The conversation that started everything.

Some moments you never forget because they change the course of your life forever. This was one of those moments.

Chris Liu and I were deep in discussion. Chris was director of the Department of Enterprise Services (DES), the State Washington's central services agency. I directed Lean Transformation Services and Organization Development for DES.

As an agency we were pursuing a human-centered way of working that trusts employees to make things better for customers every day. We wanted every aspect of the organization to be aligned with that philosophy. This was a big undertaking, and we were fully committed to this pursuit.

Chris and I were preparing for a short talk, an introduction really, at the state's annual Lean Conference. We would be introducing two of our teams to share their inspiring stories to an audience of about four hundred. I was helping Chris nail down a clear focus for our introduction. We were going back and forth exchanging ideas.

"That's it," I thought, stunned. "That sums up exactly what we've been trying to do these last few years at DES.”

When we did a good job of decreasing fear, our teams had stories to share of engagement and improvement. When we’d failed at this and instead led with fear, our Lean improvement efforts to make things better for our customers and make work satisfying for employees fell apart and could even do damage. Chris has been on a quest to fulfill this job as a leader to decrease fear and to show others how as well. 

We named the workshop session, "Eliminate Fear." But this one conversation with Chris raised more questions for me than it answered. Reflection and dialogue with others made it clear that eliminating fear is only half the story. Actually creating psychological safety required something more. When that something more was present, people took risks to open up, point out problems, share ideas, and test solutions.

“What is it,” I mused, “that increases to create the safety everyone is seeking?” 

Some insisted it was courage. Others freedom. Still others said hope. All worthy ideas but they did not ring true for me.

Many psychologists sort human emotional experience into two primary categories, fear and love. All other emotions cascade from either fear or love. Understanding this helps us make more sense of and respond more effectively to any of the other emotions we either experience ourselves or encounter in others. An angry or violent child's emotions can be sourced back to fear. The limbic root of belonging, trust, appreciation, or respect? Love. 

At the Lean conference, we opened the workshop showcasing the work of our teams with Chris proclaiming that leaders must aim to eliminate fear if they want to see results like these teams were getting. And then I brashly declared that increasing love will eliminate that fear. 

I reminded the audience that to love is human. We all need to know we belong, that our contributions matter. We need to know that we are safe to step out and take risks to improve. When people feel loved at work, they can love their customers and respond to their needs with improvements to safety, cost, time, and quality. A more loving workplace creates the conditions for a culture of improvement and satisfaction.

And then... the audience broke into spontaneous applause! Later, people stopped me to share support while others sent me emails of thanks. People stopped me weeks later in state agencies to discuss this idea of love at work. I was on to something important.

Since then, I've sought to understand this outpouring of love for the idea of love at work. Trained as a social scientist, I launched a qualitative research project to learn from people’s stories about the impacts of fear and of love at work. That research convinced me of the high cost of fear on people, teams, organizations, and ultimately those they serve, and the immense benefits of love in the workplace for everyone.

Today through A Human Workplace, you can participate in this ongoing research by sharing your stories.

And there are resources and services to help with a global shift from fear- to love-based workplace norms. There are blog posts and talks. There's work with leaders and teams. There's a global community of gatherings where we explore facets of a human workplace and practice skills for being human at work.

And now there's you too. Welcome to the conversation and community.

I love that you are here.