- Remote Working / Keeping Culture Alive or Eating it for Breakfast?
With changing ways of working and a new expectation / ’new normal’ for most now well established, remote working has created new and increasing challenges for leaders and organisations, in terms of how to embed culture, stay connected (truly connected) to their people and their people connected to the organisational goals, a sense of belonging and social engagement and the more subjective aspects of what builds high performing and highly engaged teams.
For some, remote working has in fact created a disconnect and feelings of having a ‘job’ versus a true connection to others in the business and this may lead to more emotional detachment from people’s WHY and open the door for other employers/ headhunting and changed reasons for the decisions people make around their career/ jobs.
For leaders and organisations, this is a genuine change of state and something that should not be underestimated. It is intrinsically more challenging to understand how people are feeling, how connected / engaged they are and whether they are getting their drivers met in a role, when they are working more independently/ remotely for larger periods of time. This is not to say that remote working does not work and does not have a place – it absolutely does! However this requires a change in approach, how we engage with our people and exceptional leadership skills, to ensure that this is assessed regularly and through multi channels, with the right opportunities to connect people to each other, purpose and outcomes.
- Retaining & Attracting Top Talent in a high-demand and talent-short market:
Anyone that tells you that the market is not increasingly challenging, is not close enough to the market right now.
More than ever before, retaining top talent, creating pathways for great people and looking beyond what people have done … to what they are capable of doing is a MUST! We all understand the costs involved in needing to replace great people, however we are not only dealing with a market with the lowest unemployment rate we can remember of 3.4% (as of 5 Nov 2021) but we are also working in some of the most complex times ever experienced.
This means employers need people who can pivot, flex and adapt fast to ever changing challenges and that can work with more complex and often larger remits, under significant pressure and with the ability solve more complex business problems and lead more diverse, remote teams, with a high degree of EQ, Empathy & Expertise.
Likewise employees and potential employees have had a good chance to reflect on what matters over 2021 and have experienced more time with their families or working in a more self-directed environment/ remotely, with changed expectations and are therefore a formidable audience and carefully scrutinising future employers, their own employers and looking at what is really important, in terms of lifestyle, key drivers for working and what they need from an Employer/ Employee Experience/ Relationship.
- Agility & Working in the Grey:
This key areas that employers are talking to us about wanting from employees into 2022 :
- High Resilience & Ability to deal with Constant Changing/ Moving Parts
- High Learning Agility
- High EQ, Empathy & Engaging Leadership/ Communication & Strong Self Awareness
- Problem Solvers , Who can work from the strategi to execution , with broad scopes and thinking
Whilst people often talk about working in the grey, this is an absolute must when it comes to the challenges we are experiencing and how businesses move forward, with the ability to think conceptually, plan for the shorter term, with alignment to an overall mission/ vision and WHY and then constantly assess, re-evaluate and be able to change direction quickly/ success or fail quickly, with an eye on the big picture.
Gone are the days of 5 year business planning and the same goes for employers, who expect that they will retain great people in the same role for years. Time to look at the value people can bring for a shorter period of time and then look at how you continue to challenge, engage and offer stretch and different value opportunities for both employer and employee over time. WIN / WIN!
- Leadership Support & Investment
As we continue to navigate the complexities of attracting and retaining great people in organisations, the impact on leaders and their part to play is critical.
With increasingly complex working environments, wellbeing concerns and burn out a real issue, all of these areas may require further support for leaders, to manage and support teams effectively, with some leaders who may be walking into unknown ground here.
Most organisational leaders we talk to state that they would benefit from more coaching/ support and air-time, and this is particularly true at the middle management levels. This MUST be an area that businesses invest in for 2022 and beyond, to ensure that these leaders are supported and that future executive leaders and those on a leadership pathway are nurtured and supported, with opportunities to stretch, fail and to step out of what they have done and prove what they can do!
For our part – we relish the opportunity to support and represent people with huge potential and who display all the high performing traits we look for early on, with a desire to impact and influence the leaders they will become in some way.
Last but not Least – Choose your partners wisely and ensure that your search partners, recruitment partners, coaches and mentors, have your organisation’s best interests at heart, truly connect with your people and with the market (on your behalf) and have skin in the game to support impactful discussions, experiences and your employer brand/ mission in an ever challenging market!
To find out more about the authors of this article / start a relationship view our profiles below.
