Leading The Transition: Deciphering Lessons Learned

What motivation science teaches us about post-pandemic leadership

You and your team are exhausted. You're grappling with how to accommodate 73% of workers reporting they want a hybrid work option. You're coping with mass resignations and labor shortages as 40% of employees plan or hope to change jobs when given the opportunity. You're struggling for the best way to handle DE&I issues, put out fires, prepare for an uncertain future, and still achieve expected outcomes.

If a crisis is a terrible thing to waste, you have an unprecedented opportunity to take advantage of lessons learned from the pandemic. But how do you translate and apply those lessons? Where do you turn for insight for leading the transition to something better than normal? For an innovative approach to leadership whose time has come, look to motivation science.

Health professionals around the world are benefitting from a series of fascinating global studies. The applied research provides empirical evidence for how innovative motivational techniques can be employed successfully by the public health sector. Why not check the practicality and wisdom of their methods against a workplace issue you face right now: managing a hybrid workforce?

Nine out of ten organizations plan to combine remote and onsite working, according to a McKinsey survey. But without clarity on how to handle such extreme changes in the workplace, people are experiencing anxiety. And so are leaders charged with implementing and managing these complicated scenarios.

With the probability of a permanent hybrid workforce, leaders need to contend with legitimate questions. Are people eager to get back to the workplace, away from children underfoot, technical issues, and worrying about serving three meals a day? Or not? Will people miss working from home with the autonomy to shape work to their rhythms and family needs, save time commuting, and have access to their refrigerator? Or not? Is productivity affected by the hybrid model? How do you replace the camaraderie of coworkers collaborating face-to-face?

No matter how you and your organization answer these questions, you can implement a post-pandemic strategy with guidance from motivation research.

Refrain from announcing extreme measures. Avoid mandating back-to-work or stay-at-home policies on one end or ambiguous guidelines on the other. Instead, focus on promoting optimal motivation by supporting people's psychological needs for choice, connection, and competence.

Give people a choice to work from home, work onsite, or a hybrid model. What if some roles require people to be onsite and others don't? If you can't offer everyone the same options, be transparent. Candidly discuss the nature of their job and the role's requirements.
Treating people with equality doesn't mean they all get the same deal—it means they get the same level of respect and consideration. Procedural justice is essential.

Facilitate an understanding of the meaning behind their choices. People need to experience connection whether they work onsite or at home. Help them explore which work situation aligns with their family and health values while fulfilling workplace expectations, supporting coworkers, and enabling coworkers to assist them.
People are optimally motivated when their choices align with meaningful values, consideration for the welfare of all, and a sense of contributing to the greater good.

Agree to measures of competence and progress. Determine the feasibility of working from home. What level of technical skills are required? What equipment is necessary? Set SMART goals that reflect the productivity sufficient to justify the choice of working from home, onsite, or a hybrid of both. Monitor progress and adjust accordingly. Whatever choice people make, regularly ask them to share what they're learning.
Most leaders can manage short-term success. But the most effective leaders accomplish both short-term and sustainable outcomes because they have a dual focus: Ensuring people achieve their goals and flourish.

A supervisor for a large construction company was avoiding a confrontation he knew was overdue. The role of one of his team members required him to be onsite. But the young man was often late and appeared distracted. The supervisor, admitting he knew little about the young man other than he was married with two children, had procrastinated having the challenging conversation, fearful of getting too personal.

One morning the young man arrived onsite late, yet again. The supervisor addressed the situation indirectly, asking how he and his family were managing the challenges of the pandemic. As if a dam burst, the young man vented his frustration: His wife was an emergency room nurse working around the clock with pandemic patients. Pre-vaccine, she needed to stay apart from him and the kids for safety's sake. Without other family members in the area to help, the young man was homeschooling two children. Single-parenting, juggling schedules, and lack of sleep were taking their toll.

The supervisor felt shell-shocked and guilty for judging the young man as lazy and cavalier about his work. He felt regret for not being approachable enough for the young man to have come to him earlier to discuss his dilemma. He was also surprised how a simple question led to such a personal yet relevant conversation.

The supervisor called his staff together, explained the situation, and encouraged the group to brainstorm alternatives. He was "blown away" by the empathy and understanding demonstrated by the team. They collaborated on redesigning their workflow to provide a flexible schedule allowing the young man to work from home and onsite.

The supervisor shared his story as an example of how he had shifted his perspective on handling radical change. For the first time, he was comfortable with the idea that leadership isn't "just business." Leadership is personal. Rather than return to normal, he dedicated himself to learning how to support people's psychological needs.

In 1919, a song famously captured the dilemma of soldiers returning home from fighting WWI in Europe: How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)? Here we are in 2021, asking: How are we going to keep them in the office after they've worked from home? But the complexities of hybrid work design and scheduling are among a myriad of thorny issues.

Research suggests that whatever post-pandemic leadership challenge you face, supporting people's basic psychological needs for choice, connection, and competence is a proven and powerful option to explore.