{"id":138,"date":"2026-04-24T14:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/?p=138"},"modified":"2026-04-28T11:05:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:05:40","slug":"thriving-at-work-starts-with-the-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/2026\/04\/24\/thriving-at-work-starts-with-the-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"Thriving at work starts with the basics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m new to the Higher Education sector (8 months, 10 days and counting). One thing I\u2019m learning quickly is just how complex this environment is. It\u2019s a world where the simplest task can involve a surprising number of people.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, despite the complexity, I keep noticing something simple:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Most problems don\u2019t start big. They start small.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A misunderstanding. Unclear expectations. A conversation that didn\u2019t happen. A silent assumption that grows legs.<\/p>\n<p>In a system as interconnected as HE, these small frictions can ripple out much further than anyone intends.<\/p>\n<p>I recently had a tiny reminder of this.<\/p>\n<p>The car park next to 2 South was temporarily closed, but without signage. Every few minutes, another car pulled in, slowed, reversed, tried again elsewhere. It wasn\u2019t anyone\u2019s fault necessarily - just one of those everyday frictions that absorbs energy and chips away at engagement.<\/p>\n<p>I did the usual internal grumble\u2026 then stopped myself.\u00a0<em>If it bothers you, do something constructive.<\/em>\u00a0I sent a quick email to the services team explaining what was happening.<\/p>\n<p>By the next morning, a sign was up.<\/p>\n<p>Not a grand intervention. Not innovative. Just a small act of individual responsibility that made things smoother for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>And it reinforced something I\u2019m learning very clearly here:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thriving happens when individual responsibility and collective responsibility meet in the middle - especially in a complex system.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what that looks like in practice:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong> Connection matters more than we think<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I\u2019ve worked across several industries and there\u2019s always something in common when it comes to workplace wellbeing issues:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>someone didn\u2019t feel heard<\/li>\n<li>expectations weren\u2019t aligned<\/li>\n<li>assumptions weren\u2019t checked<\/li>\n<li>communication missed the mark<\/li>\n<li>people solved problems individually instead of collectively<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Connection builds trust. Trust enables performance. And here where collaboration is essential but sometimes stretched, connection\u00a0<strong><em>is<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0the work.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong> Manager capability is essential<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I\u2019m seeing that manager capability and accountability is one of the biggest determinants of how people experience work here.<\/p>\n<p>Not because managers have all the answers but, because they set the tone:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>clear communication<\/li>\n<li>early conversations<\/li>\n<li>openness to feedback<\/li>\n<li>support through stretch and recovery<\/li>\n<li>modelling the behaviour they want to see<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These aren\u2019t soft skills. They are essential to sustainable, healthy high performance.<\/p>\n<p>And because we know this doesn\u2019t always feel easy or natural, we\u2019re rolling out\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bath.ac.uk\/announcements\/introducing-wellbeing-at-work-brilliant-basics\/\"><strong>Brilliant Basics<\/strong><\/a>. This includes an <strong>Individual Wellbeing Action Plan (IWAP) <\/strong>focused on what it means to thrive, and a\u00a0<strong>simple wellbeing\u2011conversation tool and training programme<\/strong>. These tools help structure the conversations people often find uncomfortable, giving both managers and staff confidence and a shared language.<\/p>\n<p>The goal isn\u2019t perfect conversations. It\u2019s\u00a0<em>better<\/em>\u00a0ones.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong> Getting the basics right - consistently<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In an institution full of complexity, the basics are surprisingly powerful:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>clear expectations<\/li>\n<li>reliable communication<\/li>\n<li>shared understanding<\/li>\n<li>early interventions<\/li>\n<li>collective problem\u2011solving<\/li>\n<li>simple processes that prevent confusion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The car park example reminded me that the basics are often small, visible, fixable things:<\/p>\n<p>A missing sign. A gap in communication. A misunderstanding that becomes a story. A process no one realised was unclear.<\/p>\n<p>When we address these early, people can spend their energy on what really matters; teaching, research, service, and supporting staff and students well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What thriving here looks like to me (so far)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thriving seems to happen at the intersection of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>connection<\/strong>\u00a0(how we relate)<\/li>\n<li><strong>capability<\/strong>\u00a0(how we lead)<\/li>\n<li><strong>responsibility<\/strong>\u00a0(how we show up)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s not created through one big initiative. It\u2019s built through thousands of small moments of clarity, communication and care carried out by people who are navigating a complex system together.<\/p>\n<p>And the good news is that every one of us can contribute to this:<\/p>\n<p>A check\u2011in. A clarification. A question asked early. Or simply noticing something that isn\u2019t working and choosing to act.<\/p>\n<p>Small actions. Big impact. That\u2019s how departments, teams and people thrive. That\u2019s how organisations thrive.<\/p>\n<p>(And yes, that sign was slightly on the small side. But honestly? It was good enough. When we are juggling so much,\u00a0<em>good enough<\/em>\u00a0really is sometimes just that. Good enough.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m new to the Higher Education sector (8 months, 10 days and counting). One thing I\u2019m learning quickly is just how complex this environment is. It\u2019s a world where the simplest task can involve a surprising number of people. And...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employee-wellbeing","category-mental-health"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/shew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}