Appreciation At Home and At the Office

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, we at the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance want to thank our friends and members for their ongoing support and trust. We truly appreciate being surrounded by a community of intelligent, enthusiastic, thoughtful leaders who are invested in helping firms and organizations renew their commitment to diversity and flexibility.

In this day and age of constant contact and access to work, we are also thankful for the time to be with our families face to face and, at least for a few moments, disconnect from the office. We encourage you to do so too.

As flexibility is always top of mind, we also want to encourage you to take the time to appreciate your organization’s flexible work program. There’s a term that professional organization strategists use called “Appreciative Inquiry.” It refers to examining and highlighting the positive aspects of a business initiative to create a positive culture. We encourage you to examine and highlight the best features in your flex program and draw on these strengths as you expand and develop it.

Brag a Little

The first step to truly appreciating your flex program is to tell a positive story. Write some articles about those who have been successful working a flexible schedule and demonstrate the different ways of creating a successful flex story. Post these success stories in your organization’s newsletter, internal website, or send them out in a note from leadership.

Bring in the Cheerleaders

If you have a flex affinity group, encourage a few people to share their positive success stories at the beginning of each meeting. This will boost their confidence and encourage others to step forward who might not otherwise share their successes.

Give Some High Fives

We can’t overemphasize the importance of support for flex programs from leadership to truly show the commitment of the organization and to reinforce the change in organizational culture. Make sure to celebrate the leaders in your organization who go above and beyond to demonstrate their support of those working flex and those who foster flex success.

Share Your Numbers

Track the effectiveness of your flex program through talent retention data, client satisfaction surveys, and links between flexibility and employee moral. Whether quantitative or qualitative, positive results give your program momentum and help to create that positive culture you’re striving for. Again, communication is key. The more people know about the positive outcomes and the return on investment the more they can appreciate the organization’s flex program.

So this week count your blessings… at home and in the office.