Giving a healthy workplace nudge towards positive change

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Whether we admit it or not, humans as a species are inherently resistant to change, even positive ones. In a world where the workplace and its technologies are constantly evolving, how can workplace leaders facilitate the workforce to accept these changes positively? Our next two podcasts feature two \”change experts\” who know a thing or two about the importance of analysing human behavior, listening and establishing trust to support positive change. 

The Healthy Workplace Nudge

Rex Miller  Author, The Healthy Workplace Nudge: How Healthy People, Culture and Buildings Lead to High Performance

\”We\’re just beginning to understand how to design those social networks in a way that can nudge or move the norms of what healthy behavior looks like. And now that brings the whole corporate real estate and facilities group into the forefront.\”

Rex Miller is no stranger to human behavior, in his latest book, The Healthy Workplace Nudge: How Healthy People, Culture and Buildings Lead to High Performance, he explores insights gained from the latest research of health and wellness in the workplace. It also covers the changes organizations can make to shift towards being a positive influence in their workforce\’s lives.
 
One of the first topics we covered is how do you motivate people to change? Rex explains that making changes can be tough on us as human beings, as it goes against our innate fight for survival and routine. Most of us spend the majority of our time in \”default mode\” and we need a little nudge to begin focusing on positive change. 
 
We also discuss how when it comes to employee engagement, we may be looking at the process all wrong, in Rex\’s words \”we\’ve been putting the cart before the horse\” meaning wellbeing must come before wellness. Rex has taken a hard look at why work is now the 5th leading cause of death and why 78% of employees say work is the highest point of stress in their lives. During this podcast we uncover how incorporating a healthy workplace nudge can counteract these statistics, and exactly what facilities leaders can do to achieve that.
 

Understanding Changing Needs in a Changing Workplace

Geoff SnavelyVice President and General Manager at Millicare

\”When it comes to discovery and asking questions and understanding needs it is not easy. There is a tremendous amount of psychology and behavioral science into that because before you can even start asking someone questions, you have to establish trust with them.\”

We recently had a \”contrarian with good intentions\” on our show, Geoff Snavely, the Vice President and General Manager at Millicare. Geoff is known for asking questions that spark conversation, and during our podcast he was true to form and started our talk focused on this rapidly changing world of work we live in. 

During our interview Geoff asked a compelling question. In this world where our workplace is changing, which in turn the needs of the workplace are changing, and the needs of the people who occupy the workplace are changing, it\’s all about addressing the needs of the people who use the space. So, shouldn\’t the most important thing be to understand those needs as they\’re changing? 

We also discussed that if we can take care of our customers and take care of our people, everything else will fall into place. Challenging our facilities teams to view our decisions through that lense, we could begin to see a dramatic change in the shape of our workplace. Even considering how rapidly things are changing, we need to always be prioritizing the importance of understanding people\’s needs so we can adapt to them. 

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