“People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards.”
Dale Carnegie, Leadership Training Guru
Covid 19 has turned on its head the acceptance that there is only one way of working and that is in the office building. But as many companies are finding, their people don’t necessarily want to automatically return to the office full time. If they do, it is to experience something better in the future. New forms of workplaces such as hybrid working are emerging as a result.
At the same time, issues such as mental health and wellbeing, diversity, inclusion, gender equity and the need for people to feel a deeper sense of belonging and purpose – not isolated from each other – are critical issues for business leaders to address.
The old models of micro-managing people in an office or engaging people extrinsically will not cut it anymore.
People want to be treated as adults and to take responsibility for their own work ethos and standards and they want to be engaged from the heart. Since the start of Covid, many people have assessed the quality of their experiences at work, and they have decided that they want more.
Therefore, it is important now for managers to host conversations with their people to re-imagine and co-construct the new ways of working, what it means to be well and do well together in the multiple places of working – office, home, and hybrid.
Building into the very heart of these new hybrid and augmented working experiences is the power of positive recognition in real time and at scale enabled by a Culture of Appreciation, supported by the New Tech.
Unfortunately, too many managers, including some in HR still do not see the correlation between appreciation and positive feedback with productivity, loyalty and staff turnover.
“Organisations with higher levels of employee engagement report 20% higher levels of productivity” – Gallup.
As a senior manager or HR specialist, if inclusion, wellbeing and purpose are not major strands to your talent strategy bow you are likely to lose your top talent. If you don’t look after your staff your competitors will.
Tony Delaney, CEO Brownie Points.
