The New Corporate Promise

Business Roundtable recently announced the release of a new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation signed by 181 CEOs who commit to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders.

Part of the commitment included, “Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits. It also includes supporting them through training and education that help develop new skills for a rapidly changing world. We foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect.”

A few recent posts here at lezam.it have touched on the concept of Psychological Safety (PS) and Amy Edmondson’s book, The Fearless Organization. PS can be defined as "being able to show and employ one's self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status or career". In psychologically safe teams, team members feel accepted and respected. Now more than ever, this concept feels critical in organizational health.

Do you work for one of these 181 companies? If so, how would you rate the PS of your organization? What steps are they taking towards their commitment to invest in their employees? What more could they be doing?

As you reflect on these questions, I would offer you some food for thought: In reading further about the Business Roundtable announcement, many posts were riddled with criticisms about how these were just words and lacked real change. Maybe, maybe not…but change starts with awareness..and I would offer that given the option to have no conversation about these topics vs. conversation that today might lack substantial change, I would choose the later, with the idea that if they’re only words today we have a greater chance of those words sparking conversations that can yield change tomorrow. In my experience, a decade ago, these terms were virtually non-exist in most corporate language.

Would you agree? Is it better to have the beginnings of a conversation? Or does it hold no value without action?

ENGAGE: Does your organization need an easily accessible training program for Psychological Safety?  Click here to contact me and let’s chat. 

GO FURTHER:  I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to comment below or send me a message.

EMOTION DRIVES ACTION!   

#humanizingtechnology #userexperience #humanengagement #emotionAI #emotionalintelligence