The Secret Society of Human Work Advocates

In this conversation, Duena Blomstrom and Susan DiClemente discuss the importance of psychological safety and belonging in the workplace. They share their experiences of trying to promote these concepts and the challenges they faced. Susan now focuses on helping women in science and corporate navigate their organizations and build their communication skills. They emphasize the need for individuals to set expectations, establish boundaries, and make choices to navigate their careers successfully. They also discuss the impact of the current work environment on mental health and the importance of building relationships and making a positive difference in the lives of others.

Takeaways
  • Psychological safety and belonging are crucial in the workplace for individuals to thrive.
  • Setting expectations, establishing boundaries, and making choices are key to navigating organizations and building successful careers.
  • The current work environment is causing high levels of stress and burnout, and it is important to prioritize mental health.
  • Building relationships and making a positive difference in the lives of others can have a significant impact.
  • Individuals have the power to create change both for themselves and as a group.
Titles
  • The Power of Individuals to Create Change
  • Building Relationships and Making a Positive Difference
Sound Bites
  • "Communicating is an essential leadership skill."
  • "Imposter syndrome means you care."
  • "Navigating organizations is about building relationships and finding sponsors."
Chapters

00:00
Introduction and Background
02:40
Susan's Transition and Focus on Helping Women
06:31
Navigating Organizations and Building Communication Skills
13:40
The Importance of Setting Expectations and Making Choices
19:07
Imposter Syndrome and Self-Worth
25:08
The Impact of Workplace Politics and Relationships
30:22
Prioritizing Mental Health and Well-being
35:15
The Intersectionality of Work and the Real World
38:37
Conclusion and Call to Action

Creators & Guests

Host
Duena Blomstrom
Author & Keynote #Speaker on #HumanDebt #Agile #FutureOfWork #PsychologicalSafety, #LinkedInTopVoice, #FinTech Influencer, Co-Founder & CEO PeopleNotTech

What is The Secret Society of Human Work Advocates?

This idea for the forum and conversation space was born out of sheer frustration with the gap between HR and other departments that we encounter in our work at People Not Tech and Verdant Consulting every day.

Duena Blomstrom first brought up the concept of HumanDebt and its associated workplace horrors and mental health crisis it creates in her book People Before Tech: The Importance of Psychological Safety and Teamwork in the Digital Age and has since worked tirelessly to democratise the need for regular Human Work in the workplace but it wasn’t until our teams came together to build a Psychological Safety ISO add-on for our Human Work Team Wellbeing Platform we realised we are coming towards the Human Work but from two different directions. Us at PeopleNotTech from the Agile/DevOps/Tech side of learning about humans, neuro-divergence, hacking high-performing cultures, being experimental and risk-thirsty, eternally irritated by the slow change and the good folk at Verdant Consulting having arrived at the same frustration coming from the other side, the HR side, the side who was mean to set-up and encourage the Human Work to begin with.

The Secret Society of Human Work Advocates welcomes every professional from any industry and at any level irrespective of job title or skillset as long as they agree the Human Work has to be done in the workplace for the well-being of the employees which leads to the success of the enterprise

We are searching for people who agree that:

Office and organisational structures of old are no longer fit for purpose;
Most organisations have a lot of Human Debt (defined as the equivalent of TechDebt and comprised of a collection of toxicity and ailments that have resulted from years of neglect and of treating people as resources;
The HumanWork (increasing EQ, 1-on-1s, Psychological Safety and good team dynamics, changing leadership, learning autonomy, etc) are mandatory to be performed regularly in today’s environment of necessary collaboration;
Come and start building the future of humans in the workplace with us to the day when our Society will no longer have to be Secret.