“Naff all!” I hear you all cry. “They’re all crazy narcissists“.
You may have a point.
But, that aside, I was listening to a fab episode of the podcast ‘The Rest is Politics’ with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart.
It featured an interview with Gus O’Donnell, the former Cabinet Secretary aka formerly the biggest gun in the Civil Service. And someone with an avid interest in mental health.
He talked about how the UK 🇬🇧 powers that be obsess about GDP (ie gross domestic product). And the idea of something like working to a Gross Happiness Index instead.
His point being that you can build productivity year on year …
BUT, if you’re doing so, through work that is not meaningful or which is immoral (eg building productivity through an increase in drug dealing), then your metric of ‘success’ is flawed.
It got me thinking about the age old problem in law firms and other organisations….
…of meaningless chat about wellbeing. All with next to no impact because the metrics we’re all working to are all about the financials .
So, how can firms reward good behaviour around wellbeing in a way that actually works?
How can organisations bring in more meaningful metrics of success?
Well, one thought is this..
The SRA has become very keen on internal surveys of late.
I know, I know – they’re boring and no one can be ar*ed to fill them in…
BUT – what if, every year, each team member completed surveys including questions on internal culture – in their team and in the firm?
With questions like:
❓What is the quality of supervision like?
❓How much of a sense of team feeling is there?
❓How well do you feel supported by your seniors/juniors?
With a grading of 1-10 for each.
And a catch all question of:
❓How do all of these compare with this time last year?
ALSO…
❓Which wellbeing initiatives have you found helpful?
❓What further initiatives/training would you like to see?
And now, the real key 🔑 to all of this.
Appealing to people’s competitive instincts 🏆 🥇!!
At your firm annual strategy day, announce which team has achieved the biggest improvement around wellbeing and mental health.
Brought in the best initiatives.
Displayed the most positive team culture.
Give them a prize 🏆 . Celebrate it 🎉.
Or – stay the same.
Continue to judge people by reference to financial growth 📈year on year.
And watch your people lose faith and leave.
Thoughts? Has your firm done anything like this? I’d be keen to know.