Insights from EBIT: the growth of organisations starts with the psychological well-being of people

Inspired by the Leaders' Conference EBIT 2025brought together outstanding speakers and topical issues - sustainability, organisational culture, adapting to crises and future management approaches. As a psychologist looking for a way to bring my knowledge and experience of working with people into an organisational setting, it was particularly valuable for me to see how entrepreneurs, managers and experts in the field think about these topics today. Here I share some of the insights and questions that resonated most deeply.

Organisational culture - changing from rules to trust

Speaker Erin Meyer (INSEAD, author and Netflix cultural researcher) stressed: high performance starts with trust and autonomy, not strict control. Netflix success stories show that when a team is made up of people with high intrinsic motivation, the most effective results come not from management orders, but from self-organisation, the courage to make mistakes and the ability to make decisions.

In psychology, this approach is based on various theories of motivation and needs (such as self-determination theory) that have been supported by research for decades: people thrive when they have autonomy, competence and a sense of belonging.

But I have a fundamental question: how do you introduce this culture change in an existing organisation that has been dominated by hierarchical management and control thinking for years? Netflix started from scratch - but what do you do in a company where the structures are already in place?

The ability of the organisation to remain relevant - the ability to be in constant change

The conference focused on the importance for businesses to be flexible and adaptable to constant change - technological progress, geopolitics, climate crises. Being flexible, in a constant state of change. To change with the world.

Yes, of course it's important. But - from a psychological point of view - continuous adaptation is only possible if the organisation is made up of mentally resilient people. And mental resilience is neither an innate character trait nor an accident - it is a developable, systematically cultivated capacity to manage stress, to cope with uncertainty, to maintain judgement and action during difficult periods of life. The ability to cope with life's difficulties by becoming stronger rather than collapsing in the face of them.

The questions are therefore: how to foster the development of mental resilience (thereby enhancing the ability of staff to cope with high-stress situations, to withstand the unknown, the unpredictable, to remain open to change and to be ever more adaptable and changeable)? And is sufficient investment being made in this aspect in the light of the challenges posed by today's working environment? I would say that there is a wide field of work for psychologists (not coaches).

Organisational potential - focusing inwards

Several speakers highlighted that the innovation potential of organisations is often found outside, while inside - in employees - there are untapped resources. Untapped potential, unfulfilled dreams, unexpressed ideas, evocations that have never been heard. Energy that doesn't "burn" because it has no space.

Listening - from the heart, not because annual staff talks are planned. This could be the first step towards changing the culture of the organisation from rules to trust. It could perhaps be a step towards restoring people's sense that their work is meaningful, has meaning.

Question: if the spirituality of work (workplace spiritualiy) movement for 25 years has affirmed that people want not just to work, but for their work to mean something; that "employees in organisations have an inner life that thrives and is sustained by meaningful work done in the community" (Ashmos & Duchon, 2000), how do we put this into practice?

Social responsibility - taking care of your "backyard"

One of the themes highlighted at the conference was corporate social responsibility - more and more organisations are choosing to actively support issues that matter to society. For example, SEB cares for SOS Children's Villages, IKEA talks about domestic violence.

These initiatives are valuable and inspiring. At the same time, listening to these experiences, I wondered: what if a company also chose to stand up for the mental health of its employees? Or the mental health of society? Unfortunately, the statistics in this area are not encouraging and the topic of emotional well-being in the working environment is still often left in the shadows. Mental health is one of the biggest social crises today. Standing up for the psychological well-being of your employees would be a powerful, important and responsible step.

This choice would, in my opinion, be perfectly in line with what Johan Norberg said in his conference speech: it is easier to solve external problems, but it is most valuable to solve our own.

—

These questions are not just philosophical - they are very practical. I would be happy to discuss them with representatives of organisations that shape the working environment, have an impact on these processes and find these issues important. Both professionally and personally, I would be interested in better understanding the needs and perspectives of organisations on these topics. For my part, I can offer expert knowledge on human psycho-emotional processes, which are always present in professional everyday life, regardless of the sector or the job.

—

Thank you TRIVIUM and CEO Conference EBIT to the team for the opportunity to look into these important topics!