Dr. Curtis Odom is the Managing Partner at Prescient Strategists, and an Executive Professor at Northeastern University in Boston.
getty
A new movement is sweeping organizations that recognizes the workforce of the future should be measured on a new ROI. This movement focuses on seeing the workforce as a flexible and renewable asset rather than skills that require talent to be replaced on a continual basis. While the last 20 months of the pandemic have created this perfect storm, the movement began before the onset of Covid-19.
Events have been driving toward the creation of a new ROI, which is a return on individuals rather than investment, as a more powerful way to think about people. This requires a shift from thinking about our talent as replaceable to thinking of people as a renewable energy source, as a renewable workforce. This means moving away from replacing people who may be lacking in skills and investing in people development. A renewable approach to talent other than simultaneous firing and hiring, while offering development for all people in the organization, is a step in the right direction.
As a coach to Fortune 50 executives, I focus on aligning business owners' actions to their vision and the future growth of their organization. More specifically, I help them gain the critical knowledge necessary for business success. In that experience, I've learned that productivity comes from engaged employees and the increase seen in terms of opportunity cost savings where an organization prioritizes learning and development to double the return on investment. There are deep savings that can be realized from reskilling someone and deploying them into something new versus just laying them off and hiring someone else.
The pandemic accelerated the return on individuals movement as leaders have been grappling with the ongoing pace of change brought on by the fourth industrial revolution, better known as a demographic shift in the workforce. The new ROI is found in using learning and development as an enabler. A deep focus on building people's skills is on the rise with many employees choosing to invest in their own skill development. There's an opportunity here for organizations to harness this self-reliant moment as an opportunity for organizations to re-engage with their people. Here are three trends redefining ROI as a return on individuals over investment.
Expectations Have Changed
The first trend is that the expectations of the workforce have changed. When many leaders entered the world of work, it was all about finding a job that offered security and a good wage. But now, younger generations entering the world of work are looking for something else. They're looking for an organization that has good corporate social responsibility, a clear purpose and somewhere they are going to have plenty of growth opportunities. So different are the decision-making criteria that have emerged when it comes to deciding where to work. As connectivity increases globally through social media, the ROI of generational differences plays a more important role in setting the culture of organizations.
Ongoing Digital Transformation
The second trend is that digital transformation has accelerated the pace of change when it comes to the technology needed for tomorrow. The modern workforce has had a critical influence on the way people consume and relate to brands and companies. Opportunities are emerging for companies to transform by challenging them to rethink how they deliver value to the consumer. It's no longer about the workforce being thought of in numbers only. It's about holding all of that together as a challenge that's facing people, their families, the whole of society and how they're being affected in a very different way. There is a concern and a worry about the workforce. It's not an imaginary challenge, nor is it something being overplayed. There is a true ripple effect in some of the typical workforce decisions that companies choose to make, particularly when it comes to layoffs.
Paying Attention To Accountability
The third trend that brought this movement forward is new attention to accountability. In recent executive coaching conversations, clients have been openly talking about being dissatisfied with the degree to which managers and frontline leaders were held accountable for managing talent. The situation is that of a workforce that is burnt out, disengaged, unprepared, overlooked and, in many cases, languishing in roles while craving something different. It is frightening for many leaders to admit that their disengaged frontline leaders are the people responsible for the retention of the largest segment of an organization’s workforce.
In the last year, it's become more important than ever for leaders to possess skills such as emotional empathy and being able to connect with people. It's a time where they now need to think about the return on their people in a different way. In the wake of this perfect storm — or perhaps still in the middle of it — it's time to rethink what the value of the workforce looks like. Ultimately, organizations can no longer offer someone a career for life, but leaders can instead set the example that they care about employees' lifetime careers.
Three Recommended Proactive Changes
The time is now for companies to focus on reenergizing their workforce and help their employees realize their true potential in a way they haven't before.
1. Raise motivation and morale. Maintain a sense of community by developing and maintaining relationships across the organization to keep employees motivated with positive morale.
2. Choose balance over burnout. Leaders should seek to be a helpful presence to their team, keeping them connected and optimistic. Maintain a balanced schedule with the increase of virtual meetings.
3. Examine your structure. The switch from a large open office to private home office has boosted productivity significantly. Frequent, but short, check-in meetings with staff and team meetings relay information with transparency and consideration for work-life balance. Stick to the point and show your employees you value their time.
The workforce ROI payoffs are sure to be huge if leaders adopt a new way to measure ROI through the lens of return on individuals — as a positive shift in thinking from the movement that grew in the wake of a pandemic.
Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
