After being immersed in EX for many years, the real insights come when we begin to understand what is really going on with companies that have embraced EX as an approach. What is massively important to them? What are they focusing attention and resources on? What are they absolutely committed to? There has been a lot to unpack from interviews and my work with companies, and I never wanted to oversimplify the true nature of EX; on the one hand, as we saw from the main challenges in the previous chapter, developing a cohesive and strong EX is not easy. If it was, every company would be highly regarded as an employer and the business results would be amazing.
On the other hand, it is not impossible work either. It is, in effect, common-sense management. The problem is that the wisdom and knowledge we possess about how to build great companies and get the best from people is not commonly applied in practice. Easy to understand, hard to do.
Oftentimes, because of fear or the desire to take the easy route, people and companies opt to create more bureaucracy, assert more corporate control, and in doing so, stifle innovation and progress. Up and down the economy, there is frequently a ‘them and us’ divide and companies try, perhaps with good intentions, to ‘engage’ people,
which seems to reflect that they have already lost the goodwill, trust and respect of their people in the first place.
The Holistic EX, or HEX (see Figure 3.2) has evolved through work- ing with the evidence I have been exposed to over several years and provides a holistic view of EX. It frames the key elements of EX and is designed as a thinking, strategy and action tool. It is a lens that col- leagues and companies can use to focus their efforts on the things that really matter within work. The hexagon shape carries a lot of meaning in the world and has come to represent balance, harmony and truth. It is also associated with stability and connection, and leaves no opportunity for waste – of potential, resources or opportunities. It is one of our strongest shapes. Things fit together efficiently, coherently, and it naturally creates a flow of positive connections between the major constituent parts of a positive employee experience.
The idea of ‘flow’ is one outcome of a positive EX – our fears, inse- curities and anxieties fade away and what replaces them is a high-energy, confident and vibrant state of being, and our personal results reflect that. Time becomes less relevant too as we become fully immersed in the experience and the purposeful journey we are on. This state of ela- tion and happiness helps us achieve seemingly ‘impossible’ things, and if a community of colleagues are walking forward together, you can imagine the outcomes across the business. This is meaningful happi- ness that only a strongly connected purpose and EX can deliver, not short-term gratification or happy-for-a minute moments. It is sustain- able, healthy, and nourishes our wellbeing in and outside of work.
SOURCE © 2019 Ben Whitter/World Employee Experience Institute (WEEI Ltd). All rights reserved.
Figure 3.2 Holistic EX (HEX)
Technology
Structure
Community Leadership
Human
Workplace
Truth
For organizations, this means looking at the whole rather than just the parts. The HEX then is the ‘big picture’. We can’t talk about the
‘experience’ of work until we are speaking across multiple systems and components with the understanding that everything is connected within an organization. This is in contrast with other approaches, which often direct activities or programmes out of one specialism without connecting them to the other functions or workstreams.
Consider the way HR is set up with various functions such as learn- ing and development (L&D), leadership development, employer branding, talent acquisition, and in practice these functions and de- partments may not even collaborate on projects let alone connect them, and this is just HR. EX, as we have discussed, considers every aspect of work including marketing, IT, facilities, catering and com- munications, among others.
Surrounding what I term the ‘truth’ – purpose, mission and val- ues – are the six elements that serve as primary contributors to the overall quality of EX within any company. When we unify our think- ing and actions around all six elements and the truth of the company, we can begin to connect and amplify the outcomes that EX can have on the business and the employees within it. The combined strength of the HEX can powerfully shape the experiences that employees have in work and directly influence the perceptions that employees have about a company. Perception is a significant factor in creating what we say, what we do and how we feel. It informs and directs our actions and behaviours, which are often the reward of positive EX- behaviours that deliver results through collective and individual achievement.
Importantly, companies can connect their efforts and improve- ments in a meaningful way. This is because each element is made up of numerous interactions with employees and these interactions span across functions. Touchpoints will fall within and outside the tradi- tional HR functional area, and why EX is so impactful is that it is genuinely a strategic business approach, which involves any and every function that interacts with staff. The organizations that win now, and in the future, will be the ones that strongly and successfully design and connect with these elements in mind, constantly.