Why ‘bring your best self to work’ matters in my team

One thing I love about being a leader to my team is our human interactions: that our conversations are warm, open, and authentic - regardless of the topic. Whether it’s with Marko about our marketing plans or with Louise about her vision on sustainability, we always speak human-to-human.

Having conversations that speak to one another as human beings matters. When we acknowledge there’s a person behind the job title, and when we’re open and honest about what we’re feeling, it leads to greater empathy and a deeper sense of trust in our work relationships. That is at the heart of bringing your best self to work.

I’m committed to creating a culture where my colleagues feel confident bringing their best selves at work, because I know that’s how they’ll flourish. How does this manifest day-to-day? I reached out to two of my team - Cordula in Germany and Ana Beatriz (Bia) in Brazil - to hear how showing up as their true selves makes a difference to their working lives.

Thinking differently

If you asked me to tell you one thing about Cordula I’d probably mention her wonderful initiative, ‘Intellectual Fridays’. She started these group sessions to help us all focus on personal development. Sometimes we review a book; other times we’re introduced to a topic such as design thinking. Or we may even learn breath work.

I chatted to Cordula about the sessions and what she told me supports what I’ve long admired about her - her desire to always ask questions and challenge the status quo. “I love to look at things differently, to ask why things are done in a certain way to see how we can make improvements. Intellectual Fridays are at the intersection of my love of learning and also looking at things differently.” Her curated sessions are a perfect way of sharing her particular perspective with the rest of the team. They’re also great fun, and we always go away buzzing, having learned something new.

Happy to speak-up 

Cordula explained to me that being able to bring her best self to work has given her the confidence to speak up. She reminded me that in her job interview, I mentioned I was keen for team members to share their views. It’s one of the reasons she wanted to work at Ericsson. “The organisation values me for who I am, and you encourage me to be open and to share my opinion,” she says. “That's why I work here. I know I can speak-up and I can be honest too.” I’m so glad to hear that, because it means Cordula feels empowered to ask those difficult questions and raise challenges.

Diverse thinking

Bia agrees with Cordula that bringing her best self to work means she has the confidence to speak up and share her point of view. “Here thinking differently is a positive thing. We are encouraged to speak as we find, not being shy of saying what we see.”

For Bia, bringing her best self to work is about acknowledging her strengths while at the same time recognising she’s human. She says she can’t be “100% shiny” all of the time. I wholeheartedly agree.

Bia also makes a great point about how bringing yourself to work aligns with diversity and inclusion. We’ve such a wonderful mix of backgrounds and cultures in my team which results in a rich seam of thought and ideas. “It’s about bringing that variety of experiences and approaches to our work,” Bia tells me. “People think differently because of how we’re raised. It’s a crucial part of D&I.”

A work life with purpose

What’s more, Bia says that bringing yourself to work means being able to incorporate your values and life’s purpose into the role. She works hard and wants her efforts to be more than about simply paying the bills. “If we don’t feel we are making a difference, then what’s the point? We need to feel we can make a contribution, that we are valued. If I was not encouraged to bring myself to work then I would not be motivated to work here!”

Thank you, Bia and Cordula, for your reflections on bringing your best self to work. I can see the difference it makes to our colleagues when we feel comfortable being authentic at work. Bringing the best You to work - who you are, what makes you tick, what you stand for - makes for more human relationships. It creates a culture where people can show up able to flourish, to do their best work, and feel happy, healthy, and productive in their role.

It’s something we feel so strongly about that we set it in stone at our leadership team’s offsite in Athens last year. ‘Bring Your Best Self to Work’ is one of our 5 Athens Agreements: five tenets we settled on about best practice working at Ericsson (if you are curious to know more, I posted about another of our agreements ‘Do Less Be More’ last month; and there are more posts to come about the rest of them).

So thank you to all my wonderful team for what you each bring to the table in your unique way - your energy, ideas, and different ways of thinking and doing. Wherever you are in the world, keep on bringing your best selves to work!