Leadership Update – December 2022

December 6, 2022

Relationships first, always 

As the calendar turns to December and the march to the end of 2022 gathers pace, the final Leadership Update of the year is dedicated to our workplace relationships and the conversations that sustain and nurture them.  

Because while the end of the year might signal time to review the successes and achievements of the year, are people in the right place mentally to have those conversations? Equally, can you be sure that a new mental health and well-being initiative is enough to alleviate the workplace pressures people are under? Or do we need to pay more attention to the simple, everyday interactions and conversations that do so much to build strong, enduring relationships? 

Join Andy and Juliet as they chat about the themes emerging from this month’s Leadership Update including conversations and retros, the benefit of involving the whole team in goal setting and how much we can still learn about leadership from the late Queen Elizabeth II.  

 We hope you enjoy the final Leadership Update of the year, and that you’ll join us for more in 2023.  

Research in leadership

Every month we curate the most interesting research in leadership and present you with a summary to help you find the most valuable insights for you and your organisation.

The importance of culture after the Great Resignation

Research in Forbes finds 74% of American workers believe culture influences their jobperformance and 63% believe it impacts organisational success. Increasingly workers are choosing employers for culture more than the job so it’s fundamental to attracting talent

What works, and what doesn't, in transformation

BCG identifies three essential elements of successful transformations – holistic management of change efforts, consistent leadership alignment and employee-centric change management. With these three dimensions in place success is twice as likely on average.

Leaving leadership

Reflecting on the departure from global politics of Jacinda Ardern and Nicola Sturgeon some commentators have recognised the toxic culture surrounding politicians. They both identified their humanity as a reason to leave – what is your culture doing to your people?

Workplace rituals: Recapturing the magic of what we've lost

McKinsey partners discuss workplace rituals and how they build community and culture in an organisation. With hybrid work we need to be intentional about creating rituals that connect people, even when they are physically apart, to build relationships and belonging

Transform your culture with continuous learning

One of the most powerful culture changes for an organisation to thrive is to adopt a learning culture. Recognising that most learning is not in a formal classroom but every day on the job and through social interactions will enable employees to learn to experiment.

HR Predictions for 2023

Josh Bersin’s Predictions for 2023 include the idea that ‘every company will need to revisit its leadership model’. Companies now work in teams not hierarchies, and focus on skills not jobs. Leadership culture needs to change from directive to supportive and empowering.

Transformational benefits of treating every employee as a leader

Chief People Officer at Gympass has created a paradigm shift in organisational culture by treating every employee as a leader. They feel empowered to drive change and autonomy to make decisions. Engagement, innovation and retention are up, and burnout is down.

Collaborative overload

Prof Rob Cross explains in HBR the concept of Collaborative Overload. Collaboration is taking over the workplace, with many positive outcomes, but too much collaboration is slowing decision making and leading to burn out. We need to collaborate more efficiently.

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