Thriving At Work

Ny'Asia Metry, an organization development and performance improvement expert, discusses how organizations can create environments that help people thrive at work. She emphasizes the importance of psychological safety, meaningful work, and supportive leadership in creating a thriving work environment. She shares an example of a donation center that successfully implemented strategies to improve employee engagement and reduce turnover. Ny'Asia also discusses common obstacles organizations face in improving performance and suggests clear communication and involving employees in the process as solutions. She explains how leaders can foster a culture of continuous improvement and well-being by modeling desired behaviors, encouraging open dialogue, and viewing failure as a learning opportunity. She highlights the role of feedback in helping employees thrive and emphasizes the importance of specific, actionable, and regular feedback. Ny'Asia shares her rewarding experience of transforming a Alright, Thriving at Work, Episode 1. Welcome to Thriving at Work. Today we are exploring the art and science of helping people thrive professionally. I'm your host, Karma. Today we have an exciting guest with us today, Ny'Asia Metry. She is an organization development and performance improvement expert. Ny'Asia, welcome to the show. Hi, Karma. Thank you so much. I'm so thrilled to be here. Alrighty, so today we're actually diving into the question, how can organizations create environments that truly help people thrive? This is an incredibly important topic, not just for productivity, but for the well-being of employees everywhere. Ny'Asia, what does it mean for people to truly thrive at work? Wow, that is honestly an amazing question. I believe, personally, that thriving at work is pretty simple, actually. It means that employees are not just surviving the workday. It means that while at work, you can feel fully engaged and motivated. And most of all, you're just constantly growing as you're working. So it's honestly about creating an employer and employee environment where all individuals can feel safe to express their ideas, where they can have meaningful work, and have personal and professional development opportunities. One example that I would definitely like to compare it to would be if you think of cultivating a garden. You provide the right soil, the water, and sunlight, and you watch the plants flourish. Similarly, a nurturing work environment leads to vibrant and productive teams. That's actually a great point, and it's also very interesting, Ny'Asia. It is about moving beyond just getting through the day and really engaging with the work in a meaningful way. So now, can you elaborate on what specific elements actually contribute to such an environment? Or what are the key elements contributing to a thriving work environment? Definitely. I believe one of the most important key elements would be maintaining psychological safety. So this is where employees can feel that they can take risks without fear of negative consequences. So another key element would be involving providing meaningful work. That aligns very much so with the employee's values and interests. It also helps to provide opportunities for continuous learning and development. I think that's definitely important. Thirdly, employees always thrive when there's supportive leadership, as that fosters open communication and recognition. For instance, in one of my old projects, a health care organization implemented something that we would like to call idea forums. So this is where employees could pitch improvement suggestions without judgment. So almost like, I don't know, if you think of like when you were younger and you just kind of are like writing secrets or notes to your peers in class. So this definitely kind of boosts morale, but it also leads to several innovative solutions. All right. So I basically, I honestly feel that psychological safety is very crucial. I think without it, employees might hold back their ideas for fear of criticism. I know I've been through that in the past before as an employee myself. So you mentioned meaningful work and supportive leadership. Can you share an example of an organization that successfully, where you successfully created a thriving environment? Absolutely. So I worked with a midsize, excuse me, midsize donation center that was struggling with high turnover and low morale. And honestly, this is something that we see pretty much very often. So we implemented a comprehensive strategy that focused on employee engagement. This included regular feedback loops, so just basically checking in, leadership training, and also creating like a cross-functional team to encourage collaboration. Because I think you mentioned, so sometimes we fear just speaking our opinions. So this is something that we have implemented. Not only that, so I believe that employee satisfaction scores have increased significantly within that year, and the turnover actually dropped by 30%, which is a lot. It was very heartwarming for me to see that the employees felt more valued and connected to their work. That's a very impressive turnaround. I think regular feedback and leadership training seems to actually play pivotal roles when it comes to thriving at work. So now, what common obstacles do organizations face when trying to improve performance, and how can they overcome them? That's a really good question. And honestly, I think with any working organization that is just building their way up, even successful companies today, they always face obstacles, especially when trying to turn around the performance levels. So some common obstacles include resistance to change, which could be on both sides, the employee and the employer, lack of clear communication, inadequate leadership support, so on and so forth. But I believe overcoming these can be incredibly hard, as this can also require lots of clear and consistent communication. This also involves employees in the process, and providing leaders with the tools and training that they need to support their teams effectively. Because a lot of times we see that there are people in these higher roles, in leadership roles, and they are not fully equipped to lead a team. So it's very important that we implement these things. That way, we can grow as a team. I remember there was a tech company where employees were skeptical about a new project management system. And we honestly just addressed this by holding town hall meetings to explain the benefits and offering hands-on training sessions, which significantly smoothed the transition. It was so amazing. Thank you for that. Now, definitely, clear communication and also involving employees are key. Change can be daunting sometimes without understanding and support. So their communication definitely is key. Now, another question that I do have for you, Ny'Asia, how can leaders effectively foster a culture that promotes continuous improvement and well-being? That's a really great question. I believe that leaders can foster such a culture by modeling the behaviors they want to see. And this is something that I would say this is like a life lesson that everybody can use in their lives and not just in the work environment. This can be done by encouraging open dialogue, recognizing rewarding efforts towards improvement, and also providing opportunities for professional development. It's also very, very, very important to create an environment where failure is seen as a learning opportunity rather than something that needs to be punished, especially as working adults. We don't want to be feeling like we're going to work and we're being treated lower than such or like children. We should be able to be open enough to express our needs and our concerns in our work environment. In my experience with the retail chain, the leaders had started to share their own experiences of failure and of knowledge during team meetings. And I think that drastically shifted the company culture towards one that was more embracing and continuous and brought lots of improvement. Interesting, Kay, when you mentioned viewing failure as an opportunity. And one thing that I always say to myself is I look at challenges as an opportunity. So I think that's very true. Viewing failure as a learning opportunity can actually really transform a team's approach to innovation and risk-taking. So now the next question for you, what role does feedback play in helping employees thrive and how can it be delivered effectively? Another amazing question, which I also feel can be translated into the outside world, like outside of the work environment. Feedback is very crucial for growth. Effective feedback should be specific. It should also be actionable and delivered in a constructive way. I'm sure you have even experienced where you were receiving feedback, but it kind of seemed rude or off-standish. It should be exactly as is, like feedback, and presented in a specific way. It's very important to balance positive feedbacks with improvement areas and making sure that it is delivered regularly and not just like during annual reviews or monthly reviews. That way there is room for growth and that you are just giving that person an opportunity to pause and reflect. Reflection is very good for growth as well. I believe that creating a culture where feedback is seen as a normal part of everyday interactions can also help to significantly enhance performance and engagement. So I know I worked with an educational institution in the past where we actually introduced peer feedback sessions, and initially it was met with some hesitation, obviously, lots of moans and groans, but eventually it became a valued part of their culture and it drove personal and professional growth overall. Interesting. In my years of employment, I have been there. Specific feedback can definitely drive, I believe, performance improvement. It's about making feedback, as you mentioned, it's about making feedback a regular part of the workplace culture and not just an annual meeting with your manager, but it's something that is being done gradually throughout your time with the company. Definitely. Now, finally, Nyasha, what has been your most rewarding experience of being in Organization Thrive? I would say that one of the most rewarding experiences was when I worked with a nonprofit organization and they were honestly struggling with low employee engagement. So my team actually developed a more collaborative and transparent culture through a series of workshops and coaching sessions. And, you know, obviously you have to keep up with the times, so we were able to make it very fun, including games and food, obviously, and we were able to see the team's energy transformation and the positive impact on their work, and we just noticed that it seemed to be incredibly fulfilling for everyone. So people went from feeling disconnected to being highly motivated and passionate about their contributions to their work environment. That's actually a wonderful experience. It must have been incredibly satisfying to see such positive changes. Yes, it was. Again, I want to thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today, Nyasha. It is clear from your past experience and expertise, it is actually clear that creating thriving work environment involves a multi-phase approach from fostering psychological safety to providing continuous feedback and development opportunities. Again, I want to thank you so much for being with us today. No, thank you. It was an honor to be here. This was so much fun. I hope I have an opportunity to join again. Thank you again, Karma, and truly I believe that discussing these important topics have been a pleasure. Thanks again. Enjoy the rest of your day. You too. Bye. And have a good one. And for our listeners today, I'd like for you to take some time to reflect on your own work environment. What changes can you actually make to help yourself and your colleagues thrive? Join us next time as we explore more ways to enhance performance at work. Until then, keep thriving. Again, we'd love to hear your thoughts on today's episode. 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