The Post GFC Leader

Aaron McEwan Director, Hudson Talent Management

Dr Ben Palmer CEO, Genos International

Identifying and equipping leaders to engage, motivate and retain talent in the post GFC landscape

Hudson 20:20 Series Whitepaper

“Positioning for Growth – Building a Dynamic Workforce in a New Economic Era”

Assessed the fallout of the downturn in Australia and New Zealand’s businesses and workforces, with specific focus on today’s increasing labour market liquidity

Surveyed: 574 Employers

1633 Employees

Provided recommendations on how to find and retain high performing employees in an increasingly competitive, skills-short market

The GFC: What did employers experience?

37% implemented pay freezes for some/all staff

50% roles were merged or made redundant

43% workloads increased

11% of overall workforce lost

59% say they are now under-resourced

32% market has become more competitive

The GFC: What did employers experience?

50% roles were merged or made redundant

More than 3500 candidates completed Hudson outplacement programs – mostly middle managers

Many outplacement candidates changed careers/industries – not coming back

Retirement plans shelved due to impact on super – ageing workforce issues postponed

Business As Usual?

“WE’RE NOW PLANNING FOR A PERIOD OF GROWTH, THERE’S AN OPTIMISTIC AIR IN THE COMPANY THAT WE’VE MISSED” CMO, Sales, Marketing & Communications

The New Workload Regime

62% of employees believe they are working harder as a result of changes made during the GFC

Employee Loyalty and Motivation Post GFC

“THE DOWNTURN HAS MADE A BAD IMPRESSION ON MY EMPLOYEES AND WE KNOW NOW THAT WE’RE BEING HELD TO THAT IMPRESSION” HR Manager, Office Support

Talent Exodus Arrives

Around 61% of employees plan to be in a new job within the next six months

Reasons For Change

Skills Shortage Returns

Employers Now Focussed On Getting The Right Team

43% do not have the right team in place

84% made too many redundancies

23% of losses were high performers

34% says teams are now weaker

83% are focussed on building the right team for growth

What is a High Performer?

High performers are engaged, they’re inspired and they expend discretionary effort

Employee Engagement and Discretionary Effort

Only 11% of a typical workforce is highly engaged

Engaged employees can yield up to 57% more discretionary effort

This discretionary effort can improve performance by 20%

73% of engagement is explained by actions or behaviours exhibited by leaders

Financial Metric (12 month change)

High Engagement Companies

(%) Low Engagement

Companies (%)

Operating Income + 19.2 - 32.7 Net Income Growth + 13.7 - 3.8 Earnings Per Share + 27.8 - 11.2

Towers Global Workforce Study (2008)

Retention – Keeping high performers engaged

Drivers

•  Right People in the Right Jobs

•  Leadership Excellence

•  Organisational Strategies and Systems

Employees are four times more likely to leave a job with a Manager that has poor Coaching and Interpersonal Skills

(Cherniss & Goleman, 2001)

Environment

•  Aligned Effort and Strategy

•  Empowerment

•  Collaboration

•  Growth and Development

•  Support and Recognition

The Post GFC Leader has to function in an environment where…

There is very little certainty - world economy is unstable

There is opportunity for growth and market share gain

Business is highly complex with multiple, global and diverse interactions and interconnections

GFC downsizing cut deeply into ‘muscle’

Turnover and workforce fluidity are high

Competition for high performers and ‘talent’ is fast approaching pre-GFC levels

Employee engagement and loyalty is declining yet critical to success

What Makes an Engaging Leader? – Understated Authenticity

Intellectual Agility - Navigates complexity, integrates complex information

Resilience - Copes with ambiguity and continuous change, stress resistant

Self Awareness - Seeks feedback to improve interactions with others, accurately describes how others view his or her capabilities

Relational Transparency - Says exactly what he or she means, is willing to admit mistakes when they are made

Balanced Processing - Solicits views that challenge his or her deeply held positions, listens carefully to different points of view before coming to conclusions

Internalised Moral Perspective - Demonstrates beliefs that are consistent with actions, makes decisions based on his/her core beliefs

Source: Prof Paul Evans Journal of Human Resource Management (2003)

What Drives Leadership Performance?

The traditional method

Employee engagement

Perform

Praise Perfect

Universal drivers of motivation Communication

Decision Making Role-Clarity

Working Conditions Performance Management Strategy Reward & Recognition Learning & Development

Executive Leadership Leadership Career Opportunities

Interdepartmental Cooperation Resources Mission/Vision/Values Change Management

The traditional method

Em

ployee engagement

Perform

Praise Perfect

Universal drivers of

motivation

time

What about individual drivers of motivation?

Employee engagement

Perform

Praise Perfect

Universal drivers of motivation

Employee engagement

Perform

Praise Perfect

Individual drivers of motivation +

Individual motivational drivers

Motivational fit and engagement

53% 45%

27% 21%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Manager Team Organisation Role

Am

ount

of v

aria

nce

in e

ngag

emen

t exp

lain

ed

What happens when you achieve it?

New methods

Individualising employee engagement

Develop managers emotional intelligence

Facilitate individual motivational fit engagement reviews and monitor the impact

Individualise employee engagement

Shared ownership

Employee engagement

Praise Perfect

Individual drivers of motivation =Perform

New methods - develop manager’s emotional intelligence

r = .48

r = .56

r = .52

r = .53

r = .48

r = .58

r = .45

Disengaged

Not Engaged

Nearly Engaged

Engaged

Facilitating individual engagement – five step process

1.  Purpose & Outcomes

2.  Present your own analysis

3.  Individual motivational fit activity

4.  SMART Goal action planning

5.  Monitor

Summary

1.  Individualising employee engagement

2.  Develop managers emotional intelligence

3.  Facilitate individual motivational fit engagement reviews and monitor the impact