Leading tomorrow's people

Avoid sleepwalking into a leadership challenge

Creating a resilient workforce isn’t just about ensuring your business can weather today’s storms. In order to provide strong leadership for the long haul you need to understand what’s happening now for the next generation of employees- and indeed the younger generation of employees already onboard. 

If your intention is to be an innovative, vibrant, sustainable company, staying ahead of the workforce curve starts now - whilst your future people are still at school!

Too soon? 

Read on and find out why I really don’t think it is. 

People and place

Covid has accelerated workplace change at a speed we could never have predicted. Far from everyone ‘downing tools’ and heading home to sit the pandemic out in safety, companies of all sizes pivoted, transformed, adjusted and adapted. 

Naturally there was an initial moment of downing tools as people took stock and regrouped. But for many - particularly SMEs - that was fairly short lived and radical changes were implemented, seemingly overnight. 

Now, although Covid is still very much with us, the dust is starting to settle and business owners are looking beyond survival, to the long term future and what it will take to create a sustainable organisation. 

If Covid has taught us anything, it’s that there is no longer a clear definition of what we mean by a ‘place of work’. It can be a coffee shop, a garage, or in my case, a conservatory. 

What’s more, when we go on to talk about the workforce - the people in our businesses - we need to be considering it in its greatest span - including strategic suppliers, partners, associates and other contracted labour as well as that which you ‘own’ by virtue of a contract of employment. 

In essence, the ‘traditional’ workforce and workplace - or ‘workspace’ - has radically changed and, for many it will never revert. Opening the door wide to new opportunities and, inevitably, challenges. 

Technological transformation

When we think about the future, I think we often default to thinking about technology and what it means for ‘us’. Perhaps worrying that we're all going to be replaced by robots! Yet, as history has proven time and again, that's not always the case. In fact, humans are really ingenious about repurposing themselves. Just as the Tolpuddle Martyrs found themselves no longer working on looms, thus giving rise to the service industry, so those coming into the workplace now expect to be using technology just like they do in their ‘non-work’ life. And why wouldn’t they?. 

Unlike the experience many of us might have, they are not prepared to struggle on using technology that doesn't work properly, not having their lives facilitated by technology in some way or not having information immediately at their fingertips. New entrants to the workplace expect leaders to ensure they are making effective use of technology within organisations. Or at least they must be open to learn and ready to do so when shown the benefits. And research has shown that the ability to use technology is a key determinant in an organisation’s ability to thrive and grow. 

Sociological divides

Inevitably, given the UK’s ageing population and the government's evidence of an ageing workforce in the UK, we will see a broader age range of people in organisations - multi-generational workforces. 

With that comes two challenges for leaders to address: the first one is potentially more sources of conflict as they struggle to understand each other's world or values; the second is the vastly different motivators that will be at play across the workforce. 

How do you, as a leader, create a culture that thrives on diversity, harnessing the power of different perspectives to encourage healthy, psychologically safe challenges that will increase creativity in your business? 

Within teams, there will be such totally different world views at play. If I think about how my parents, and many of their generation, view the world of work, you were lucky to have a job and quite frankly, you stayed in it unless it was really awful. You just didn’t move around companies and those who did might have found their CVs viewed with suspicion. 

Add to this, the huge leap in how we were treated at school and how the children in school now are treated. Even as recently as 15-20 years ago, tough love was the norm. But that's not expected for people leaving school now. What’s more, we have seen evidence that it doesn’t work as well as we used to think it did. Yet there is a very real lag between the changes in the expectations of  our children and the leadership expectations of our  people.. (Hold that thought as I’ll come back to it later.)

Two great examples from my family are the experiences of my mum and my nieces. 

My mum completed 35 plus years at Tesco. It wasn’t awful for her so she felt no compulsion to change jobs. How many 20 somethings today could imagine staying that long with one employer?!

By contrast, my nieces’ educational experiences mean that now that they are working, they are not happy with a ‘traditional’ feedback system which merely tells them when they've done something wrong. They need to hear that they're doing something right as well - enabling them to understand what are the things they need to do more of - not just what the things are that they need to stop doing. 

With a broader age range of workers there are vast differences in the motivators at play for them. Thinking of the stages of humankind through the years, we want very different things in our 20s than in our 60s - the workforce is no exception! 

In their 20s individuals might crave adventure and dream of seeing the world.  Whilst workers in their 60s may be looking to their retirement when they can settle down and live a comfortable life - and of course the whole spectrum in between!

Another seismic shift in our workforce of the future is going to be the increasing diversity. Be it different gender identities, including those of a non binary nature, through to those with neurological diversity. We already know that certain Government organisations are intentionally seeking to attract neuro-diverse candidates because they believe their thinking style is a great fit for certain roles. 

Meanwhile, historic diversity challenges like North v South, rich v poor, privileged v disadvantaged remain at play in the organisational melting pot. 

As a leader, how do you create a culture that enables all those motivators to be fed? 

And how do you head off the potential sources of conflict? And indeed turn this potential conflict into positive challenge and creativity?

What if we do nothing?

Evidence shows us that there's a direct correlation between the engagement of employees and organisational productivity and/or profitability. 

Which means that it is absolutely in our interest as leaders to make sure that we're leading ALL members of our workforce in the best possible way. That we are being as inclusive as possible, in order to dial up the productivity and employee engagement of each individual in your charge.  

In 2007, Carol Dweck talked about how a growth mindset was the key principle of student success in her schools. Her research and findings has led to a fundamental change in approach to education whereby we now know that finding a way to empower and build the confidence of students is the best way to get them to perform. Sadly, that doesn't necessarily seem to have bled into the workplace quite as readily. 

As I mentioned before, if I'm honest with you, I think there's a lag between the product that's been coming out of schools for a while, and the management or leadership tone and style of organisations. There's an air gap and it needs to be addressed.

Of course there are a small number of organisations that have adopted a coaching culture - recognising the power of coaching and mentoring for the performance of their teams. But often, where I hang out, the coaching culture is not quite there yet. This means  younger people, especially, face joining organisations that are simply not equipped to get the best from their talented new starters.. 

Without being overly dramatic, I really do feel that there is a tsunami coming towards us creating conflict and destroying productivity. 

So what does all this potential diversity in the workplace mean for leaders? 

I think the first thing we must do as leaders is to get really curious about what is beyond the person that stands in front of us. To take the time to understand all of that richness of their diversity: their lived experience, their backgrounds, their view of the world, and so on. 

And then we have to think about how chameleonic we can be to give to each member of our workforce what they need in order for them to bring their best selves, or most productive selves, or most engaged selves, to work everyday.

Something I'm seeing in the Help to Grow - Management programme, is that there's a nervousness about offering feedback. That it’s an awkward thing to deliver and therefore it’s easier not to. Despite the fact that feedback - delivered effectively - can be positively life changing for the recipient! For more on that concept, take a look at the ABC model for feedback, brilliantly explained here by fellow TEDx Southampton speaker, Geoffrey Tumlin.

Stop sleepwalking start acting with intent

A word I’m using a lot recently in my work is ‘intent’ and inviting business owners to make ‘intentional’ decisions. Just as you need to plan with intent for the future, so you need to be intentional as a leader. This means recognising that, because of your lived experience and background, how you intend to come across may not be the impact you’re actually having. Recognise that you need to be more aware of yourself and those around you, and start doing things differently now, in order to be a successful leader of tomorrow's people. 

Book a complimentary introductory call with me here  and let’s start exploring ways to help you lead tomorrow’s people with intent and focus. 

FOOTNOTE:

Some of the thinking in this article was inspired by my pre Limitless Peak Performance work with PA Consulting, and particularly their Workplace Futures work. Although their focus was large corporate entities, the need to prepare and change is no less relevant for the small business leaders I work with these days. The difference lies in how you go about making those changes and that is where I can help.