How to leverage the world around us for a thriving workplace
Workplace culture. A revered phenomenon, but seldom understood?
Due to the diverse workforce of today, culture has become one of the most important business topics for 2016. A recent report from Bersin by Deloitte found that 82% of leaders believe culture is a competitive advantage, yet less than 1 in 3 understand their organisation’s culture!
“Culture describes “the way things work around here.” Specifically, it includes the values, beliefs, behaviors, artifacts, and reward systems that influence people’s behavior on a day-to-day basis. It is driven by top leadership and becomes deeply embedded in the company through a myriad of processes, reward systems, and behaviors. Culture includes all the behaviors that may or may not improve business performance. Today, culture is a CEO-level issue and something that can be measured and improved to drive strategy” – Bersin by Deloitte
Hand in hand with culture comes employee engagement. In their report, Bersin by Deloitte found that 85% of leaders rated engagement as important. It is a business imperative and no longer something to be considered just once a year by taking a look in the rear-view mirror.
What we see within the business world is that with increasingly busy schedules and the demands of daily life, many employees find themselves stressed or unable to wind down at some point. Some businesses tend to look for complicated solutions to improve culture and reduce employees stress, but sometimes the most simple actions, such as spending time outdoors, can be the most effective. The evidence is growing that human beings are spending significantly less time outdoors than previous generations and are suffering as a result. Studies are finding that being outdoors positively affects a person’s cognitive, emotional and physical health, and develops their resistance to negative stresses and depression. Could this simple solution help with employee engagement and workplace culture? We were fascinated by this idea, so looked into it a bit further…
One striking statistic on this infographic from Planet Ark was that happy office workers spend 34% more time outdoors than their unhappier colleagues.
Being out in nature can be a mindfulness retreat of sorts.
Lisa Mcleod, Enmasse tells us; “When we are out in nature, whether we’re at the beach or simply working away in our garden, we tend to find that our mind chatter decreases as we become absorbed in the beauty of our surroundings. Scientists have a name for this term – they call it attention restoration theory. The idea is that because nature is inherently beautiful and interesting, it captures our attention without us consciously having to maintain focus. This means we become absorbed in the moment, and our brains and attention gets a chance to rest and reset, thereby reducing our stress and giving our focus and sense of wellbeing a boost.”
A human right
You only have to get through the first line of a National Geographic article about Richard Louv to see how passionate he is on this subject; “I’ve been arguing for a while that connection to nature should be thought of as a human right”.
Author Richard Louv, coined the term “nature-deficit disorder” to describe the loss of connection people increasingly feel with the natural world.
The causes of the disorder include loss of open space and increasingly busy schedules.
Louv also argues that in recent years research has begun to emerge describing the restorative power of time spent in the natural world.
“While the study of the relationship between mental acuity, creativity, and time spent outdoors is still a frontier for science, new data suggests that exposure to the living world can even enhance intelligence. At least two factors are involved: first, our senses and sensibilities can be improved by spending time in nature; second, the natural environment seems to stimulate our ability to pay attention, think clearly, and be more creative.” – Richard Louv, Get Your Mind Dirty
How interesting.
The soil beneath our feet
Furthermore, a study conducted by Dorothy Matthews and Susan Jenks at the Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, found that exposure to a bacteria found in soil helped mice to navigate a maze twice as fast. This bacteria is usually ingested or inhaled when people spend time in nature.
So can time in nature nurture genius itself? Look at one of the most intelligent beings to ever walk the earth – Albert Einstein. Someone who reportedly used to take walks in the woods every single day.
Richard Louv suggests that the science here is not clear, but that we could speculate that time spent in the natural world may lead to bursts of new neurons -“nature neurons”.
No time?
It needn’t take all day. Simply taking a few moments to step outside or even look out the window at nature could be enough to reduce stress and boost feelings of wellbeing.
A University of Melbourne study shows that glancing at a grassy green roof for only 40 seconds markedly boosts concentration. Could it be that simple?
This is clearly an issue we cannot ignore and one that can come hand in hand with building a supportive culture to boost employee engagement. We’d love to hear of any initiatives in line with these ideas that you are facilitating in your organisation currently.