What does it take to have a workplace that thrives?

Last month I attended the Thriving Workplaces conference held in Sydney that was run by The Serenity Collective. This is the third time I have attended one of these conferences. So why do I keep going back?
Well, I gain so many insights from really progressive leaders across many sectors. These are the organisations who are open to doing things differently in this ever-changing complex world and want to find ways to create organisations that thrive!
It was also great to see some of my clients there as well. Greg Parfitt and his team at Orange Hire had a whole table full!
Here are some of the insights and gems I picked up from the many amazing speakers and panels.

“Be conscious of what is happening right now. Notice we often speak in absolutes. The extremes don’t help us. Pause and be present to think. Is it a snake or a rope as the old Zen saying goes.”
“85% of front-line retail workers get verbally abused every day. They can learn to reset for every customer. Senior leaders cannot reset as fast as front-line workers!”
Kevin Figuierado, Chief People and Safety Officer, Super Retail Group

“We noticed our workforce was spending 80% of time in meetings. We have changed this and switched it to this:
• 25 % of time is now spent in meetings (we now record loom videos as leaders if we need to inform our team of something rather than having a meeting)
• 40% deep focus work
• 10% actual collaboration
• 10% responding to emails
Our focus is to “get shit done”!
Avani Prabhakar, Chief People Officer, Atlassian

Work should be good for people. When it is people get a sense of purpose and belonging.
If organisations focus on:
1. Leadership
2. Connection
3. Capability
4. Safe place
5. Work design
Then it will get better!
Darren Black, CEO, Superfriend

“Two things that impact burnout:
1. The way the job is designed
2. The person
Leaders need to model the right behaviour. If the most senior leader takes a mental health day, then tell people. We have a policy that all leave is approved with no explanation. The premise is you need to look after yourself first!”
Karen Oldaker, Senior Executive Wellbeing and Shared Value, Medibank

“We are trained to be physically fit and do our job, but we are not trained to deal with the mental workload. We now train our lifeguards on how to deal with emotional trauma of being first responders. The biggest changes we have made is we come together and support each other. We know what is happening in their lives. We now prepare for what we may experience and make sure we debrief every serious event.”
Bruce Hopkins “Hoppo”, Chief lifeguard, Bondi Rescue (pictured)

I could keep going! So much wisdom. The top two takeouts were leaders who want to create thriving organisations and teams need to:
1. Care about their people – get to know who they are.
2. Help create a sense of purpose for each team member.
If you get the opportunity next year, definitely put this on your conference list. It is a great community to be part of.