Expressive states can best be described as things that make us feel energized at work and allow us to thrive. Interestingly, these states have been significantly underutilized in talent strategies, until now. We can now augment talent strategies with data about our individual preferences.ĚýExpressive states are a critical component to a fully realized whole self model, which is a framework to understand how employees experience change and opportunity throughout their career.

What Are Expressive States?

The number of potential expressive states is limitless. To create a common language around these expressive states, the 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors team has developed the following taxonomy:

• Passions are activities you find particularly engaging or motivating. Examples include a passion for data analysis or a passion for teaching others. Passions are an essential component of the whole self model. Psychological research has indicated that when , employees are less likely to leave the organization and performance increases.*
• Aspirations represent longer term goals, what you aspire to become. Goal setting takes many forms, from small goals like improving skills to career-minded aspirations like becoming a people manager. The positive impact of goal setting on employee motivation and performance is often considered to be one of the most studied phenomenons in workforce psychology. This is for a good reason, as research has continuously demonstrated the importance of employees being empowered to set goals and aspirations.**
• Mindsets represent our attitudes, beliefs, or approaches to work. Examples might include an ‘inclusive’ mindset or a ‘customer-first’ mindset. When employee mindsets are leveraged to allow employees to do work that aligns most to their values, the result is positive for both the employee and the business.***
• Motivations represent specific drivers that pull you towards obtaining a goal or aspiration. These motives enable us to express what is currently driving us toward success or what is giving us the most energy at work. Examples of motivations might be the motivation to master a skill or obtain rewards – financial or otherwise. When employees are enabled to clearly identify their motivations their likelihood of succeeding in goals relating to that motivation increases.†
• Preferences represent how every unique employee prefers to work. Enabling employees to express their work preferences allows them to craft the environment that best suits their needs. Working from home, stock over cash bonuses, and communication tools are preferences. When employees are able to effectively map their work environment towards their preferences, the results are vast: higher organizational commitment, greater satisfaction, and lower turnover.†âśÄ 

Values Alignment

In so many ways, expressive states enable the clear and up-to-date expression of what we value at work. They empower employees to define goals, large and small, while also allowing them to set a clear agenda towards who they would like to become. However, expressive states are malleable and ready to shift with new information or inspiration from the world around us. When we are inspired by something we’ve learned, we want to be able to act on that information in a meaningful way. As a result, we continuously redefine our states to adjust and meet new opportunities. As our values shift, our work should reflect this.

Although expressive states are deeply personal and individualized, there’s much to be learned by understanding them in the organizational aggregate. We might even be able to answer the burning questions: Where are people’s heads at right now? Are they ready for change?

There are formulas waiting in expressive states, and there might be different formulas for different types of organizations at different times. Transformation velocity, for example, might be measured with aspirations, passions, and motivators. Understanding how employees align with corporate values might be measured with passions and mindsets. What if you recognized that there was a common thread shared by a volume of employees that might even inspire changes in your corporate values?

Putting the Whole Self to Work

Individuals, teams, and the organization as a whole benefit when we define and maximize our alignment of work towards our expressive states. For the individual, it’s all about giving them the tools to explore, experiment, and define who they are and what they value. We envision this definition to be the foundation for identifying learning paths, future roles, projects, and people and work communities to connect with, as well as guide conversations for what might be next.

For teams, understanding each other’s expressive states can create a shared understanding of each member’s strengths and ambitions, which is critical to the creation and management of healthy, well-balanced teams. Imagine the incremental support and doors that could open with a little more transparency into what we aspire to and our desired pathways. Bringing us closer to our human side creates and fosters team cohesion and understanding of each other.

And for the organization, expressive states bring a level of clarity and understanding on direction and tendencies for the workforce. Are they headed in directions which align with the organization’s mission and strategies? Does the organization have the right mindsets and values to meet its objectives? And where may it need to boost growth and development to fuel excitement into new areas of opportunity?

Only with the complete picture of the whole self, as defined by skills and capabilities, strengths and styles, and expressive states, areĚýwe able to reach that untapped potential in ourselves and organizations.

Scott Lietzke is vice president of Product Design at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.
Julie Bartholic is vice president of Product Innovation Design at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.
Caitlynn Sendra is EX product scientist at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.

*Van Iddekinge, C. H., Roth, P. L., Putka, D. J., & Lanivich, S. E. (2011). Are you interested? A meta-analysis of relations between vocational interests and employee performance and turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1167.
**Kleingeld, A., van Mierlo, H., & Arends, L. (2011). The effect of goal setting on group performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 96(6), 1289.
***Paarlberg, L. E., & Perry, J. L. (2007). Values management: Aligning employee values and organization goals. The American review of public administration, 37(4), 387-408.
†McClelland, D. C. (1985). How motives, skills, and values determine what people do. American psychologist, 40(7), 812.
†âśÄ Lee, D., & Ahn, J. (2019). The relationships between person-environment fit and job-related variables: Meta-analysis. Korean Journal of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 32(2), 107-134.

HXM and the role of HR has continued to evolve. In this transformative time, mindsets have shifted from thinking about workers in the context of who they are as employees to recognizing them as multidimensional humans. We recognize that families, aspirations, dreams, and even fears come to work every day. Our human side is no longer a liability, but something to celebrate. And being human at work opens up the possibility to pursue infinite growth and limitless potential. Putting to work our human traits and capabilities is the path for organizations and individuals to unlock creativity, ingenuity, and passion – and tackle new challenges.

HR strategies also shifted from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ packaged approach to individual-driven careers that recognize unique strengths, passions, and motivations. This shift from roles as the building block of an organization to people-based strategies creates huge opportunities for HR to lead the conversation and drive change. How do we unlock human potential beyond a defined job description? And how do we shift our own practices to embrace the opportunity shift to people and skills?

We put together the four faces of HR to share and recognize the ingenuity in creating, testing, and experimenting with new approaches for modern employee experience management. These four faces reflect a compilation of ideas generated following much reflection and observation of how the role of HR is shifting, rapidly and in real time, for our customers. We validated and enriched the aspirations for each role with our research-based .

Being research and practice evidenced, we find these faces to be a work in progress and achieving each strategic role will continue to evolve. Each role complements each other and is not mutually exclusive. In fact, you will likely see yourself in multiple roles.

Culture Advocate:ĚýThe Face of Identity

Persistent and organizationally savvy, the Culture Advocate leverages positivity, purpose, and belonging to make ambitious organizational shifts. From innovation culture and learning to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the Culture Advocate shapes positive change through action. Culture is the prerequisite for meaningful transformation. No longer just talk, culture is tackled with strategy and action! The Culture Advocate doesn’t need to rely upon intuition. They form strategies with real insights into organization mindsets, behaviors, and values and inspire change from the bottom up.

Chief Empowerment Officer:ĚýThe Face of Motivation

Bold and confident, the Chief Empowerment Officer inspires employees and opens doors. They break boundaries to ensure impact and contribution have little to do with title or hierarchy. From intern to vice president, they ensure the entire workforce has opportunity to connect to meaningful work and create an impact. They combat ‘stay-in-your-lane’ thinking and manager protectionist strategies, busting job descriptions and team boundaries along the way. The Chief Empowerment Officer believes in the power of an intrinsically motivated workforce powered by opportunity, support, and trust.

Agile Orchestrator:ĚýThe Face of PossibilityĚý

The Agile Orchestrator busts traditional ways of working and transforms the organization to be ready for anything. They strive for an open and adaptable workforce at all levels and for individuals, teams, and organizations. Agility means experimenting and testing new organization structures and disrupting at times for good. Orchestrators enable employees to become individually adaptable with exploration and stretching of skills to gain competence and self-efficacy, ultimately to become fully confident to thrive in the face of change. They ensure that dynamic behaviors are fully supported with agile talent management processes from recognition and rewards to work assignments and team-based goals.

Operational Architect:ĚýThe Face of InnovationĚýĚý

Confident and curious, the Operational Architect finds novel solutions to workplace challenges by leveraging innovative technologies. The architect has an experimentation mindset, which fuels a passion to test and pilot new ideas.ĚýThey look to technologyĚýand innovationĚýas a behavior and culture leverĚýin addition to increasing productivity and automation. Success is measured by the experience and outcomes for employees, managers, and the HR team.ĚýExperience is equally as important as efficiency flow. Pioneering and ambitious, this face of innovation iterates to improve the entire work experience.

TheĚýfour faces represent limitless potential and opportunity. As HR organizations expand their role, they will look to these four distinct groups to drive innovation and culture change in order to expand their impact and contribution to the business.

Amy Wilson is SVP of Products & Design at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.
Julie Bartholic is vice president of Product Innovation Design at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.

Knowing and understanding our traits is highly valuable both to organizations and to individuals yet remains largely elusive in the workplace. Despite the on assessments for recruitment and selection, employees typically receive little or no feedback, and their data is left to gather dust for the remainder of their time at the organization.

With human experience management (HXM), the is pursuing a shift towards individualization and building on the opportunity of a deeper level of diversity: the diversity of personality. In an earlier article, we described the formula for understanding the whole self, which includes various elements – both traits, like work styles and team strengths, as well as states, like passions and motivations – of the individual. How the whole-self model describes an individual’s traits is referred to as ‘strengths and styles.’ Although traits are somewhat malleable over time – they might change somewhat over the course of five years – they largely define who we are.

Organizations have a great opportunity to better leverage employee’s strengths and styles to create a more positive employee experience. Here’s how.

Step 1: Understanding Me

Most of us have an insatiable curiosity to learn about ourselves. Consider the social media quiz craze. What color is your aura? What city should you live in? Which Hogwarts professor are you? Consider channeling this curiosity at work to make a meaningful impact on your career and day to day experience.

However, today there is a self-awareness gap at work. Ask someone about their communication style and you’ll likely receive a blank stare. This is further supported by that indicates we are not always the best judges of our own behaviors. This lack of self-awareness can be addressed via well-designed and well-implemented assessments that use data to help us better understand ourselves. Organizations that embrace this strength and style data can help employees build confidence, drive development, and inspire careers.

To better understand ourselves, consider these questions: How do I behave in a team? What strengths do I bring to an organization? What environment am I most likely to thrive in? How do I interact with others at work?

There is no such thing as a “bad” personality. Regardless of what you uncover, it’s all good news. The potential of knowing who we are, releasing preconceived notions of good or bad, and truly understanding our value can help unlock our uniqueness and potential.

Understanding our strengths and styles also plays a critical role in giving us confidence. tells us that if employees have a strong sense of competency, they are more likely to feel a sense of intrinsic motivation, which leads to increased productivity and efficiency and ultimately better outcomes.

Step 2: Put This Data to Work

Every individual has unbound potential to be tapped, but many struggle to find their ideal place in the world of work. We dream of a future where our uniqueness allows us to be our best, which can include work we love to do that brings fulfillment, meaning, and purpose; work we are good at and an environment fit that helps us perform at our very best; or work that builds our confidence to tackle any challenge.

When organizations create optimal conditions characterized by inclusion, support, and understanding of uniqueness, employees are empowered to be their authentic selves. Doing this opens the gate to a dynamic, thriving workforce.

How can organizations leverage data to find the right person–environment fit? Imagine having individually curated options, selected for each individual, to match their strengths and styles. Our research demonstrates two primary pain points in the workplace today: finding available opportunities to learn what’s possible and assessing the right fit to an individual’s strengths. The degree of fit, match for an opportunity, and even potential gaps can be a black hole for employees today. At SAP, we have developed a new solution, 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace, which uses data to help individuals find these individualized opportunities and realize their potential.

The workplace experience is no longer just a hire-to-retire, linear story. Our individuality allows us to create our own paths, learn and grow, and leverage our strengths in the avenues of our choice. A deep understanding of individuals’ strengths and styles helps us curate our own path and select opportunities where we are most likely to succeed and thrive. Putting data to work is brought to life through short-term assignments, formal or experiential learning, peer connections, potential roles, and practicing new skills.

Step 3: Living My Best Self at Work

With a solid understanding of strengths and styles, organizations can create space for us to be our best selves at work. Consider an example of how one might apply strengths and styles to daily work. Let’s use the example of an operations supervisor whose role and team provide a high degree of structure. The operations supervisor learns through her strengths and styles data that she is extremely high in the creativity trait. She feels the urgency to make a creative impact and enrolls in a design thinking skill path, which has been curated for her as a possible interest. After completing the course, she has increased confidence in her strengths and skills and exceeds even her own expectations by taking on the responsibility of leading the operations innovation workstream.

Close the Gaps

New opportunities exist for organizations that can close the gap between organizational need and the strengths and styles of their employees. They can craft their next wave of employee experience around individualization and power their people strategy with unique personal formulas that define who they are.

Scott Lietzke is vice president of Product Design at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.
Julie Bartholic is vice president of Product Innovation Design at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.
Caitlynn Sendra is EX product scientist at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.

But how do we put these very human attributes to work and solve the toughest business challenges? As HR leaders, we must rethink how we define employee experience and what it means when part of this formula is left out of the equation.

Experience Redefined

We are overdue for a reset on the definition of employee experience. Although the world has become increasingly individualized, employee experience is currently rooted inĚýhow the organization is doing broadly.ĚýHR leadersĚýhave become experts in evaluating engagement and leadership trust scores and yet we still don’t know where our employees experience joy at work and what might be depleting their day. Have we missed the mark? Not entirely, but the additive qualities of what makes each one of us tick, what motivates us, what we as individuals expect and want from work has been largely missed.

Experience design has historically started with persona development: defining employee wants, needs, beliefs, values, and pain points. But this generalized practice conflicts with creating individualized experiences. How do organizations focus on the unique attributes of each employee if they’re lumping them into vague categories? Employees are all truly unique and don’t want a career journey guided by a generic avatar.

When organizations match the individual to their most optimal environment it leads to : increased job satisfaction, organizational identification and commitment, , and job performance.

This individualized approach is what we refer to as human experience management (HXM). It’s not just about moments that matter, but moments that matter to me. And it’s not just about who I am today but who I am becoming. We call this the wholeĚýself model. Using this unique data set – captured by assessments and preferences of employees – can lead to deeper self-awareness for the individual while also helping leaders and the organization realize greater potential across the entire workforce.

A Wave of Culture Shift

Employees to have a voice, to have autonomy, and to design their own work experiences. Collectively, their ambition is to find meaning, purpose, and personal connection at work. People want to use the skills they love, move dynamically between teams, and solve unique and challenging problems. They expect their organizations to know them and support their careers in individual ways. Employees are rightfully demanding the recognition of the uniqueness they bring. The next wave of diversity and inclusion should go beyond what’s on the outside to include what’s on the inside – our personality and values.

Fortunately, the movement towards individualization puts organizations on the path to this deeper understanding of who its employees are and how to support them. It will be critical to embrace these cultural shifts to build truly optimal workplace experiences. Organizations should take an iterative approach, focusing on building three key pillars of the individualized experience over time.

The Three Strategy Pillars of the Individualized Experience

Pillar #1: Know and Value Individuality
Start by deepening the understanding of what makes each individual unique through the whole self model. As Michael Stegar and Bryan Dik said in , “Comprehension of the self in work provides the foundation for people to develop a sense of purpose and mission that both motivates their engagement and performance.” Self-exploration should include a variety of factors, including personality traits, strengths, aspirations, and mindsets.

Pillar #2: Empower Individuality
Leverage the power of people data as a foundation to create and shape experiences that are individual-led and have unique purpose and meaning. These new whole self model data elements can be used to provide transparency to employees, surface opportunities, inspire curiosity, and connect people to work with meaning. Smart organizations will align their needs to people’s passions to grow skills, workforce agility, and talent bench strength.

Pillar #3: Amplify Individuality
Drive a cultural shift that embraces individuality by creating a psychologically safe environment. By embracing the whole self model, organizations can begin to redefine their culture, tuning it to their optimal employee experience.

The untapped potential in the workplace is the difference between an average experience and one in which people can flourish. Adam Grant recently the ultimate well-being state as ‘flourishing,’ defined as a “strong sense of meaning, mastery, and mattering to others.” It is in this triad that we each find the moments that matter to us. It is time to aim higher and dig deeper to empower the next evolution of employee experiences that connect us, as humans, and allow people to flourish. We all hope and dream for a brilliant career. It starts with every employee bringing their whole self to work, every day.

Scott Lietzke is vice president of Product Design at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.
Julie Bartholic is vice president of Product Innovation Design at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.
Caitlynn Sendra is EX product scientist at 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors.