expertise to adapt to each individual situation. This often results in training internal practitioners who can help the company achieve change from the inside out. Through this process and their adaptive approach to each business context and challenge they face, Aristotle Performance has continued to see growth in psychological safety and success with the organizations they partner with.
The high levels of burnout and resignation across the globe along with new hybrid teams and staff shortages have increased the need for solutions that balance organizational needs including those of their employees. As a result, Psychological Safety and its importance for creating a more resilient, innovative and inclusive work environment is being realized as a strategic advantage. Aristotle Performance’s repeated success in addressing these issues have led to them emerging as a global leader of psychological safety development.
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