Marc Emmer is President of Optimize Inc. et, author, speaker and representative specializing in strategic planning.
While there has been a lot of banter about the future of work in recent weeks, much of the narrative has been about where employees will work, office safety, collaboration software and so on.
Before the pandemic began, many of us were engaged in another conversation. As the war took shape, we were engrossed in discussions about building a culture.
My consulting firm has the opportunity to work with dozens of teams each year, and I am able to offer insights based on the insights gained during the pandemic:
• The companies that had strong workplace cultures outperformed their rivals in 2020.
• The behaviors and behaviors that giant corporations exploit to create culture have been largely dismantled as corporations have reacted spasmodically to Covid-19.
What evidence do we have, you ask? Among almost all of our clients, those who practiced such behavior experienced double-digit expansion in a year when global economic output was expected to decline by more than 5%.
Throughout the year, we conducted employee engagement surveys with many of those consumers and made comparisons to the same consumers from last year. Time and time again, we’ve noticed the same pattern. Even the most productive corporations had lost sight of one of the things they were given there: job and professional development.
It is contradictory that corporations with strong monetary effects prevent investment in people. It’s as if corporations have gained so much notoriety that their workers give them a pass. They also didn’t have much choice in the matter, as their professional characteristics were limited. But our conclusion, based on the data, is that workers remained engaged and satisfied, even as discussions about careers took a back seat in favor of more pressing issues.
This habit is not unforeseen if you look at the underlying psychology. Going back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, corporations protected themselves and kept their workers safe.
As we head into 2021 and beyond, it’s time for leaders to return to practices we know are mandatory for building and sustaining culture.
Reframe Your Mission, Values, and Vision
This is the best time to reset your goal and the direction you intend to take from now on in your long-term vision.
Recalibrate Goal Setting
While many of our clients still set three- to five-year goals, many executives resist being held to any long-term deliverables. The process of goal setting needs to happen more often during times of uncertainty. Long-term goals are still valid and valuable, but they should be reevaluated every quarter.
Execute A Feedback Loop
The strategies by which many corporations provide feedback to their workers are utterly flawed. During the pandemic, conversations with workers have become almost fully operational. They focus on solving short-term problems, such as how to ensure certain workers have the right protective equipment.
In recent years, classic feature reviews have evolved from classic feature reviews to regular weekly or monthly one-on-one meetings. The challenge is that by increasing frequency, managers sacrifice depth. While many corporations froze salaries last year, managers were even more reluctant to lead career debates.
While we still think annual feature reviews are useful, not all managers see it that way. If you’ve moved on to more normal feedback, set expectations and provide teams so managers can continue to have conversations about their careers and workers have a learning plan that informs them on how to gain skills. Valuable ultimate skills.
Promotion of Duty
Not so long ago, many employers paid hiring bonuses out of desperation to locate young talent. As the unemployment rate falls, the demand for labor will shift again. For millennials, one tactic that works well is to ask them to engage in a “tour of duty. “This requires a mindset shift where employers ask their employees to give their all over a period of two to three years. The employer then commits to the worker in their career progression, even if it means leaving for another company. As the old saying goes, “The only thing worse than a worker quitting and leaving is a worker quitting and staying. “
Re-engage in training
While employers want to reaffirm their commitment to training, this is likely to change. At the beginning of last year, many corporations turned to new software equipment overnight, without any prior ideas or training. Many other people are still struggling to organize their data and acclimate to collaborative technologies. Maybe it’s time for everyone to catch up on computer skills, etc.
As our economy begins to emerge from the pandemic, it is time to return to the rituals used by companies to promote culture and provide an environment where other people can be the most productive versions of themselves.
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