The post-pandemic world has employers and employees alike searching for the right combination of efficiency and meaning. Younger members of the workforce, in particular, are increasingly likely to seek purpose-driven employers that share their values and give them the opportunity to contribute to positive change. As such, it’s crucial for every organization—regardless of size, industry, or sector—to remember that it is people who drive the organization toward success or failure.

Challenges…Old and New

Many businesses have a clear mission on paper but often overlook the importance of defining an intentional workplace culture. This intentionality is key, given that workplace culture—good or bad—will arise inherently in every organization.

Defining, maintaining, and strengthening organizational culture is a process of continuous improvement with routine feedback at its core. Without regular feedback, team members are likely to grow disconnected from their role in contributing to an organization’s overarching goals, and employers are likely to respond only when cultural issues reach a boiling point. An authentic, human-centered approach to giving and receiving feedback is the first step toward achieving a positive workplace culture.

Performance management is not a check-the-box or “feel-good” exercise. It is an essential business strategy for motivating employees, particularly in our post-pandemic 24/7 news cycle society where burnout is the norm. Even firms with gold-standard workplace culture face threats to employee motivation—including the usual suspects, such as interpersonal conflict with peers or supervisors, struggles with required skills and knowledge, loss of a major funder or customer, a significant resignation, clients unable to pay, or the challenges of remote or hybrid work. External factors such as family crises, community conflicts, economic instability and political division may be even more pernicious. Because low motivation leads to burnout, which leads to turnover, which leads to poor business outcomes, it is absolutely critical to get ahead of these risks.

The Trend Toward Humanity

While leaders should always have an eye on financials, sustainable growth is only possible for organizations that center humanity. It may sound trite, but let’s be honest: Employees today expect their workplaces to meet far more than just their basic needs.

Every individual has dual considerations: How does this work fulfill my passions? and how does this work meet my financial and professional requirements?

Consider how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes to life in the workplace:
 

• Basic needs (physiological and safety) are compensation, work/life balance, job security, transparency, and opportunities for professional growth.
• Psychological needs (belongingness/love and esteem) are opportunities for teamwork, social connections, recognition, feedback, and reward.
• Self-fulfillment needs (self-actualization) are ownership of vision, continuous learning, and leadership.

These are, admittedly, a lot of needs to address, particularly during times of economic uncertainty. Thus, it’s more important than ever for organizations to stay grounded in the basics: vision, mission, and values. These core elements are the “why” motivating team members to show up at their best despite the challenges of work and life. Vision aligns and powers individuals and teams to move forward together for a deeper purpose. Mission helps talent understand their role and daily contribution to the company’s success. Values keep behaviors and attitudes in check and serve as criteria for feedback and evaluation.

Beyond simply a tool for aligning current employees, an organization’s “why” is also critical for motivating future employees. A prospective employee’s alignment with your organization’s mission, vision, and values is what we like to describe as their “fit” for the role. Successful organizations screen for fit in addition to skill by tailoring interview questions and reference checks to understand each candidate’s goals and motivations and by using behavioral assessments such as The Predictive Index to triangulate how candidates are likely to show up in the context of the existing team.

Even when you have employees who fit, a lack of employee engagement is prevalent. Harvard Business Review has reported that only 18% of employees feel fully engaged in their work. Thus, to improve the overall employee experience, we recommend motivating through radical inclusion. It is imperative to set an intentional culture where people feel valued, heard, and that they are making an impact. Employees who feel appreciated by their employers will work harder, stay longer, and find fulfillment in their work.

Envisioning the Radically Inclusive Workplace of the Future

Radical idea: The HR function of the future must be grounded in the “human” element of human relations. People drive your organization toward success or failure, and a human-centered approach to leading teams will always be the most effective. Radical inclusion is about building authentic relationships, demonstrating your investment in your employee’s success, and collaborating on solution design. Radically inclusive leaders understand how to manage the balance of gaining input, empowering their teams, and making decisions efficiently.

Employers can reinforce a radically inclusive culture in various ways, from routinely revisiting policies, procedures, and benefits, to maintaining transparency around leadership decision-making, to setting crystal-clear expectations around how performance translates to advancement. More important than perfection in policy, however, is consistency in practice, meaning your organization’s stated values and actions must align. The employee benefits your company offers, for example, says a lot about what you value, such as time with family, health, work/life balance, financial incentives, professional development, and opportunities for service and community engagement.

At the core of radical inclusion is honest and effective communication. Communication—both the “what” and the “how”—is the basis of the employee experience and should never be taken for granted. However, employers often spend so much time considering the message that they neglect to prioritize the delivery. Effective delivery is more important than ever in our digital age, when we may not have the luxury of receiving important feedback in person. As a result, consistency, transparency, and grounding in the principles of kindness can go a long way to ensuring messages are received in the way they were intended.

Lastly, radical inclusivity is about listening to feedback and then making a good-faith authentic effort to put ideas into practice. Note: Putting ideas into practice can and should be achieved iteratively to help ensure buy-in and successful long-term outcomes. For instance, in listening to our employees, we have been experimenting with a flexible Friday model that provides team members with a day to recharge or catch up on work/life when they need it. Similarly, many organizations are now questioning previously unspoken assumptions about the way we work, in areas such as required in-person time, productive remote models, appropriate work hours, etc.—as well as how it’s all possible while still maintaining a profitable business model.

As always, change is the only constant in life. The most successful organizations accept this constant and do everything possible to iteratively tackle challenges while also ensuring their team is fully on board with the “why” underpinning the path ahead. While the pandemic forced us all to adjust our working models instantaneously, we now have the time and freedom to be intentional with how we approach each other in this new world. As you reflect on the ideal structure for your business, remember: It all starts with people. Both today and in the future, if you’ve got the right people doing the right jobs with a clear vision and an inclusive plan, magic can happen.

Author Bio

Kevin N. Wilkins is the Founder and CEO of Trepwise, a New Orleans-based strategy consulting firm that aligns people, process, and vision.

As Chief Operating Officer at Trepwise, Geoffrey Hamlyn provides senior oversight over all client engagements and client-facing team members and oversees operational elements of the firm. He brings over a decade of experience managing and consulting for nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies at the local, state, and federal level. As a Senior Advisor, Geoffrey has led or provided specialist support for dozens of engagements and brings expertise around systems change and coordination, nonprofit governance, strategic planning, public policy, and stakeholder engagement.

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