Editor’s note: This article is the second in a two-part series sharing insight from Employers Council professionals on the past year and the year ahead.
Human resources professionals like you are often expected to resolve workplace challenges that involve inter-personal conflict, dysfunctional relationships, and erratic behaviors — in other words, the human side of business that can wreck the best business plan. Such issues go well beyond HR compliance and administration, and sometimes, HR professionals lack the skill sets, tools, or bandwidth to effectively address them.
This is where the profession of organizational development (OD) comes into the picture. OD professionals evaluate organizations as holistic systems to identify gaps that spark interpersonal conflict, then provide interventions to create and sustain a healthy culture that generates an exceptional workplace.
As champions of the HR profession, we convened a group of OD consultants to reflect on their experiences working with members in 2023 and projections for 2024, in hopes of offering you helpful insights for your personal professional development. Below are the highlights of that discussion.
By far, the most requested topic for assistance in 2023 was workplace conflict at all levels of the organization. A trend of clashes over generational and workstyle differences emerged; there is no longer a consensus over workplace norms acceptable by all workforce demographics. This was especially trying for leaders and managers who had never experienced pushback on once-accepted basic norms, such as work schedules, dress code, and workplace behaviors. Our OD consultants worked with members to address these and other conflicts sparked by political differences, technology adoption, and more.
Takeaway: Workplace conflict is unavoidable and requires focused and sustained efforts by HR professionals, leaders, and managers to successfully manage changing workplace conditions and maintain momentum toward organizational objectives.
Members requested help to create a workplace that is inclusive and encourages a diverse array of employees to contribute their skills, energies, and thoughts to achieve organizational success. OD consultants consistently found a range of attitudes among employees toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, from excited embrace to discomfort resulting from lack of awareness or understanding, to a few who were angered and actively resisted participation. Many employees did not understand the rationale or legitimate business need for such efforts. Much work was done around unconscious biases and how to identify and manage them.
Takeaway: Clear communication and transparency around the why of DEI efforts are crucial to overcome employee resistance, secure employee buy-in, and achieve desired outcomes.
The tight labor market of 2023 provided employees leverage to expand their expectations for employers to meet. Beyond demands for higher pay and better benefits, employees expected higher levels of transparency and a voice in making business decisions, such as work location, schedules, policies, and other business factors. A major point of conflict has been employers’ call to end remote work and return to the office; employees demanded the justification for this action, and if not convincing or at odds with personal preferences, they disengaged and departed.
Takeaway: Like it or not, employees have the advantage to negotiate workplace conditions in a job market with more vacancies than workers.
Navigating organizations through post-pandemic challenges has been difficult for many leaders. The pace of change and challenges, along with the emergence in 2023 of the workplace realities described above, exposed leadership skill gaps. Lack of self-awareness, inadequate communication skills, unclear expectations, and impatience for results all contributed to disconnects between leaders, managers, and front-line staff. Our OD consultants report that approximately 70% of requests for OD interventions like coaching came as a reaction to a failure after trust had already been broken and had to be rebuilt. Only 30% of requests were proactive to prepare leaders with expanded skills to successfully meet emergent challenges.
Takeaway: Leaders are likely to underperform when their skills do not evolve to match the needs of their organizations during volatile socio-economic conditions.
Looking forward, our team of OD consultants offered these thoughts for organizations and HR professionals to more effectively manage the challenges of 2024 and beyond:
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Change management – This describes not only processes and tools, but the actions needed to engage employees in moving an organization from the present to a desired future state. This critical activity is often overlooked, creating conflict, wasted efforts, and reducing overall success; HR leaders must ensure attention is given to the people side of organizational change efforts.
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Proactive leadership development – Advance investments in leadership development (like leadership coaching and multi-rater feedback) build self-awareness and equip leaders with improved skills to successfully address changing business conditions. HR professionals can be trusted advisors to leadership on the importance of this effort.
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Transparency – Employees expect transparency and open communications around business matters, including the freedom to ask questions and voice alternative perspectives. HR can guide management to facilitate effective dialogue with employees to engage and build momentum toward organizational objectives.
For HR professionals specifically, our OD consultants offer these thoughts to become a respected member of and/or contributor to your organization’s leadership team:
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Practice radical candor: Speak up and be truthful to the leadership team on topics of importance; consider exiting the organization if a serious misalignment exists and you must protect your integrity.
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Skill up to speak out: Use data to support your comments and develop new skills to obtain, interpret, and apply that data to specific business objectives. Expect vigorous resistance, so verify data sources and methodologies to respond convincingly when challenged.
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Systems perspective: Like our OD consultants, look at your organization as a system of interdependent activities and relationships. Use that higher-level perspective to define strategies that align with the objectives desired by leadership.
When you face intractable workplace problems or wish to grow professionally, contact us to discuss your needs, and learn how our OD services can help. Our OD consultants possess the skills and experience to help you make a difference.
#Coaching#Leadership#Diversity,Equity,andInclusion#EmployeeCommunication#OrganizationalDevelopment#WorkplaceCulture