CRISTEN DALESSANDRO: Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us today for the first installment in our 2026 GCR webinar series, Capture the Spark: How Practicing Hope and Inspiration Elevate the Employee Experience. So this is the first of what will be three webinars covering the different chapters and subjects that appear in this year's Global Culture Report.
Now before we begin, just a few housekeeping items to take care of. Today's presentation is both SHRM and HRCI certified for one hour of general credit. We'll be sharing the program IDs at the end of the session today. And this presentation is also being recorded and will be sent out to all registered attendees by the end of the week.
And with that, we'd like to introduce ourselves for those who may not know us. So I'm Cristen Dalessandro, and I'm here today with Daniel Patterson.
Daniel is a research manager here at the O.C. Tanner Institute who specializes in the psychology that shapes the employee experience. In addition to his research, he regularly leads client assessment projects as well as tailored client initiatives that analyze business impact and ROI, specifically with an eye to helping organizations improve their workplace culture.
He specializes in mixed method research and holds a master's degree from the University of Utah with advanced studies in research and theory. So welcome, Daniel.
DANIEL PATTERSON: Thank you very much, Cristen. And, I'm, as you've heard, I'm Daniel Patterson. And joining me today is Cristen Dalessandro. Cristen is one of our top senior researchers and sociologist at O.C. Tanner who specializes in the study of social inequalities as well as qualitative and quantitative research methods. As part of the O.C. Tanner Institute, Cristen works on researching workplace culture and the employee experience using a social science lens.
She has a PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah. She has published over thirty articles in peer reviewed journals, and her book, Intimate Inequalities, Millennials' Romantic Relationships in Contemporary Times, explores how millennials navigate social and identity difference in their relationships.
Okay. So now that you know a little bit about us, let's take you through our agenda for the day.
Today's webinar is going to dive into research from our 2026 Global Culture Report. And in the next slide, we'll tell you a little bit more about that report to provide you with some additional context and a sense of, sense of scope for the work.
After that, we'll look at the importance of inspiration and hope in the workplace and why these are critical to the employee experience.
Next, we'll jump right in and explore inspiration and then hope and how organizations can elevate these from concepts to actionable practices that can transform leaders, teams, and employees.
And as always, we'll follow these up with recommendations for how you can put these practices into practice and then wrap everything up with some key takeaways.
Okay. So now that we've got a bit of a road map, Cristen, can you tell us a little bit more about the Global Culture Report?
CRISTEN: Of course. Thanks, Daniel. So the Global Culture Report is O.C. Tanner's annual report that provides industry leaders with a rigorous look at the evolving shape of work. Every year, our institute team tracks, analyzes, and chronicles the latest trends and insights in the workplace using both qualitative and quantitative data to develop a framework of a thriving workplace culture from the employee perspective.
So through interviews, focus groups, and surveys, this year's report engaged more than thirty eight thousand employees, leaders, and HR practitioners across over twenty countries to better understand the state of workplace cultures around the world. And the key theme that emerged from this exploration was the idea of inspire, which is also the title of our overall report and, of course, is the subject of one of the chapters we're going to cover today, sparking inspiration.
So with that background, Daniel, can you tell us a little bit more about why it's important to look at the concepts of inspiration and hope in the lives of employees across the world today?
DANIEL: Absolutely. Okay. Well, let's start with a little bit of background. Organizations are realizing that change has become the constant in the workplace, and they're actively pivoting and evolving their businesses to stay competitive, to meet new market demands and customer expectations.
But, of course, for these kind of growth efforts to be successful, employees not only need to be on board, they need to feel genuinely connected to a meaningful vision of the future that motivates them to action even when they're surrounded by uncertainty.
Now how are their people responding? Well, unfortunately, what we found in our research, and what others are as well, they're consistently finding that employees are increasingly feeling disengaged, disconnected, and ambivalent about their professional future.
Put simply, they are losing their spark.
Now to give you just a few numbers, a national poll by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School found that nearly half of Americans under thirty reported feeling down, depressed, or hopeless at least several days a week. According to Gallup's 2024 state of the global workplace report, over nine trillion dollars, that's with a t, were lost in 2024 due to low employee engagement.
A study from BambooHR reveals a general decrease in employee satisfaction across nearly every industry, and our own research found that more than a third of employees say that thinking about their future at work leaves them feeling depressed, and only fifty two percent feel a sense of hope in the workplace.
Now the real tragic irony here is that just as organizations are trying to find and tap into the positive energy and change, most of their people are feeling overwhelmed by it. Factors both inside and outside of the workplace, I mean, everything from political unrest, market shifts, and the growing uncertainty around AI, all of these things are leaving employees feeling untethered for meaning, purpose, and passion.
So this is the challenge that drove our research.
How do organizations bring back that spark to their people and reconnect them with a meaningful vision of the future that is achievable?
Organizations need employees now more than ever that are inspired and empowered to achieve individual, team, and company goals. To make this a reality, they need practical, actionable strategies for inspiration and hope.
CRISTEN: Thanks, Daniel. So, you know, this actually brings us to the first report chapter that we're gonna cover today, sparking inspiration. And this chapter is titled sparking inspiration because, as Daniel hinted at earlier, one way to think of inspiration is kinda like a spark that motivates employees to meaningful action.
But what do we really mean by inspiration? Well, inspiration can be defined as a sudden insight or leap in understanding that produces new creative ideas or approaches to a problem.
So, you know, to kind of put it succinctly, it's a, that sort of sudden, sudden feeling of understanding that can help employees, you know, with creative problem solving, thinking about things in a different way, and so on.
And so while this sounds great, we still need to ask why more specifically is inspiration something that's important in a workplace context? You know, in addition, inspiration sounds kind of abstract. Right? It sounds like something that maybe is a little amorphous.
So that begs the second question. How do we even make inspiration accessible to employees in their workplace environments? How do we even begin to think about what that might look like?
Well, to answer the first question, one argument for why inspiration is important is very simple.
Employees want their experience at work to feel inspiring. So in our survey this year, we found that seventy four percent of employees want inspiration at work. And not only that, we also found that employees are willing to put the effort in to find inspiration.
For instance, sixty nine percent of employees we surveyed said that they're actively looking for ways to gain new ideas or a new perspective that could lead to inspiration in the workplace.
DANIEL: You know, Cristen, this is so striking to me because inspiration sounds like something that you might find doing activities like going on a nature walk, going to a concert, or by having some other kind of experience outside of work. Thus, it's really it's interesting that inspiration is something employees are even looking for in the workplace.
CRISTEN: Exactly, Daniel. You know, from my perspective, it's both surprising and makes sense at the same time.
You know, for many people, work can have a reputation for being something that's a little bit of a drag. Right? You know, work might be a place where some employees feel like they have to be there and maybe not necessarily a place that they always want to be.
So in that sense, it might be surprising that employees are wanting to find inspiration at work. But at the same time, as employees, we are spending a huge chunk of our time at work. Right? So in that sense, it totally adds up that employees would want a place where they spend so much time to be inspiring to them.
And, you know, although it may feel elusive, the good news is that what we found in our research is that inspiration can be more than just an occasional flash of discovery or, you know, motivation that kinda comes and goes seemingly at random. Instead, our research has found that inspiration can be a measurable force that creates thriving workplaces. So that's the good news. But the not so good news is that for some employees, inspiration still feels a little out of reach.
So for those employees who, you know, fortunately are able to find inspiration, where are they getting it?
Our research has uncovered that inspiration most often originates from meaningful social interactions with others in the workplace, so in particular, workers, leaders, and their colleagues.
So, for example, I want you all to look at this table. And what, what's showing here or what this table is showing is the percentage of employees who regularly look for inspiration in each of the following sources. So, Daniel, do you notice anything interesting about the top three sources of inspiration that are on this table?
DANIEL: Why, yes, I do. It looks like the top three sources are all based on conversations or interactions with teams, leaders, and coworkers. It's all about the interaction.
CRISTEN: Exactly. All, as you said, you know, all three of the top responses involve some kind of interaction with the people that are in the workplace, you know, whether that's a leader, whether that's a coworker, whether that's, you know, a team conversation that involves multiple people, both some combination of coworkers, colleagues, and leaders, interaction is really the key.
And, you know, while employees can find inspiration in other places, as we've, you kinda can see here as well, you know, employees can get inspiration from things like materials that they're reading, maybe a podcast or some other media that they're listening to, or otherwise interacting with. Even though we do see those things, by and large, employees are really looking to the people around them to help spark that inspiration. You know, inspiration is all about meaningful human interactions, that human connection.
DANIEL: You know, I love this, Cristen. And, you know, for those of you who've been following our webinars, hopefully, you're seeing a theme because definitely from our previous state of recognition, you'll definitely see it over the course of our reporting on the GCR that really central and critical to the employee experience, the thing that, people are craving more and more in the workplace is human connection.
CRISTEN: Exactly. And, you know, as Daniel mentioned, we are seeing this across multiple reports that we've been conducting over the last year. So not just the global culture report, which is the topic of this webinar, but also, the state of employee recognition report, which we published this summer. And that's linked on our website as well if you wanna check that out.
So, you know, when leaders and coworkers prioritize those meaningful interactions, share insights, and encourage new ideas, we found that employees are thirty eight times more likely to feel inspired. What do you think of that, Daniel?
DANIEL: I mean, obviously, I mean, that's just an extraordinary number. And it really just goes to show how critical these daily interactions are when it comes to how employees feel at work.
It it's not a small thing. I mean, clearly, and that's part of what you see in the data. It just has an overwhelmingly powerful impact on on the employee experience.
CRISTEN: Exactly. And, you know, just kind of to to add on to Daniel's point from the last slide, you know, as a little teaser, this sort of theme of social act, social interactions being important is also present in some of the other report chapters that we found this year as well. But we're not gonna cover all of them today, so you'll just have to stay tuned for the rest of the webinar series to see how it all breaks down across the other chapters too.
Okay. So we can see that interactions are a really important driver for inspiration. But what are some of the larger ROI outcomes when employees feel inspired at work? You know, it probably isn't surprising that inspiration is something employees, are looking for.
That's what they told us, in the survey. But when employees are feeling inspired, how does that translate to a return for, you know, a team, a leader, an organization? Well, here's just a few stats that illustrate some of the impact that inspiration can have. For instance, inspired employees are six times more likely to be fulfilled at work.
They're also fourteen times more likely to stay with the organization and six times more likely to produce great work. So as you can see, you know, it has benefits for employees, but when employees are feeling inspired, it has benefits to the organization as well.
And, you know, in addition, it isn't on the the slide here, but when leaders intentionally provide workplace environments where employees feel they can be inspired, so things like, you know, leaders are cultivating an environment that's encouraging collaboration and creativity where employees can make those meaningful interactions, have those meaningful conversations, and feel that spark of inspiration, through that activity or as a result of that activity. We found that employees are seventeen times more likely to try new things at work, and twelve times more likely to feel a connection to their organization.
So not just the team and the leader, but the organization, which seems to be you know, of those three things, if you have a personal relationship with your leader, with your team, it makes sense that you would feel connection. But that organizational connection can sometimes be more elusive. Right? So when employees are feeling inspired, it really ramps up those feelings of connection that employees have when it comes to their organization, which is really interesting.
DANIEL: Well and I think too to that point, Cristen, it also reflects the kind of, the connection, that connection to the organization also is reflected in what I, what I think is another really powerful stat here is that fourteen times increased odds that they're gonna stay with the organization. So the stronger that connection is, the more, the greater that inspiration, the more they're gonna wanna stay and continue to help the organization grow.
And especially, I mean, that's a consistent thing that we are, particularly in the current economy is, you know, that concern about, you know, attrition and losing, you know, talent to other organizations. So really, really powerful relationship here.
CRISTEN: Yeah. I think so too. It's really striking. And that's not all. I have some more information for you.
By the way, there's more.
You know, here's just an illustration, and this table comes right from our culture report. It's in the report itself. But this shows just some of the more positive, some more examples of positive outcomes when employees feel they have inspiring moments at work. So in the table here, you know, we can see that when employees are having these inspiring conversations, they're more likely to innovate, meet their goals, believe the organizations produce quality products, and and more as well.
DANIEL: You know, okay. This is great data. I really love those numbers. But one of the questions this brings up for me is how remote workers might also harness inspiration.
Because, you know, when I think about inspiring conversations, a lot of those can be happening outside of regular meeting times. You know? These are the things that are happening in the hallways and passing, you know, kind of the classic water cooler conversation.
And, you know, these types of conversations would seem to be more prevalent for those working on-site as opposed to working from home. Do we see a difference in inspiration, outcomes based on workspace location?
CRISTEN: No. I'm glad you asked, Daniel. As a matter of fact, we were curious about this too, and we have some data that speaks exactly to this question.
So I want you all to take a look at this chart. And here, we're comparing on-site, hybrid, and remote workers.
So, interestingly, the data we found are actually pretty clear. Workspace really does not make a significant impact on the ability of employees to feel inspired at work, which is encouraging. Right? You know, what this tells us is that it's not so much workspace itself as it is the effort, the strategies that teams and leaders are putting in to make their everyday conversations inspiring. That's really what's making the difference for employees.
DANIEL: I mean and this is great and really should be you know, this is a great, you know, call out for those of you out there that are leading remote teams. Don't be discouraged. Digital interaction is also interaction. The key to that is is simply making those kinds of interactions meaningful.
CRISTEN: That's exactly right, Daniel. And, you know, some of the strategies that can be used in person, can be used digitally as well. Right? And it, leaders can, you know, can can make an effort, can sort of make a special effort to kind of encourage the team, for example, to get together and have those conversations.
You know? One thing that just kind of came into my head is maybe it's, it looks something like everybody on the team comes to a meeting that's specifically set aside for, you know, just bringing something interesting that you observed or learned or, that you were working on throughout the week that might, you know, sharing that might actually help someone else with a problem that they're having that maybe they're stuck with. Right? Or, you know, maybe if not at that point, it might spark an idea that they use later on.
So there's there's lots of ways to make this happen. I think, you know, it's not necessarily that these interactions have to happen in person. It's more about, you know, do employees feel like they have the space to have these interactions that are meaningful and that help spark inspiration? Right?
DANIEL: I would you know, if I could too, I would add to that. I mean, also, from a leader perspective, one to ones, have a big impact on the individual, keeping them connected, connecting them to projects and resources and things to keep that sort of spark and that inspiration there. And so that can happen whether it's in person or remote.
And it's really about just the authenticity, connection, and really listening and trying to be present and understand, you know, the needs and how you can can tap into, you know, an individual's creativity that really is gonna make that difference.
CRISTEN: Yeah. That's exactly right. So, you know, Daniel, at this point, I think we've gone through some of our data, talked a little bit about some of the findings that we have, maybe a little bit in the abstract. But, you know, I think it would be helpful to hear a real life case study of how organizations are inspiring their employees through these, through using this strategy of cultivating everyday interactions that inspire. So that being said, would you mind sharing Chevron's story?
DANIEL: Of course. I'd be happy to. And this is, really this is some fascinating, some fascinating insights here. So, you know, as a global organization focused on innovation, Chevron actually, they actively spearhead employee programs and problem solving initiatives at locations all around the world, I mean, ranging from, you know, valleys of Colorado to the plains of Kazakhstan.
It's really impressive kind of the scope and scale of their efforts. And across the organization, kind of as part of this effort, teams regularly meet to brainstorm ideas, share best practices, and discuss ways of operating more efficiently. They host what they call an annual innovation day that encourages international teams to prepare and pitch groundbreaking ideas before a panel of judges. And they also, as part of that, compete for prizes.
Now another program that they have that I really love is called the Digital Yurt, and it's an initiative based out of Kazakhstan.
An unmistakable symbol of Kazakh culture and other Turkish nomadic tribes, the digital yurt is actually a gathering of employees from around the region who submit ideas and compete for development funding as part of Chevron's digital transformation efforts.
So for Chevron, really, inspiration isn't just confined to a particular region or you know, it's not just about what comes out of headquarters. It really you know, for them, innovation, inspiration, it emerges from the energy, and collaboration between employees across their entire enterprise.
And, actually, here, we've got a few quotes from some Chevron employees that I think really kind of capture the spirit of inspiration and collaboration that the company really tries to foster.
Here's one. "A lot of teamwork goes into bringing these ideas to fruition, and I think we end up with a better product when we're all collaborating on a common goal."
The other here that I really like, "if we didn't work as one team, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish all that we have."
CRISTEN: Yeah. Thanks, Daniel. And those are some great quotes because I think they really illustrate that, you know, one thing that we don't necessarily get into the chapter as much, but sort of one side effect of these inspiring conversations that employees are having with themselves or with their, with their leaders and with the other people on their team is that it can also help with feeling that sense of teamwork. Right?
That sense of feeling that we're all working together towards the same goal, that, you know, everybody has a place to contribute, everybody has a place to kind of bring ideas and to collaborate.
And, not to give you another spoiler, but, you know, the culture report might also have some things, this year's culture report may also have a few other things to say about the importance of teamwork and feeling like you're united and the impact that that can have on how employees are just feeling about their place in the workplace and things like their sense of inclusion, for example.
So but you'll have to, again, stay tuned for more of our webinars to hear about that more specifically.
But before we move on to the next topic of the day, which is, which is a practice of hope, we've kinda covered a lot, with thinking about inspiration. So I think it's important to highlight just a few points before we move on to the next chapter.
So first, you know, again, the strategy behind making inspiration concrete, if not you know, if there's one sort of big takeaway here, it's that seeing it, we should see it as something that can be fostered through those interactions. Right? So it's not something that is so is out of reach. It's something that we can cultivate, and those interactions that employees are just having day to day are really key.
And when we're kind of trying to think about, okay. That makes sense. But what is sort of a concrete strategy? What should we do when it comes to the areas that we wanna target as far as how we can foster more inspiration at work?
Three key strategies are, you know, supporting interaction among team members, supporting that interaction with leaders, kind of like Daniel's example earlier of the one to one. You know, how are you using those as a leader to have those inspiring conversations?
And then the third thing that we found in our research can foster inspiration is actually recognition.
So, you know, we've talked a lot about teams and leaders up till this point in the conversation, but we haven't really touched on recognition yet.
However, recognition moments also count as inspiring interactions for a lot of different reasons. You know, for example, typically with recognition, you're doing things like sharing a note of thanks with a coworker or sharing with a leader the details of maybe how a coworker helped elevate the workplace experience for other people in the space, whether that's coworkers, teams, customers, or maybe even leaders themselves.
So, you know, just due to the nature of recognition and the process of giving, receiving, and witnessing recognition, especially if it's done well, these recognition messages are often inspiring in and of themselves.
You know, for example, just gonna give you a sense, when organizations have recognition integrated into their daily company culture, we see a seven times increase in the odds that employees will feel inspired to try new things at work.
DANIEL: And, you know, I absolutely love this, and it really, it demonstrates that recognition, you know, clearly falls right in that category of positive workplace interactions. You know, the type of interactions and that input, that feedback that really can help move the needle when it comes to inspiration at work. And it also really helps illustrate how inspiration isn't just a feeling, but it's actually, it's tapping into that feeling and turning it into a practice.
CRISTEN: Exactly. You know, feeling inspired is something that you feel. Right? But that feeling comes about through a practice of having those meaningful interactions with the people that you work with. Right? So, you know, speaking of feelings that are also practices, I think it's time to talk a little bit more about the topic of hope. So, Daniel, would you mind taking us through our next culture report topic, a practice of hope?
DANIEL: I was hoping you'd ask. Okay. So, I mean and, again, who doesn't wanna talk about hope? Right? I mean, something we clearly need in the workplace today.
Alright. Well, maybe kind of just to kinda set some the groundwork here. The past few years have seen organizations increasingly acknowledge the important role of that emotions play in shaping the employee experience.
Now our previous research on topics such as practical empathy, applied emotional intelligence, and mental health have all contributed to and helped expand this conversation. And it's shifted thinking from emotions as simply personal traits or, just a state of mind, to a tangible foundation for practices that help organizations strengthen connections, amplify employee belonging, and elevate individual well-being.
Now from our research perspective, one critical area that's been missing from this conversation, and one that we feel really is needed now more than ever, is a practice of hope. And as we mentioned at the beginning, employees are sadly lacking in that sense of hope when it comes to how they understand, not only their workplace experience, but kind of their future, both professionally and personally.
So, great place to start is what do we mean by hope? Now we use this term all the time in, you know, casual conversation.
I hope it doesn't rain today. I hope the traffic is light. I hope I can find a parking space. But at its core, hope is a longing for something in the future. It's a positive outcome that we desire.
But this way of thinking about hope really functions more like a wish.
The thing we want really only happens if external factors kick in, factors that we have little or no control over. And this approach to hope ultimately ends up relying on things like luck or chance or the actions of other people.
CRISTEN: Well, you know, Daniel, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound like a very practical workplace strategy.
DANIEL: Right? It absolutely isn't. I mean, employees need hope, but they need something that harnesses that emotion, that desire that connects them to a future where they can thrive, and then turn it into action with agency.
So from our research this year, we established a practice of hope that does just that. It's a practice that centers on the interaction of thinking and acting that connects a person with a positive vision of the future and then actively moves them toward it.
It's the ability to see a path to your goal or pathway thinking and then believing you're capable of following that path to success or agency thinking.
CRISTEN: You know, I like this approach, and I really like that what this does when you put it in the context of inspiration you know, if inspiration is the spark that energizes employees about a direction or an outcome, hope can be a practice that helps them achieve it.
DANIEL: Absolutely. The two are definitely connected.
So now with that in mind, let's dig in a little bit more into the details so everyone can see how this works in practice.
Okay. So before there can be a cycle of thinking and action, there first has to be a goal. I mean, without clear goals, we don't know where we're going. Now goals provide direction, but they're also more than just a checklist exercise to point the way.
When we asked employees to identify the most important qualities of a successful workplace goal, the top two were achievable and inspiring.
So let's think about achievable for a second. Now while intuitively this makes sense, I mean, duh. I mean, we wanna have goals that we can actually reach.
This is really actually a helpful reminder for organizations and leaders that big initiatives are only gonna be successful if they could be broken down into goals that are within reach of teams and employees.
I mean, at the end of the day, no amount of agency or pathway thinking can compensate for a goal that lacks the time, training, or resources to execute properly.
Now beyond the baseline of achievable, employees told us that what matters most to a successful workplace goal is that, you guessed it, it must be inspiring. As we've been, you know, kind of learned in you know, from the previous part of this discussion, a goal that is inspiring really goes beyond just identifying an endpoint.
An inspiring goal connects an objective to something exciting, something meaningful and creative, or something linked to a larger vision or set of values. An inspired employee acts with energy and purpose and is open to seeing possibilities for success in new and innovative ways.
In the context of goals, then when we asked employees what the most important source of inspiration were, we found that, thankfully, they're all really potentially within an individual's reach. So we're looking at, like, the nature of the very work they do, the products and services that their organization provides.
And then I love this here. Both number three and five, again, it comes back to people. It's, you know, finding inspiration in my team and in my direct leader, but then also kind of, you know, kind of sandwiched in there. People often find inspiration in meaningful company values.
Now in addition to goals being achievable and inspiring, they've also gotta be supported. I mean, let's be honest. If, you know, if you don't have the kind of support behind you, your goals really you know, that movement along that practice of hope isn't gonna get far.
Now an effective practice of hope isn't just a solitary pursuit, something we're gonna talk about here in just a minute. But even at the goal level, at the first point on the journey, when employees feel their goals are supported by their teams and leaders, there's a marked increase across key outcomes.
So as you can see kind of in the table here, and this is actually pulled from the the global culture report, you know, when employee outcomes such as great work, engagement, innovation, sense of belonging, all of these increase when employees feel that they have the support from both leaders and teams.
Now we also see, here, a decrease in both anxiety and burnout, which is key to the employee experience and something we're gonna touch on here in just another moment.
Okay. So a practice of hope and, specifically, pathway thinking also recognizes that obstacles are part of the process.
So we've identified our goals. They're meaningful. They're inspiring. They're achievable.
But now we also have to recognize that that, you know, stuff's gonna get in the way. In the workplace, obstacles can take many forms, from a lack of support or resources to an individual personal well-being. These are the roadblocks that can potentially derail progress and risk undermining agency thinking.
That is if an obstacle seems too big, too formidable, too big to navigate around, it gets harder and harder for the individual to believe that, I've got the ability to keep going and reach my goal. So what we see is that with each new obstacle, an employee has to renew that hope cycle, that practice of hope by identifying a new path forward and recommitting to the belief that they can successfully follow that path through.
And while obstacles to any specific goal, they're gonna, they're gonna vary depending on circumstances, roles, and even personalities, our research found that five factors consistently present the biggest obstacles to hope.
Those are competing priorities, worry about doing well on projects, mental exhaustion, fear of missing deadlines, and feeling anxious.
CRISTEN: You know, Daniel, it's interesting that aside from competing priorities, all of the top five here of perceived obstacles involve some component of mental health.
DANIEL: And that's a great call out, Cristen.
And we're not gonna be able to get there, we've got so much to cover here today. We're not gonna be able to get too much into that in the presentation. It's definitely explored more in the GCR. But, you know, practices and programs that support mental health are really key to helping employees navigate obstacles in the workplace.
You know, as we've kind of pointed out, a big part of that agency thinking is that belief that you have the ability to follow through toward your goal.
And things like anxiety, burnout, mental exhaustion, all of those things really have a profound negative impact on that way of thinking.
And so, again, something that organizations, leaders have to be mindful of and, again, something that's explored in more detail in the global culture report.
CRISTEN: But you know what, Daniel?
One thing that we have found is that a lot of the obstacles to success that we see here, things like mental exhaustion, fear of missing deadlines, feeling anxious, worry about projects, these are also things that can be related to having a negative feeling of connection with a team leader or an organization. Right?
If there's, if employees are feeling like they're not supported, if they feel like they're in a place where, you know, they're gonna be in big trouble if they don't do well on all of their projects, that they don't have any space to breathe, that they don't have anyone to talk to about some of the burnout that they might be feeling, you know, the then these are the kind of things that can lead to some of these obstacles to success. Right?
And so, again, it kinda just goes back to those interactions and how what people are taking away from the interactions that they're having with their leaders and their teammates.
DANIEL: Absolutely. No. You're spot on. And even it goes back to, you know, what you were talking about earlier with inspiration. I mean, finding inspiration and fueling inspiration really is about interaction and connection. If interaction and connection are not there, if that's not happening, then, you know, the likelihood of just even something as simple as sort of, like, mental exhaustion and that sort of apathy, that really settles in. And then, again, feeds into sort of it kind of creates those obstacles to kind of achieving success.
Now and, well and building on that, you know, key to overcoming obstacles are people.
And this is kind of the beauty of a practice of hope. A lot of existing models out there that that kind of touch or come close to this kind of, an approach to, thinking about hope, they're often focused just at the very individual level. And so it's like, what can you do and what can you manage as an individual, and how do you proceed on your own path?
But based on our research and when we put this in the context of the workplace, we, recognize that that this doesn't happen in a vacuum. Employees don't have to go it alone.
Just like a thriving workplace culture requires the interaction of peers, teams, and leaders, a strong workplace community helps counter obstacles and reinforces a practice of hope. And this happens when coworkers and leaders provide guidance, support, and encouragement at all stages along an employee's journey. And our research backs this up.
You know, here is just a few data points. You know, when employees have those positive interactions with their teams and leaders, when they have that encouragement to achieve goals, when they feel that teams and leaders are supportive of their goals, they bring positive energy to work. The sense of hope, for the individual, increases dramatically.
Okay.
So we've kind of gone over a lot of information here, and really kind of presenting sort of a new way of thinking about hope. Let's look back for a moment and kind of compare a practice of hope to sort of the wishful thinking approach that we kind of brought up there at the beginning, and let's put them in the context of the workplace.
So with the wishful approach, you might hope that the project you're working on turns out well, but your wish doesn't require you to do anything particular about it. You do your part, and then you hope the product team understands your research, that marketing can properly interpret your data, that the creative team is able to somehow communicate the story of your research that's locked inside your head.
Okay. So maybe I'm getting a little too personal here. But that's a lot of hoping that factors and stakeholders outside of your immediate control will somehow realize the outcome you want.
And as you can, you know, gain from this, it's passive, and it lacks agency. Okay, so now let's think about this instead as an active practice.
You start first by setting goals with teams and leaders that are clear and achievable and make the kind of connections to company values and objectives that gets everyone excited and inspired.
In this process, you're also identifying a path to successfully complete the project, collaborating in advance across teams for how you can navigate potential delays and challenges that might pop up along the way. Everyone's staying in contact. Everyone's connected. They're encouraging each other along the way, providing support and validation that you can all reach that goal.
So when obstacles come up, no problem. You pivot to another path. You continue to move forward. It's active. It's collaborative, and it's empowering.
Okay. And here are just a few, you know, key data points that kind of support this. You know, when employees have that strong sense of hope, we see an eight times increased odds that they're gonna produce great work.
We're gonna see a seven times increase odds that they're going to have high engagement. And just like we saw earlier with inspiration, we're gonna see an increased odds that they're gonna feel a stronger connection to their organization.
Okay. So this has been a lot of data, a lot of hypotheticals and models, all great.
But, Cristen, can you maybe give us an example, a case study of what this really looks like in action?
CRISTEN: Of course. So a great example of an organization that actively encourages employees to engage in practicing hope is actually Lululemon. So Lululemon is one athletic brand that empowers employees through wellness, growth, and purpose.
First off, Lululemon helps inspire their employees by offering standout benefits like sweat stipends, deep product discounts, and comprehensive health coverage. But the real magic happens in how employees grow together through goal setting, inclusive leadership training, and peer led workshops.
Lululemon provides various resources, including mentorship programs, career development workshops, and access to educational materials that empower employees to further their skills.
In a powerful testament to the effectiveness of this approach, many employees have shared stories of how their roles at Lululemon have transformed their lives.
So just to kind of share a quote from one employee, "working here has not only made me a better professional, but has also transformed my personal life. I've learned to set goals and pursue them relentlessly both in my career and in my fitness journey."
So by prioritizing wellness, inclusivity, and personal growth, Lululemon not only enhances the employee experience, but also drives innovation and success.
And just kinda to sum it up with one more quote, "at Lululemon, your coworkers are invested in your goals, and they keep you accountable."
So you heard it from an employee directly. You know, the culture at Lululemon is such that it encourages the formation of that supportive community that is so important for actually both inspiration and hope. And, you know, this also connects to another facet of hope that we discussed in the report, which is the idea that hope is also generative.
Oh, I think you're on mute, Daniel.
CRISTEN: Sorry about that. No. I was so excited, and I got muted. Well, I myself muted. But I'm so glad you brought up this point because this actually, I think, is one of the most exciting discoveries really to kind of come out of the research, and that is the understanding that a practice of hope is generative.
So what does that mean? Well, the journey from inspiring goal to overcoming obstacles, you know, achieving that desired endpoint, it doesn't simply end there with that desired outcome.
What we found is that when employees achieve meaningful goals, it positively reinforces pathway thinking and agency thinking, and then it fuels a cycle of desire for new goals and greater achievement. In short, a practice of hope creates hopeful employees empowered to achieve further excess--success. Hopefully, not excess.
And when employees experience that strong sense of hope, well, guess what? It has a powerful impact not only on how they move forward, but how they envision their future in the workplace.
So here we see, just a few additional data points. When employees have a strong sense of hope, they're seventy three percent more confident about setting new goals, seventy one percent easier to see pathways to new goals. And here's a great one that just really contrast, you know, some of what we were hearing at the very beginning about having that sense of hope for the future. You know, when they've got that strong sense of hope, seventy five percent feel more positive about their future.
Okay. And saving the best for last here, recognition. Okay, remember when we said a practice of hope needs a supportive community to thrive?
Well, one of the most effective interventions that amplifies hope, validates, encourages progress towards goals is, you guessed it, recognition.
You wanna increase hope? Make recognition part of your everyday culture. And here you can see a number of statistics that demonstrate the impact of recognition on creating that strong odds of the, odds of a strong sense of hope.
And then there is there's one more really fascinating piece to the recognition puzzle here.
Recognition isn't just for crossing the finish line. When we think about recognition, often, it's primarily a celebration for completion, for finishing the race, for achievements, big or small.
However, when we brought recognition into a practice of hope, we actually found something really exciting. When teams and leaders give intentional recognition along the way, that's recognition that encourages, supports, and validates the journey and not just the destination, there's a dramatic increase in an employee's sense of hope. And you can see some of those statistics here.
And, really, again, this is introducing sort of a new approach and new language into how we think about recognition where, you know, the leader encourages, you know, the individual to keep working towards their goal. They validate their hard work. And it's likewise, when team members do the same thing, a big impact that it's going to increase that sense of hope.
So what this means, your recognition toolbox just got bigger. You wanna tap into the power of recognition, see the outcomes and benefits that come when people feel seen and valued. You don't have to wait till the project is complete or the task is finished. Every step in an employee's journey is an opportunity to encourage and validate effort.
CRISTEN: Thanks, Daniel. You know, I think I'm possibly biased here, but this conversation so far has given me hope when it comes to the possibility that hope and inspiration are things that, you know, are not just kind of abstract and nice to have, possibly unachievable, but something that we can actually strategize around in order to accomplish. And something both of them, in both cases, they can have a measurable impact on workplace outcomes for individuals, for teams, for leaders, and for organizations as a whole.
DANIEL: Well and I have also found it inspiring. So, yeah, this has been successful. Yeah.
CRISTEN: Great.
So, you know, believe it or not, it's just about time for us to start wrapping things up. So I wanna take a little bit of time to go over some recommendations that we have. And we've really got kind of three big recommendations for you today when it comes to these two topics.
So first, is to, one of the best things that you can do to encourage inspiration at work is to cultivate environments that inspire.
So this means prioritizing access to sources that inspire. You know, of course, as hopefully, you got the message that this includes people. But, you know, I think it's also important to keep in mind that it's not necessarily limited to people either.
You know, there are other sources sources of inspiration from which employees can draw inspiration, things like books, podcasts, conferences that they might be going to, other kind of content that they're engaging with.
So, you know, it's important to try to support employees in whatever ways they like to be inspired.
But one key takeaway here is that no matter the source, employees also need to have the flexibility and autonomy to act on inspiration. You know, I kind of really alluded to that earlier, right, you know, in talking about maybe a strategy for an all remote team that you know, and, actually, this applies to you regardless of workspace that as a leader from a leader perspective, one thing that you could do is to try to cultivate or leave employees space, give them space to have these inspiring conversations. Right?
So, you know, in that sense, employees are gonna need some flexibility and autonomy to be able to, you know, engage with inspiring conversations and to act on inspiration that can result from those conversations.
And also related to practicing hope, it helps you actively link sources of inspiration to achievable goals. So, you know, for example, how can being inspired by either people or some kind of content help employees achieve the goals that they have for themselves? Being able to communicate this to employees in a way that makes sense to them supports the cultivation of an inspiring environment.
So next and related to my last point, we recommend championing workplace community. Because remember, when it comes to inspiration, social interactions are key. So we need to make sure we create space and opportunity for connection, collaboration, all of that good stuff.
And at the same time, we also saw that community is essential to supporting a practice of hope. Championing workplace community is one way to help leverage leaders, teams, and peers as sources of guidance and encouragement that drive hope forward.
DANIEL: You know, something I'd like to add here too, Cristen, I'm glad that you mentioned it kind of in the previous slide too.
You know, when we talk about, first and foremost, yes, absolutely super important that organizations champion workplace communities.
But it's also important to keep in mind that community is gonna look different for every organization and even for different teams within organizations.
Because, while that that, human connection is important, what that's gonna look like is gonna vary. And so when it comes to inspiration, when it comes to supporting a practice of hope, some people are really gonna thrive when they've got a lot of interaction with a lot of people and keeping that really, you know, in person human connection.
For others, it might be a little bit different. It could be about, you know, making creating that space, that safe space where they have the autonomy and flexibility to connect with the sources of inspiration that are really going to help move them forward.
And, you know, maybe it's not, the constant everyday kind of interaction with lots of people, but, more of just a consistent reminder that the support is there. You know, community and connection is going to, it's important. It's central, but it's also going to be very particular to, you know, what an individual and team needs.
CRISTEN: Right. That's an excellent point, Daniel, that, you know, this isn't necessarily a one size fits all either. You know? Know your people.
Understand what they're kind of looking for. And, you know, even though, again, to to kind of piggyback on Daniel's point, we found that social interactions are really important for most people. There are employees out there who prefer to be inspired in other ways, and that's okay too. Right?
We need to leave them the space to be inspired however they want to be inspired, or however they've kind of voiced to you that they want to be inspired.
And that kinda brings us to our last point, which is, you know, one final recommendation that we have is to leverage recognition to amplify experience and outcomes. Recognition can serve to amplify both inspiration and hope.
For instance, we saw that recognition can be a source of inspiration and that recognition can also support hope through encouraging and validating employees as they work towards accomplishing their goals or as they accomplish their goals. Right? So there's lots of different ways that recognition really can be used in both of these cases to, support the cultivation of an inspiring environment and also a place where employees have and continue to have hope.
Alright.
DANIEL: Yeah. Okay. Let's see if we can wrap this all up with a few key takeaways where we, we've really filled our space today with lots and lots of information. But I think we can kind of distill, ideally, if, you know, if you leave today with, like, three key takeaways.
First, hope and inspiration can transform the employee experience when they are active practices. Again, they connect to strong emotions. They connect to these strong concepts. But for them to really be you know, have that transformative effect, they've gotta become active, an active practice within the organization.
Strong workplace community. It really provides the the fundamental foundation for insight, innovation, and goal achievement. And don't just recognize the big victories. Celebrate the journey that validates employee effort, sparks inspiration, and really has that lasting impact on on the employee experience.
So with all of that, we just have a few minutes left maybe for a couple of questions. Raven, do we have any questions out there that we should tackle?
MODERATOR: Yeah. We had a great one come in, and I'm really interested to get your perspectives on this knowing that you've done a lot of research on offline and deskless and frontline employees.
This person says, carrying out recognition and safety messaging to employees seems so much harder in something like a manufacturing environment where there is little to no technology use, and especially when leaders are new to this as well. How do you make it work in those kind of environments?
DANIEL: Okay. So if I'm understanding correctly, how do you make how do you make recognition really effectively work in those kind of offline environments?
MODERATOR: I think so. Yeah. With the end goal of, you know, promoting inspiration and hope, like you've talked about.
DANIEL: Absolutely. Well, first great question, one that we have spent a lot of time with. And and, in fact, if, you have the opportunity, we did an entire chapter in a previous global culture report, I think it would have been two years ago, on what we call the eighty percent experience that focuses exclusively on sort of the challenges, obstacles, and opportunities for really that kind of frontline demographic.
But the short answer is, when it comes to recognition, kind of a core principle is to meet people where they are. So, you know, we kind of touched on that even in the context of inspiration and practice of hope that when it comes to building community, what community looks like is going to be a little different for everybody based on individual preference and personality, based on teams, based on, you know, a lot of things.
And that's gonna be the same, you know, for your frontline, offline manufacturing communities. So they may not have access to technology. So what are some other options?
Well, you've got in person meetings. You've got stand ups. There are, you know, cards and symbolics, and there are a lot of different ways that you can still express that appreciation, support, and validation for work.
It simply is gonna require some of the more dedicated effort on the part of leaders to really get to understand and know and stay in touch with their people.
Cristen, do you have thoughts on that?
CRISTEN: No. I don't think I have anything to add. That was great.
We might have time for one more quick question.
MODERATOR: That's all that we had come in from the audience today, so I think we're okay.
CRISTEN: Okay. Perfect. Well, in that case, we can share the codes with everybody.
DANIEL: Great. Also, I should say too for, you know, as we've been mentioning, along the way, for additional insights and a deeper dive into the research, please feel free to head out to octanner.com where you can download the entire global culture report. You can actually download it per chapter as well.
And thank you very much for attending our webinar today. You'll see here the codes for, SHRM and HRCI, and we look forward to you joining us for our next webinar, coming up here, in a few months.
CRISTEN: That's right.
DANIEL: Thank you so much, everybody.
CRISTEN: Yeah. Thanks, everyone. And as Daniel mentioned, yeah, we have this is a three parter. This is part one of three where we're covering the global culture report topics.
So if you wanna get the full rundown on the other topics in the report, hear it from us. We would encourage you to download the report too at the interim, but, you know, the next, we're gonna have two more sessions where we talk about the remaining chapters, so hope to see you there.
Thanks, everyone.
