What do CIO’s and CFO’s believe teams need in 2022? I asked 12 of them…
As you are probably aware, I host an executive roundtable. It’s an opportunity for me to help facilitate a conversation between peers across different industries and help unpack the challenges and solutions to problems. In October 2021, we gathered a quorum of CIOs and CFOs from predominantly large mature tech organisations across Australia and NZ. The topic?
‘Is your employee value proposition robust enough to survive the great resignation?’.
Going into the conversation, I expected the results to mimic some recent McKinsey research; that after salary and flexibility, career development would be the next most important factor for attraction and retention. What I discovered was that tech businesses in this part of the world are seeing things quite differently.
So, some observations, thoughts and actionable idea.
Three key take-away's
Salaries will continue to rise whilst the market responds to the post-pandemic needs of employees. Offering new and existing employees market rates is essential to attract and retain talent. It’s expected salaries will normalise but are unlikely to retract to pre-pandemic levels – even when international borders open.
Flexibility is no longer a differentiator – hybrid work arrangements are, in contrast, purely your ticket to play. This means where and when employees deliver their work is an expected key negotiation, weighted to the employee. Whilst the social nature of humans means there is likely a need to offer a physical place where employees can collaborate, mandated office time is likely to cause attrition not solidarity.
Following money and flexibility, the most immediate need is culture. What that means and how you manifest it in a distributed or hybrid world remains uncertain with many organisations experimenting with different approaches.
Two things that need resolving
How to create human connection, empathy and understanding – a hybrid work culture that attracts and retains talent.
Way of working that enable people to be productive; collaborative and focussed whilst simultaneously allowing for geographical distribution and flexible time.
One thing we can do right now!
Stay Interviews! Rather than wait for exit interviews to reflect on how you could have avoided a resignation, get on the front foot. Interview your high-performers to gain valuable feedback about why they stay, what drives them to deliver and what can be improved. Surely the feedback of an engaged individual is as important (if not more) than a disengaged person who is leaving. If you’re after some more information on stay interviews (including what questions to ask) take a look at this article.
Whilst I was reflecting on our conversation it occurred to me there’s a common sequence of events that I think these could be used to create the ‘hybrid working culture’ we believe employees want and need moving forward. I’ve used these in a pre-pandemic context to build high-performing teams, but I think, (and I’d love your feedback on this), we could use them to create a new way of building culture starting at a micro-level – i.e. a team level. Analogously, if the organisational values were DNA, then we’d begin building culture at a cellular level (teams) and then over time create a high-performing organisational organism with shared DNA. To that end, I think we’d begin by establishing a shared purpose, values, ways of working and a charter that enables the team to hold each other to account, respectfully, in the new normal. I drew this diagram as I was working through this in my head.
Once the team agrees their shared objectives, rules and measures (aligned to company values and objectives) then we focus on individual development plans that can be genuinely realised because they’re aligned to the work and can be measured. The aim would be, to create a culture that team members could describe, and new members could buy into; one that shares the organisational DNA, but is born in a hybrid/remote landscape not a traditional office world. What do you think? I’d value your insight; shoot me an email with your thoughts.
Need some help?
In early 2022 I’ll once again be offering my ‘Team Kick-off’ workshops. These are either one or two day workshops that enable your team(s) to start the year with a refreshed sense of purpose, objectives and measures of success.
This year the workshops will be offered in the traditional physical but also in a remote (notice I didn’t say virtual) format. I’ve spent considerable time this month re-developing the content and workshops to enable teams to develop their ways of working in a hybrid world and feedback from the beta groups this month has been essential to refining the process and delivering maximum value.
As a bonus, responding to the needs of the beta teams, this year the workshops will include a mindfulness component. Delivered by a mental health strategist and clinician the final workshop focusses on how teams can support each other to avoid burnout.
If you’re interested in a conversation about running these for your teams please give me a call or read a little more about them and register your interest here.