Are people finding it easier to talk about how they feel?

Friday is designed to help employees share their experience of work. By participating each week, many people find it becomes easier and easier to regularly discuss how things are going. Occasionally additional action is needed to help people feel safe so they can talk openly about their experience of work.

talking about feelings

This is why, after a couple of months using Friday, we ask whether the process is helping people to talk about how they feel at work.

We give three different response options for this question: Yes, No, and Not sure.

See what action you can take in your team and organization to support people to feel safe and to be more open. If your results are mixed, you may need to act in more than one area.

Response: No

Action: Firstly, recognize and accept it can be hard to share how we feel. Consider setting ground rules for conversations to create the psychological safety needed to explore experiences more fully and honestly.

Response: Not sure

Action: Often people find it easier to share the good stuff and keep quiet about the bad. Reassure yourselves that it takes longer to find the language to air frustrations in a way that feels safe and helpful, but with practice you’ll get there.

Response: Yes

Action: This is great progress! In our experience teams that talk about happiness find ways to sustain and improve it over time.