Post-covid employee engagement

Fiona Passantino, February 2022

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Beyond Succession Planning

In any organization, people come and go. Even the best companies have employee churn, and until now, no algorithm has been invented that can successfully predict who will leave and who will stay. It is said that “people leave managers, not organizations” – this is more true now than ever – and one can never truly know the nature of this relationship[i].

Succession planning is about connecting the current supply of talent with the future needs of an organization, and building a strategy to develop, train and support the right candidates to take on leadership roles in the future.

Every business, large and small, needs to think one step ahead, both for the talent and for the organization. Especially now, when skilled workers are more empowered than ever, and demand is so high.

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Step into the Future

Future Mapping goes a step further. It doesn’t ask the question: “which one of these potential candidates can we mold and shape to assume this title in five years?” but rather “this person’s vision, work ethic and ideas align with the future of the organization; what tools, training and experience will she need to create take this vision further, to lead, open new markets, create new products and services, evolving the culture in the process?”

This way of thinking does several things. First, it’s good for the employee. it solidifies engagement in the individual and for anyone internal within earshot, supports employer marketing by firmly asserting a people-centered and flexible brand to potential candidates and reaches all current employees, suppliers, externals and the aggregate outward and inward-facing social feeds of all these individuals combined.

It’s also good for the organization. Reducing employee churn greatly lowers costs and HR resources in today’s acquisition market. Having a more engaged workforce means higher revenue, better customer service and better performance[ii].

Allowing people to be their authentic selves and lead in accordance with their strengths, values and histories results in higher overall levels of energy and decreases burnout for both the leader and those around her[iii]. A culture of engaged leadership means 37% more revenue per worker, 65% more innovation, and a tenfold increase in future leader selection[iv].

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Seven ways to FutureMap

1. Get diverse.

Future Mapping an organization means literally visualizing the new customers it wants to harness in five years’ time.

This is where diversity comes in. Not just the “window dressing” kind; that which is visible, based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, orientation and religion which is important and worth pursuing as a goal in itself. But embracing invisible diversity; the kind we don’t see.

It means celebrating the originals among us; the loners and jokers, creatives, rebels and introverts, people who grew up in ghettos, who used to drive taxis or former full time stay-at-home dads. All the people who might normally be dismissed as odd, strange or “not a good fit” for the organization. Do we tell our customers that they are “not a good fit” for our products?

The more diverse one’s working population, the higher the chance that these new markets and audiences will be pulled into the light, pursued. Diversity of thought and perspective is a key factor of innovation, which we know improves organizational performance and reduces employee churn[v].

2. Hire for values.

Both companies and people adhere to particular values. Strength of culture, clear core codes and beliefs, a strong identity. It could be more traditional, valuing physical proximity and hierarchy or one that is digital-first, risk-taking, knowledge sharing and “safe failure” friendly. While skills can be learned and behaviors shaped, core values are hard to change. Even soft skills like empathy, positive thinking, collaboration, patience and listening can be learned, practiced and improved with time and hard work. So, we hire values before skills, culture and mindset over actual experience.

3. Identify.

Future Mapping means literally laying the current org chart out and overlaying it with a future version of the organization. What new identity, markets, mission, will the organization take on in the future? Who can execute on these ideas, based on who they are now? How does that line up with the desires, values and strengths of each person of high potential?

4. Make it a conversation.

Most of the time, management discusses a person’s future behind closed doors and rarely shares these plans with the individual. Even if the brightest imaginable career is being planned for him, he is likely to leave if he’s unaware of it. He might also want something else or be happy to stay right where he is to make sure there’s enough time with the kids, which has to be perfectly acceptable possibilities. Future Mapping is public, intentional, iterative, organic and shapeshifting as an organization considers new markets, new products, and new customer types.

5. Develop.

Build experience with “stretch” assignments and strategic assignments that give high-potential individuals a chance to gain skills and confidence. Exposure matters; presentations, mentoring and executive sponsorship are high-visibility actions. And this goes right up the chain; existing leaders also need to be mapped to the future, and might need support to learn how to think differently to deliver more than the same traditional ways of doing that reinforce old-think[vi]. Ramp up training and development from top to bottom, fast, and visibly with measurable objectives and goals.

6. Create the vacuum.

Finally, leaders need to let go and create space. This is hard. In the end, people step up and rise to a challenge but only if there is one, only if it’s clear that people are counting on them. Then the individual feels the trust and confidence of those around them and understands that she’s up to the challenge. Start small, with high-visibility projects that don’t do permanent damage if things go wrong at first. Which they will.

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Thanks to great reporting by @deloitte and @johnsonwhitney (HBR)

Future Mapping is, in many ways, the opposite of succession planning. Rather than planning for gaps in the current org chart, imagining the future state of the organisation and asking which individuals’ vision, values and ideas align with that future. What tools, training and experience will she need to get there. Six ways to start.

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[i] Mike, Hiipakka, Schmall (2020). “Understanding Employee Experience: The Role of Leaders”. Deloitte. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/audit/ca-audit-abm-scotia-understanding-employee-experience-the-role-of-leaders.pdf

[ii] Devalekar (2021). “Why High Employee Engagement Results In Accelerated Revenue Growth”. Forbes Business Council. Accessed on January 12, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/07/14/why-high-employee-engagement-results-in-accelerated-revenue-growth/?sh=212382d9597b

[iii] Laschinger, H. K., Borgogni, L., Consiglio, C., & Read, E. (2015). The effects of authentic leadership, six areas of worklife, and occupational coping self-efficacy on new graduate nurses’ burnout and mental health: A cross-sectional study. International journal of nursing studies, 52(6), 1080–1089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.03.002

[iv] Deloitte (2017). “High-Impact Leadership Master Deck”. Deloitte. Accessed on Jauary 11, 2022. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/audit/ca-audit-abm-scotia-high-impact-leadership.pdf

[v] Deloitte (2021). “Business succession planning Cultivating enduring value”. Accessed on January 11, 2022. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/deloitte-private/us-dges-business-succession-planning-collection.pdf

[vi] Deloitte (2021). “Business succession planning Cultivating enduring value”. Accessed on January 11, 2022. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/deloitte-private/us-dges-business-succession-planning-collection.pdf

[i] Devalekar (2021). “Why High Employee Engagement Results In Accelerated Revenue Growth”. Forbes Business Council. Accessed on January 12, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/07/14/why-high-employee-engagement-results-in-accelerated-revenue-growth/?sh=212382d9597b

[ii] Laschinger, H. K., Borgogni, L., Consiglio, C., & Read, E. (2015). The effects of authentic leadership, six areas of worklife, and occupational coping self-efficacy on new graduate nurses’ burnout and mental health: A cross-sectional study. International journal of nursing studies, 52(6), 1080–1089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.03.002

[iii] Deloitte (2017). “High-Impact Leadership Master Deck”. Deloitte. Accessed on Jauary 11, 2022. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/audit/ca-audit-abm-scotia-high-impact-leadership.pdf

[i] Mike, Hiipakka, Schmall (2020). “Understanding Employee Experience: The Role of Leaders”. Deloitte. Accessed January 11, 2022. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/audit/ca-audit-abm-scotia-understanding-employee-experience-the-role-of-leaders.pdf

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