Know Thyself! The importance of self-knowledge in a workplace context

For this blog we are delighted to welcome Jan Gerard Hoendervanger PhD, whose inspirational report for the European Commission , The Role of Individual Differences in Flexible Ways of Working provides the backdrop for this contribution. Jan Gerard is an independent workplace consultant, who has worked with Workplaced's Nick Nunnington and Asaël Ackerman in academic projects examining activity based working solutions in a simulated corporate relocation project.

According to the ancient Greeks, true knowledge of life begins with self-knowledge. In my experience, this also applies to gaining insight into needs related to ways of working and the work environment. This insight not only provides a foundation for developing and implementing successful workplace strategies: it has the potential to stimulate bottom-up behavioural change, aimed at work styles that match personal needs and make optimal use of what the work environment has to offer. It is very powerful that workplace managers and consultants can create better plans, thanks to the wealth of data generated by advanced tools such as Workplaced. But how wonderful would it be if that same data simultaneously encouraged the users of the work environment - both individually and collectively - to optimise their own work patterns? In my opinion, there is still a world of potential to be explored here.

You might think that promoting self-awareness amounts to a form of navel-gazing, fitting right into the societal trend of sometimes excessive individualism. I personally do not believe that is the case. In knowledge work, the individual workers are central, simply because they are the primary business resource. Understanding their "user manual" is therefore crucial for achieving productive engagement, ideally in a way that not only results in immediate performance in the short term, but also in job satisfaction, sustainable employability, and a positive societal impact in the long term. Self-knowledge is not only relevant to the individual in question, but it is also the foundation for effective collaboration, leadership, and support - and thus for the successful functioning of a team, and/or the organization.

Research increasingly reveals more differences between individual "user manuals." I have made a modest contribution to this with my dissertation on activity-based working and a research-based report for the European Commission . This work has made me aware of the large number of relevant dimensions (note: far more than acknowledged by common stereotypes such as "job profiles", "generations", or simple personas) on which people differ from job and task characteristics to psychological, neurodiversity, and physical needs, demographic features, and personal life circumstances. The relevance of all these individual differences is growing as knowledge workers are increasingly enabled and allowed to choose how, where, and when they do their work.

Self-awareness arises not only from data; it is equally important to try new things and reflect on them. Working during the COVID-19 lockdowns has often been characterized as the largest experiment so far with new ways of working. However, the yield in terms of increased self-knowledge has, in my opinion, been underexposed. Many knowledge workers experienced in a unique way what works for them and what doesn't. Some flourished because of a better work-life balance or became more productive through better focus, while others felt isolated or struggled with their tendency to procrastinate. In all these different individual cases, the experience contributed to answering the crucial question:

What do I need - as a person and given my job and personal circumstances - to do my work well?

It is my impression that this increased self-awareness (aided by a stronger position in a tighter labour market) has been a strong catalyst for job crafting, including choices regarding time and place. In accordance with the model from this article by Christina Wessels et al., we see people making more effort to align their way of working optimally with their multi-faceted personal needs.

When people have a good understanding of their own needs, it becomes much easier to develop a suitable new work environment for them, through deeper consultation with them. How great is it when you, as a workplace consultant or designer, work with people who can clearly articulate what they need in their work? This allows for a constructive dialogue to emerge about translating their needs into design solutions, rather than getting stuck in discussions based on arbitrary opinions, perceptions, and preferences. Even better is when the workplace users are also motivated to use the new environment as intended because they understand that it helps them to work in a better way.

You may call me an idealist, but I truly believe that self-awareness can greatly contribute to more successful workplace change processes. This is, however, on the condition that the involved consultants and designers are willing to take users' self-knowledge seriously, and act upon it, as a basis for an inclusive workplace design.

I conclude my praise for self-knowledge by linking it to something that is just as important for an organization as a supportive and welcoming work environment: a strong, inclusive work culture. As people gain more insight into their personal needs and share that understanding with each other, they become more aware of individual differences. Even colleagues doing the same work often find they need to work quite differently to bring out the best in themselves. In my view, recognizing and acknowledging individual differences creates the foundation for an inclusive work culture, characterised by tolerance for diverging work styles. Team agreements are important, but they should take individual differences into account as much as possible and be limited to providing a minimal structure that ensures collaboration, communication, and social cohesion. Only then can a team or organization fully benefit from the wonderful and growing opportunities that this time offers knowledge workers, to collaborate effectively and feel connected, without adhering to the same work patterns.

Jan Gerard Hoendervanger PhD

Independent workplace consultant, teacher, author, researcher

jangerard@jghadvies.nl | linkedin.com/in/jangerardhoendervanger

This blog article strongly resonates with the latest white paper from Workplaced, which is titled: Interpreting a hierarchy of the workplace through the lens of Maslow.