With the COVID19 pandemic, leaders have been stretched to the next level.  Initially they needed to find out how they were going to function remotely, whilst keeping cash-flow occurring, navigate government requirements and find a way to keep results above water.  Now, many leaders are trying to navigate how to keep their people focused with many shifting to a virtual or hybrid workforce.  

We have entered what I refer to as the ‘New Leadership Journey’.  The next phase will require leaders to elevate the way they think and the way they implement to a new and higher level.  Leaders will need to increase their agility of action with the speed of decision making.  In addition they will need to find new ways to keep staff that are working remotely, motivated and build a positive team culture.

So what is your plan?  If you think that staff are just going to return back to the office working a full day everyday as they used to, you will find it will be difficult to keep the best and the brightest workers.  During the pandemic staff have realised that they enjoy the flexibility of working remotely and the increase of up to 2 hours per day that they gain when they do not have to commute to and from the office.

I believe that leaders need to build up their skills in a new way of operating.  They need to start the ‘New Leadership Journey’ to find the balance of connecting and engaging their people, without micromanaging them.  They need to encourage autonomy of their staff, and find a way to motivate them if they are not working side by side 5 days a week.  Most importantly they will need to find a way to mobilise their people in a way that builds innovation and lifts performance, not relying on old school KPI’s and systems.

If you want some help getting a competitive advantage you should start the Leadership Journey Program.  This 90 day jumpstart program is designed to lift your abilities in managing the hybrid workforce and keeping staff performing at the next level.  Please Click Here for a Free 15 minute Consultation to find out more.

I had an interesting conversation with a younger employee recently. She was talking about the massive workload and hours that she had been working and how exhausted her and her entire team were. Over the past 18 months she had weathered the storm of the pandemic, lockdowns, virtual working, increased workloads and stress. She had reached her limit and was questioning what to do.

She knew that the Christmas holidays were coming soon and that would give her the break that she needed to recharge her batteries. Then she mentioned what many leaders are completely unaware of. She said that she had been looking on the recruitment websites and someone with her experience in her role could be making up to 20% more that she currently was!

In her mind she will not determine whether or not she will stay based on the size of the Christmas bonus or raise that she expects to be given. And this is not a one-off example. Across numerous industries and roles, many people are exhausted and looking for a break. With the market turning to a shortage of quality talent, this has created an increase in the amount of money that is being offered to get people to switch.

Unfortunately, the leaders are completely unaware of this dynamic. Many executives have had to weather the storm and find ways to make it through the pandemic and the uncertainty. Many companies have been able to not only manage through this challenge, but most of them are seeing a big boom in sales which for many will translate to profits. 

The trick? Many of these leaders are old school and they believe that their people will just stay. In the next 2-3 months they will be shocked when many of their talented people accept job offers for 10-20% more, have a break to go on holiday and then start working with their competitors.

What can you do? Leaders need to start showing their appreciation for the massive hours and workload that their people have put in over the past 18 months. They also need to recognise and reward them to demonstrate that they are valuable. I know of some organisations that are planning a big Christmas this year with regional events, and plan of giving staff some bonuses or weekend getaway rewards to show their appreciation. So what are you planning? 

If you want some help getting a competitive advantage and keeping your people from resigning, I recommend my Leadership Journey Program. This 90 day jumpstart program is designed to lift your leaders abilities in managing the hybrid workforce and keeping their people performing at the next level. Please Click Here for a Free 15 minute Consultation to find out more.

Recent research reported by Smart Company and Microsoft has shown that up to 40% of employees are looking at resigning due to the pressure and burnout from the COVID19 pandemic.  Many staff are feeling unappreciated and unloved.  

The frightening thing that I am noticing is that many top executives are not aware of this.  Some are so old school that they still believe that staff will cling to any job to keep the security given the uncertainty of the pandemic.  Right now, recruiters are reporting there is currently massive demand for good quality staff at all levels, ranging from the frontline to the top level.  

On top of this is the recent research by Garner in their 2021 Hybrid Work Employee Survey that showed 54% of employees say that their ability to work more flexibly would impact whether they will stay at their current organisation or not!  On top of this 68% said that they prefer a hybrid model that allows them to continue working remotely as things go back to the new ‘normal.’  

So what is your leadership team planning to offset this great resignation that has already started to occur?  If you believe that having a ‘flexible’ workplace means that staff may be able to take a day and work remotely once in a while, you may be at direct odds to what most employees are thinking and when staff start leaving it will be too late! 

What can you do to reduce the great resignation from impacting your business?  Here are 3 key initiatives that you should be doing:

• Communicate & Share Your Appreciation.  Now is the time that leaders need to communicate with staff and listen to the fact that they are exhausted and mentally drained and need to have a ‘whinge.’  You need to do small things to show your appreciation. This can include taking them to lunch, providing meal, movie or massage gift cards that provide them with an experience they will enjoy. 
• Plan a Fun Christmas Event.  In speaking with a number of clients, they are planning big Christmas events this year for their people.  The reason why is that all the disruption and stress need to be left behind so people can look forward to next year.  To offset state border lockouts they are looking at having regional or state based events and including staff partners.  A few of my clients are considering doubling their budget to offer small gifts of thanks to their people.  
• Develop Their Skills.  One of the best ways to show people that you appreciate them is to develop their skills.  Sign them up for a customised program that helps them find ways to get more things done in less time, which will reduce their stress and workload. Staff that are growing and see opportunities in the future are the ones that want to stay and make things happen, which will often help them resist offers from competitors!

If you want some help getting a competitive advantage and keeping your people from resigning, I recommend my Leadership Journey Program.  This 90 day jumpstart program is designed to lift your leaders abilities in managing the hybrid workforce and keeping their people performing at the next level.  Please Click Here for a Free 15 minute Consultation to find out more.

So what kind of leader are you?  Innovative, visionary, traditional, consultative, open minded?  What about brave?  I think the massive changes and uncertainty that we have had over the past 18months have tested many leaders.  Some have held true to their values, whilst others let fear get the better of them.

I was talking to a middle level manager about her executive leadership team this week.  We had a very interesting discussion about their approach to leading, as she described their behaviour and the way they made decisions as very old school.  Very much top down with meetings behind closed doors and making decisions at the top, without much regard or intelligence from other areas of the business.

When I asked her about what will happen to their business moving forward, she said they were about to roll out a global program that wouldn’t work.  They forgot a key ingredient, they did not check with people across the organisation to see if their strategy would work or not.  This new initiative (and the millions of dollars being invested into it) will most likely fail, or struggle along without reaching the potential that could have been achieved.  Why?  Because the executive leaders were not brave enough to seek feedback from their people.

So what stops leaders from being brave?  Usually, it’s because they believe that they know everything so well that they can make the ‘important’ decisions on their own.  Wow, what a shallow viewpoint.  Common sense would tell us that the more input we have from people that need to operationalise these ideas, before we commit to them would be a smart move.  Unfortunately some leaders fear what will happen if they get feedback that may show an alternative to the great strategic vision that they created at the executive level.

So what are you doing to be a brave leader?  Are you asking for people’s honest opinion on a number of your business initiatives?  Do you ask people to score your ability to communicate and provide them with leadership?  If not, why not?

I am excited to launch my new Leadership Journey Program.  This 90 day jumpstart program is designed to help you and your leaders start to collectively identify how to lift your leadership and staff engagement to the next level.  Please Click Here for a Free 10 minute Consultation to find out more.

I was working with a leader this week who mentioned they’d noticed their workload has gone up a notch.  As we discussed the multiple projects and deadlines that she was juggling she made an interesting observation, “I have started my race toward the end of the year.”

This is a common thing that I see with many people toward the middle of October.  People realise that there are only 9 weeks until Christmas, so the demands of clients and other people start to increase.  Everyone knows that they are on borrowed time to get as many things done as possible, before the holiday season starts to hit (I have not seen any Christmas items in the shops yet, but they normally start putting them out in the next couple of weeks!)

So this brings me to some question:  What is your plan to win the race toward the end of the year?  Have you started to plan ahead to look at your workload, the numerous tasks and projects that you have coming and started to get on the front foot?  Have you started checking in with your people to see how their plan is going for the last quarter of the year and ensure that they are being a bit strategic now, before the pace really picks up?  If not, you may want to start doing this now, rather than in mid-November.

This countdown toward the end of the year can also start to impact what happens at home.  Here in Sydney, we are just out of lockdown and people are super excited to get out of their homes and go to restaurants and back to the shopping malls (sometimes to just get out of the house that we have been locked in!)  Melbourne is not far behind, and they are also looking at opening up in the next couple of weeks after being recognised as the most locked down city in the world.

It makes me think what impact this is going to have on many people.  As they get out and start enjoying the freedoms and the warm summer weather, what will happen to their productivity at work?  With the high levels of burnout and fatigue that many people have been feeling, it will be even more important for leaders to ensure that their people are prepared to keep a steady pace toward the end of the year and not crash and burn beforehand.  It will be even more important for people to keep up their exercise and eat healthy food to keep the energy up (just a reminder to you and me!)

If you are looking to provide something that will give your people a bit more support and bounce in their step, you may be interested in my How to Get Your Bounce Back:  Building Resilience in Uncertain Times Online Keynote, please Click Here for a Free 10 minute Consultation to find out more.

So Sydney is now approaching the 9th week of lockdown with no end in sight to us being able to get back to normal.  Melbourne is also in lockdown as well as the entire state of NSW and ACT.  And in looking at the numbers of COVID cases continuing to climb, it does not look like we will get out of lockdown until November – bugger!

With this dragging on and on, and the politicians saying that they are doing everything they can without success, things are starting to feel a bit harder.  I am noticing that many people are starting to feel the impact of this lockdown and it is affecting their work, mindset and energy levels.

So what can you do?  I think that we need to start sharing some Lockdown Love!  We need to look for ways to let other people know we are thinking about them.  Here are a few ideas:

Play an Online Game With them.  There are a lot of great free online trivia platforms that you can use to play a game with other people you know online at the same time.  We often link to them on Zoom and then go to a trivia site that will run the questions for us and allow us to have some fun competition.  A couple sites to check out include:  Kahoot – which has a range of different types of Trivia games like geography, sport, movies and more.   Skribblio – which is an online version of Pictionary.  One person selects what they need to draw and the others have to guess it.   

Send Someone a Simple Gift.  It can be something that they may appreciate and something that  brings a little smile to their face.  One option is to find something simple and order it online and have it sent to their home.   This could include flowers, chocolate or even a hamper.  I recently sent a gift  hamper from The Hamper Emporium that had some food and champagne to one of my staff that is making a bigger difference – thanks Kat! (www.thehamperemporium.com.au)  

Send Someone a Unique Gift.  Sometimes you may have a relative or best friend that just needs something a little more.  Often you want to find something a bit special that may not be found in every retail store.  I recommend checking out Dirty Janes Vintage.  They have physical stores in Bowral and Canberra, however they ship across Australia.  They are filled with unique vintage and recycled gifts that are really unique and will definitely make a positive impression and some lockdown love – (www.dirtyjanes.com/shop/)

I think if more of us shared some Lockdown Love with others, it would just make things a bit easier for everyone.  To gather some insights that you can use as a leader and provide some leadership hacks to help you and your team get through lockdown, please Click Here for a Free 20 minute Consultation.

I have a question for you, are you a decisive leader? Do you gather the information, check with your people and then make a decision? Or are you one of those leaders that seems to sit or put off making a decision?

In a coaching session I had with a senior leader this week we were discussing his approach. Because many Australian cities have gone back into lockdown, he was reflecting on the impact that this was having across his business nationally. Whilst we spoke, it was clear that he had not communicated to his people about the way forward and if anything needed to be altered due to this situation.

So I asked him, what do you think your people want? No communication or reassurance of the way forward? He quickly realised that it was better to give them an update that their current strategy was still on track. He also realised that he had failed to be decisive and was waiting too long for every possible scenario to be over analysed before communicating to his people.

So what do you need to make a decision on? Is there something that you should have addressed as a leader that you have been avoiding? Are you not sure how to deliver the message to someone that could be challenging? Are you trying to decide on how to achieve more with your people?

One of my most popular programs has been my Leadership Hacks Fast Track Program that enables people to get more things done in less time and influence others to do the same. This includes quicker ways to influence, respond to requests and take action. The feedback from leaders, managers and staff that have completed the program (virtually and in person!), has been how practical and easy it has been to implement these new techniques.

So do yourself (and your people) a favour and look into how you can get your people to increase their effectiveness and their influence with others by using these practical Leadership Hack techniques.

Please Click Here for a FREE 20 minute consultation where I will show you some of the strategies that could be used to help your people keep up and stay in front.

Also the Future of Leadership series is starting later this month and as a reader of my newsletter, you are able to receive a 15% discount when you book by using the code SCOTT15. Just head to the Future of Leadership website to select your city, put in the promo code.

Remember to be the leader that makes these important decisions and communicate them to your people!

I was speaking to a number of CEO’s & mid-level managers about the current pace of business and on the back of the pandemic (with a few rolling restrictions predicted to continue over the next 6-12 months), the pace of activity has gone up.

If you think back to a little over a year ago, almost everyone was bunkered down and working from home in lockdown.  Everyone was racking up the Zoom meetings to connect (I even delivered almost 25 virtual training sessions in June/July last year!)  Things were very uncertain and only a few industries were still trading.

Fast forward to today and things are very different.  Almost all of the clients that I am working with have mentioned the same trend; not enough time or people to get through the current workload.  This is happening across industries with many people spread thin and exhausted from the changes over the past year.

So my question is what are you doing to help your people fast track their activity?  Have you put strategies in place to enable them to complete their role and still not feel overwhelmed?

One of my most popular programs has been my Leadership Hacks Fast Track Program that enables people to get more things done in less time.  This includes quicker ways to influence, respond to requests and take action. The feedback from the leaders, managers and staff that have completed the program (virtually or in person!) have commented on how practical and easy it has been to implement these new techniques.

So do yourself (and your people) a favour and look into how you can get your people to increase their effectiveness and their influence with others by using these practical Leadership Hack techniques and what better time to take advantage of being EOFY.

Please Click Here for a Free 20 minute Consultation where I will show you some of the strategies that could be used to help your people keep up and stay in front.

Also the Future of Leadership series is starting in a month and as a reader of my newsletter, you are able to receive a 15% discount when you book by using the code SCOTT15.  Just head to the Future of Leadership website to select your city, put in the promo code.

Remember as a leader your role is to ensure that your people can keep up!