H. Pierson

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Author: Dr. Awele Ohaegbu

Digital learning is knowledge that is enabled, facilitated, or mediated through technology for enhanced skills, training, and development (CIPD, 2021). It can be classified into formal, informal, and blended learning. Formal digital learning refers to the delivery of formal courses, usually for a fee. Informal digital learning is linked to knowledge sharing to support informal learning. Blended or supported learning is a combination of both formal and informal methods.

The COVID-19 pandemic spiralled a sharp switch with quicker adaptation to digital learning, as well as new technologies to support digital content such as micro-learning, user-generated content, and curated content. Other driving factors for digital learning growth include technological advances such as virtual reality-based learning, increased learner familiarity, and improved access to high-speed broadband. The disruption and recession caused by the pandemic have led to resourcing considerations of cheaper, faster, and shorter development courses for employees.

Furthermore, a prevalent requirement for employees’ upskilling due to organisational and technological changes has contributed to digital learning growth. Digital learning can also be perceived as an enabler of self-paced study patterns, giving it an edge over traditional classroom methods. According to Malhotra (2021), factors influencing knowledge interactions such as expert-based trust, organisational culture maintenance, employee autonomy management, and adequate feedback must be fully considered in virtual learning settings.

In summary, effective digital learning can be achieved through two key parameters: meaningful learning and mindful learning. Mindful learning entails the balance between interpersonal collaboration and technological mediation, while meaningful learning includes creativity, immersive teaching, and impactful engagement.

References

CIPD. (2021). Digital learning in a post-Covid-19 economy: A literature review. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Malhotra, A. (2021). The post-pandemic future of work. Journal of Management, 47(5), 1091-1012. DOI: 10.1177/01492063211000435

According to research published by Harvard Professors Robert Kaplan and David Norton (2008), the rate of strategy execution failure in businesses ranges from as high as 60% to 90%. Many organisations will fall short of their goals, especially when there are disruptions in the business environment within which they operate.

However, there are opportunities to set self apart and lead organisations to success, through execution acceleration and moving from a reactive to a proactive approach. The following pillars should be in place to successfully implement your plans; a clear strategic vision, the right people and culture, accountability and enterprise performance reporting.

A Clear Strategic Vision

“If you do not know where you are going, you might end up someplace else.” —Yogi Berra

Properly articulating a vision is vital for any business, particularly in a fast-paced and rapidly evolving sector. A poorly crafted and unclear vision statement will most likely lead to poor execution. Hence, a vivid vision is critical to successfully executing the strategic plan. The vision statement should clearly define unique values, success definition, and destination. It must achieve strong human connections within the organisation in order to be assured of its successful execution.

One way of getting your employees on board with the vision is to deploy The Visualisation Approach. This process entails the use of stories and visual comprehension modes to achieve a deeper connection to the vision. This approach increases group internalisation and follow-through by explicitly connecting the strategic intent to the desired execution outcomes.

Do you need to activate your vision or strategy? You can book a free consultation with us.

The Right People and Culture

“44% rank aligning the implementation of strategy to company culture as the toughest challenge.” – Cascade (2020)

Better execution starts with successfully activating strategy into the culture, yet most organisations do not usually see the line between culture and strategy execution. Even where they do, they are unable to achieve the desired impact on execution. In truth, the successful execution of a strategy ultimately depends on individual members, especially key managers. Therefore, aligning strategy with learning and internalization, managing, measuring, and rewarding people is critical to effective strategy execution. Today’s management must put strategy activation, a strong company culture, employee competence, and experience as a priority. Otherwise, the consequences will be reflected in the strategy’s execution.

H. Pierson provides a powerful tool for aligning the culture, energies, and talent of your employees towards achieving your organization’s strategic objectives. Our Strategy Activation and Cascading Solutions close the gap in strategy development. Download our brochure.

“The ability to make good decisions regarding people represents one of the last reliable sources of competitive advantage since very few organizations are very good at it.”—Peter Drucker

Accountability and Enterprise Performance Reporting

Who in the organisation is responsible for tracking the progress of specific strategic initiatives?
How do you ensure updates are on time and accurate?
Frequently, strategic initiatives fail because no one is held accountable for their progress. When a team or multiple individuals are the “owners” of an initiative, there is no one clear-cut accountable party.

The accountability and reporting process can be broken into data collection, data analysis and reports. Data collection is the process of collating information from disparate places into one system, to enable your analysis and decision-making with as much information as possible. Data analysis entails the examination of data to learn more about the story, with the use of data visualisation to increase comprehension through charts, grids, colour-coded icons, heat maps, dashboards etc. It helps to identify what is on and off-target, as well as what is needed to adapt into existing plans based on emerging observations. Reports help to distribute findings so that team(s) can review and discuss them for decision-making purposes.

Enterprise Performance Reporting is essentially about organising performance data, so that grey areas can be quickly identified within the execution process, track improvements, and ultimately foster accountability and execution success.

Through our 30+ years of experience working with clients across multiple sectors, we know what it takes to overcome challenges in the execution of your corporate strategies. This is achieved by fully deploying our proprietary tools and techniques that drive firm-wide strategy execution.

Author: H.Pierson’s Strategy Team

References

Kaplan, R.S., & Norton, D.P. (2008). The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press

Team, C. (2020, March 13). 51 Strategy Statistics and 3 Key Lessons to Help You Succeed. Retrieved from Cascade: https://www.cascade.app/blog/51-strategy-statistics

Thiru, T. (2020, February 19). How to Bridge the Gap between Vision and Execution. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/02/19/how-to-bridge-the-gap-between-vision-and-execution/?sh=24f6e5e63548

“Dispirited, unmotivated, unappreciated workers cannot compete in a highly competitive world, to win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace” Stephen. R. Covey

Employee engagement is fast becoming a prominent success factor in the current highly competitive marketplace. High and appropriate levels of engagements are important elements for the retention of talent, fostering employee loyalty, and improving employee motivation and organisational performance. Because employees’ engagement needs vary, taking a one-size-fits-all approach to employee experience will often mean you are not able to effectively identify and address issues that may be crucial, to the detriment and risk of employee productivity, and retention. Employee engagement strategies are best streamlined along the employee life cycle of onboarding, initial development, ongoing development, retention, and separation.

Onboarding (0 – 3months) is the process of integrating a new hire into an organisation, its vision, mission, core values, structure, and culture. It involves making available necessary support for the new hire to be productive, as simple as car park notice for employees, or how to access and retrieve stored documents. Onboarding is often interchanged or mixed with orientation. While Orientation is important for completing routine processes and paperwork, onboarding is a comprehensive process involving management and other employees which sometimes can last more than three (3) months. If properly implemented, it is an effective employee engagement strategy capable of positively impacting employee retention within the organisation and new hire’s productivity. However excited people are to start a new job, there will be concerns about meeting the expectations of their bosses, fitting in with other team members, and figuring out how their job will contribute to the success of the organization. Onboarding is a prime opportunity for employers to assist new hires with their concerns, and ensure they settle in easily.

Initial Development (3-24months) entails new employees establishing themselves in the organisation. Their focus shifts from developing the skills required to mastering their job functions. This creates a perfect time to speak with employees about their career ambitions and outline a clear growth plan. Initial Development is all about investing in your employees, which will ensure that people are able to meet the demands of their job and excel in the long term. For aspirants into more senior positions, it’s a way to provide the skills and training that will set them up for future success. Various and relevant developmental programs, as well as well-articulated mentorship programs, are usually impactful. Investing in employees is beyond building future assets for the organisation. Asides from helping employees to achieve their personal and professional ambitions, there will be a higher commitment on the job as well as loyalty to the organisation from the employee.

Ongoing Development and Retention (24 months & above) is about helping employees to develop the skills to master their job role, Ongoing Development and keeping employees engaged. By the time employees have reached this phase, reasonable investment would have been channelled into their progress, to have become key knowledge-holders within their function. Employees that have been retained this long, are a valuable pool of talent for leadership positions. They have market expertise, along with an intimate understanding of how the organisation works, its systems, culture, and people.

Separation occurs when employees decide to move on from an organisation. For some, reasons will be unrelated to negative experiences, they may have thoroughly enjoyed their time, but personal reasons encouraged them to move on. On the flip side, there will be those that decide to leave because of certain issues within internal control. Regardless of the type of experiences employees may have, the separation phase is an opportunity to have a grasp on why people are leaving. If handled in the right way, it will help understand the reasons behind employee attrition. With adequate attention and support to exiting employees, organisations can build a pool of lifelong advocates and brand alumni, from which there can be mutual benefits in the future.

Employee engagement spans different touchpoints and diverse interactions. With a holistic view from employees’ entry up to their exit, organisations will have a better understanding and value for how their needs evolve. When an employee’s journey is broken down into clear stages, it makes it more practicable to identify the processes that need improvement, as well as the assignment of such responsibility with specific actions to different people. This enables greater positive employee experiences in multiple aspects at the same time.

Written By

Tosin Oluwatimilehin MNIM

Senior Consultant

Head, Human Resources Consulting

H. Pierson Associates Limited.

Are you considering developing a structured onboarding process, conducting an employee engagement survey, or improving the employee engagement framework? At H. Pierson we assist you with an iterative approach to your employee engagement, which aligns with the fluid nature of an individual employee’s journey within your organisation

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on the 5th of February 2021, instructed the identification of individuals and platforms engaged in cryptocurrency transactions with the aim of stopping its trade and facilitation. The CBN’s stance may be justifiable, as there was a growing risk and the perceived need to control what seemed like an off-the-radar path to escaping financial regulation through cryptocurrency transactions. This decision however sparked outrage, controversy and some setbacks for the rapidly growing financial technology sector, which is said to have attracted more than $600 million in foreign investment between 2014 and 2019.

In what was perceived as an attempt to cushion the crackdown, the e-naira was launched on the 25th of October 2021 as a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), issued and regulated by the apex body and pegged to the value of the naira. Although a CBDC is not a cryptocurrency, it is best described as a crypto-asset or digital asset. So, within one year, the CBN clamped down on the country’s bustling cryptocurrency engagements, it also became the first African country to own a national digital currency.

Following this on May the 11th, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published rules on the issuance, offering and custody of digital assets on its website. The 54-page document targets sponsors, issuers, domestic and international platforms that facilitate digital asset transactions, including cryptocurrencies. In what seemed to be a coincidence, these new guidelines came immediately after the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva urged countries to look into the digital future and adopt public digital platforms to connect payment systems. She emphasised that even though the risk of fragmentation exists, it is worth exploring the idea of a platform that connects diverse forms of money for different categories of people in all countries.

With a gradual trend of corporations keeping cryptocurrencies as assets, even declaring the same on their balance sheets, it is clear that the mindset is tilting towards wider acceptance, despite sanctions to discourage full adoption. H. Pierson Associates commends SEC for its new guidelines that will strike the balance between regulatory standards and cryptocurrency operations in Nigeria. It is recommended that conventional financial institutions acquire the requisite knowledge to fully harness the benefit and opportunities of digital assets. This recommendation is imperative because, with a crypto-vibrant youthful population such as ours, liquid currency advocates can only gain fewer counterparts.

Dr. Awele Victoria Ohaegbu is a consultant with H. Pierson Associates Limited.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered a change in the skills in demand for board members, a new study has found. According to the Director Sentiment Monitor research published by the Institute of Directors (IoD) in Ireland, almost a third of business leaders say the pandemic has altered required skillsets and expertise for their board. Among the skills expected to be in demand in the coming two years are environmental, social and governance (ESG), innovation, cyber security and digital expertise.

“The pandemic has impacted just about every business in Ireland – as it has the rest of society – and this movement in relation to requisite board members’ expertise and experience reflects this. So, while a majority (65 per cent) of our survey respondents says the requisite skills and experience on their primary board have not changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, a significant one third of the business leaders say they have changed,” said Maura Quinn, chief executive of the Institute of Directors in Ireland.

Awareness

“The shift certainly reflects a post-Covid heightened awareness of environmental, social and governance issues, but also sees innovation, cyber security and digital expertise as enhancing rather than replacing more ‘traditional’ competencies such as strategy, corporate governance and risk management.”

The majority which was 81% felt their boards had the range of skills and experience necessary to drive the business and mitigate significant risks.

Strategy, corporate governance, sales, marketing and business development remained the most common skills board members believed they brought, with innovation, cyber security and data protection among the less common skills.

However, ESG and innovation were among the top three skills that respondents said would be the most desired and needed over the next two years. Cyber security and digital skills rounded out the top five, with marketing, sales and business development skills dropping to sixth place. Business continuity planning also fell down the list of in-demand skills.

It is worth noting, too, that the crucial importance of strong business continuity planning expertise also came to the fore during the pandemic, and it served those organisations well that incorporated it into their boards’ strategic planning and risk management functions.”

Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/business/companies/pandemic-triggers-change-in-in-demand-skills-for-board-members-1.4681090

Collectively, we have spent over 40 years researching this question. Our research on innovation styles identifies and examines the different preferences and roles people take on when pursuing innovation. By understanding this concept, organizations can better identify where specific people are needed and who should work together to generate new breakthrough ideas.

Our latest study relies on data collected between October 2006 and January 2021, across as many people in as many organizations as possible. Over 100,000 people — 112,497 to be precise, with nearly equal parts men and women — responded to the call, and we continue to collect data every day. Respondents came from 84 countries and work in a wide variety of companies and industries, including Microsoft, ArcelorMittal, Boston Symphony Orchestra, NASA, United Way, and Harvard University (and Harvard Business Review!).

Each respondent told us about what they like to do and what they do well when they solve problems (and what they do not like or do not do well). These answers revealed an individual’s preference for one of four unique innovation styles, each of which maps onto a distinct phase of a four-stage innovation process. Each style has a role to play in your organization, starting with finding new problems (generators), thoroughly defining problems (conceptualizers), evaluating ideas and selecting solutions (optimizers), and implementing selected solutions (implementers).

All four styles are necessary for innovation. Understanding which employees fall into which style enables an organization to manage their innovation efforts more effectively. However, in our experience, most organizations are lacking in some innovation styles — particularly generators — and we will be providing steps to help overcome this deficiency.

The Four Innovation Styles Defined

Generators

Find new problems and ideate based on their own direct experience. For them, physical contact with, and involvement in, the real-world alerts them to unresolved gaps and inconsistencies — problems that might be worth addressing as opportunities and possibilities. However, generators only find these problems at a high level; they do not necessarily gravitate towards articulating a clear understanding of a problem’s specifics or its potential solutions.

Across all organizational levels, generators are rare. Overall, just 17% of our sample were generators: 19% of executive managers, 18% of middle managers, 15% of supervisors, and 16% of non-managers. This means that, unless leaders are deliberate about including generators on teams, they may not be represented at all. Generators are perceptive of the world around them, and initiate and proliferate opportunities. So, a lack of generators makes it more likely that an organization will miss opportunities for valuable change. Given the importance of cognitive diversity in groups, this is a potential detriment to innovation performance.

Conceptualizers

Define the problem and prefer to understand it through abstract analysis rather than through direct experience. Like generators, they like to ideate; but in contrast they prefer to model the problem clearly — integrating the various parts, relationships, and insights together — which can then be used as the basis for one or more solutions.

Conceptualizers are the second rarest innovation style, making up only 19% of the sample. They are relatively evenly represented across most occupational levels, with 17%, 18%, and 17% of non-managers, supervisors, and middle managers as conceptualizers, respectively. But more

executives — 25% percent — are conceptualizers. This likely reflects the specific cognitive demands for that role: executive managers must strategically plan for more distant goals, rather than execute more tactical tasks.

Optimizers

Evaluate ideas and suggest solutions. They prefer to systematically examine all possible alternatives in order to implement the best solution among the known options.

Optimizers are most common among lower occupational levels (27% of non-managers) and decrease with a rise in occupational levels (23% of supervisors, 22% of middle managers, and 20% of executives). Because most solutions are implemented at lower levels of hierarchy, it makes sense that occupations at these levels are more likely to engage in optimization.

Implementers

-Put solutions to work. They enthusiastically (and sometimes impatiently) take action, experimenting with new solutions before mentally testing them and then make adjustments based on the outcome of these experiments.

Implementers are the most common innovation style, representing 41% of our survey respondents. Thirty six percent of executive managers are implementers, but are about as common among non-managers (41%), supervisors (44%), and middle managers (43%).

Challenges for Organizations

Two findings should stand out to managers. First, innovation styles are, generally, not evenly distributed. It is striking that only about 17% of individuals in our study were found to be generators while 41% were implementers. Second, people tend to sort into different occupational roles and levels of management based on their innovation style. For instance, generators are predominantly found in non-industrial occupations and conceptualizers are most common in strategic planning and organizational development.

These two findings contribute to the same problem: the organizations and teams you are working with are likely to lack the right balance of styles and be insufficiently cognitively diverse. If cognitive differences are unevenly distributed (e.g., there are more implementers and fewer generators) — and if people will choose roles and organizations based on their innovative style preference (e.g., generators are more likely to become artists and teachers, not executives and engineers) — we would expect most organizations and teams to lack the ideal cognitive diversity for innovation.

References:

Culled from https://hbr.org/2022/10/4-types-of-innovators-every-organization-need

Though there are some ongoing trends in the Human resource industry, the recent pandemic has caused a lot of change that requires salient changes. With the new era comes the need to make a different set of decisions based on current needs. Mode of recruitment, employee satisfaction, training and performance management are all aspects that must be considered in light of these changes. For recruitment, an interview carried out by SHRM reveals that 43% of HR professionals cited the top reason for the difficulty in recruiting has to do with competition from other employees. These stats might go out with recent development. To make the best decisions for your business and employees, a business owner needs to keep up with the dominant HR trends and emerging practices every season. Some of the dominant HR trends to incorporate for effective business operations are;

Remote work

This is the most evident change we saw in 2020. A 2019 survey shows that 61% of global companies allowed their staff to operate some remote work policy. The pandemic increased this percentage exponentially, causing businesses to move from working at the office to remote work, some fully and others part-time. A report from Gartner shows that 88% of organizations all over the world made it mandatory for their employees to work from home after a lockdown was declared. Though many business leaders were concerned about employees’ productivity, A survey from CoSo Cloud shows that 77% of employees confess to being more productive when they work from home. Even after the lockdown, remote work remains the norm for most businesses. HR professionals are left with the responsibility of developing strategies to monitor performance management and maximize productivity.

The reinvention of the employees’ experience

Pre-covid, the employee’s recruitment experience, followed this pattern – A candidate applies to a position, goes through the selection process, attends the interview and is finally employed. They get to the office on the first day, begin training and meet some team members, and get to hold conversations with these team members. The recent remote work trend has largely influenced this process, either eliminating some parts or adding a few. For example, the usual workplace conversations and teamwork are not fully felt in virtual spaces. HR needs to re-construct processes that better suits the virtual experience. Applying the former strategies to remote work will be highly ineffective.

Upskilling employees

A survey from Udemy shows that the demand for upskilling grew to 38% in 2020. Employees will need new skills to fit into a more digital workspace, and HR has the responsibility of ensuring that the new job roles created have the right talents in place. According to the Future of Jobs Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum, 40% of companies employees will need to reskill in half a year or even less. The report also shows that 94% of business leaders believe that their employees will learn new skills on the job. Currently, digital skill is a necessity for employees’ everywhere. Employees who hope to avoid redundancy must upskill so they can effectively communicate and collaborate with others.

Artificial intelligence(AI)

Oracle and Future Workplace conducted research that revealed that 50% of employees already utilize some form of Artificial Intelligence at work, which is a huge increase from the 2018 figure at 32%. AI is currently a major part of our lives. Integrating artificial intelligence is beneficial to the HR process, from recruitment to onboarding to performance management. AI will enable employees to identify high performers and suitable needs. It’ll also accelerate employee training and skill development. AI provides a platform for employees to interact as co-creators.

An inclusive and diverse workplace

As the workforce expands, HR professionals must take inclusion and diversity into consideration. A multigenerational workforce is a current trend within organizations. You’ll find a workforce that has three generations working together. A McKinsey report in 2015 shows that organizations with diverse workforces performed better than the national industry median. Companies that leverage diversity and inclusivity outperform competitors and also withstand challenges better. A survey by Glassdoor shows that 75% of applicants regard diversity as a major factor when considering job offers.

Conclusion

All aspects of a business must embrace new work strategies, and HR models are part of this. HR professionals must continue to evolve and employ these HR trends for best practices to meet business requirements. As work models changes, we must continue to adjust and evolve to whatever the norms are. Alternatively, you can consult an expert.

Business owners need to keep up with trends within their industry and incorporate positive changes to ensure continuity for their organizations. Many business leaders make the mistake of becoming lax when running their business, and little wonder many businesses are unable to survive beyond the first decade of the opening. A way to ensure the continued effective running of a business is adopting modern learning and development strategies into your organization.

A learning and development strategy is a tool that helps you align your business objectives with the necessary trainings. Learning and development are important because it enables an organization to teach its staff the necessary skills and knowledge needed to move the business’ vision forward.

To create an efficient learning and development strategy, you should set achievable training goals; what you want should not be impracticable and ensure you can measure your progress. Also, your strategy should be clear, and employees must see how it relates to the overall vision of the business. Let your strategy be flexible and user-friendly, and only then will you be able to get benefits. As trends, change, business owners are encouraged to be in touch and make the most of these changes. The major trends in learning and development include:

Communication

As emphasis is being placed on communication, workers and the management and should have a workable medium of exchanging information. Communication helps share ideas, information, and thoughts. A learning and development strategy should have this. If employees do not have the liberty to communicate, how will a manager know their minds? How will employees express their dissatisfaction with a particular activity? And how can the management share its vision?

Soft skills

While technical/hard skills can never be ignored, soft skills are becoming increasingly necessary. It is a pivotal aspect of employees’ development. Soft skills such as agile thinking, collaboration, emotional intelligence, listening, empathy, and patience will increase the ability of workers to serve clients effectively. A business need of the hour is that employees are adequately equipped to help consumers.

Mobile learning

Learning and development will become more accessible and flexible. This flexibility allows learners to learn on their mobile devices at any time. Content materials are tailored to fit into mobile devices enabling users to learn at their own pace. Though in its nascent stage, this form of educational trend has come to stay.

Mixed learning

In addition to in-person training, social media tools are being maximized by business leaders to create an advanced learning culture. Mixed learning uses traditional teaching with an online method to train students. An employee gets to benefit from the use of both approaches. This type of learning is also called “Hybrid learning” or “blended learning”. Most organizations have fully settled into using this method of learning.

Virtual training

With the impact of the pandemic of 2020, virtual tools are now essential for the continuity of business operations. Employees can learn and get info via this medium. Most organizations are maximizing available tools to ensure that employees are up to date on information and equipped to carry out assigned responsibilities. This trend can be incorporated by any progressive firm that wants to stay ahead in the industry. One advantage of this trend is that companies are spending less, unlike physical training. This trend isn’t without disadvantages, one of which is that participants’ engagement is low.

Conclusion

Every year, business leaders can harness different learning and development strategies to move their businesses forward. An organization can explore these trends for more remarkable growth. Equipping your employees with the required skills and knowledge directly influences productivity. Workers need the training to stay relevant, and they are searching for organizations invested in learning and development.

To ensure that the learning and development strategies reflect your business objectives, you need to select reliable providers of learning programs and engage your employees not as a group but individually. This way, you get insights into their unique abilities. Your firm can leverage learning and development as a form of incentive; by investing in your employees’ development. These will give employees reason to stay and promote the business goals of the organization.

Investing in a diverse and inclusive team brings innovative results. For some firms who have operated a homogenous group, transiting to an inclusive workforce may be challenging, but it also has immense benefits. Diversity in the workplace has to do with the understanding and acceptance of the differences between people. These differences could be religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, experience, language, ideologies, personalities, and race. Inclusion is the ability of a business to create an environment that is collaborative, supportive, and respective. This enhances the participation and performance of all parties involved. Operating a diverse workforce can attract top performers to your organization, and beyond attracting them, you can also retain their services. Diversity leads to higher value creation.

Employees shun companies that lack diversity because of the fear of being restricted. A non-inclusive workforce can also have damning consequences on your business as it could ruin your reputation and lead to the loss of clients. Representation is important, and people want to feel that represented in all spheres. To build a diverse and inclusive workforce, you can implement the following strategies; :

Create a sense of belonging

When employees feel left out or undervalued, this will lead to low performance. People thrive in an environment where they feel appreciated. It would help if you created a workspace where employees feel safe and included. You can’t have a diverse and inclusive environment and still promote favoritism. Pay attention to your bias; if you favor a particular group or person based on their gender, religion, sexual orientation, or race – you have to let go of this prejudice. Encourage people to speak up and welcome diverse views.

Continuous teaching about inclusion

Most firms might start by sensitizing their workforce on diversity and inclusion, but the fact remains that one-time teaching is not enough to change biases and stereotypes. Repetition is needed for people to make conscious efforts towards change. Organizations will see fundamental changes in different actions and a better mindset. Encourage workers to integrate non-discriminatory ideas and beliefs into their lives. Inclusion goes beyond words to the kind of practices in place. Check the process your business operates- are people prevented from talking in meetings because of their ages? Are people left out because of their sexual orientation or religion? These are vital questions that help you search for yourself and enhance your capacity to build a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Empathy

Empathy requires that you put yourself in someone’s shoes and feel what they are feeling. A business leader should reach within himself to recall a scenario when he might have dealt excluded or shamed. It is only then they can effectively relate to an excluded person’s state of mind. Even amongst employees, empathy is a requirement.

Develop Equal Access to all Individuals

Access to opportunities should be available to all. Employees can see impartiality, and it could cause resentment within your workforce. Your business needs a group of persons who can compete collaboratively. You do not want to have to break up fractions within your organization. Eliminate any practice that prevents some employees from accessing an opportunity when others can. If your intentions are genuine, make it known to everyone so they do not make assumptions.

Consider people’s preferences.

Not everyone likes the same food, drink, or movies, and people should not be forced to do what they don’t want. Take the diversity of employees into consideration when planning. Like in a social gathering, not everyone drinks the same beverage or eats the same food. Ask the right questions; this will show your employees that you are attentive to differences. The answers you garner will help you cater to people based on their needs.

Develop anti-discriminatory policies

A policy that is clearly against discrimination will keep employees in check. Develop a system that advocates for real change, especially when your business is newly incorporating diversity and inclusion. It may be challenging at the beginning, but it is achievable. Everyone needs to make conscious efforts. And do not forget that employees will respond when they see the leadership’s actions. So, it would be best if you endeavor to walk the talk.

Conclusion

Your firm can use diversity as a competitive edge. Give employees reasons to stay with your business. Be attentive to their needs. Employees drift towards inclusive workforces. You can attract top talents to your team by building a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Everyone wants to know that there is a place for them within an organization. it is a morale boost, which also enhance performance.

Please take care to create a workforce that does not only employ diverse talents but includes them. After recruiting, established practices that encourage inclusion should be seen.

employee

Recruiting and retaining good employees remains a major problem for many organisations. Finding the right talents that fit into the company’s goals and are willing to commit to these goals has proven to be an arduous task that many businesses haven’t found answers to. Employee retention is not an exercise to be treated nonchalantly because the consequences of not giving it attention can be very severe. Your employees are the drivers that move the vision and objectives of your business forward; now imagine getting a worker that doesn’t understand the vision or cannot get on board with goals? Tragic!

The quality of employees an organisation has, determines the corporate performance to a large extent. Many employees do not stay long with a business due to different reasons. It could be due to low benefits, no motivation from team leads, a hostile environment, unrealistic targets, etc. An organisation must be able to hold on to well-performing staff for a long time. There is competition within the industry, and any employee lost is a win for your competitors. To attract and retain competent employees, here are some tips to help you:

Connect with People

Your business needs the right talent, and many times they may not come to you. One effective way of spotting talents is by connecting with people at events. At such places, you get to meet quite a number of people, and you’ll be amazed at the quality of talents you’d find. Most organisations start to look out for students who are in the final stages of their education. They then groom them to fit into the company’s objectives.

Campus recruiting will never go out of vogue as it is a major sourcing centre. Most students may not be fully conscious of their capabilities, so if you can identify them and give them a platform to grow, they are likely to put in their best and generate good performance. Your business can therefore align with schools to organise job fairs or activities that showcase the best students’ abilities. Retaining a worker starts from the recruitment process; show a potential employee why your firm is the best place to be.

Encourage Growth

One major mistake most organisations make, is not encouraging their employees to evolve. A stagnant worker will soon become a liability to even your business. Encourage growth amongst your workforce. If possible, organise teachings sessions that help employees bring on board the latest developments. Every strong organisation must focus on educating its employees because it sets the employees for higher responsibilities. By training an employee, there will be no need for you to recruit for higher positions, as you’d have someone within the firm who is capable.

Encourage Feedback

Create an environment where employees can speak freely. This should be done consciously. Employees will most likely stay in a business where they see their inputs being acknowledged. No one will want to stay in a place that they fear their words will bring retribution. Employees should be able to call attention to a plan that may be disastrous. Promote feedback and contributions from your employees, and you’ll be surprised at the quality of ideas you will find.

Juicy Benefits

To reduce the chances of an employee leaving the job, offer more than they can get from competitors. Benefits encourage workers to stay on. Flexible job hours, incentives, paid leaves are all ways to retain top performers. With the recent turn of events globally, you can try to sustain remote work among workers. An unsatisfied worker will always seek other opportunities to move. Do not give employees the opportunity to leave your business, especially when they are high performers. Good benefits can also attract employees from other firms to yours.

Motivation

Motivation can sustain employees for a long time. Show appreciation to workers for work well done. This technique is an effective form of motivation. When your employees performs beyond expectation, motivate them. In doing this, you are also encouraging others to put in their best. If the offer of a gift upon performance further enhances even higher performance, make such a purchase. Happy employees perform better. No disgruntled person will be effective at work.

Transparency

Employees will thrive in a workplace where openness is encouraged. When workers see that transparency is a value, it creates a safe space for them to work. The management should strive to remove every embargo that discourages the community within the organisation. Where employees can see the impact of their output, they will be encouraged to work harder. If, for example, an employee makes a positive observation and sees the management implement such input, such an individual will be encouraged to put in his best knowing that effort is appreciated and is not discarded.

Conclusion

The recruitment process is not an easy one. Finding the right candidate and ensuring they stay with your organisation can sometimes be hard to achieve. Employees are usually on the outlook for firms that offer more to them. And competitors are equally looking for how to snatch your best performers. With these two possibilities, the onus lies on business leaders to ensure they can get high performers to stay with them. The exit of a competent employee will surely tell on your business. The tips given above are some ways to attract and retain the services of high flyers.

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