Chief Engagement Officer at WorkTango, with 17 years of experience building HR tech companies and a passion to "improve (work) lives."
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Employee productivity and performance levels ebb and flow. It’s human nature. Leaders minimize downward blips by knowing their people, understanding each individual’s motivators and building mutually trusting, respectful relationships. The challenge is that it’s not easy supporting individual and team resilience when the world around us seems to be falling apart.
Uncertainty and change are chaotic influencers.
What upsets the applecart and sends employees scattering? Change management of all shapes and sizes, from my perspective. Mergers and acquisitions are a formidable case in point: When McKinsey & Co asked 3,199 M&A leaders if they regarded the change programs at their own companies as successful, only one-third did. New leadership, new policies and procedures, new regulatory requirements, new competitor gains and so on can create a tipping point, too.
External circumstances add pressures of a different kind, like the tenacious Covid-19 that keeps resurfacing and inflation rates headed skyward. People are calling their priorities into question and questioning whether employers appreciate their efforts and genuinely care about their personal and professional well-being. The massive employee exodus tells us that for many the answer is no.
What does an organization need to do to support employee resilience?
Risk management and the job of mitigating threats, typically owned by finance departments, has tended to revolve around dodging legal liabilities and financial dangers. But that’s changing. Employee resilience is what pulls organizations through times of crisis. Their engagement is the ace in whatever hand our companies are dealt.
These days, wise risk management plans are people-centric, and it’s every leader’s job to build an engaging employee experience that nurtures and protects resilience. Here are a few ways I’ve witnessed great companies approach supporting employee resilience through change and uncertainty.
1. Create a psychologically safe environment. Actively listen to what your people are thinking and feeling. Encourage people to express their worries and anxieties and to face their emotions. Be empathetic and acknowledge their commitment and effort in the face of such unpredictable times.
2. Recognize and reassure. To buoy resilience and confidence levels challenged by the randomness of life, appreciate abundantly. Use recognition and rewards as a means of propping up and dusting off. Convey gratitude and be supportive at every possible opportunity.
3. Lead by example. The speed and quality of crisis communication influences employee resilience, too. Be proactive where and when you can. This intentional focus on the well-being of employees can speak volumes.
4. Focus on things under your (and their) control. Having the ability to work in a way that allows us to manage our sense of purpose with flexibility and autonomy gives us a sense of control. Empower individuals and teams by giving them ownership over their work. As academics suggest, "the more in control we feel, the more efficacious we feel about achieving the outcomes we desire, and this sense of competence boosts well-being."
5. Check in frequently. Employee listening strategies like frequent pulse surveys are the ultimate tool for discerning employee sentiment. An integrated focus on performance management is another. You can fortify confidence levels and feed into the human desire for autonomy and control by aligning goals and establishing timelines, tracking progress and exchanging valuable feedback. Additional (and frequent) one-to-one discussions help create a psychologically safe workplace and are an excellent forum for recognizing efforts.
6. Help yourself and others learn to live with uncertainty. Life is full of surprises. As the old adage goes, the only thing certain in life is change. What are the triggers behind your people’s anxiety and stress? How can you reduce these triggers? Get to know your people on a deeper level and familiarize yourself with their physical and emotional cues. Watch for personal red flags that something is amiss.
7. Focus on the here and now. Employees are looking to their workplace leaders for assurance, direction and support. Try to keep the individual and team focused on deliverables by week, month or quarter. Continuous performance management processes can help with that.
8. Set appropriate goals and adjust expectations. Individual-centricity is where we’ve just come from, where we’re at now and where we’re headed in a more intentional and focused way. Recognize that productivity and performance may be impacted by emotional, physical and psychological reactions to situations and circumstances beyond your control. Adjust accordingly.
9. Be intentional. The difficulties and triumphs experienced as organizations, teams and individuals have shown us how employee resilience doesn’t sit in isolation. It encompasses all aspects of the employee experience and addresses what matters most when it matters most: from hire to retire, across different demographic groups, across different time zones and geographic locations and working spaces, under the direction of different people. The employee experience means operating under the influence of personal circumstances—right down to the visibly overwhelmed individual speaking to you over Zoom as a pooch yaps, children cajole and a laundry buzzer sounds off in the background.
So, take the time and use the right tools to understand the physical, mental and emotional psyche of your people. Employee resilience comes by way of planning, asking questions, listening intently, acting on feedback, setting appropriate goals and expected outcomes, and recognizing and rewarding efforts with authenticity. It’s a people experience strategy that plays on a continuous loop over and over and over again.
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