The past several years have been an ultramarathon for organizational leaders: They’ve led by example where none existed, and surmounted steep learning curves around remote work and an unpredictable economy.
But the past several years have also delivered incredible growth. Technological advancement, though daunting, unlocks remarkable capabilities in the way of hiring practices, learning delivery and optimizing talent cycles. Likewise, access to advanced data analytics unlocks numerous advantages such as the ability to enhance employee performance assessments or cybersecurity programs.
Today’s leaders face a unique playing field. They’re responsible for ensuring the growth and productivity of both organizations and employees. To succeed, they must lead with agility, compassion and careful commitment to flourishing talent through learning and development.
Acting with intention
Organizational leaders have to respond, act and plan with intention.
In a recent summary of their 2023 “CEO Excellence Survey,” McKinsey explained that high-performing executives are finding “the true signal within a lot of noise,” taking advantage of high-impact trends to manufacture moments of opportunity and create forward momentum.
Considering the large premium on technological skills, many leaders are making the most of the moment’s “digital disruption.” For example, according to the survey, companies can use ChatGPT and other emerging artificial intelligence platforms to tailor consumer-specific content and “leverage advanced analytics for competitive advantage.” When British beverage maker Diageo used geolocation data to target specific consumers, the company saw an impressive increase in ROI media spending.
Operating with intention can also pay dividends with company culture and morale. Another critical component of heeding the “true signal” involves stepping out of the way to create meaningful connection. As the senior vice president North America of Right Management, Karel van der Mandele makes an active effort to engage his employees. Like many leaders, he laments how remote work limits occasions for natural conversation. To compensate, van der Mandele jumps on any opportunity to initiate connection. “I always like to say, when you notice something, say something,” he says.
As Scott Blanchard, president and co-owner of leadership development training and consulting company Blanchard, puts it, “The best leaders have always been much more interested in building a deep relationship with their people; today, you’ve got to do those things on Zoom.”
“Most of the companies we’re working with are wanting their leaders to learn to lead people virtually more effectively,” Blanchard says. Given the high popularity of remote and hybrid work models, companies want to see their leaders “actually create a more inclusive environment within their micro-team.”
Learning to lead online
Like riding a bike or tying your shoes, knowing how to meet the demands of a virtual team is now an indispensable skill in people leaders.
Many leaders want to see employees back in the office, and to a certain extent, they can. Even Zoom — the company behind one of the largest platforms for remote work — announced its plans in early August for a “structured hybrid approach,” requiring local employees to enter the office at least two days a week. Talk about Zoom Gloom.
Like Zoom, tech giants Amazon, Google and Salesforce have also imposed recent requirements for onsite work. Though the trending transition from fully remote to hybrid work marks a step in the right direction, virtual options will likely remain a staple in the workforce.
“I think the genie is out of the bottle,” van der Mandele says; he too recognizes how virtual communication pales in comparison to the real deal, but he reckons video meetings and messaging platforms won’t be leaving the workplace any time soon.
For one, many employees have grown accustomed to the increased comfort and flexibility that characterize the virtual workday. In May, over 1,000 Amazon employees participated in a companywide walkout to protest the company’s recent requirement for onsite work (among other frustrations).
“It is very important for leaders to understand how you actually lead in that hybrid environment,” van der Mandele says. At all levels, managers should feel comfortable leading geographically disparate teams and providing meaningful feedback.
“There’s no substitute for good leadership, and leadership is personal,” Blanchard says. “It’s getting to know your people, caring deeply about them, and learning from them.” Through small but meaningful exercises like asking questions about an employee’s personal life, leaders can present themselves as an approachable ally instead of an intimidating boss.
Blanchard says the new reality of remote and hybrid work requires that managers be “much more sensitive, much more alert, much more aligned, much more responsive to what’s happening today than they maybe were just five or six years ago.”
Bearing in mind the importance of intentional action, today’s leaders need to maintain ongoing and authentic communication with their employees. Organizational leaders and management teams are now responsible for bridging communication gaps, and hosting one-off meetings or delegating tasks without continued support just won’t cut it.
Managing expectations
In an article examining how quality managers can enhance employee performance, Gallup reports that positive conversations can move mountains — so much so that 70 percent of the variance in team engagement relies on the manager.
With that in mind, companies need to keep a strong roster of managers at every level in order to drive employee engagement and satisfaction.
“The key to creating a great organization is to catch people doing things right,” says the company’s founder, Ken Blanchard. Healthy channels of communication and compassion are a hallmark at Blanchard. The company prioritizes building collaboration and trust between leaders and their teams — both internally and by way of leadership development training.
Blanchard teaches and utilizes a method called “servant leadership.” According to Ken Blanchard, the concept comes in two parts. First, leaders must articulate the relevant “vision, direction, values and goals” in a comprehensible manner. The mission is not to intimidate the staff or bury them in orders, but ensure that they understand what’s expected of them and have the appropriate tools to proceed.
Next, practitioners of servant leadership should make conscious efforts to level with their employees and “invert the pyramid,” says founder Ken Blanchard. Within this framework, the leader’s job is to work with employees, helping them to accomplish their goals and develop as individuals.
The “Great Resignation” marked an inflection point. This mass departure from the workforce — over the course of which millions either left their jobs or exited the workforce entirely — is still a considerable cause for apprehension. The stakes are high: In late 2023 and early 2024, an even greater number of employees say they plan on quitting, making it imperative that companies put their all into increasing employee satisfaction.
With a tight labor market and concerns over employee retention placing strain on the talent acquisition process, organizational leaders need to ensure they are fostering the best possible employee experience.
To begin, employees need organizational leaders they can trust and confide in. By reinforcing the idea that they have their employees’ goals and best interests in mind, leaders can improve the nature of both their individual partnerships and the team’s collaboration as a whole.
Another outcome of the Great Resignation, Scott Blanchard explains, is the shortage of senior-level leaders. As such, a lot of companies are concerned about developing the next level of senior leaders; the trend is as much a source of stress for executives as it is an impetus to strengthen their companies’ commitment to employee well-being and L&D opportunities by making sure the best possible candidates get the best possible learning opportunities.
Scott Blanchard explains that part of appealing to prospective employees involves showing them a safe, equitable and positive work environment. Along with empathy, people want leaders who promote and embody diversity.
Boosting engagement through L&D
Of course, hiring talent is only half the battle. To bolster employee engagement and retention, it’s imperative organizational leaders provide continued support through L&D programs that support individual advancement.
For van der Mandele, creating that sense of belonging and purpose begins with comprehensive onboarding and flourishes through career planning, which he believes “has to be an intentional process” within the talent cycle.
To begin, van der Mandele believes proper instruction for leading remote and hybrid teams is an essential component of leadership development. And in combination with the proper learning plans, companies should make use of assessment data to ensure they’re matching the right talent to the right jobs.
In order for companies to make the most of that assessment data and leadership development programs, those initiatives should operate at a “central level” to ensure consistency. To this end, companies should eliminate any discrepancies around assessments standards or action plans across individual divisions, and “really make sure that you run it as one,” said van der Mandele.
Using assessment data, companies can optimize the efficacy of their hiring practices, and continue evaluating employees’ performances as they progress into the role. At the same time, these development programs should work in tandem with career development programs.
Often, van der Mandele will find that companies only facilitate one centralized corporate leadership development program, then delegate talent decisions to their outer business units. And that defeats the purpose.
“The whole point is that you’re investing a lot in your leadership development program, in order for that talent to rise to the leadership level,” van der Mandele says. “If you’re not managing the career development paths for that talent to actually reach those levels, then that investment in your leadership development program is hard to justify.”
Staying ahead of the stress
A Harvard Business Review article identifies six broad factors contributing to executive burnout—“having an unsustainable workload, a perceived lack of control, insufficient rewards for effort, a lack of a supportive community, a lack of fairness, and mismatched values and skills” — each highlighting the importance of equipping leaders and managers with the necessary tools for protecting their mental health and mentality.
For Scott and Ken Blanchard, the most important elements to keep in mind are mindset and skill set — that is, your understanding of what it means to lead, and your ability to engage a spectrum of emotionally loaded conversations. Leaders should aim to foster a partnership with their team members, and remember that negative outcomes are not a personal failure.
To echo Ken Blanchard, “one plus one is a lot greater than two.”
