"Don't forget that people are not robots: start trusting them again"

The development of a service mindset by leaders towards their people

One often hears companies talk of their difficulties in being able to attract talent, without maybe asking what needs to change to be more effective?Reports note that 2024 has its challenges but that the recruitment market is beginning to return to strength. However, companies are also reporting that they cannot find enough talent to recruit, so what needs to change?

It has also been noted that it is time to move on from complaining about Brexit as that ship has sailed and the world has moved on. There is a smaller pool from which to compete and so all need to work harder or think differently about the people piece. It is interesting that still so many complain about young talent as though that will change anything.

One of the major changes that we are seeing across all markets is that there is a gulf between generations. Many still believe that should be able to tell employees to return to workspaces and that command & control is the best management approach. Fair to say that research is suggesting that such approaches do not work just as many of the internal communications processes developed for leadership to communicate with employees is not as effective as desired.

The strange thing is that it is not that far different to the world in the 1980s. Many of today’s leaders founded their careers in that era and they did not always listen well to their leaders. The big difference is that they felt empowered and able to be themselves. There was less transparency, less pressure on every decision and the young could fail and it was viewed to enable learning. In those heady days of the 1980s, young talent believed that they could reach senior roles in their early 30s and that they were fewer barriers to success.

Today, young talent carries some significant debt and are told that it will take an extra 15-20 years before they reach senior positions. It is not hard to understand that this is less than attractive. At the same time, benefits and packages were often better and broader in the 1980s than today. There were relocation packages with braiding loans for housing. Pension schemes were better.?There was more genuine incentive.

It is easy to criticize the younger generations, but maybe more time should be spent considering what can be done to ease and support the journey of great talent than complaining that it needs to better? The argument can be swung round to note that maybe leaders have not been as committed and supportive to young talent as they, themselves, were supported one upon a time?

There are a few new, exciting, generations to emerge: a generation which believes in community and service to a far higher level. They possess strong values and want to ensure a better society. The challenge for employers is to think differently about how they support young talent and help support their careers?It may be an old truth, but we do maybe need to go back to the past to learn about the future and once again, start generating frameworks which do focus on supporting great talent plus do far more action in ESG and across society.

Hospitality is seen as attractive, and it has a great opportunity but it needs to stop talking negatively and start acting with a positive intent. What can be done differently?

One of the shifts we are witnessing is the move, by leadership teams, to create new frameworks which will be able to empower the young once again? Leadership teams are developing a service mindset towards people where the leaders themselves understand they need to do more to ensure that great talent feel that they have a voice, are heard and have a meaningful role to play.

EP has just been conducting some research and one of the comments which came through was “don’t forget that people are not robots; start trusting them again”.

Maybe it is a fair comment to be made?

Written by Chris Sheppardson, Founder of EP Business in Hospitality