Organizations communicate in many ways.
Policies communicate expectations. Procedures describe how work should be performed. Leaders communicate priorities. Programs communicate where an organization intends to provide support.
But organizational conditions communicate, too.
The conditions people experience at work can provide information about what is expected, what is valued, what is possible and what may carry risk. And that information can influence the decisions people make.
I was reminded of this recently while reading When Disclosure Feels Dangerous, an article about mental health disclosure in the workplace.
People also have what they’ve experienced. They’ve seen how leaders respond. They’ve watched what happens when someone asks for help. They’ve observed how others are treated. They understand the demands and pressures surrounding their work.
And they make decisions with that information, too.
That left me with a broader question:
What else might organizations be communicating through the conditions in which people work?
Not all organizational communication is intentional
No one has to say, “Don’t raise that concern,” for a previous response to influence whether someone speaks up the next time.
No one has to say, “Just get it done,” for workload, resources or competing priorities to influence how someone approaches the work in front of them.
Organizational conditions communicate through what people repeatedly experience, observe and come to expect.
Workload communicates. Available resources communicate. Leadership responses communicate. Incentives communicate. What gets rewarded communicates.
These messages may not be intentional. But they can still become part of the information people use to understand how the organization operates.
And people don’t simply receive that information. They make decisions with it.
What do I do next?
Throughout an ordinary workday, people make countless decisions.
Do I raise this concern? Do I admit that I made an error? Do I ask for help? Do I challenge this decision? Do I stop? Do I continue?
Some decisions may seem relatively small. Others may carry significant consequences. In each case, people are assessing risk. Not only physical risk.
There may be professional, social, operational or financial risk. Risk to a deadline, a relationship, a team, an objective or a career.
People consider what they know about the situation. They draw on previous experience. They anticipate what might happen as a result of the choices available to them.
Organizational conditions provide part of that context.
A policy may say speaking up is encouraged, while previous experiences influence whether someone believes doing so is worth the risk.
A procedure may say a concern should be reported, while competing priorities influence whether someone decides to stop and report it.
A program may communicate that asking for help is supported, while what someone has observed influences whether they choose to use it.
Organizational conditions don’t determine the decision. But they can influence how people assess risk and, ultimately, what they decide to do next.
Looking beyond the behavior
When behavior differs from what a policy, procedure or program would lead us to expect, it’s natural to ask:
- Why didn’t they report it?
- Why didn’t they speak up?
- Why didn’t they ask for help?
- Why did they continue?
Those may be reasonable questions.But perhaps there’s a +1 question worth asking:
What conditions surrounded and influenced the decision?
Understanding the environment in which a decision was made may provide information that looking at the behavior alone cannot.
Decisions happen throughout the organization
Leaders make decisions about priorities, resources, staffing, systems and expectations. Those decisions help shape organizational conditions.
People throughout the organization then make decisions within those conditions.
Leaders make decisions that shape organizational conditions. People make decisions within those conditions. Both can influence outcomes.
Eventually, those outcomes become information leaders use to make another set of decisions. That’s one reason organizational conditions deserve attention.
They aren’t simply background context. They may provide leaders with information about the environment in which people throughout the organization are assessing risk and deciding what to do next.
And that information may help leaders make better-informed decisions of their own.
A +1 Question
The article that prompted this reflection focused on mental health disclosure. But it left me thinking much more broadly about the decisions people make every day.
Policies, procedures, programs and leadership messages communicate what an organization intends.
Organizational conditions communicate, too.
So here’s the question I’m sitting with:
What might your organizational conditions be communicating that your policies and procedures aren’t?
And how might that be influencing what people decide to do next?
From Evidence to Action™
At EHS Compliance Services Inc., we’re exploring how a better understanding of organizational conditions can help leaders make better-informed decisions about safety and business performance.
Learn more about our From Evidence to Action™ initiative and the work we’re doing to move from insight to action.