By Amy Dufrane
The last two years have been brutal. A record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in November 2021, a record 20-year high. The pandemic shifted nearly 70% of the workforce to remote work.
Without fiscal stimulus to stabilize economies and workforces, some employers would not be in business today. Unfilled job openings are near all-time highs, and workers expect maximum flexibility and autonomy. “Work from anywhere” is the new mantra.
The pandemic also caused spikes in anxiety and depression, creating an additional burden on already taxed healthcare systems. According to BusinessInsider, nearly 60% of workers feel somewhat burned out. The gender wage gap hasn’t been resolved, and women continue to leave the workforce, putting diversity initiatives further behind.
Is your head spinning yet? It should be. Within two brief years, almost everything has changed in the workforce. Tectonic shifts in employee expectations have occurred, creating sizable gaps. Yet another generation of workers – Gen Z – is forging its impression on the workplace with a particular emphasis on all things digital.
Leadership teams are responsible for shaping the organization’s short- and long-term strategies, chartered with balancing operational responsibilities with global innovation. Has anyone checked in with them during this formative time?
Odds are the answer is no; instead, during the last two years – similar to HR departments – they have been like ping-pong balls, reacting to every new inbound or internal bang, crash or thump. With virtually no time to recover and pursue new purposes, leadership teams are tired, drained and spent. This isn’t just a leadership problem: research by Gartner revealed that 54% of HR leaders say their employees are fatigued as well.
A recent survey in Harvard Business Review examined six paradoxical expectations of leaders. In a 2021 survey of 515 businesspeople from around the world, respondents placed high importance on a leaders’ ability to balance demand, such as being a strategic executor, tech-savvy humanist, high-integrity “politician,” humble hero, globally minded localist and traditional innovator. It’s interesting to note that while respondents indicated the importance of each capability with significant enthusiasm, conversely, they gave much lower scores to the actual leadership reality within their respective organizations. Another survey in Training Industry magazine examined the characteristics and skills found to be most desirable in leaders. Communications skills topped the list at 45.2%, followed by interpersonal skills at 44.2% and values and ethics at 41.9%.
Further complicating the lofty expectations of what constitutes a top-notch leader is the declining working population across North America, Asia and Europe. Research conducted by the United Nations in 2020 showed Europe losing nearly 100M workers in the next 50 years. The effect of this brain drain depletes leadership teams and fails to fill pipelines.
Everything Needs to Change
When everything is changing, everything needs to change. We’re not addressing a single-threaded problem here: the world has experienced a profound transformation, and there is no going back to what was previously “normal.” We’ve already witnessed some of these “quick fix” changes with the advent of new roles such as Chief Experience Officer and Director, Remote Employee Experience. But what good are fancy titles if they’re really just window-dressing for the status quo?
A recent New York Times article caught my attention with a pithy title that read “We Threw Out Any Plans We Had.” Perhaps no truer words have been written during these times of uncertainty. The article reflected on the disruption we’ve all experienced in the past two years but especially through the lens of the CEO. “We threw out any plans we had, any budget, any road map,” said one CEO, and with those went the sense of rigid confidence that had previously been at the core of his leadership. “It made it easy to say, ‘Let’s not kid ourselves.’ We have no idea when this is going to end.”
Shaken to its core, the C-suite is reeling from staffing challenges, empty office buildings, disrupted supply chains and inaccurate forecasts. Is this strictly a leadership problem? It is not. When nothing is working properly, it’s time to determine the depth to which things are broken and fix what can be resolved in short sprints. Attempting to conduct business as usual is a recipe for disaster, as is making long-term plans under the pall of pandemic times.
Instead, it’s time to assess leadership capabilities in the context of a workforce in which employees are remote, teams include humans and machines and talent drives decisions. Business still needs to be conducted, albeit differently. Command-and-control constructs will erode employer brands by repelling job candidates who might bring fresh ways of thinking and doing into the organization. Fundamental shifts in capacity versus capability management mean new tools are needed along with leadership team members comfortable in analyzing the corresponding data. “Performing while transforming” objectives with reward systems that recognize individual performance towards organizational success are warranted.
HR Holds the Keys
HR has a particularly unique ability to increase trust and collaboration across the enterprise, reducing that concern for leaders struggling with daily operational challenges. Gartner’s research measures of workforce health features three components that fall under HR’s purview: healthy employees, healthy relationships and healthy work environments. Providing employees – and their managers – with the tools to manage change and opportunities to share feedback builds trust in the organization. By increasing workforce resiliency, HR can “lift all boats” and alleviate friction and pressure on the already stretched leadership team.
Lending the same support to the leadership team will garner favorable results. A survey by Verizon Media and the mental health nonprofit Made of Millions sheds new light on the emotional impact the pandemic had on management.
Sixty six percent of bosses polled said they suffered from burnout over the past year, while 76% felt overwhelmed managing their people. Most (86%) acknowledged that depression and grief have become more pervasive in the workplace overall, nearly one-third (28%) reported suffering from mental health issues themselves. Supporting a culture where leaders can express vulnerability and pursue the same wellness programs as the employees enables them to lead by example.
None of this will be easy and, in many cases, there isn’t a roadmap available to follow. Hard-driving leaders will probably be replaced by those who are transparent, empathy-driven managers who balance the needs of the organization with those of the employee. There will be new impacts and skills required and a keen focus on scenario planning to ensure business continuity.
One thing is for sure: whether they are asking for your help or not, your leadership team needs you.
