When it comes to changes in life it is always a good thing to prepare. We prepare ourselves getting ready for the day – every day. We present our identity to the outside by dressing and showing up “our way”. When we go on a road trip, we prepare by looking at the map and fueling the car. When we hold a presentation we (hopefully) prepare to make a good impression to the audience listening.
As life holds changes, so does the work environment that is becoming increasingly different with the new generations growing in. Now, more than ever, it is important to adapt and getting ready to incorporate these different mindsets and engagement mentalities. The change is inevitable – we are all concerned with it. If you don’t adapt to upcoming changes in work and organizational cultures you might find yourself far behind competition over time. The art of mastering change is to proactively prepare for it, NOW!
Here are some summarized points to get yourself ready to be an employer of choice for the future workforce and to keep your employees content, engaged and loyal:
1) Create meaning and purpose for each person’s contribution
Let’s be honest, the old days of straight top-down hierarchies are over. People are looking for work that appeals to their abilities and engages their thinking and knowledge. It is crucial to make people aware of how important their contribution is for the company’s success.
Clarifying tasks and their purpose are the main factors of meaningful work. The motivation behind meaningful work is determined by the level of contribution.
2) Form teams with different roles
To get the best results out of teamwork you definitely have to plan upfront by answering these questions for yourself:
- Which person has which role in the team?
- What is the value of the output that each person contributes?
- How can we make the value and success visible and measurable for the entire team?
By distributing the roles in a team you should make sure that each team member has their own role to fulfill. This type of organizing teams helps to make them own their progress and reduces the risk of riding copycat.
3) Create a healthy feedback culture
Feedback is the nourishment of progress. If we would not talk with each other, we would not know what is happening outside our four walls. The same applies to workplaces. Be sure you make enough room and time for your teams to talk with you. Sharing and advising about issues is as important as sharing successes to create flow, motivation and sustainability in the company’s working progress.
4) Take in new inspirations – learn from others
As I mentioned in my previous article “Millennials and Gen Z(ensation)”, hierarchies will be changing into a collaborative working culture to keep up with the market changes and competitors. You can read more about it here: https://theothercoaching.com/millennials-and-gen-z.
People want to be heard, and further, they want to be able to actively contribute to your output, when you let them. There are things you might not know that is crucial to your success in business. Here you would have two ways how to operate:
- Delegate what you cannot (and should not) handle
- Listen to what your employees have to say and take advice from them
The optimal organizational structure is built on mutual advisory and competencies with teams and leadership.
5) Take a serious look into your meeting culture
Are your meetings valuable to every person attending? Can you commit to a meeting culture with more quality instead of quantity?
Don’t get me wrong, meetings are important to first, get everyone on the same page of progress and issues, and second, to create a kind of commitment to people when it comes to discussions about their contributions.
Rethink your meeting structures. Are they efficient enough to excuse keeping people away from their actual work for a certain amount of time per week? You can easily calculate the monetary value of each person’s time spent in meetings – compare it to the output, and see if it is worth their effort to attend.
Why don’t you just create shorter meetings, for instance, by only having the people directly concerned involved?
If your organization demands it due to size or structures, you can then have more meetings. Yes, there is a lot of planning involved. Prepare your meetings concisely, time-efficient and have the team members prepare their contribution to the discussion. Create valuable, time and content efficient meetings for yourself, others and the resulting output.
6) Build the base for Work-Life HARMONY for your employees
I recently read about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezo’s comment about how much he dislikes the term “work-life balance” and rather defines it as a “work-life harmony” (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/09/what-jeff-bezos-does-instead-of-work-life-balance.html):
“I prefer the word ‘harmony’ to the word ‘balance’ because balance tends to imply a strict tradeoff. […] In fact, if I’m happy at work, I’m better at home — a better husband and better father. And if I’m happy at home, I come into work more energized — a better employee and a better colleague.”
I definitely agree with this statement, since work and life should not be variables of an equation of half-life and half work, rather they should complement each other. Finding a job that matches one’s preferences and fulfills the seeking of meaningful work for oneself is the best contribution to a fulfilled and happy life.
Make room in your organization by enabling all the points above that work in business’ and personal favour. People take frustration or satisfaction home from work, then carry it back to the organization. It is in your hands as a leader to contribute to a better world out there if you generate an environment full of meaning, purpose, respect and happiness.
>> If you want to know how to put these points into practice, I am happy to help to create a plan with you – for a healthy and stable work environment. It just takes a click to contact me.
