Topics
Leadership
Strategy
Leading Change
Talent Management
Skills & Learning
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Just like post-pandemic physical workspaces will need revising, so too will the skill sets and capabilities of our employees. Yes, leaders absolutely need to reimagine the workplace, but organizations cannot lose sight of the
people
returning to those spaces. Focusing solely on
redesigning the workplace
or offering flexible work arrangements (such as remote or hybrid options) without considering employees will hamstring organizations by leaving their people in the lurch.
If new strategies cause changes to our workplace, then those same strategies certainly warrant
a closer inspection of our workforces
— both leaders and employees. The pandemic made it necessary for companies to make strategic pivots to adapt to rapidly changing environments. To meet these new demands, they must also pivot the people within their organizations. Pivoting people refers to a form of talent management that focuses on retraining employees so that they can fill those jobs or roles most closely aligned with an organization’s strategic direction. Preparing employees now, through reskilling and upskilling, will allow organizations to move forward without forcing their employees to adapt on the fly — or, worse, to fail.
Focusing on Skills and Retraining
As the economic recovery from the pandemic gains speed, the emergence of new jobs created explicitly to support organizations’ revised strategic directions are inevitable. There are several reasons why it is important for companies to prioritize employee retention and retraining rather than simply recruiting new talent for these positions. The cost of hiring is often prohibitively expensive. In addition, institutional knowledge is hard-won and difficult to transmit in the short term to new employees via traditional onboarding. And finally, showing loyalty to employees is likely to increase their own
level of commitment to your organization
.
1
Yet, before retraining employees, it is incumbent upon leaders to both understand and clearly define their organization’s new direction.
What Is My Organization’s New Direction?
With the sheer amount of commentary on the
future
of the workplace being published in leading business outlets, it is tempting to jump on the bandwagon and incorporate the myriad recommended changes into your organization. But it’s important to remember that no two organizations are the same. This is a mantra that all leaders should repeat over and over in this period of change — change that will be both rapid and
expected
, by both employees and customers.
Topics
Leadership
Strategy
Leading Change
Talent Management
Skills & Learning
About the Authors
Curtis L. Odom is an executive professor of management in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University in Boston. Away from the classroom, he is the managing partner at Prescient Strategists, a distinguished principal researcher at The Conference Board, and a council member of the Forbes Coaches Council. Charn P. McAllister is an assistant professor of management in the W.A. Franke College of Business at Northern Arizona University and coauthor of
Political Skill at Work: How to Influence, Motivate, and Win Support
(Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2020).
References
1.
C. McAllister and G. Ferris, “The Call of Duty: A Duty Development Model of Organizational Commitment,” in “Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management,” vol. 34, eds. M.R. Buckley, J.R.B. Halbesleben, and A.R. Wheeler (Bingley, England: Emerald Publishing, 2016): 209-244.
2.
M. Martinko, J. Mackey, S. Moss, et al., “An Exploration of the Role of Subordinate Affect in Leader Evaluations,” Journal of Applied Psychology 103, no. 7 (July 2018): 738-752.
Tags:
Change Management
COVID-19 Resources
Employee Engagement
Strategic Leadership
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Comments (2)
Anonymous
July 08, 2021
Very helpful and useful advice. For my own purposes in mid-level management of an organization with a flat hierarchy, I focused on para. 9 (“Maintaining a sense of community. . .”) and para. 17 (“Additionally, leaders should embrace one-on-one leadership . . .). I can absolutely see how applying these ideas can help me be more effective.
Respectfully submitted,
Stuart Roehrl
Manish Thaker
July 08, 2021
Good article. Covering minute though very important details which generally goes unnoticed,
Thanks.