Top Five Organizational Challenges in 2020
Debbie Radish-Respess
Leadership Strategy & Team Alignment for CEOs & Executives | Driving Retention, Growth, & High-Performing Teams | The Alignment Alchemist
In the 1960s, Charles Hummel published a booklet called The Tyranny of the Urgent. He explains that there is a regular tension between things that are urgent and things that are important, and far too often, the urgent wins. The entire world has been living that scenario for the past few months.
In Middle Tennessee, Life After COVID-19 has begun. Local, state, and national leaders both suggest and mandate “opening the economy” strategies that impact how businesses operate. Large manufacturing facilities, small businesses, and those with office spaces need answers, because production lines, cubicles, lunchrooms, conference rooms, and hallways all present the same questions. Two of the most pressing are:
- How do we restructure the work environment to ensure the work gets done while keeping our teams safe (e.g., maintaining appropriate social distancing measures)?
- How will this restructure impact organizational policies and procedures?
Restructuring work environments is industry-specific and too broad to be covered here. The need to restructure policies and procedures, however, has a great deal of commonality.
Like a row of dominoes, when one policy requires adjustment, other areas must also be considered. Policies, whether written five years ago or five months ago, may need to be reviewed. Procedures and processes are subject to new scrutiny. Recruiting, hiring, and onboarding will be different because attrition and retention are probably different. Financial stability, outlook, and strategy may need to be revisited. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. How on earth do we know where to start? We take a lesson from Mr. Hummel.
While there is a legitimate urgency to some of the issues created by COVID-19, interestingly, none of them are important enough to make the cut for the top five organizational challenges. For the long haul, the challenges that must continue to be in the forefront of strategic thinking and planning include:
- Finding and Landing High-Quality Talent. The unemployment stimulus plan has had a marked impact on the ability to fill vacancies. Unemployment payments and stimulus dollars are enabling some to delay seeking new employment, thereby creating a huge gap in many organizations.
- Retaining Top Talent. Sudden life changes can derail even the brightest and best. Recognizing the stress and challenges within your organization is critical to helping your employees feel safe, cared for, and valued.
- Developing Future Leaders. Foster a culture of learning at all levels of the organization.
- Finding and Implementing Successful Workforce Development Solutions. One size does not fit all. Team members have different areas of interest and different methods of learning.
- Achieving Diversity with Inclusion. Talent and organizational fit come in many, varied packages. Diversity goes beyond specific categories like age, race and gender, and inclusion means more than Can’t we just all get along?
While there are as many ways to meet them as there are challenges, here are some suggestions for answering How do I …
- Attract Talent. Create competitive advantages by offering innovative incentives. You might include a behavioral assessment in the hiring process to find out what makes a candidate tick: Salary? Title? Development opportunities? Something else? Once you know, act on it. Nothing creates loyalty faster than saying what you mean and doing what you say.
- Retain Talent. Ensure your work environment is based in company values. Simply put, walk the talk. Watch for and address burnout and mental fatigue (consider having a trusted colleague watch for the same in you). Be cognizant of changes in attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Work with your staff to shape an environment that promotes health and wellness.
- Grow Leaders. Foster a climate of creativity, innovation, and safety. Provide learning opportunities through cross-departmental projects, leadership or team-lead roles, inclusion in program development, etc. The possibilities are limitless. Listen to what interests your team and offer opportunities for them to shine.
- Develop my Workforce. Ask your individual team members how they learn (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.) and look for programs that encompass all those methods. Whether AI, instructor-led or a hybrid, successful development programs will have a positive effect on your future bottom line, in part by creating an environment in which your employees want to stay.
- Elevate Diversity with Inclusion. Promote the benefits of D&I. Train your employees and leaders in what diversity and inclusion mean and how biases can interfere with success. Model for your team how to embrace differences within the workforce.
Take the time now to dive into your current practices. At least some of them are likely to need adjustments to fit into the new landscape. Others may not be scalable to our ever-evolving work environment.
As an experienced global Human Resources and business executive, I help leaders assess and define guiding behaviors within their organization’s mission, vision, and values. Let’s identify your top five challenges and how you can address them now for future success.
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