Flexible, adaptable, and creative: These are key factors that keep leadership to be effective in 2022. In an atmosphere of uncertainty that is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, effective leaders were nimble navigators and enterprise stewards.
Here are some key leadership lessons that you can quickly pick up to get ready for 2023:
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Great Resignation signaled a lasting scarcity of talent in several industries
The “Great Resignation” began in 2021, and since then, about 100 million American employees have left their employment. There are two main factors behind this trend: lack of employee engagement and pay dissatisfaction.
Unfortunately, late 2022 job reports provided more evidence that the “Great Resignation” is not a passing fad, but rather a hint that talent shortages and increased levels of structural staff turnover may persist in the long run.
While pandemic-related work disruptions may have abated, demographic trends have led to continued talent shortages for specific occupations, skill areas, and locations.
As we discussed in our previous article, what an effective leader needs to do is to continue prioritizing talent strategies, and provide a great, flexible workplace to retain employees.
“The Great Resignation has shown us that, overwhelmingly, employees are demanding flexible work arrangements – and they will change jobs to get them. We are also hearing from candidates that flexibility is a top priority,” said Liz Moran, the director and HR business partner APJ, at software company New Relic.
Quiet Quitting is not a new problem
The term “Quiet quitting”, made popular by a TikTok video last summer, is not new, nor does it mean actually resigning.
The term quiet quitting was initially coined at a Texas A&M economics symposium on diminishing ambitions in Venezuela in September 2009 by economist Mark Boldger.
“Quite quitting” means that workers are only to do the minimum work required by their supervisors, and that’s it, nothing more. Their tiredness from acute staffing shortages, economic uncertainties, isolation from remote work, and fear about returning to offices, etc.
Effective leaders can easily tackle “Quite quitting” by providing enough interconnectedness with employees, craving a flexible, collaborative, and team-friendly work environment, and developing a great training platform for them to ensure a greater understanding of work expectations.
Hybrid work is here to stay for certain
Hybrid work is the norm. Many polls suggest that employees value face time and prefer to be in the workplace two days a week.
Stanford’s Nicholas Bloom points out that after refusing to give staff Mondays and Fridays off in 2021, management appeared to grow more comfortable with an in-office schedule that allowed for remote work on four or more consecutive days in 2022.
One-size-fits-all solutions do not work. Looking for ‘best practices’ is appealing, but what stands out to me about the previous 12 months is the amount of experimentation that occurred. Some teams and employees will benefit from spending more time together. Others will prosper with more independence and autonomy.
Effective leaders should walk through their office, gather information directly from their employees, and plan a hybrid working environment that is really suitable for the office.
How to level up your Organizational Structure and Flexibility in 2023? Implement your own All-in-one smart office system.