What happens when the dust has settled on all the solutions that seem so promising at the end of an ideation session? How do they need to be bent and shaped as they meet the organizational context?
We don't often get a chance to peek behind the curtains of this "reality check". Until now...
A year ago, the Chicago HR.Hackathon Alliance community assembled at Radio Flyer headquarters to ideate around the challenge brought forward by the company's Chief People Officer, Amy Bastuga: "How might we create a psychologically safe work environment for people from marginalized groups to empower their voice, ideas, concerns, needs, and careers?"
I recently sat down with Amy to talk about her lessons learned from experimenting with the ideas generated at the HR.Hackathon. That inspiring conversation is still whirling around in my head, and I thought I’d summarize some of the key insights in today’s article.
Here are excerpts from our Q&A:
Amy, why did you decide to become an HR.Hackathon Challenge Host and submit a challenge for public ideation?
Amy: “At Radio Flyer, we believe that we need to be a force for good in the world and that with creativity anything can happen. Building a better world internally for our ‘Flyers’ (Radio Flyer employees) is very important to us. We have been on a journey to become an inclusive place to work. And what we’ve discovered is that part of inclusion is becoming a more diverse place to work and that we need to do more in this space. We realized we needed external perspective and through the partnership with the HR.Hackathon Alliance we had this high level of trust in the HR community and the other two panelists, Troy McIntosh and LaTonya Wilkins, to come up with better ideas. The added benefit is that not only did we get fresh ideas, but so did all the other participants who were attending the HR.Hackathon event.”
What do you remember most of the HR.Hackathon event experience?
Amy: “When I think back to that day, one of the things that I remember was just being amazed with how much efficiency was in the energy and the ideas and the bonding that occurred in the room. I remember seeing individuals who had never met before instantly sharing their own stories and their own experience and then channel that into what ideas we can come up with and then share and report out with the larger group.”
What were some of the most memorable ideas for you?
Amy: “We actually took inspiration from all the top ideas that were generated during the HR.Hackathon and experimented with each of them.” [Note: Watch the full interview to hear and see what Amy did with each of the ideas here.]
One year after: What are your lessons learned from experimenting with the ideas? What worked, what didn’t? Why? What's one of the biggest challenges you faced? What surprised you?
Amy: “We learned that we don’t have all the answers and that we don’t have to have perfectly planned out programs. While there are a lot of best practices out there it is so important, especially in the DEI space, to honor the experience of the individual. What we found is that less structure creates a greater sense of belonging. That’s something that really surprised me. What I also constantly remind myself of is that we need to allow space for grace. For example, being given the opportunity to share their experience with other members of an employee resource group might create a greater sense of belonging for one individual while the person sitting next to them might find this to be very uncomfortable. We must allow space for all reactions because sometimes people have different readiness levels.”
How has the need for psychological safety evolved over the last year?
Amy: “What we have found is that once people feel more psychologically safe, they have more input, but they are not necessarily yet ready for action. What I have learned is that you must sit with patience and let things evolve in your own time. So, we need to teach managers to be patient as people are feeling more psychologically safe so that we keep the door open by helping individuals to come to their own solutions when they are ready.”
What advice do you have for other organizations?
Amy: “It's three words: Just do it! You must take whatever that first step is. That first step can be as big as giving a proposal to the executive team or it can be as simple as coordinating an employee resource group brainstorming session. Just do it because no action is action. For many organizations, for so long intentions were there but because of fear, time, investment, priorities, or whatever other barriers – ‘just do it’ is my best advice. Just do something and you will see that that becomes the seed you can start to nurture and grow. The way to frame this approach is that it’s all about the learning opportunity.”