Inclusion Improves Productivity and Job Satisfaction
Inclusion builds success —
Workplace culture was the topic of Jay Holstine’s CEO peer group discussion, as members shared their insights in creating an atmosphere of inclusion.
“Navigating the pandemic’s effects on the workplace has been a major leadership challenge,” Holstine noted. “While each of our CEOs have a unique workforce, office structure, and specific interaction with the marketplace and larger supply chain, there are many common challenges and insights to share at our meetings,” Holstine said.
“The evolving communications technologies were prominent topics at our most recent discussion, as well as new recruiting resources, meeting practices, and employee engagement and retention in a new landscape,” Holstine added. “One CEO member shared advice and resource options on bringing workers safely back to the physical offices, along with valuable tips and lessons learned,” Holstine mentioned.
Helping business leaders navigate the pandemic’s effects on the workplace has been a major focus of Jay Holstine’s Dallas-based CEO peer group. Eighteen leaders from non-competing industries, gather regularly to hear expert speakers, share ideas and strategize with each other.
A new work culture and climate
“Leaders are more aware of a wider variety of societal issues that influence employee effectiveness, teamwork and retention,” Holstine said. “Strategies to improve employee inclusion, and work-life balance are more important now. Our industry experts are providing new data, resulting in lively discussions among our group,” Holstine added.
“CEO members discussed ways to advance collaboration, emphasizing the right resources and support to enhance engagement and efficiency,” Holstine noted. “The way in which employee support is provided has shifted, and continues to evolve, just as we are communicating and supporting our customers in more updated and advanced ways,” Holstine said.
Don’t over-engage
“One of our members pointed out that the new hybrid workplace can sometimes produce a hyper-connectivity that leads to burnout,” Holstine said. “For many employees, the workplace has encroached into the home, the car, and sometimes all hours of life,” Holstine said.
“Fine-tuning the right pace, and the right level of inclusion, (such as the number of teams employees are part of, and the size of each team,) is important to maintaining a successful mix of collaboration, individual productivity, and good work-life balance,” Holstine noted.
“Another member shared an important point about the hybrid work environment: Be aware that ‘Access’ should not be the critical determinant in acquiring roles and responsibilities. Leaders will get better long term results from reviewing all potential candidates to assess who brings the right mix of skills and experience to the role under consideration, as opposed to who currently has more access the opportunity,” Holstine shared.
“While discussing vital developments in work culture and identifying the best practices, is what we focused on in this workshop, in every meeting, our CEOs depend on the shared wisdom, expert research, practical experience and ideas, that help their companies succeed,” Holstine shared.
