Thirsty for hope? People are parched!
Spring 2022. I’m on a Zoom call streamed from a wood-panelled office at the University of Oxford. The walls I can see are lined with books, many leather-bound.
I’m here because I know I need help.
I feel hot tears trickling down my cheeks. I hear the gentle silence as Professor Susan – my coach – sits in her armchair, her full attention centred on me. With her short-cropped hair, her elfin features and her bright eyes, it’s like sitting opposite some sort of wise fairy. But no magic wand can help me.
“So Jeanne, you’ve been running your consultancy for 17 years and it sounds as if professionally things have been going well. Three months off every year for the school holidays. You seem to have an admirable balance in your life, and yet you say you feel so disillusioned? The more leaders, teams and organisations you work with, the more toxic cultures you discover.”
I sob my heart out and, in the privacy of our call, yell with anger. Susan listens, unflinching, as the indignant outrage flows out of me like hot lava, until there is none left.
“Disillusioned would be one way of describing it, Susan. I feel like an emotional wreck. I can feel myself becoming bitter and cynical and I'm terrified that I'm becoming toxified myself! What use am I to anyone feeling like this?
And what happened to my husband … even all this time on, it feels like our hearts and souls have been ripped out and trampled on. In desperation, he resorted to whistle-blowing to the regulator in a senior leadership role. Sacked and gagged with an NDA. It’s like he fell off a cliff.”
When somebody has a moral dilemma at work, leading to an acute psychological breakdown, one day they’re there in front of you, apparently "normal".
It creeps up slowly, with lethal stealth. Consumed by anxiety? Yes. Stressed? Yes. Unable to sleep? Yes. Increasingly despairing? Yes. All part of the job? All too often, yes.
Then suddenly, one day that person, whom you know and love – they disappear. If they haven’t followed through with their intention to end it all, they might be physically there in front of you, but as a person they’ve gone. The trauma, pain and despair gobble them up and steal them away into cold, hopeless darkness.
My husband was told at the time by another whistleblower that it would take 5 years to recover. For him, me and our family, and the devastating consequences, that was a conservative estimate.
I had so many “If Onlys”. If only I’d persuaded him to walk away from the job for the sake of his health. If only he’d never taken that role in a place where his values were never going to fit. If only the system of governance were more ethical. If only government ministers could see that their “regulators” are such a key part of the cultural problems.
But there was another If Only for me. With my professional hat on, If Only I could understand why and how things get to the point where the workplace is so unhappy and often toxic for so many people: damaging; soul-destroying; conflicting; and where work can ruin lives.
How does that happen? How can it be avoided? And what can any of us do about it?
I set about trying to make sense of this question. I read journals, books, papers, investigations, reports. I picked the brains of leaders, practitioners and academic colleagues in various parts of the world, in different sectors. And crucially, I started experimenting.
I have spent every working day for the past seven years listening, inquiring, testing out new ideas and novel practical approaches with tens of thousands of people to help them improve their work relationships, team culture and power dynamics, through some of the toughest times they have ever experienced.
As I started to name and address deep-seated misuses of power in workplaces, I've faced disdain, dismissal, defensiveness, denial, distraction and desertion.
During this time, there have been countless high-profile tragedies and injustices linked to harmful misuses of power, often in the name of "strong leadership".
Yet, I've discovered a thirst among SO many people for a new type of honesty and approach to "leadership". People are parched!
Tens of thousands of team members and leaders have now worked and experimented with me to learn how to improve their team and organisational culture. I have gained deep understanding about what works, and I've seen the impact.
Combining my academic, practical and experimental research, I have distilled what works into the suite of H.U.M.A.N. culture change, leadership and team coaching programmes. It's being implemented across sectors.
Now, I’m rolling out this approach even further with the book The Culture Trap. Because not everyone has the chance to take part in a development programme, or have expert team coaching.
The H.U.M.A.N. approach has had a 30+ year gestation.
Borne from the wisdom of pain and despair.
Offered and shared with hope and belief in humanity.
Together, we can BeTheCultureChange™