When I reflect on 2020, there were two major events that significantly impacted the world and also had a ripple impact on workplace culture that we will see more fully unfold in 2021.
The first of course was Covid-19. Beyond the social and economic impact, there was also an unprecedented impact on how we worked. Across the world, people embraced the power of technology to connect with colleagues and clients across cities and countries. The concept of flexible working, especially working from home, became a norm for many months. And on a lighter note, could anyone have anticipated the number of dramatic pets and children that would appear on Zoom calls?
When people were able to return to work, and especially for people in New Zealand (where we have been largely successful so far in our battle with Covid-19), the way was paved for many organizations to make more use of video meetings as well as seriously consider and/or implement flexible work arrangements. This will undoubtedly have a positive impact on work place culture in 2021 as a desire for workplace flexibility has been a trend in recent years.
However, for me a significant learning from Covid-19 in the workplace that was not as highlighted, was around the how leaders performed. “Connection” was a word we heard frequently through the lockdowns. It became clear that leaders who were able to connect to their teams on a personal level, and make those team members feel that their leaders genuinely cared for them - who listened, supported and coached – these were the leaders and teams who remained steady or even strengthened during very challenging times.
I personally witnessed leaders who were so predominantly results focused, struggle to cope with demonstrating the compassion and empathy that team members desperately needed. I also witnessed many leaders, whose strengths had not been recognized previously, rise to the occasion for these very reasons. The same could be said of resilience and managing change – some coped better than others and not always as one may have predicted. Mental health was also more widely discussed than it has been for years, yet unfortunately for many, the conversation between leaders and their team members only went as far as referring people to external support.
I can’t help feeling that now that work life is fairly back to normal, those learnings on leadership traits have been largely lost or ignored by many. In my informal chats with colleagues in other organizations, I have not yet encountered any who took the opportunity to re-assess its leadership competencies or introduce more training on competencies like compassion, empathy, resilience and change. Similarly, equipping leaders to have better conversations about people’s mental health is still an area where we could do so much more development.
People have been changed from our experiences and I believe employees now have a greater level of expectation from their leaders and organizations. I encourage people to think about how these expectations are being addressed. These are all great opportunities to focus on to build engagement and a great work culture, and I look forward to working with clients in this space in 2021.
Look out for Part 2 in my next blog when I discuss the second major event that impacted on workplace culture - #blacklivesmatter
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