Purpose-Driven Workspaces

When employees are overworked, stressed, and expected to be available 24/7, their needs extend far beyond yoga sessions, fruit baskets, or occasional wellbeing workshops. People don't want more of these token gestures. What they genuinely desire is for their fundamental needs to be met. Employees want to be part of a culture where their wellbeing is a priority, not an afterthought. They want to work in an environment that acknowledges the importance of their physical and mental health and actively supports them in maintaining it. They want to be part of a workplace where wellbeing is not just an add-on but integrated into the very core of organisational culture. BelievePerform

It was a treat to host Michael Hallsworth, the Chief Behavioral Scientist at the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), as a guest speaker today at The Wharton School in my MBA class. Michael shared insights from spending ~20 years working to improve governments and businesses with behavioral insights. Key Takeaways: (1) The EAST framework is key to success if you hope to change behavior. Make the desired change Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely. (2) There are big opportunities for organizations to use behavioral insights more to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their HR, finance and procurement functions. (3) Nudges are consistently effective at changing behavior all around the world. Context matters, and yet people everywhere respond to making change Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely. (4) Of all the projects he's pursued, Michael is most proud of his team's work to reduce the over-prescription of antibiotics (to slow antimicrobial resistance). They reduced antibiotic over-prescribing by telling doctors that their practice was prescribing antibiotics at a higher rate than 80% of practices in their local area. Check out Michael's paper describing this project, which was published in 2016 in the Lancet: https://lnkd.in/ey8aXcFY Huge thanks to Michael for sharing these insights and for the tremendous work he does to use #BehavioralScience for good! Behavior Change for Good Initiative | University of Pennsylvania

A yoga mat ain’t going to cut it. People are stressed out. And according to Gallup’s latest report 41% of employees report experiencing “a lot of stress.” And it doesn’t matter how many mindfulness apps you throw at it, they’re not going to fix poor management or the fact that people don’t have what they need to get their jobs done. There isn't a one-size-fits all solution to reducing stress, as it can vary depending on how an organisation is setup and how people get stuff done on a daily basis. But with us spending an estimated 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime, we need some series stress-busting strategies to shift these worrying statistics. So, where to start? From our extensive research and experience with over 100 organisations, we've identified the following core principles that need to be in place for people to feel engaged, motivated and happy in their work. They are: 1️⃣ Alignment: Clearly defined purpose, values and strategic goals embedded across the employee experience. 2️⃣ Appreciation: Regular recognition of individual and team contributions through meaningful praise, gratitude, and rewards. 3️⃣ Belonging: A deep sense of acceptance, celebrating diversity and providing equal access to opportunities and resources. 4️⃣ Communication: Consistent communication with documented rituals and processes for timely and accessible information transfer. 5️⃣ Empowerment: Support, systems, structure, and tools that enable teams and individuals to be productive, make decisions, and work autonomously. 6️⃣ Flexibility: Choice and adaptability in work methods to accommodate individual needs and optimise productivity. 7️⃣ Growth mindset: A shared belief that individuals can grow and improve their skills through hard work, testing new ideas, and sharing learning opportunities. 8️⃣ Play: Regular opportunities for fun and creative activities with peers to facilitate social connections and trust. 9️⃣ Psychological safety: A belief that people won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. 🔟 Wellbeing: Prioritising physical, emotional, social, environmental, intellectual, and financial health. So it's time to pop the yoga mats away, and think about how you can start to reinforce these these principles into your daily practices, and create a workplace where people feel seen, valued and supported. Got some stress-busting strategies to share? Let us know in the comments so that we can collectively design kinder, fairer, better designed companies. Not sure where to get started? We’ve got stacks of resources over on our journal pages, check out the links in the comments 👇 #CompanyCulture #EmployeeEngagement #Wellbeing

What if your team finally had a space to talk about what truly matters? I recently implemented a series of intentional team rituals for one of my clients, and the transformation has been incredible. For the first time, the team finally has a space to share openly, talk about what’s important, and engage in authentic conversations that drive performance. 💡 Team rituals aren’t icebreakers—they’re purposeful, evidence-based practices designed to embed psychological safety into the team’s rhythm. Each ritual serves a unique purpose, from encouraging healthy risk-taking to reinforcing shared values. Here are 5️⃣ powerful rituals I use: ✨ Team temperature check A quick check-in that helps everyone align on each other’s state of mind, fostering empathy and understanding from the start. ✨ Unspoken thoughts sharing A safe, dedicated space for team members to voice thoughts that might otherwise go unheard. This has been transformative in building trust and transparency. ✨ Risk round-up A reflection on recent risks taken, regardless of the outcome, to normalize growth and show that taking chances is valued. ✨ Intelligent failure celebration A space to celebrate ‘intelligent’ failures, focusing on lessons learned and supporting a culture of experimentation and innovation. ✨ Team value stories Weekly storytelling of how team values come to life, creating a shared sense of purpose and reinforcing a culture of belonging. 🔎 How to measure impact and progress? I use a Psychological Safety Scan for my clients before and after implementing these rituals to capture the tangible progress in team dynamics. P.S. : What’s your favorite team ritual that makes a difference in your team? ---------------------------------------- 📚 Read about how to implement each ritual and use the provided prompts in my blog article. 👇 Link in the comments.

Last week I shared how AI helped analyze our retreat feedback survey data in minutes. Today, I want to highlight the three elements that our team rated most impactful from our recent company retreat in Ireland... - [New addition] "Connection Court": We created a dedicated space in the castle with games, snacks, and comfy seating that was open throughout the day and late into the night. This gave people a relaxed place to connect in case of bad weather and removed the pressure to drink or socialize in high-energy environments. This was great for introverts and those who don't enjoy the bar scene and provided more inclusive evening activities that worked for everyone. - Doist Build (our company hackathon) hit different this year: We surveyed the team for "hack-worthy" topics ahead of the retreat, pre-selected the top 10 we felt could make an impact on the company, and revealed them the day before so people could start brainstorming. Morning of, it was first-come-first-serve with limited seats per topic, which created some incredible energy to start the day. Best part? The winning team's project was implemented right there at the retreat and immediately improved our onboarding metrics 🚀 - "Choose your own adventure" itinerary structure: Instead of forcing everyone into the same activities, we offered parallel options during free time. We balanced physical activities (hiking, sports), cultural experiences (castle tours, local music), and team building events (escape rooms, group games). This approach let people naturally form smaller groups around common interests, creating deeper connections through shared experiences. After organizing multiple retreats over the years, one principle stands out: create a flexible structure and trust your team to find meaningful ways to connect. When people have the freedom to choose activities that align with their interests and energy levels, authentic relationships naturally develop. Hope this is helpful and I'd love to hear what's working for other teams as well 👇

So what does the analysis of 20,000+ leadership simulations tell us about human behavior and change? A few powerful insights… 1. Dispositions > Personality Profiles Personality tests give us a snapshot, but dispositions show us movement. What happens in someone’s head as they shift from passive → reactive → explorative → participative reveals far more about how they’ll respond to change than a static profile ever could. Ref: image attached. 2. Reflection is Costly, So We Skip It In every exchange, we’re wired to seek payoff. Once we realize whether that payoff is coming or not, the brain deprioritizes reflection—it’s cognitively expensive. That’s why most organizations under-invest in it, even though it’s the single most critical step for lasting change. 3. Emotion = Energy, Agency = Direction Emotions flood us with energy. But without agency, that energy turns to frustration—fast. The speed of that conversion is often what we call “character.” Leaders who know how to mobilize emotion into action unlock extraordinary momentum. 4. Reframing is a Core Leadership Muscle Staying stuck in a single frame is like pressing the accelerator and brakes at the same time. Reframing loosens the brakes. It creates flow. Future leaders won’t just need resilience—they’ll need the skill to reframe and re-ignite movement. This is just the tip of the iceberg (pun fully intended 🤭). These findings have challenged us, surprised us, and in some cases made us question our own practices. I’m excited to finally share them in the newest release of the AFERR series. Download it here: Experimentation: Humanity's Learning Engine https://lnkd.in/dYJdCGfu Enjoy the read!

𝗝𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗱: 𝗘𝗔 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 & 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 Enterprise Architecture (EA) isn’t all frameworks and governance—it’s about 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁. Yet, many organizations struggle to answer a fundamental question: ❝ 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙀𝘼 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚? ❞ Without clear metrics, EA can feel abstract, making it difficult to justify investments or demonstrate ROI. So how do you connect EA maturity to tangible business outcomes? 𝟯 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗧𝗼 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝗔’𝘀 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝟭 | 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 & 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲-𝘁𝗼-𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 The speed at which organizations make and execute decisions defines their competitive edge. 𝙃𝙤𝙬-𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙩? ✔ Measure the average time from proposal to decision to implementation. ✔ Track the impact of EA-driven insights and governance on reducing delays. ✔ Analyze how often EA guidance is used in strategic planning. 🚀 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 = 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲-𝘁𝗼-𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 = 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲. 𝟮 | 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 & 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 EA’s role in simplifying architectures directly impacts cost efficiency and resilience. 𝙃𝙤𝙬-𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙩? ✔ Track the number of redundant applications, integrations -AND licenses, eliminated. ✔ Measure cost savings from rationalizing technology stacks. ✔ Track technical debt trends over time (𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯). 📉 A cleaner, more streamlined IT landscape 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀. 𝟯 | 𝗔𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 & 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 A mature EA function enables faster adaptation to change—whether due to market shifts, security threats, or new opportunities. 𝙃𝙤𝙬-𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙩? ✔ Measure the time required to integrate new technologies or adapt/evolve architectures. ✔ Set and track the percentage of projects that meet agility and flexibility benchmarks. ✔ Analyze EA’s role in incident response and risk mitigation. 🔄 The 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 an organization, the better it navigates uncertainty. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝙀𝘼 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡—it’s THE strategic business enabler. By measuring decision velocity, system simplicity, and agility, you can prove EA’s value and ensure it remains a driver of business success. _ ➕ Follow Kevin Donovan, ring the bell 🔔 👍 Like | ♻️ Repost _ 🚀 Join Architects' Hub!  Sign up for our newsletter. Connect with a community that gets it. Improve skills, meet peers, and elevate your career! Subscribe 👉 https://lnkd.in/dgmQqfu2 #EnterpriseArchitecture #EAMaturity #BusinessValue #DigitalTransformation

An observation for the week: if you want to understand a culture, observe how people move through their work. Culture is often described through values or aspirations, yet everyday behaviour offers the clearest view of how an organisation truly functions. The way people participate in conversations, how decisions gain momentum and how they respond to moments of pressure shows the patterns that shape the lived experience of work. These behaviours reveal the pathways people rely on, the expectations they navigate and the unwritten rhythms that guide their day. Noticing these cues helps leaders understand how their culture is actually experienced, not simply how it is described.

This month, we finished a 9-month #OrganisationalCulture consulting project with a German client using Systemic #TransactionAnalysis (TA) thinking 🌐. It was a humbling experience, and I am chuffed to share my insights from this enriching journey, thanks to my fellow lead-consultants and our supportive cohort of 15 accomplished professionals. 🤝 As an OD consultant, I have done a fair share of organisational consulting work, but this learning approach guided by Rosemary Napper & Thorsten Geck at TAworks involved deeper nuances of observing the #organisationsystem as TA #CulturalAnthropologists. Curious about this approach? let's connect! 😊 This learning project provided me with the provocative opportunity to pause and reflect on: ❇️ Who am I as a consultant? & ❇️ What make me lead the way I do? A reflective practice encouraged in TA and one I would highly recommend to practitioners looking to enhance their professional practice. Here are the 6 🗝️ lessons I carry forward from this project: 1️⃣ Presence over Perfection: ✅ This project's emergent structure challenged my reliance on preparation. Reflecting on those intense client engagements, I recognise that learning opportunities arose when I failed to account for myself before responding, it wasn’t so much about a data point or the perfect language as it was about my objective presence. 2️⃣ There is no such thing as too much contracting: ✅ Effective contracting and recontracting are crucial to avoid time-consuming management of mismatched expectations. TA highlights the importance of 3 contracting levels—Administrative, Professional, and Psychological—to address interpersonal dynamics and clarify expectations beyond the surface. 3️⃣ Invest time in creating a Steering-Committee that represents the whole organisation: ✅ Culture runs in the DNA of an organisation, and to understand or change it, the workgroup has to be a representative of the entire organisation, beyond the founders or top executives. 4️⃣ Observation over Diagnosis: ✅ For an effective Org. Culture study, the job is to be curious 🥇. Observing the system involves considering one's somatic responses and intuition before proceeding to the objective distillation stage. Engaging human felt sense can make a learning conversations richer. 5️⃣ Systems can overpower our Objectivity: ✅ The role of the consultant is to be on the edge and aware of the influence the system they are observing can have on their interpretations and actions. Yes, the system is strong and can overpower one's frame of reference. 6️⃣ Self-work supplements Potency: ✅ To be effective and ethical as behavioral science practitioners; #coaches, #facilitator & #ODconsultants, it's crucial to invest in skill-building, supervision, and therapy. Collaborating with other professionals who share similar ethical principles is also vital in organisational work. Grateful for some remarkable ones I have been fortunate to find in this journey. 🙏

7 Intractable Organizational Problems: (And why you haven’t solved them yet) For decades, I’ve watched organizations try to solve the same fundamental problems with behavioral solutions, hacks, and so-called best practices. More processes to improve decision-making. More meetings to fix communication. More tools to enhance collaboration. More this, and more that. Almost none of it works on the most complex challenges—at least not for long. Why not? Because we tend to treat symptoms rather than causes. Real transformation doesn’t come simply by adding more processes and expected behaviors. Change that lasts happens when you address what’s happening beneath the surface—fears, fixed beliefs, defensive patterns, and old habits that shape how people show up and work together. When leaders focus solely on changing behaviors without examining what drives those behaviors, they’re building houses on sand. Solutions to the most intractable organizational challenges lie in helping people tap into more of who they are. That means seeing more clearly what stands in their way (because you can’t change what you don’t notice) and accessing more of who they are at their best. Are you ready to move beyond surface fixes to create meaningful transformation? It’s an inside job, and we know how to take you on that journey. Let’s talk.