Talent Management Excellence - May 2023

On the Cover

13 Are You Ready For A Seat At The Table? A test for HR professionals

- Howard M. Guttman, Principal, Guttman Development Strategies

17 Supporting Managers During High Employee Attrition: A 5-Step Approach

How ready are you for the changing landscape of work?

- Amy Leschke-Kahle, VP of Performance Acceleration, The Marcus Buckingham Company

26 Eleven Strategies To Defuse Resistance In Your Organization

Dealing with DEI pushback

- Amri B. Johnson, CEO/Founder, Inclusion Wins

32 How Happy Is Your Generation At Work?

Exploring the varying levels of workplace happiness across different generations

- Katherine Chia, Research Scientist, Cangrade

Top Picks

INDEX

Building A “Right-Size, Not Bolt-On” Manager Program

Effective manager programs for success and support

- Bhavna Dave, Chief People and Culture Officer, Schellman

Achieve Operating Efficiency And Scale Through Development, Not Just Cutbacks

Empowering your workforce to optimize performance

- Stuart Robertson, Chief People Officer, AvePoint

Moving Beyond KPIs For Employee

Performance Reviews

The shift to qualitative performance measures in a flexible workplace

- Maggie Da Prato, Head of Talent for the Americas, Dialectica

10 15 20 27

Understanding The Expectations And Motivations Of Gen Z As They Begin Infiltrating The Workforce

Strategies for optimizing Gen Z workforce management and retention

- Heide Abelli, Co-founder, SageX Inc.

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Unlocking Talent Management Success in 2023

Inthe fast-paced business world of 2023, organizations are facing a critical challenge: attracting and retaining the best talent. To stand out from the crowd, it’s essential for organizations to demonstrate a strong commitment to helping employees grow, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and leveraging the latest technology in the job search process.

By implementing a well-defined and transparent process, organizations can showcase their dedication to these key areas, positioning themselves as progressive and desirable employers.

With the Class of 2023 entering the workforce, it is essential for recruiters and HR professionals to recognize the significance of a comprehensive hireto-retire process in achieving sustained growth and development. Furthermore, organizations must not overlook the importance of supporting managers throughout their professional journey. HR teams should focus on creating comprehensive talent strategies that address the needs and growth of managers at all stages of their careers, enabling them to thrive and contribute to the organization’s success.

The May edition of Talent Management Excellence includes informative articles that highlight the transformative power of embracing transparency, fostering work-life balance, harnessing technology, and providing extensive support to managers.

Joblist’s Kevin Harrington offers 5 Ways To Attract Top Talent From The Class Of 2023, emphasizing transparency, work-life balance, social media engagement, flexibility, and AI tools. Dialectica’s Maggie Da Prato in her article, Moving Beyond KPIs For Employee Performance Reviews, explores qualitative attributes in performance reviews and effective career paths. In her article, Understanding The Expectations And Motivations Of Gen Z As They Begin Infiltrating The Workforce, Heide Abelli from SageX Inc focuses on understanding and retaining Gen Z talent, while Schellman’s Bhavna Dave highlights the importance of robust manager development programs in her article, Building A “Right-Size, Not Bolt-On” Manager Program.

As organizations adapt to the evolving landscape of talent, we trust that these valuable perspectives provide actionable steps to foster growth, success, and excellence in today’s dynamic business environment. Your feedback and suggestions are always appreciated as we strive to deliver relevant and useful content.

Happy Reading!

In a world of unparalleled challenges (global pandemic, racial injustice, political rivalry, digital 4.0, emotional malaise), uncertainty reigns. Finding opportunity in this context requires harnessing uncertainty and harnessing starts with reliable, valid, timely, and useful information. The Excellence publications are a superb source of such information. The authors provide insights with impact that will guide thought and action.

Excellence publications are my ‘go-to’ resource for contemporary and actionable information to improve leadership, engagement, results, and retention. Each edition offers rich and diverse perspectives for improving the employee experience and the workplace in general.

I regularly read and contribute to Leadership Excellence and Talent Management Excellence. I use many of the articles I read to augment my own presentations and I often share the articles with my clients. They are always quick, right on target for the latest issues in my field, and appreciated by my clients. If you want to stay up to date on the latest HR trends, choose a few of the different issues from the Excellence series of publications.

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5 Ways To Attract Top Talent From The Class Of 2023

Creating an employee-centric workplace

By Kevin Harrington, Joblist

Intoday’s highly competitive job market, attracting and retaining top young talent remains a mission-critical task for organizations across all industries. As the Class of 2023 enters the workforce this spring, recruiters and HR professionals must elevate their game and adopt new strategies to appeal to this resilient group whose experiences and perspectives have been irrevocably shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this article, I will present five effective ways to attract top talent from the Class of 2023, based on Joblist’s Q1 2023 Job Market Report that surveyed nearly 29,000 job seekers. By adopting these techniques, employers can position themselves favorably with Gen Z job seekers who not only can fill entry-level roles now but also have the potential to grow into future leaders within their organizations.

Prioritize Transparency in Job Postings

According to the Joblist survey, 64% of Gen Z job seekers would not apply to a job posting that is missing wage or salary information. To gain the trust of these potential candidates, recruiters should disclose compensation details upfront, regardless of whether it’s required by law in their location. This transparency shows respect for applicants’ time, sets clear expectations before the interview process, and establishes the company as having an honest and open culture. The research is clear — including salary information in job postings will increase the number of applications from recent graduates.

Salary transparency in job postings can also encourage retention down the line. According to the survey, 20% of job seekers say that they would quit a job if they found out they are being paid less than a coworker at a similar level. Younger workers tend to react even more negatively to this news, as Gen Zers are twice as likely as Baby Boomers to say they would quit (30% compared to 15%). By making salary information public in all job postings, it can reduce inequities across individual hiring decisions that could lead to attrition later.

Emphasize Work-Life Balance

Despite the significant financial strain caused by inflation, 71% of job seekers currently value work-life balance over salary when selecting their next job. To

attract top young talent, recruiters and hiring managers should emphasize their company’s commitment to nurturing and encouraging a balanced lifestyle. This may include promoting generous time-off policies and flexible schedules and fostering an empathetic and supportive work culture. By focusing on these aspects, companies can position themselves as employee-centric organizations that prioritize the well-being of their workforce.

Engage with Gen Z on TikTok

Over the last few years, social media has played an even more critical role in how job seekers gather information and make decisions about potential employers. For recent graduates, TikTok has become an increasingly popular platform for consuming job search and career advice content. In fact, over 20% of Gen Z job seekers engage with such content on TikTok, and 23% of this group say that they are more likely to turn to TikTok than Google when seeking online job search assistance. To reach this audience, recruiters should consider creating a presence on this social media platform: showcasing their company culture through short videos, sharing job opportunities when they arise, and offering valuable career advice. This engagement not only helps companies connect with potential candidates but also demonstrates their adaptability and willingness to stay current with evolving trends.

Offer a Mix of In-Person and Remote Work Options

The Joblist survey finds that a whopping 70% of all job seekers are looking for in-person work right now, while 15% are seeking hybrid roles, and another 15% are only interested in remote-only positions. This is quite a shift from job seeker preferences at the height of the pandemic.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Gen Zers tend to prefer fully in-person jobs (78%), while Millennials are more likely to prefer hybrid or remote positions (42%). For recent graduates starting their first jobs, working in person offers a host of social and professional benefits, as it often makes it easier to connect with coworkers, build a network, and learn and grow quickly on the job. It’s therefore important for employers that want to appeal to the bulk of this talent pool that they offer an in-person work environment where people actually show up. At the same time, offering at least a parttime remote option is helpful in unlocking the other 22% of Gen Z job seekers who prefer hybrid roles or working from home. Flexibility is the key to success here, allowing organizations to attract a diverse pool of young candidates with a range of preferences and working styles.

Stop Fighting ChatGPT as a Tool for Job Seekers

The use of AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT is becoming more widespread among job seekers, with 83% of ChatGPT users recommending it to others for job application assistance. Rather than considering this technology a threat, HR teams should recognize

the value of AI in enhancing job seekers’ application experiences. For example, in designing their application forms, forward-thinking employers could even include explicit instructions that the use of ChatGPT is acceptable as long as the candidate takes the time and care to customize the output to their specific experience and situation. This would likely not only help increase the number of applications by lowering the time investment but also improve the quality of applications. By viewing these tools as valuable resources, recruiters can demonstrate their respect for candidates’ time and openness to technological advancements that are already being embraced by younger job seekers.

To attract top talent from the Class of 2023, recruiters and HR professionals should be transparent, promote work-life balance, engage with potential candidates on popular platforms like TikTok, offer a range of work arrangements, and embrace the use of technology in the job search process. By implementing these strategies, your organization can position itself as an innovative, employee-centric workplace that appeals to the best and brightest in this incoming class.

Kevin Harrington is the Founder and CEO of Joblist, an AI-powered job search platform that personalizes the process of finding the right job. Previously, Kevin was the Head of R&D at Wilbur Labs, a San Francisco-based startup studio, and the Head of Strategy at Lift Ventures, where he launched another startup in the recruitment space. Kevin has spent much of his career building better solutions to help people find jobs and he is passionate about the future of work.

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Building A “Right-Size, Not Bolt-On” Manager Program

Effective manager programs for success and support

By Bhavna Dave, Schellman

The familiar narrative often portrays the ascent of managers: excelling in their individual contributor capacity, surpassing expectations, and achieving remarkable success, leading to their promotion. However, lacking formal training and possessing only limited familiarity with the responsibilities accompanying the managerial role, these recently appointed managers find themselves thrust into multifaceted positions. They’re simultaneously expected to guide their new team—many of whom may have previously been their peers—while using their deep technical knowledge to deliver products and services for clients, all while also trying to meet the expectations of stakeholders that can range up to the C-Suite.

Given the number of responsibilities, coupled with how many are unprepared to take on this highly complex role, saying the jump to management is overwhelming is an understatement. And now, with the current market conditions adding pressure in the form of high costs, slim margins, limited staff, and more, there is even more importance assigned to the role–managers are often the critical difference between a successful and unsuccessful business, as they are the conduit to delivering a high performing organization with strong retention.

That’s why HR teams should create a team framework that supports both employees and all levels of leadership. Often, HR teams are primarily focused on senior leadership, leaving managers lost and struggling, but to ensure the support of managers as well, HR teams should create manager talent strategies that are comprehensive, growth-minded, and transparent, above all. In fact, these strategies and focus should begin ahead of the promotion to manager and consider the full lifecycle of the manager. The creation of an emerging leaders program for high performers with leadership potential is a good start, as are targeted options along the manager journey that meet an individual’s unique career needs effectively.

Thoughtful Training, Hiring, and Communication

In creating an emerging leadership program, organizations can prepare managers ahead of taking on the role but among the necessary targeted options will need to be, the continuation of the learning journey throughout the manager lifecycle. Because of its complexity, it’s important that expectations of the manager role are clearly defined, and that training covers both the technical aspects of the role and the people leadership skills that are crucial to both the individual and the organization’s success.

Focused and simplified training—as well as the creation of playbooks and other resources—will provide managers with actionable maps of their responsibilities and tools to leverage, driving a more thoughtful approach to their role as they translate that guidance to their work.

Perhaps more important than better training is choosing the right folks for the job in the first place. In this vein, HR leaders must also create a framework of expectations that supports selecting experienced individuals that have a high potential for leadership due to their strong people skills that range from robust emotional quotient to tailored communication.

Managers with these strong people skills—emotional intelligence, self-awareness, grit, and the ability to both listen to and understand things from multiple perspectives—are often the most successful, and they also can assist with maintaining engagement and retention at the organization. As such, it’s important to carefully select managers that understand how to properly communicate, motivate, and inspire others around them to move forward while adopting change and collaborating along the way.

Transparency Trumps All

Moreover, managers also need to be willing to receive feedback on their own performance, especially as they continue to grow in their leadership journey. If they already have the people skills for these difficult conversations, this process will be all the more fruitful in building well-rounded mid-level leaders, but HR professionals should also lend support.

Through the creation of 360 feedback loops, HR can help managers engage in a two-way dialogue with peers, direct reports, and their leaders to solicit feedback. By aiding managers in creating action plans related to that feedback, you can ensure steps are also taken to further develop each manager’s skills. These feedback loops are an important training tool, not only for the best management training program possible but for the most successful company culture.

Customization, Customization, Customization

Once a company has thoughtfully selected, trained, and set their managerial candidates up for feedback, it’s also critical that you ensure career longevity for those in this role too. To do so, HR leaders need to

bake in the most optionality possible for mid-managers and give them a customized path forward without spin and politics.

That means avoiding the common misconception that career paths or job ladders are “one-size-fitsall” for employees. Though compensation is a major reason for employees to leave their jobs, a lack of development and advancement--often due to rigid options for employees as they progress along in their careers—is also a major factor in pushing people to seek opportunities elsewhere. Managers are no exception, and, in fact, the stakes are higher where they’re concerned, as these mid-level staff often have greater responsibilities at a company.

So, for companies that want to build a robust manager program so as to keep managers for longer in their careers, options and flexibility will need to become standard. One approach is keeping pandemic-era policies and rules as regular aspects of operations. A manager may prefer working later in the day, or to be in the office each day—either way, HR professionals should arrange that. It’s a small start, but by maintaining the flexibility that work-from-home allowances provided employees, HR leaders will demonstrate to mid-level leadership that they are willing to progressively approach change, rather than roll back offerings.

Beyond that, you might notice – through attrition or feedback – that your company has also outgrown initial structures and guides around manager roles and hierarchies. To rectify this, and build in more customization, consider career paths that will more meaningfully meet the needs of managers, including avenues mapping to other functions across the organization, like marketing, finance, and IT. HR professionals may even build in more specific needs for employees on a case-by-case basis, such as a unique career path for someone who isn’t interested in becoming a senior manager or beyond. To understand what’s best for your organization, hold listening sessions, create focus groups and work directly with the employees to develop a program that works best for your organization.

Building this culture of accountability and optionality should be of the highest priority for HR departments that are trying to improve or maintain their mid-manager program. Being a strong HR leader means shifting strategies to meet the changing needs of employees, and mid-managers who are asked to face constantly evolving challenges from various directions each day. By offering this level of employees a variety of career paths, training, and feedback as part of your manager program, you will set your managerial personnel up for more meaningful success.

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Bhavna Dave is the Chief People and Culture Officer at Schellman. She has over 15 years of experience building and scaling small to mid-size global organizations and people functions by aligning the business and people strategy.

Are You Ready For A Seat At The Table?

A test for HR professionals

By Howard M. Guttman, Guttman Development Strategies

Fromtime immemorial, HR professionals have wondered why they are often denied a seat at the top-management table. CEOs just don’t “get it” many CHROs seem to feel, and this might be true in many cases. But not all. Let’s run a little test. Pretend your CEO wants to test whether or not you are a high-performance leader of your HR team and camera-ready to occupy that vaunted seat at the top-management table.

What kinds of questions would your CEO likely put to you to test your high-performance leadership capability? And how would you answer them?

Close your office door, and candidly answer these 10 questions:

1. Have you led an alignment effort to ensure that everyone on your team is clear and committed to a common strategy and set of operational goals, to clarify roles and accountabilities, to ground rules for decision making, and to transparent business relationships?

2. Do you require that your team act as if it were a mini board of directors, on which each team member puts aside functional self-interest and “owns” team results?

3. To what extent have you encouraged your team members to hold one another accountable for business success? And that they hold you accountable—and say so?

4. How attuned are you to the leader/ player dynamic of each of your team members? Do you adjust your behaviors—directing, coaching, collaborating, delegating—to the player and situational needs?

5. Do you cling to the old leadership story, “As a leader, I get paid to make the decisions?”

6. Do team members view you as an answer man, night watchman, referee, enabler—or as a questioner/coach with a maestro’s baton?

7. Do you role-model effective leadership behavior in leading your team—and in how you manage upward: say, to your board of directors?

8. Think about the last time a team member disagreed with you: Did you (a) say thank you and dispassionately assess the contrarian position; (b) use sarcasm, avoidance behavior, or seek rescuers from your team; (c) become unglued; or (d) press the eject button?

9. When was the last time you asked your team to give you a reality check as to whether or not you are a leader who contributes to the team’s ability to reach high-performance goals and expectations?

10. When you look behind you, do you see a team of leaders—or followers?

If your answers reveal that you are a high-performance leader and team builder, one who is strategically focused and not functionally driven, one who is flexible as a situational leader, a straight-talk relationship builder who is adept at managing conflict, then there’s a good chance your CEO will not only ask you to join the team but insist you do so.

Howard M Guttman is the principal of Guttman Development Strategies, a Mt. Arlington, NJ leadership and organization development firm specializing in building high-performance teams, organizational alignment, executive coaching, and leadership development. He is the author of When Goliaths Clash; Great Business Teams; and Coach Yourself Win.

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Achieve Operating Efficiency And Scale Through Development, Not Just Cutbacks

Empowering your workforce to optimize performance

By Stuart Robertson, AvePoint

Operating efficiency is top of mind for tech leaders in 2023. While many organizations have reduced the size of their workforces, and the media has paid great attention to this trend, it is not enough.

Reorganizing may well be necessary, but too often the focus is on role elimination only without a specific and larger focus on developing the organization. When leaders commit to empowering their existing workforce through tangible actions, margin expansion and top-line growth are both possible.

With that in mind, I’ll discuss why and how leadership teams should prioritize internal mobility, personalized development, and effective enablement this year to fuel efficiency.

Prioritize Internal Mobility

Over 2 decades, with experience in 4 industries and across 70 countries I have noticed a definite trend toward risk aversion when evaluating promotions and internal candidates. How many times have you seen a person decline a new opportunity, only to then leave and thrive in a bigger role somewhere else? Ironically the relatively unknown external hire is more risky and

costly when things don’t work out. An internal candidate is more likely to succeed in an environment that embraces talent risk with strong support.

Today over 20% of employees do not feel like they can openly discuss moving to another role or department with their manager. For Gen Z employees, this jumps to 37%. That’s why having a growth mindset, which prioritizes continuous learning and enables people to explore areas of passion is not a nice to have, it is a must-have within your organization.

Invest in Personalized Development Now

One size fits all training is easy to execute and seems scalable, which is very tempting to deploy if efficiency is the goal. However, the development needs of each person are different, which makes this type of training ineffective.

Personalized learning and development courses, which are increasingly accessible today thanks to digital platforms, have a direct impact on efficiency and innovation for the business. In fact, over three-quarters of employees are more likely to stay

with a company that offers continuous training, which means your business can keep thriving while taking a more conservative talent acquisition approach.

To be truly scalable, organizations must leverage their people managers as owners of development for their teams. Luckily over half of the managers would like to participate in leadership development programs, which provide a platform to grow a culture of feedback and development. Similarly, you may consider investing in training your people on how to incorporate generative AI into their daily work to accelerate efficiencies on the individual level.

Create More Effective Enablement Strategies

According to Gallup, it typically takes new employees an entire year to reach their full potential performance-wise. Organizations looking to streamline operating costs and become more efficient should double down on training and enablement, even if there is an upfront investment. For example, proper sales enablement reduces the time to first sale significantly and increases the value of that sale for new executives while decreasing discount rates. Additionally,

your investment in quality enablement should extend beyond new hires and include ongoing training for all new products and services your company offers to expand margins and accelerate sales.

Ultimately, you should be pulling multiple levers to achieve operating efficiency and become more profitable. Across the board, training and development for existing talent is key: from providing upskilling opportunities to encouraging internal career shifts and enhancing enablement strategies. With a multi-faceted approach, your organization will thrive in 2023 and beyond.

Stuart Robertson is Chief Operating Officer and Chief People Officer at AvePoint

Supporting Managers During High Employee Attrition: A 5-Step Approach

How ready are you for the changing landscape of work?

By Amy Leschke-Kahle, The Marcus Buckingham Company, an ADP Company

What steps can you take to help managers support their team members during times of high turnover?

As businesses face historically high levels of employee turnover, alongside labor shortages in certain fields, headlines are filled with stories about “the Great Resignation.” As HR leaders, it’s time to consider if what we’re really facing is a great retention conundrum.

Building strong employee retention takes time, and over the past year, businesses have been facing very real challenges around operating safely during a pandemic — or continuing to operate at all. While today’s talent challenges underscore the need for investing in employee retention, the managers and employees who remain at their organizations are often under tremendous stress.

Here are five steps HR managers can take to support managers who are struggling with issues of high employee turnover

1. Help Stressed Managers Develop Skills to Build Certainty

For departments experiencing high employee turnover, we recommend frequent, light-touch check-ins, which are especially crucial in times of disruption.

No matter the type of disruption — whether it’s a merger, staffing reduction, or supplier issue — during these periods, people are skeptical. They don’t know what’s happening, and they’re uncertain about the future. HR leaders can provide managers with the tools and approaches they need to build greater certainty in their organizations. Building trust requires frequent points of connection between team leaders and team members, even when managers don’t have all the answers.

2. Structure Check-ins Around 3 Core Questions

During their weekly check-ins, managers should make it their goal to align priorities and ask how people are doing.

They can start by asking three core questions:

● What are your priorities?

● How can I help?

● How are you feeling?

These questions center the conversation on the employee and can help managers identify how the high turnover environment may be affecting them today. In an environment where teams may be down key contributors to ongoing projects, focusing on the priorities of that day or week can be helpful. During check-ins, managers can help employees manage any issues and explore whether there are roadblocks that could be removed. When managers frame discussions with their team members this way, it demonstrates that they have their associates’ backs.

Emotional check-ins, where managers ask team members how they’re feeling, are also important. The goal of these recurring meetings is to show that managers care, understand employees may be working in difficult environments, and are there to help.

3. Offer Tools to Help Managers Navigate Conversations

If managers are having frank conversations and find that employees are struggling, they may not know what to do. This is where HR can provide valuable coaching and resources, as managers won’t always have experience with navigating certain conversations.

HR can help managers prepare a few different responses. For example, if a manager asks an employee how they’re doing and learns that they’re really struggling, a great answer might be, “I’m really sorry to hear that you’re struggling with that. I’ll identify some resources that may be helpful.”

As an HR leader, you yourself may not know exactly how to respond to every situation, but people may call on you to ask for help. Point them toward resources on EAP-oriented solutions, mental health services, and wellness-related support that your company offers. Struggling employees will appreciate having access to these resources, but they may not know that they exist without guidance from HR and their managers. By helping managers prepare for difficult conversations

and ensuring that they understand what support is available to employees, you can give them tangible responses to offer to team members who may be struggling.

4. Find Ways to Create More Space

It may be helpful for HR to ask if there’s anything they could take off the manager’s plate. For example, if you’re dealing with compliance training, how light-touch or easy can you make it? It’s important to frequently assess how we can streamline the tasks we’re asking our associates to do and ensure they’re as frictionless as possible.

Another area to look at maybe exploring HR-related tasks where automation can help. For example, approval of hours or reviewing expense reports can be largely automated to help managers save time. Now may also be the time to put certain time-consuming processes on hold, especially if they’re not creating tremendous value. Eliminating tasks that people don’t see as valuable can create tremendous credibility and shape processes that work with the reality of what’s happening in the manager’s department.

5. Prepare to Be Realistic About Workloads

As business leaders, we also need to be prepared to make difficult decisions about what work we’re able to do. When your team is down, you can cover certain tasks or responsibilities for a short period of time, but in the longer term, it’s important to have a realistic perspective on how much you can take on, especially if it’s taking a while to attract new talent.

Something’s got to give because if your workloads go mismanaged you will lose more people. As managers, that means we’re making hard decisions about what work we can and cannot do. This can be difficult as a manager, since you may feel the need to justify your reasoning to your colleagues and leaders. If there’s a conundrum that’s disrupting work, the solution might not be immediately apparent, but it’s important for managers to examine the issue and determine what assistance they can and cannot provide.

Are You Prepared for How Work is Changing?

Periods of high turnover are challenging to navigate, and they highlight the value of investing in longterm employee retention. However, HR practitioners and leaders can make a significant difference in the current environment by providing managers with the support, leadership, and strategies they need to work effectively during difficult times. In doing so, HR can help mitigate the impact of turnover on their remaining staff and begin to break the cycle of high turnover.

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Amy Leschke-Kahle is the Vice President of Performance Acceleration at The Marcus Buckingham Company, an ADP Company, where she collaborates with clients to transform engagement, performance, and leadership development based on the unique culture of each organization.

This story was originally published on SPARK, a blog designed for you and your people by ADP®.

Moving Beyond KPIs For Employee Performance Reviews

The shift to qualitative performance measures in a flexible workplace

By Maggie Da Prato, Dialectica

Asflexibility has become the benchmark of the modern workplace, performance reviews are no longer about technical skills and setting quantitative goals alone. Qualitative attributes, such as resilience, autonomy, flexibility, innovative thinking, collaboration skills, and work ethics, have become equally important measures of an individual’s performance.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) have long been used to measure performance at a quantitative level. But a career path based solely on targets is no longer sustainable. More focus is needed on qualitative behavioral traits and leadership skills.

KPIs, by their nature, are designed to be quantitative and are based on specific targets, which can differ depending on departments and functions. For example, a target of publishing three internal articles per month might not make sense for marketing, but specific processes for another type of project might.

While KPIs are still essential assessment tools, they offer little insight into what an individual team member needs to change, fix, or improve. However, objectives and key results (OKRs), or behavioral KPIs, focus on operational and behavioral targets.

By offering that insight, OKRs play an increasingly prominent role in performance reviews.

The measures for creating and supporting diverse career paths have become increasingly complex. Development and coaching can be particularly challenging for junior or middle managers as they navigate the ups and downs of people management. That includes, among other things, learning to assess and review performance, keeping in mind attributes such as competency, integrity, and other behavioral indicators that they must observe.

Hybrid environments can add to the complexity. How can managers assess and review performance if they only see their team members once a week or during monthly check-ins? For example, it is easier to observe the behaviors and interactions of in-office staff. With remote workers, it is especially important to keep a close eye on project completion rates and participation in meetings.

At Dialectica, we strive to ensure all team members achieve the best possible performance. As part of that, we make a point of customizing the KPIs and OKRs based on specific working environments, geographical locations (our teams work from 5 international locations in the Americas and Europe), or business groups.

While regular reviews of KPIs and OKRs are essential, the assessments should not stop there. Constant interaction is key. We implement regular feedback cycles that include annual and biannual performance reviews, bimonthly and biweekly catchups, 360o reviews on hard and soft skills, two-way feedback discussions, and strategic actions to ensure every team member will master specific areas that are in need of improvement. In addition, we measure the long-term achievements of a specific action or project to identify the employees that may be struggling or requiring support through programs and training paths.

Our performance reviews and promotion committees have become much more flexible than they were before. Whereas these processes used to be done simultaneously, we have found it more productive to disassociate the two for specific levels of employees to understand what works best for an individual market or unit.

Transparency in terms of what skills are being evaluated is also critical, as qualitative concepts, such as integrity, may have different meanings for different people. To resolve that, we have created specific descriptions of attributes for employees and managers to support evaluations.

For each value, we have a rating scale with specific indicators that can be used for self-review and for

managers reviewing the behavior of others, keeping in mind that each group may create different career paths and have different relevant performance review requirements.

We also conduct calibration sessions with managers during or prior to promotion committee meetings to discuss the meaning of culture fit, and specific values. This provides an ideal opportunity for members to challenge themselves and each other in defining concepts and engaging in informed decision-making.

Upskilling is also a central focus for us. As ad hoc requests for learning and development arise, we have business trainers deployed in locations worldwide, as well as marketing and communications specialists who work as “mediators” in assessing cultural differences and communications needs.

The past three years have taught us many things, not the least of which is that processes need to be more flexible. The market is changing, and processes need to adapt to the current situation.

In today’s rapidly changing work environment, there is never a one-size-fits-all approach to assessing performance. Today, assessments should be based on each team member’s needs and knowledge level, including their soft skills. The more you put effort into tracking and measuring those skills, the more the people feel appreciated and motivated.

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Maggie Da Prato is the Head of Talent for the Americas at Dialectica, an information services company with the vision to shape better business decision-making worldwide, with offices in Montreal and Vancouver as well as New York, London, and Athens.

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Eleven Strategies To Defuse Resistance In Your Organization

Dealing with DEI pushback

By Amri B. Johnson, Inclusion Wins

Inclusion

is good for organizations and good for employees. But if your company is like many, everyone may not welcome the new conversations and initiatives taking place around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In fact, there will almost certainly be resistance to your efforts to create belonging— maybe subtle, maybe overt, or maybe both.

Some people might refuse to engage because they insist they are not part of the problem, that they are “colorblind” and treat everyone the same way. Others may believe they got to where they are by hard work (and so should everyone else).

Some may feel like outsiders or “the other” themselves and resent being excluded when DEI

strategies focus primarily on historically excluded groups.

One thing’s for sure: DEI efforts can bring up intense feelings. People of power and privilege may be astonished to learn about the lived experiences of those who have been excluded or underrepresented in the past. This realization may trigger shame, grief, or even anger and

resentment in some employees. Organizations face the challenge of moving forward while being sensitive and accommodating to all workers as they navigate these changes.

You can deal productively with friction without steamrolling over people’s viewpoints. With the right approach and tools, you can educate workers on how inclusion benefits everyone—yes, even those “at the top”—and enlist them to help transform your culture.

My DEI template, called an Inclusion System, solves all these problems and more. It centers on the truth that inclusion is a human-centric pursuit; it benefits everyone, regardless of their race, gender, orientation, ability level, or any other distinguisher. We can actually create belonging when we make DEI work for everyone. Keep reading to find out how.

Keep the lines of communication open. It could take time for some to come around to the progress being made in your organization, so plan to reiterate your goals and the reasoning behind them regularly. Be transparent about why you are taking action. Share what the problems are, the reasons they matter to individuals and to the greater organization, and what the plan is moving forward.

Avoid accusations and blame. Pointing the finger at any group or individual won’t win you many ardent supporters. It will

just alienate some of the group. Instead, ensure that the language you use to talk about inclusion does not place blame or shame on dominant groups.

…And acknowledge that social tensions are normal. Remind everyone that tensions exist in systems where there is a difference of any kind. Even when it is uncomfortable, this tension is necessary—and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Problems come only when DEI practitioners and groups don’t know how to navigate the uncertainities and complexities that come from differences.

Get rid of the “us versus them” paradigm and make inclusion for everyone. Neither marginalized nor dominant groups enjoy being “othered,” but this is what happens when any group is singled out in DEI work. True inclusion dismantles the “us versus them” paradigm altogether and takes a “we” approach instead. For inclusion to benefit anyone, it must always benefit everyone.

This is great news for holdouts or resistors. Leaders should explain that inclusion is not about lifting up any one group above others. It’s about helping everyone thrive.

Create safe spaces for honest, meaningful conversations. People from historically dominant identities may feel genuine confusion and discomfort when learning more about the marginalization of

others. Ensure that there are safe and brave spaces where they can talk openly and process these feelings. Allow people to express themselves, be there to support them, and share alternative viewpoints. Changing hearts and minds is possible, even around the complexities that will always exist around these issues.

Generate a culture of curiosity and empathy. Encourage employees to approach inclusion efforts with an open mind and heart. Remind everyone that while they may not understand the lived experiences of all individuals they work with, all experiences are valid. Encourage them to move forward with curiosity and empathy—especially when they don’t understand or don’t agree. Curiosity helps us seek and be receptive to other points of view. Empathy allows us to connect by tapping into what another person is feeling. When these forces align, employees can begin bridging the differences that may have prevented collaboration and engagement.

Educate people on how to be more inclusive. Some people genuinely may not realize the ways that their actions or behaviors are harmful to their fellow employees. That’s why it is important to teach the best practices that help everyone feel welcome and safe.

Allow people in power to voice their concerns safely. Since inclusion is for all people, those who may feel the most

threatened or disadvantaged by DEI efforts need to be able to process their feelings as well. Encourage them to share their thoughts and feelings, but be ready to explain why inclusion benefits not only underrepresented employees but the entire organization and everyone in it.

Bring people together. To break down stereotypes and biases, foster relationships between people who may otherwise not interact. Focus on an environment of collaboration and ensure that every team is made up of diverse people from varying backgrounds.

Include leadership in your inclusion efforts. From the C-suite to team managers, all leaders should present a unified front in support of DEI. When

leaders have buy-in and embrace inclusion with enthusiasm, employees will too.

Actively prevent ostracization. Ostracism is a subtle form of abuse but is soul-crushing for the person experiencing it. The bully is usually adept at making it appear that the recipient is the cause of the behavior. Trusted with managing people, you must be on the lookout for signs of ostracism. Are some employees consistently left out of the loop? Are certain people given the cold shoulder or excluded from collaboration?

If you spot someone who may be excluding others from the workplace culture, it might be time to have a tough conversation. Share what you

have noticed (or what you have been told if someone shares their experience with you). State why this behavior is wrong and give the person a chance to change the behavior. It might be a misunderstanding or an oversight.

Inclusion is the way forward, but that doesn’t mean the path will always be easy or drama-free. The new playing field may feel different for people of privilege, and there could be growing pains as organizations become more equitable and welcoming to all. It’s still worth the effort, and in the end, all stakeholders will benefit.

Amri B. Johnson is the author of Reconstructing Inclusion: Making DEI Accessible, Actionable, and Sustainable. For more than 20 years, he has been instrumental in helping organizations and their people create extraordinary business outcomes. He is a social capitalist, epidemiologist, entrepreneur, and inclusion strategist. As CEO/Founder of Inclusion Wins, Amri and a virtual collective of partners converge on organizational purpose to create global impact with a lens of inclusion.

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Understanding The Expectations And Motivations Of Gen Z As They Begin Infiltrating The Workforce

Strategies for optimizing Gen Z workforce management and retention

By Heide Abelli, SageX Inc.

With10,000 Baby Boomers hitting the retirement age each day, significant demographic shifts are underway in the workforce. Although millennials, or Gen Y, currently represent the largest demographic in the US workforce, it is projected that almost every entry-level position in the country will be occupied by a Gen Z worker by 2030. This generation, also referred to as “Digital Natives” and iGen, represents the future frontline of the American workforce.

Born between 1997 and 2010, Gen Z workers have very different expectations and motivations compared to previous generations. Organizations that can successfully tap into their unique motivations will be better positioned to attract and retain Gen Z talent. Conversely, those that fail to do so will be at a disadvantage in the competition for skilled workers. Understanding Gen Zers and how to manage them effectively is, therefore, mission-critical to business success and sustaining a company’s competitive advantage.

Retaining and unleashing Gen Z talent largely hinges on the effectiveness of managers. However, most managers have not received any education or training in how to optimally manage Gen Zers. Without a proper grasp of how to effectively manage and maximize the potential of Gen Z employees, at best managers run the risk of underutilizing their skills and hindering their growth and at worst demotivating and alienating them.

Core to understanding this generation is recognizing that Gen Z has grown up entirely in the digital age, an age of hyper-technological advancement, with no recollection of a time before technology, social media, and online connections. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic came at a critical moment for this generation, instilling a deep sense of uncertainty about their future. Their experiences with completing education and starting careers amidst a pandemic, economic uncertainty, and social unrest have shaped their values and beliefs. Collectively these factors

have contributed to this generation’s disillusionment with the establishment and capitalism, and as a result, they are often seen as skeptical of the status quo and they are actively involved in social movements and systemic societal issues.

By understanding and internalizing what matters most to Gen Z, managers can create a more engaging and productive work environment that is better suited to the needs and expectations of this generation, ultimately leading to greater engagement and retention. Managers can provide adequate support to Gen Z workers if they understand this generation’s desire for the following characteristics in a work environment.

Transparent and Open Communication

To establish a stronger relationship and gain the trust of Gen Z, it is essential to prioritize transparency. Rather than limiting information transfer to a “need-to-know” basis, adopting a more “openaccess” policy better satisfies Gen Z’s desire for information. Communicating more frequently, openly, and with greater transparency empowers Gen Z workers to make informed decisions and feel more connected to the organization. This recommendation applies even to information that may be difficult to hear or ultimately disadvantageous, such as news about budget cuts, supply chain challenges, or unsatisfactory business performance. Such

transparency helps alleviate Gen Z’s anxieties, provides them with a sense of control, and enables them to process a situation more effectively.

Opportunities for Growth and Continuous Feedback

Providing adequate compensation and ensuring that they enjoy their work is not enough to retain Gen Z employees. Organizations must also offer ongoing professional growth and development opportunities. Gen Zers ask themselves whether they can envision a future at the company and whether there are sufficient opportunities for uninterrupted career advancement.

Generation Z also demands regular feedback. Having been raised in an environment of instant feedback, where social media rewards and likes are promptly granted, Gen Z individuals crave more feedback from managers compared to earlier generations. In fact, according to a survey on the State of Gen Z, 40% of Gen Z want daily interactions with their managers and if they do not engage with their managers with this level of frequency, they may believe they have done something wrong.

A Sense of Purpose and Personal Mission

While all employees need to understand their roles and responsibilities, it is particularly important for Gen Z to comprehend how and why their role fits into the bigger picture. For Gen Z employees, a

strong sense of purpose in their day-to-day work can be a powerful motivator. Establishing a strong sense of workplace mission and values is crucial in earning the respect and loyalty of Gen Z employees, who prioritize social consciousness and desire to see that their employers have a tangible societal impact. According to The Conference Board, 99% of employees believe that organizations should respond to social change issues, especially those around racism and gender inequality, but Gen Zers are also skeptical of vague organizational statements of value and purpose that lack concrete action. They seek transparency and authenticity, and are more likely to engage with organizations that demonstrate a genuine commitment to their stated societal purpose. Organizations that create space for Gen Zers to find a sense of purpose and demonstrate that they matter will attract and retain them.

As Generation Z infiltrates the labor market at scale, the need to better understand this generation’s characteristics has become more acute. In order to retain Gen Z talent, it is crucial to provide managers with a clear understanding of what drives and motivates Gen Zers. This includes educating managers on the unique characteristics and expectations of Gen Z

workers and how to adjust managerial approaches accordingly. In doing so, organizations can optimize their management practices of Gen Z and create a more engaged and productive workforce.

Heide Abelli is the Co-founder of SageX Inc., an AI-enabled e-Coaching and performance support application for the modern workforce. She is an accomplished executive who prior to SageX has held senior leadership positions at leading educational technology and training providers such as Skillsoft and Harvard Business Publishing where she developed award-winning, ground-breaking corporate training solutions. She is a seasoned veteran of product development, innovation and product management in the fields of corporate training and ed tech. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Management at Boston College. Would you like to comment?

How Happy Is Your Generation At Work?

Exploring the varying levels of workplace happiness across different generations

By Katherine Chia, Ph.D., Cangrade

Generational differences are no secret. After all, every generation comes of age under different circumstances, instilling different work values in each. These divergent values can sometimes clash, affecting the overall happiness of each generation at work.

Building employee happiness not only improves company culture, but also employee engagement, retention, productivity, and performance. But improving employee happiness is clearly not a onesize-fits-all initiative. After all, each generation is different. This is why we at Cangrade recently conducted a study that uncovers how happy each generation is at work, to best understand your employees’ happiness and well-being so you can address it.

The survey included 608 individuals from the four generations that are still actively engaged in the workforce to understand how workplace attitudes differ across generations and identify the key factors that drive workplace happiness.

We asked the following generations about their workplace happiness and what influences it

● Baby Boomers

● Gen X

● Millennials

● Gen Z

Let’s take a look at how happy each of these generations really is at work.

Baby Boomers

Our research found that Baby Boomers are the least unhappy generation at work, with only 9% of employees reporting that they are unhappy at work. This generation is proud of the work they do, revealing that 50% of Baby Boomers agreed with the statement “I like telling people what I do for a living.”

Workplace Happiness by Generation

Gen X

This generation reported that 76% are happy at work, which means they are one of the happiest generations at work. Gen X highly values trust, with 91% agreeing that their manager trusts them, making them the most trusted generation at work.

Millennials

In line with Gen X, this generation also reported that 76% are happy at work. We learned that Millennials need to feel proud of the work they do, with the statement “I am proud of the work I do” being the most highly correlated to their workplace happiness.

Gen Z

26% of Gen Z employees are unhappy at work – the highest of any generation. Their workplace happiness is highly correlated with having a work environment that brings out the best in them. As you might expect, 17% of Gen Z answered that they think about

quitting their job. This generation is the most likely to job hop.

So, Why Is This Important?

Knowing how happy your employees are at work, by generation, allows you to tailor your employee engagement and well-being programs. To do this, you may want to start by asking:

● How can we create a work environment that brings out the best in Gen Z employees to build their engagement at our organization today?

● How can we maintain Gen X and Millennial employees’ happiness and continue to keep them satisfied?

● How can we ensure our Baby Boomer employees continue to be proud of their work?

Understanding what drives your teams’ happiness at work can improve your employee engagement and retention.

Download the full study for more data on employees’ happiness by generation and tactics for improving it.

Dr. Katherine Chia received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Florida State University. She is a research scientist at She is currently a Research Scientist at Cangrade, interested in the intersection between cognitive science and artificial intelligence. During her Ph.D. program, she worked for IBM and investigated how to use speech samples to predict dementia status in older adults. As Kat neared the end of her doctoral program, she realized she wanted to continue scaling her abilities to impact the world positively.

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