February 10, 2017
Interview with Christine Comaford, author of the book Smart Tribes
Mike Carruthers: In a workplace where people are generally unhappy it’s often because the workers are not getting 3 essential needs met.
Christine Comaford: Safety, belonging and mattering – these are 3 kind of prerequisites to help people get into their smart stage and most workplaces don’t fulfill them.
Christine Comaford, author of the book Smart Tribes
You know Maslow was right once we’ve got food, water, shelter, warmth we crave safety. You know being in an environment where we can take risks, stretch, etcetera. Belonging; you know are we in a tight knit tribe growing in the same direction? Mattering; does it matter that I’m actually here or am I a cog in a wheel? Am I actually making a specific difference and it matters that I’m here and not just anybody in this spot?
Managers will often call in consultants when performance needs a boost.
Leaders come to me and they say, “We want more sales”. And they’re kind of like saying, “Hey fix my people to get these results”. And then we have to say these are just symptoms let’s look at the system beneath it that created this. And then the leader realizes oh shoot I have to be involved in the solution because I’m part of the problem.
Creating a culture of safety and belonging and mattering takes some real effort but Christine says it’s well worth it because of all the problems it can solve.
When people act out, when there’s conflict, usually if you scratch way below the surface people are like begging for; safety, belonging or mattering.
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