The goal is clear: we have to grow our economy and increase productivity. But is this achievable in our post-Covid world of work? We now have 9.4 million people who are judged to be economically inactive – an increase of one million on pre-Covid levels. A significant part of that number is driven by poor mental health. According to a survey into Gen Z by PwC, almost a quarter of this age group are struggling with mental health issues, with depression and anxiety the leading concerns. The implications for business performance and economic growth are profound.
The necessity of working from home during lockdown has become the ‘new normal’ but has created huge challenges. While it might have benefits for some employees, such as cutting down on the daily commute and creating more flexibility, it can also be isolating and disconnect us from each other, no doubt exacerbating the feelings of anxiety and depression for many, and causing a loss of motivation and enthusiasm for others.
For businesses the impact is significant. Not only is mental and physical wellbeing now a critical issue for HR and taking up more of their time, but ensuring high performance and productivity is a constant battle. Maintaining an energised, motivated atmosphere in the office (the cultural glue of any organisation) is harder when many are physically absent. Fostering collaborative working is challenging in a virtual environment. Agile decision making is a struggle when most communication is via email and all conversations have to be diarised.
And that’s just ‘business as usual’ performance. If there is a change or transformation agenda afoot, problems are compounded. Countering the disconnect requires leaders to dial up superhuman levels of energy to motivate and inspire staff, placing those leaders under unprecedented pressure.
The status quo is not sustainable: pre-covid ways of working are not fit-for-purpose. The hybrid version that has emerged is creaking under the pressure. Not only is business performance and productivity suffering, but everyone’s mental health is at risk.
Something has to change; we need a complete reset. We have to re-ignite our national ‘mo-jo’ and it has to be driven bottom-up. Our businesses have to be vibrant, high-performing, and productive, and to enable this our business leaders need to supercharge the way they lead, finding new ways to energise, engage and unite their people, to lift them up and out of the post-Covid ‘malaise’.
The reset needs to traverse what I call the “five Cs”:
- Clarity of purpose: Leaders must have absolute clarity about their purpose, and use it as a lever of inspiration.
- Communication: Everyone across the whole organisation, but particularly the leadership, must communicate more, and not just transactionally, but on an informal and face-to-face, human level.
- Collaboration: Virtual working facilitates siloed thinking and working practices. Consciously finding ways to work more collaboratively is critical.
- Cascade: Leaders must find ways to engage and connect everyone throughout the organisation, so they all feel part of the collective effort and corporate ‘purpose’.
- Compassion: Leaders must be compassionate and foster a culture of compassion. Everyone has different levels of tolerance for stress, and are responding to the post-Covid world in different ways.
Business and economic success is dependent on it. Leaders need to rethink how they can reignite inspiration and motivation, and implement and cascade a change of mindset and behaviour, whilst supporting and developing their people.
It is my experience that the one intervention that will enable them to do all this is coaching. And not just coaching for the ‘top team’ but for all. Blending one-on-one and group coaching, providing support for everyone from the chief executive to the newest graduate joiner, will enable businesses to fast-track change, and instigate personal, team and business-wide strategies which engage and motivate all staff – bringing everyone into the re-engagement and productivity drive. Most importantly, it can be embedded into daily life, not requiring long, protracted time ‘out’.
Providing new ways to bring people together, enabling them to connect and collaborate on all issues whilst at the same time providing them with bespoke one-to-one coaching will foster increased energy and motivation, and boost confidence and understanding of how everyone can change, grow and develop, while igniting the tangible collective effort and energy that is key to high-performing environments.
And for the leaders themselves, who face unprecedented pressure in traversing the complexity of the modern world, they too need support: an external perspective, a thinking partnership, a ‘safe’ place where they can strategize about their leadership whilst nurturing their own wellbeing, enabling them to fulfil their individual potential and lead their business, and in turn our country, to success.
Louisa Welby-Everard is a leadership coach and founder of Stellium
To find out more about how our coaching can help you transform your business, visit stellium.coach.
