Season 2 Recap

Speaker A: How do we work? There's three tiers, no confusion. Do it yourself. You lead. We equip courses, diagnostics and toolkits. If it's a skill gap, start here. From micro courses to full kits.

Speaker B: We also work with you. Done with you. So we're working alongside you. We assess what's actually broken, design the system and walk you through so that you can implement.

Speaker A: And then finally done for you. You're in the middle of a mess. Turnover, culture, fract. Leadership transition. We step in full organizational audits, executive coaching and on site facilitation. The scope is customized. No buzzwords, no fluff, no pretending. Culture fixes itself.

Speaker B: So leadership problems aren't personal flaws, but

Speaker A: ignoring them is expensive.

Speaker B: Avoided conflict invoices you later.

Speaker A: Vague feedback creates quiet quitting, burnout.

Speaker B: Leaders create burned out teams. We fix the messy people stuff. Hey, Kelly.

Speaker A: Hey, Joy.

Speaker B: Welcome to our season two wrap up. Oh my gosh. This has been a busy season for sure.

Speaker A: Absolutely. So we just, we just got back from Florida, Orlando, Florida. We were at the Work Human conference.

Speaker B: It was so awesome and so many people were there.

Speaker A: Yeah, there was a lot of people there.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, and it wasn't hot. I'm thankful.

Speaker B: Yeah, it was nice, actually. Nice. We weren't outside all the time, but, you know, we were in this huge resort for this conference, all three floors. And, uh, it was amazing. And it was all about people and people at work. So one of the things in the conference that we really liked is the way that they, ah, the different topics that people at work and leaders at work, uh, experience and so today we thought in our recap we would highlight the top three areas that we believe leaders should focus on in the work ahead. Um, looking ahead. Okay, let me start that over. Um, wrapping up season two. I can't believe we are already wrapping up season two. It seemed to fly by. Um, we want to just basically recap the top three areas that we believe leaders should focus on as we look ahead into the future. Uh, with so many shifting workplace dynamics, cultures, new challenges and economy challenges and et cetera, political challenges, there's a lot of emerging old and new trends and challenges that are evolving. And so it's fair to ask, where do we go from here? Here are, uh, what we think are our top three. So let's dive in.

Speaker A: So the first topic is AI, but not in the way that you think. So AI may be the talk of the town, but we're really not talking about what's missing. Organizations have gotten really good at chasing the next technology we all really have that squirrel mode.

Speaker B: Sometimes we call it the shiny object.

Speaker A: Shiny object syndrome. Yeah. But chasing the next technology, we're forgetting to ask the question, is this creating real value or is this just the next shiny object? Is this just something else with a lot of tools, dashboards, AI pilots, generative AI, they're great tools. And we're not saying not to implement them in business and not to leverage them, because that's not what we're saying. But we're missing the people. The people. So we're not always chasing the right outcomes. Uh, I think. What do you think, Joy?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think sometimes we, in all of the inundation of new, new AI, a new strategy, a new tool, a new this, a new that, a new research. I think, I think the people side of things in the workplace get lost. And we've never, up to this point point in history, have had. We have so much data, we're overstimulated, so many tools, so much intelligence. And yet our leaders are struggling and not sure how to show up. And sometimes because of all the inundation and the overwhelm and the burnout and the lack of, uh, motivation or the lack of direction, sometimes they show up to work with less ambition. Maybe they feel like there's less meaning and less purpose because there's all these other things that can help do the job, you know, better or whatever they may think, uh, maybe there's less clarity in the workplace today. And so I feel like because of all this, employees feel it. The workplace is reporting lack of direction and confusion about what matters. People still matter.

Speaker A: Yeah. Uh, well, and I think they're still important people. And soft skills are still important to the workplace. When job titles start dissolving, uh, what does leadership development become? Here's what this actually looks like on the ground. You know, job titles are blurring. I think with, uh, the onset of AI in the workplace, job titles are becoming unclear. Which I have my own thoughts about job titles and things anyway. But, um, you know, some days in our office, we're the chief toilet cleaner, so the chief dog wrangler. That's true. But roles are really shifting in the workplace. Despite what people, what people believe. I really feel that we are moving forward towards something very similar to the Industrial revolution or the digital revolution. And we're seeing that again in the workplace, and those roles are shifting. Uh, if a job role is a moving target, training someone to do a job can become obsolete or really unclear, really muddy very quickly.

Speaker B: Huh.

Speaker A: So a great point of discussion or something to think about is soft skill based leadership development is future proofing. So again, you know, I talked a lot about like Joy and I have had this discussion a lot where um, the workplace is going to really have to take, take on, I think more of that development of soft skills in the workplace. Because soft skills are about how leaders think and operate. It's not just this box in this job description that they show up to every day.

Speaker B: Well, I think we talked a lot about this within other as we're meeting other leaders and also at work, human around. Hiring for jobs just based on skill isn't going to cut it. They have to hire for jobs based on the culture and the values of the company and on skill. It's not just about one or the other, it has to be about both because then you lose sight like you just said. Then you know, it's a moving target. Um, and so I think if roles evolve, if they're constantly evolving, then onboarding gets sketchy because it can't just be like, here's the job that you're expected

Speaker A: to do, here's your job description. Have fun.

Speaker B: Right. And we can't just print out a job description and say good luck with life. No, it's about how they approach their job. It's about how they integrate into the culture of the organization and it's about how leaders think and operate. It's not just about like fit this box of this role and good luck.

Speaker A: Right, right.

Speaker B: Um, I think there needs to be a lot of question around how do we identify what a new leader or leader actually needs in order to develop with their role as that changes? Because again, we can count on change. Change and transition in any role is inevitable. And so what does that look like? And um, is the company, does the company have the pulse on the type of changes and what that looks like for different positions within the organization? Because that's important. It's important to diagnose gaps by looking at capacity, looking at capability, not just by title. Mhm. It means maybe throwing the, the sorry for this phrase, but throwing the baby out with the bathwater and starting afresh and looking at like what is working and what's not working. Let's figure out how we can all work better, flow better together. Because maybe we have too many jobs or maybe we have not enough jobs. Um, building learning plans tied to business priorities, not just roles and responsibilities. Yeah.

Speaker A: And then I think also uh, traditional job descriptions, they're too static. Uh, I think potentially in the workplace today we need something that's a Little bit more fluid, uh, a little bit more flexible. Uh, so what if roles were aligned with evolving business needs? What if we were, uh, onboarding our teams or our employees to uh, be a little bit more agile in terms of the shaping work landscape and what that looks like. It's easier to shift that as those priorities change and matching the right talent for the right work at the time.

Speaker B: Yeah. And being willing to change, being open to change. And I just had a thought and it just went away. Um, lovely. That's what happened. I know, but being able to like, cross train. Yeah, I think we cross train all the time and we're constantly thinking about ways to cross train so that like, as things shift, we can reassign or realign different priorities or projects.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And so we're not like, oh crap, like this person is so overwhelmed. And what about this person? They, they're just bored out of their mind. Like, not really, but you know what I'm saying? Like then we have more equity in the workplace that everyone's working and productive.

Speaker A: Well, and I think it also gives everybody a sense. Like for instance, our team. It, uh, you know, one of our team members doesn't have to know everything that there is to know about how to do this certain skill. But if they are at least versed in, I don't know what makes the big picture happen. It does help when they have to pick up or they have to talk to somebody about what's going on. I, uh, think building that agility into your organization is really helpful.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I think at work, human, there was a ton of conversation, I think, because AI is so, uh, it's ever changing. Every day there's a new thing, every day there's a new strategy here, here with this AI and ways you can use it. And I think, um, I think it's tricky because I feel like that opens conversations up in the workplace to have like in our organization, how are we going to utilize these great tools and when are we going to use them and when are we not going to use them because of prioritary information or confidentiality, hipaa, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker A: Yeah, but, and I, but I, I think what was interesting, and we were both on some of these discussions in, in kind of the AI landscape, it was kind of funny because towards the end we both looked at each other and were like, I'm tired of talking about AI, but I think we're missing a piece. I think everybody's really focused on AI as the technology and what is it Going to take, quote, unquote, what is it going to take over? What jobs is it going to eliminate? And I think we're missing the boat when we're not talking about how are we going to upskill or reskill

Speaker B: within

Speaker A: our organization and what does that change look like within our organization? And to Joyce point, how are we gonna, how are we gonna hire for Culture Fit and develop soft skills in the organization? Because the soft skills, ironically, I think from a soft skill development piece just across the board. I don't think that this is necessarily, at least in my opinion, a generational thing. I think it's across the board we're losing, we're losing our soft skills people.

Speaker B: Oh yeah, for sure.

Speaker A: But those are the skills that we need more in the workplace.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: So I think I feel it's important for organizations to look at that and maybe kind of look at that whole, the whole AI picture holistically. Because we know it's, we know it's coming, we know the technology is there, we know that it's going to make us more efficient. We know that it's going to potentially, uh, you know, help us maintain more return. You know, more return, do more work with less. But we still have to work with each other and we still have to work with the public. And so just making sure we're not missing the boat with the soft skin.

Speaker B: Yeah. Because I, you know, I think that AI isn't replacing anything. It's an, it's a compliment.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it's a complementary tool to help work, you know, lack of a better word, boring work or regular work or work that you do, like running reports or compiling data. You know, it does save a ton of time if you have data points that you need compiled and summarized and meeting notes and projects and all those things. It's awesome. Uh, and um, it doesn't replace the people element, which are the ones that are actually interfacing with clients and in each other. And so you're not going to be in a hole somewhere just doing AI all day. Like that's not realistic.

Speaker A: You're not going to be melting in the basement with the stapler.

Speaker B: I think some of us think about how, wow, how wonderful if I could just sit on my computer all day and not have to interact with any human. But that's not real.

Speaker A: No, it's not real. And actually that we're going to talk about that a little bit too. But that's kind of an epidemic in itself. Right.

Speaker B: And I think what I was going to say Is, you know, it's not real. And humans are not made to sit in isolation in silos. They're made for connection. And so the level of connection is different for each person. But we're not made to sit alone. Um, you want to know why suicide and depression and, uh, anxiety are high? It's because we have too many isolated people and we're not interacting in the ways, using soft skills and all the skill, the people skills that we really need in a workplace. And so it's causing a lot, like I think Kelly just said it, it's a bit epidemic, like it's causing a bit of an issue in the workplace. Um, another topic which is tied to this is that we talked about a lot at the conference with, um, our favorite, Amy Edmondson. She did a talk on psychological safety, and of course that's gonna matter more than ever. Um, gosh, it was so cool to hear her speak it live. She's just so chill.

Speaker A: And I didn't get to go see her speak live.

Speaker B: I know Kelly's a little better about it.

Speaker A: I went to a different session.

Speaker B: Yeah. And all of the sessions we went to were super cool.

Speaker A: They were really good.

Speaker B: Um, the conference in general, I highly recommend going. Um, they spend more time on the people elements of HR and, and just in business in general, there were a lot of people that were not hr. A lot of small business leaders were there. Um, it was just a great, uh, just a great, organized, very well laid out conference. You can tell they know what they're doing. Um, the psychological safety is not going away. Uh, we have more tools, we have more data, we have more intelligence than ever. But leaders still need to know how to lead, and they still need to know how to regulate, and they still need to know how to help, uh, their team along to get whatever thing, project, whatever skill, widget, whatever you guys are doing in the workplace, your specific workplace done. Uh, and it needs to happen with more clarity and purpose. Um, I think psychological safety is not something that you can just put to the side like it doesn't matter because everything is built on that foundation of psychological safety. If you don't have it, then there is going to be high turnover. There's going to be whatever else. There's a ton of symptoms that happen when you don't have psychological safety on board. Um, and I think Kelly's going to talk a little bit more about that. We also have a leadership course that talks a lot about the nine soft skills and all kinds of cool things to recognize within your leaders and Your leader training development.

Speaker A: Yeah, more about that. It's going to be released soon, so keep your, um, eyes out on social media for that. Uh, the topic around psychological safety is really, it's an interesting paradox. Um, it's an interesting topic today and we've talked about this many, many times. Organizations, people, things are flooded with inputs, dashboards, AI analytics. You know, your phone buzzes at you every two seconds and it leaves people well on edge for one. But in the organizational space, it can leave unclear priorities, caution when making decisions, and definitely lower purpose and ambition when things are uncertain. Leaders often double down on execution pressure, but that can silence the very information that they need if clarity is missing. For instance, the first question is, uh, well, what tool do we need? What are people afraid to say out loud? Right.

Speaker B: I know psychological safety is something that's probably in every podcast episode that we've ever done because it's super important. And psychological safety means that it's safe to speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, and not have that fear of punishment or retaliation. And what psychological safety is not, it's not about being nice, it's not about lowering standards, it's not about avoiding hard feedback. And it matters because I think we all live in a complex work in a complex environment. And having, having, we already have a lot of uncertainty. And so it brings in the space of when you're relaxed and you're calm and you're willing and ready to work and have that safety in place. It gives you, it frees your mind up to have the ability to learn fast, to recognize gaps and weaknesses within whatever it is you're presenting. It also, um, helps identify surface risks before they become failures. Uh, it's a good check and balance. Uh, people don't, when people don't have psychological safety, really none of those things, none of those high level work approaches can happen when you're, because you're at the base level in your brain, so you're barely getting through the day. You're not able to like, well, what gaps are, what's, what's missing, what's, how does this land to our client? You're not able to ask those high reasoning questions because you're on fire and your brain is freaking out and you're not able to have calm approaches to work.

Speaker A: Yeah. So you almost have to discuss the elephant in the room. You can't outperform what you won't discuss. So when thinking about psychological safety, think of it as a learning, as a learning challenge. Uh, not necessarily just execution, but some things that you can do are some simple. Some simple language swaps. Language swaps. Can't get that word out. Um, language swaps. Um, instead of saying, don't mess this up, maybe you reframe that into saying something like, we're solving something new. What do we need to learn quickly? Why do we want to do this? Well, we want to normalize asking questions and experimentation. I think questions and experimentation are how we get better outcomes.

Speaker B: Mhm. And I think it's important with psychological safety to invite participation. So. So being curious rather than critical is super important. And having prompts to your team like, what am I missing? How could this mess? How could this fail? How could this thing not work? Um, so that everyone's kind of in that problem solving mode before you launch it. And who sees this differently really is a huge help to your team as you're developing things because it makes a difference and in, um, identifying those gaps. And also it process sincere and not performative. So then people then relax and begin to trust that you have their best interests at heart. You're working hard, just like they're working hard and they feel safe to give counterfeedback.

Speaker A: And then I think removing blame, responding productively to bad news. Now that doesn't mean that there aren't consequences and there's not accountability when bad things happen. But replacing language like, who did this? Right. I think I said that to the

Speaker B: pups as soon as you walked in.

Speaker A: As soon as I walked into the house.

Speaker B: Who opened the door?

Speaker A: Who opened the door? Who did this?

Speaker B: Her dogs got out and so they were running around the yard.

Speaker A: But who did this? Uh, replacing that with what happened. What assumptions have we made? What's the next best move? So this really sets the tone for whether people bring you reality early or hide it. So we don't. One thing we definitely don't want in our organizations is for people to hide mistakes because of fear. Fear of retaliation, not accountability. Fear of retaliation and hiding mistakes, it makes the problems worse. It makes everything worse. So we want people to feel comfortable, to bring challenges, to bring problems.

Speaker B: And also with performance, sometimes we think something's gonna work a certain way and it doesn't. How do you handle when something doesn't go like you thought?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And if it's not a safe work environment, then those things are the ones that get left behind. Because how do we bring this up to the boss? Oh my gosh, the boss is going to lose their mind. Oh my gosh, we're going to get yelled at and lectured for two hours like you See, you see the difference? Like, it's a huge difference whether. Whereas. Hey, do you have a second? Like, I really need to talk about this thing that we're working on, this project that we're working on, because it's not going like we thought maybe you can help me brainstorm some different strategies or a different approach so that looks different and feels different, and then you can get back to work. Um, I think safety doesn't rely on one person or a heroic leader. I think it's important that you create systems for everyone, like pre mortems, postmortems on certain things. I know it's a very, um. What's the word? It's a little bit of a dark word, but, you know, it's important to, like, evaluate different things at different times. Um, you know, it's six months from now, and is this a success or is it a failure? Like, why? What's happening? What do we need to change? How do we make this different? Um, you know, making sure those conversations are happening in the real time with different things that you're working on or presenting or different offers. I mean, every company is different in what they produce.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. No, I agree. I agree. One of the other things that's often. Or the. Another technique that's often overlooked, or group, I should say technique. Group that's often overlooked is your people at the front, your frontline leadership, and your frontline workers. Culture is experienced most intently at that level. Uh, the boots on the ground level. And psychological safety is not just for your top leadership. It has to exist at every level. Uh, frontline leaders, your boots on the ground, uh, they translate pressure into either fear and silence, where that could really be something more like clarity and learning.

Speaker B: Yeah. So, like, the stance that a leader should have or a team should have is humility, curiosity, and empathy. Amy is really big on talking about this, and in the talk that I went to, she's talking about, humility shows up, like, I don't have the full picture. Help me out. Curiosity shows up, like, help me see what you don't see. Or, sorry, that's not it. Curiosity shows up like, help me see what you see.

Speaker A: Help me see what you don't see. Well, if I could see, if I could see it, I would tell you. I said it.

Speaker B: And I'm like, no, try again. Uh, and empathy. I can handle your truth without punishing you for it. And I want my team to handle my truth. Right. And without, like, the silent treatment or feelings hurt or whatever the case is. And that stance, it restores ambition and purpose. It also restores meaning. Uh, people feel valued, people feel like they matter. Uh, and that is a good culture to have. And so if you approach humility, curiosity and empathy, if you have those ingredients in your next team meeting, you should be in good shape.

Speaker A: One thing I think that a lot of organizations, one thing I think that a lot of organizations do. I was like losing my train of thought there for a minute. Uh, it's just, you know, mid-40s, mid-40s. It happens. Adding a tool doesn't create clarity. I think if you want to make your team's skin burn on fire like a hot pizza oven, add another tool to it when you're in the middle of trying to fix something. Psychological safety is how teams turn complexity into performance. So think about asking some questions at your next meeting. Ah, ask the question the elephant in the room. What are we not saying because it feels risky or run a quick pre, ah, mortem. So run a quick pre, uh, assessment before your next major decision.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: Really the best teams aren't the ones that have the best tools. Uh, they're the ones who tell the truth the soonest. Um, often the ones that can do less with more.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: More with less. More with less.

Speaker B: Yeah. And you can even use AI to brainstorm based on whatever it is and give me six questions to ask the team or whatever. Like that's a good way to, to use AI when you're trying to come up with some like, reflective questions that everyone can feel safe answering. Um, I think another thing that, that we talked a lot about was there's a bit of a employee engagement crisis.

Speaker A: Oh, like really an epidemic? Uh, statistically speaking, really an academic. I said, really an academic.

Speaker B: An academic.

Speaker A: Well, it was an academic probably who gave us the statistics. But anyway, what I wanted to say is we're on the edge of another revolution. And I've been saying this, I say this a lot and sometimes I get the evil eyebrows when I do say it. But we are on the verge of a transformation in terms of how AI and uh, generative tools work, agents, maybe even those bots that I see, the bots that I saw that were beating up the kitchen pan or the, they have these, they're trying to train these robots to do assembly line work and one went rogue and it started beating up the kitchen. Yeah, it was funny. And what was funny about it though is the people who were managing the bot were laughing so hard that they couldn't go get the bot out of this little thing. They were like hunched over hyperventilating, laughing. Uh, it was funny.

Speaker B: Tears coming out of their eyes.

Speaker A: It was funny.

Speaker B: That is funny.

Speaker A: But that's what we're up against. And the bottleneck is not the access to technology. The technology is changing day by day, but it's whether we as people can keep up with things like trust, energy capability, capacity. And those are the things that are really slipping. And it's really. To epidemic levels, I would say.

Speaker B: Well, I mean, the stats that was heard is 31% of employees in the US and Canada are engaged. And that's a decline from the previous years. A huge decline.

Speaker A: Yeah. So that's like 70. 70. So if 30% ish. Are engaged in their work. So 70% aren't.

Speaker B: That's a lot.

Speaker A: 70% are just showing up.

Speaker B: Yeah. And so we need to investigate that a bit more. We need to inquire to what's happening within the organization, specifically, which Kelly and I do a lot. We do a lot of diagnostic assessments. In that case, you know, people call us and say, hey, something's happening. We're not sure what. Fix it. No, just kidding. Sometimes.

Speaker A: Well, sometimes. Sometimes, yeah. I wish it were that simple.

Speaker B: They want to diagnosis, to figure out, like, what are those bottlenecks? What is getting stuck? Why do people come, like, just showing up, bare minimum. Um, what is. What are they. What's happening? That they feel unmotivated or uninterested. Um, and I think also, you know, that 70%. But the 31% of employees that are showing up engaged, they may have a struggle with a commitment and still have a struggle with emotional investment or momentum within their work. And so there needs to be some adaption that happens so there could create more initiative.

Speaker A: I think so too. Uh, fewer people are quitting, but they're not quitting because things are better. Like, they're not moving. Like, they're not moving upward in that sense, because things are better. So 26%. One of the other stats that came out, and these stats were from, uh, Gallup. 26% of people plan to look, uh, in 2024, plan to look for a new job. That was down from 37%, uh, the year prior in 2023. So you might look at these stats and think, oh, well, things are going down. Like, things are stabilizing, but people are staying put, actually, because the job market feels risky. And not just the job market, our environment in general.

Speaker B: Things risky because there's high fear.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So fear. So, um, fewer people are quitting, but more people are fearing layoffs and, you know, Disengagement. And I think, you know, the stat that we heard around that was 29% of employees fear being laid off, which is up from 18%. That's almost, that's like 11%.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's. I mean, so that's almost 30%. So that's almost a third.

Speaker B: Tell me more about job hugging, Kelly.

Speaker A: Job hugging. Give me a hug. No, it's not that type of hug. Job, uh, hugging. It was interesting. So if you're into buzzwords, you know, we have quiet quitting, quiet this loud. This. We now have job hugging. So job hugging people remain physically present in their job, but they start taking, uh, they stop taking risks, they stop innovating, they stop speaking up. So they just really quietly disengage.

Speaker B: So then fear reduces. Wait, so then because of that, because they're trying, they're remaining physically present, but they're checked out mentally.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Wow. So then that's gonna be another statistic that's gonna create a big gap.

Speaker A: Well, yeah.

Speaker B: Productivity.

Speaker A: Well, it does, it creates, it, it does a lot of things. It creates that gap in productivity, which reduces the ROI of the organization, Obviously reduces efficiency. But also where that could come into play too is let's think about jobs where somebody's, uh, safety is at risk.

Speaker B: Uh,

Speaker A: when somebody is just going through the motions and not emotionally present in their work, you could be putting your other co workers at risk.

Speaker B: Well, and also if you're a client facing the clients feel that. They see that, they, ah, feel that. Uh, I mean, how many times have we had the conversation about complacency and how prevalent it is?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And especially in the service industries, it's really rough and like, it creates a big, A big problem. And also if the robot wasn't doing something funny, but he was doing something unsafe.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Then like, I mean, it's a robot, but still like that's, that could be, ah, a people that could get injured on, ah, the job.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, I have, I have worked in industries where, you know, people are physically doing, doing things and people, people, people have died.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: So, um, you know, when managers are depleted, teams become depleted, clients become depleted, and you really lose that layer that translates strategy into clarity, priorities, coaching and accountability. You lose that something else that was really interesting that a statistic that came out, and it's interesting because I can see both sides of the coin, but the current workforce, 33%, so about a third of the current workforce, does not aspire to move into leadership roles. And that's not a Motivation problem. So a lot of the, There's a lot of discussion about, oh, the workforce today isn't motivated, this and that. Well, I can tell you from one of the numbers that I looked at is we've been having this discussion since people started working and doing things. But this is more of a signal. What does leadership look like? Stress, blame. No. Support. Uh, not having the capacity. And if leadership is perceived as well, I'm just going to have to do more work, I'm going to have less help. Um, it's risky. People don't want, they don't want to do it, they don't want to take it on.

Speaker B: Um, it doesn't sound very cool. Cool or fun.

Speaker A: Well, exactly.

Speaker B: There's not a lot of accolades there.

Speaker A: Right. And that causes obviously a breakdown in the professional development within your organization and the succession planning.

Speaker B: Mhm. And succession planning, we've clarified with clients before, it's not just about when you're done with work and what are you going to do with your business. It's also about progression within the organization from employee to employee and how they move up the chain.

Speaker A: Yep, absolutely.

Speaker B: I think it's interesting, you know, that not a lot of people want to manage yet managers drive the engagement outcome more than anyone else.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So 70% of team engagement can be attributed to manager engagement. And if the manager isn't checked out and they're present and they're focused and they're engaged, then that could create a higher employment engagement or team engagement and um, kind of help shift the, I don't know, the downturn a bit.

Speaker A: No, for sure. And most organizations treat their managers like implementers, not like humans. Uh,

Speaker B: right. We're not AI and we're not robots, so we are still human.

Speaker A: We're not robots. Although. Although I could use one. I could use one to like mow my grass or something. Uh, but anyways, companies often look at employee engagement action plans, uh, but they don't address manager engagement. They focus on manager enablement. Uh, enablement without engagement becomes just one more thing to do. Like one more box to check for managers that are already kind of already maxed out. Yes, thank you. I was like, what's the word? I'm making a gesture here. And Joy's like, I get it maxed out.

Speaker B: Yeah. It's just another thing to do. Yeah, another thing to check out that list that's ever growing and I think, you know, so the common manager reality is like, they have no time, they have no resources and they have no support and they have no Grace when something goes wrong. So they, they tend to report lacking, um, you know, the resources and the support of their direct reports. Um, and then it makes sense when you think about the statistics we just talked about around the lack of engagement that employees tend to come to work. Uh, you know, it's a high percentage. And so it's interesting because you can't coach or develop or retain anyone from an empty tank.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: If you're not filling your cup, if your employees aren't getting their cup filled, then there's no developing that's happening.

Speaker A: Well, and so when you have, um, only 20% of managers, when you have a significant amount of managers that don't have the time or resources and have an empty tank, you're just running on fumes. And most managers don't have the resources or the time to have meaningful conversations with their teams. But this is one of the biggest drivers of engagement and retention.

Speaker B: Yeah. And there's uh, also a level of like when they're overwhelmed and burned out and they don't have support and resources and if you add, uh, they don't have a skill to be able to talk to their employees, then it's just going to be a big mess. It's going to be a big mess. So if we're entering a new revolution, the most urgent upgrade might be not necessarily tech.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's not adding more technology, but

Speaker B: it's more along the manager system. Mid managers developing mid management for sure.

Speaker A: For sure.

Speaker B: And helping them not be so disengaged and making sure they have support and the resources that they need, um, the clarity that they need to be able to do what they need to do.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So as always, whether your organization is growing like crazy and your leaders are drowning, trying to keep up, hitting your stride, but you're worried about losing momentum or getting stale, or maybe your organization is going through big changes like a merger, uh, succession planning, you're acquiring another company or you're just trying to figure out what's next. We can definitely help.

Speaker B: We're glad that you joined us for our season two wrap up and our work human download, because we did talk a lot about all the things.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Um, and so this completes our season two of Resilient Workplace podcast and we look forward to seeing you in September for season three. Until next time, here at Resilient Workplace Innovations, we fix the messy people stuff. Let's stop pretending. If your organization is struggling, it's probably not because your strategy is bad. It's because your leaders are, are overwhelmed under trained and avoiding hard conversations they really don't know how to have.

Speaker A: You don't have a motivation problem, you don't have a generational problem, and you don't have a people don't want to work anymore problem. Your leadership may have a skill gap.

Speaker B: Feedback can be vague. Conflict is definitely avoided. Meetings are definitely long and decisions are so slow. You, your high performers are quietly updating their resumes and everyone's acting surprised.

Speaker A: We're Joy and Kelly, founders of Resilient Workplace Innovations, and we fix messy people stuff before it becomes a culture crisis.

Speaker B: We work with organizations in three ways. Whether you're growing like crazy, your leaders are drowning. Everyone feels urgent, nobody has time to think. We scale leadership capacity so growth doesn't turn into chaos.

Speaker A: If you're hitting your stride and revenue is steady, energy is not. Innovation feels forced. Meetings feel heavier. We refresh culture before we're fine becomes we're stuck.

Speaker B: Or you might be going through big changes, whether that's merger, turnover, succession, restructure, buyout. Trust is fragile, clarity is low, and your best people are watching closely. We help you stabilize leadership so you don't lose them in the transition.