In today’s fierce business climate, organisations are facing a perfect storm. A major challenge is that competition is strong among companies. This is not only when it comes to winning business but also attracting and retaining the best talent – the people who ultimately fuel your business success.
Ciphr’s recent research of HR decision-makers found that 51% cited employee retention as their top concern for the year ahead.
Alongside this, Britain’s economy is struggling through a highly uncertain time. Stubbornly high inflation and rising interest rates meant that 2023 proved far more challenging for UK businesses than anticipated. This led to predictions of low growth for 2024, despite the expected drop in inflation and interest rates. The run-up to the General Election on 4th July fuelled more uncertainty. With the first change in leadership for 14 years, businesses are refocusing.
In this complex climate, organisations are having to dig deeper than ever to succeed. In doing so, they’re asking their employees to dig deep too.
But this is happening at a time when employee loyalty and resilience levels are low while apathy and fatigue levels are high. The stats speak for themselves – today, 1 in 5 young people are taking time off for their mental health, and 32% of the working population have low levels of resilience to stress.
On top of this, only 23% of UK workers aged 42 and under plan to remain with their current employer long-term. Therefore, putting more pressure on employees to deliver could drive them out the door.
The impact of these clashing factors is alarming – today, only 10% of UK employees are actually engaged at work, costing the UK economy a shocking £257bn per year.
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Our panel takeaways:
On Monday 22nd July 2024, we hosted a virtual panel exploring how, in today’s complex and competitive business environment, leaders can foster a culture that fuels motivation and performance.
During the lively discussion, active communication, the power of language and the importance of prioritising wellbeing all emerged as key themes. These vital aspects of organisational culture, and more, were explored through the thought-provoking and insightful contributions of our expert panel.
We came away from the discussion energised, and having equipped guests with practical ideas to bring to their own workplaces, to help drive individual and business success.
It’s important to root the recommendations that came from our discussion in the reality we’re all experiencing at the moment – both as employees and as business leaders. To set the scene:
The business landscape is tough
And leaders are feeling the pressure – making tough business decisions, fighting for customer loyalty and market share. In this tough climate, they’re asking their employees to dig deep to ensure business success. But employees are at breaking point.
- 32% of UK workers have have low levels of resilience to stress
- Only 23% of employees plan to stay with their current employer long-term
- Only 23% of global employees (and 10% of UK employees) are actually engaged at work
When asked what was needed to build a strong culture, the panel responded with a number of insightful recommendations, centred around the themes of collaboration, bravery and the importance of active listening and communication.
In particular, Gret and Helen discussed the importance of company-wide collaboration, and the powerful impact of leaders themselves demonstrating effective stress-resistance techniques, communication strategies and openness that they would like to see modelled by their own employees.
Here’s what our experts said:
David Liddle:
Gret Batchelar:
Lucy Roberts:
Helen Barnes:
Foster a culture of curiosity
We also explored what leaders can do to inspire curiosity within their teams. Our panellists responded with detailed and evidence-based answers that reflected their combined decades of industry experience.
They referenced a variety of techniques, including the importance of establishing ‘curiosity’ as a core business value and the power of language to entirely (re)shape employees’ approaches to learning and development. Some of our panellists also encouraged the revision, if not wholescale removal, of disciplinary procedures.
Here’s what our experts said:
David Liddle:
Gret Batchelar:
Helen Barnes:
Lucy Roberts:
Balance intrinsic and extrinsic motivators
While our panel acknowledged the simultaneous, and often mutually reinforcing, power of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, they acknowledged that employees are increasing their focus on intrinsic factors, such as joy, fulfilment and personal growth. Their main advice to business leaders was to embrace this shift.
Lucy reminded our audience of the importance of creating a culture in which employees can easily have open discussions, especially about how they are feeling, their long-term aspirations and how they are managing the relationship between their work and home lives.
Empower through wellbeing
Here’s what our experts said:
David Liddle:
Gret Batchelar:
We discussed how wellbeing and resilience should be non-negotiable in the workplace – at all times, but especially when you’re asking people to go above and beyond. Our panel shared practical insights on how leaders can make sure they are placing their employees’ wellbeing at the fore of their business’ culture. Primarily, their recommendations focused on the need for leaders to act as behavioural role models, while also regularly pausing to check in on their own wellbeing, as well as that of their wider company.
Key recommendations:
- Give your people a jolly good listening to, we all need to listen more and deeply.
- Don’t be afraid of feeling, and be ok with showing you still have things to learn…that fosters curiosity
- Showing vulnerability and being ok to say when things aren’t working for you is so key…communication is two-way
- Support and invest in your managerial level. Focus on making their lives easier so that they can inspire and motivate all those looking up to them
In summary
👂 Listen deeply
🧑 Be human
🧑💼 Build effective managers
❓ Foster curiosity
And in all of this, lead by example, and role model the behaviours you want to inspire.
Organisations need to do more than ever to give themselves the best chance of achieving their goals. Your people are your superpower, but they need the right environment to outperform for themselves and for your organisation. At Stand, we work with organisations of all shapes and sizes to understand, assess and enhance their organisational culture.
Whether you’re prioritising retention, looking to grow at scale, navigating a business milestone or simply recognise that your culture isn’t working as hard for you as it could be, we’re here to support. We listen to your goals, challenges and priorities to build a tailored process that will get you the results you need.
If you’re looking at your organisational culture, feel that something needs to change, or just want to chat, we’d love to hear from you.
Click the link below for the full report.