Blooming in Life and at Work
Spoiler Alert: I hope I’m not giving away too much when I say the AppleTV+ hit thriller Severance is science fiction. Some of us may wish we could keep our work and personal lives totally separate. But it’s not possible.
“Work-life balance" is a false dichotomy. Instead of opposing forces competing for dominance, it’s more useful to strive for conditions where the two elements nurture each other in a virtuous circle.
Such is the premise of Dan Pontefract’s latest award-winning book, Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team that Flourishes. Author of Lead Care Win, Pontefract uses gardening metaphors here to present an evidence-based framework to understand and intentionally influence six key “work factors” and six key “life factors.”
He fleshes out each of the 12 factors, colorfully describes four states of employee well-being and productivity and urges leaders to use his hands-on methods to increase the odds that their team members will “bloom.”
The book provides ample data -- and illustrative quotes -- from Pontefract’s six-year Global Work Life Assessment study supporting his take on how to create flourishing workplaces.
This post I'll touch on the six work factors, below, and some of Pontefract's "Garden Shed Tools" to cultivate them.
Trust
Belonging
Valued
Purpose
Strategy
Norms
Tools for Thriving at Work
From the "Garden Shed," Pontefract offers a “Soil Test” for leaders to adapt as they “manage by wandering around.”
For instance, to tap into how employees are doing in terms of the “Belonging” factor, a leader could weave into a chat a question like, “How connected do you feel to others on the team around here? If not, what’s getting in the way? If yes, what can I do to make sure it continues?”
And to uncover how each person is doing on the “Valued” work factor, a leader might ask, “Do you feel valued in your role/at work? If not, what will it take to turn that around? If yes, what makes you feel valued?”
Pontefract suggests leaders engage in casual, open-ended conversations with employees that invite connection and trust. As a leader does so, they can assess how well the organization’s actual culture aligns with its stated values and goals — and take steps to improve the health of the “garden” or workplace.
Too often, leaders behave in ways that powerfully impact workplace culture -- without much forethought. They might spend weeks or months crafting a mission statement, theory of change and strategic plan that won't pack as big of a punch as, say, an ill-conceived return-to-office policy.
I’ve described in previous posts how nonprofit leaders create an organization’s culture, intentionally or not -- and for better or for worse (see Listen to Your People, Demystifying Psychological Safety and Create a Work Culture Where Employees Thrive.) Why not strive to intentionally nurture one where your people can bloom?
Next post, I’ll talk about Work-Life Bloom's six life factors.