Emotional Wellbeing: Solution to Burnout and Turnover

Emotional Wellbeing: Solution to Burnout and Turnover

by | Jan 8, 2021 | Management Skills, Wellness

The workforce is experiencing a feeling of fatigue. In December, Morneau Shepell released the monthly mental health index, which shows that for the past eight months, the emotional well-being of Canadians is continuing to fall. 

There was a brief chance for everyone to recharge over the holidays; however, it doesn’t excuse employers and team leaders from their duty to focus on enhancing their organization’s well-being. 

Even though it is a new year, people are still experiencing the same fatigue, frustration, and mental health struggles from 2020. The most prominent step leaders can take into taming the despair 2020 has brought on – is to care about their employees’ emotional well-being. 

Burnout and Turnover 

Burnout has a direct correlation to turnover. According to the 2020 Employee Care Report, 1 in 3 employees have left a job because they didn’t feel their employer cared about them as a person. The report also outlines that 58% of employees have encountered a colleague attempting to encourage a colleague to leave with them! So not only is burnout a global crisis, but it is also a turnover problem.

The most significant cause of burnout and turnover continues to be the lack of care and compassion in the workplace. Considering the mental toll most people have endured in the past year, employers need to re-focus their attention on their team’s well-being. A new survey has found that many Canadians are thinking about making significant career changes in 2021, as they continue to battle with their emotions while employers continue to ignore them.

With only 31% of employees feeling that their employers genuinely care about them, burnout will continue to hinder employees’ well-being. People will not only leave their jobs in 2021 but will take their friends with them. 

It Starts with the Leadership Team

Leaders feel the pressure to manage their teams more effectively, especially as they have been thrown into a new, virtual work environment, forcing themselves to create new workplace norms. Although getting processes in-line for the new year is essential, it may be time to put aside your spreadsheets and ask your team how they feel. 

Most of the world was forced to endure a COVID-adapted holiday, where travelling and visiting friends and family were off the table. Likely, teams may not start on a positive and eager note to get back on top of their day-to-day duties and deal with the workplace challenges 2021 will bring. To understand the team’s emotional well-being, leaders need to take the first step and show their team members that they genuinely care. 

If employers fail to come from a place of compassion, their relationship with their team will continue to deteriorate. Below are some simple, emotionally intelligent tactics that leaders can use to understand their teams’ state better. 

Put Yourself in Your Team’s Shoes

Motivating Your Team With Empathy emphasizes that it’s time for leaders to put themselves in their team’s shoes. It was not the usual holiday situation for your employees. Likely, they were unable to connect with their families and are feeling down in the COVID dumps. 

To start the year right and avoid continuing the burnout cycle, why not start the year off with one-on-one check-ins. Ask your employees individually how they are feeling and what they need to be successful this month. Instead of delegating all the work missed over the holiday season, start showing that you care by putting your team members’ feelings and needs first. As a result, a sense of connection and trust between employers and team members will be built. 

Be Flexible

With the transition to remote work, companies are experimenting with virtual teams and rotating people back to come back to work and space out their office workspaces. Employers need to ask each member of their team what is their comfort level with both remote and in-office work.

With everyone in different situations, it is essential to have conversations with individuals on how they work best and how their leaders can support them moving forward. If employers support their teams with flexibility, it creates a foundation of trust and respect, which will keep employees working hard for the organization.

Encourage Assertive Conversation

Assertiveness comes from a place of building confidence in employees to speak their minds and voice their concerns. Leaders need to allow employees to communicate to them about their work boundaries going into 2021. 

Creating and setting boundaries can be difficult, especially during a whirl-wind of a global pandemic, so encourage your team to reflect on what they can and cannot handle. Create a safe space for employees to discuss boundaries and have an empathetic response ready when they open up about their needs.  

The Solution to Burnout and Turnover

 

Employers know that turnover is never easy. However, they need to look behind the reasons for turnover and burnout and actively try to improve their employees’ emotional well-being. It is evident that burnout and turnover come hand-in-hand and that the impact can be detrimental to organizational success. Although there are specific tactics such as instilling empathy, flexibility, and assertiveness into the culture, there is one overarching leadership skill all managers need to practice – leading with emotional intelligence. 

Emotional intelligence can lead to higher employee engagement levels, retention and job satisfaction, which all help protect organizations against burnout and mass turnover. Addressing employees’ emotional well-being and giving them a voice to share their greatest fears and concerns in 2021 allows employers to foster better relationships with their teams. Strengthen Your Culture With EQ also outlines the benefits of a culture of compassion – increased productivity, stability, employee satisfaction, improved communication, and employee morale. All steps in the direction of limiting turnover! 

Starting 2021 off with an emotional intelligence approach will help identify burnout problems at the beginning of the year and allow the team to collaborate on the best way to build mental resilience into the organization’s repertoire. The core of practicing EI in the workplace is genuinely caring about employee’s feelings and creating a safe space to let emotions be constructively expressed so that burnout is actively managed rather than reacted to when it’s too late. 

The bottom line is that leaders can go into 2021 better prepared to handle the factors of burnout and turnover by fostering emotionally intelligent conversations and coming into the year with a sense of compassion for how their team is feeling. 

If interested in learning more about utilizing Emotional Intelligence as the superpower for 2021, check out either of these workshops, Leading Remote Teams with Emotional Intelligence or Leading High Performing Teams. Also, check out our Virtual EQ Retreat, specifically designed to assess and develop a team’s emotional intelligence through a remote learning platform! 

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Emotional Expression Leads to a Happier Workplace

Emotional Expression Leads to a Happier Workplace

by | Dec 18, 2020 | Emotional Intelligence, Work Environment

It isn’t easy, at times, to find the right words for how you are feeling. And it is almost impossible to differentiate what causes certain emotions. What causes someone to be angry versus disappointed? Sometimes the granularity of the difference between the two feelings is so minuscule that you might not know it yourself.  

You may feel disappointed, but you express it as anger. Unfortunately, we, as a society, judge the behaviour and then attribute emotion to that behaviour. Rather than truly understanding what the feeling is first. For instance, disappointment is caused by unmet expectations. Anger, on the other hand, is caused when there is an injustice or unfairness.  

Just like everyone had to practice their ABC’s in school, it is essential to develop an emotional vocabulary to help in both recognizing, understanding and expressing emotions, especially in the workplace.

The roller coaster of emotions people feel with the pandemic is now a call to action for better emotional expression, communication, and empathy. With the combination of pandemic fatigue and isolation, people are handling their stress in different ways, which can be confusing to understand without the right emotional intelligence tools.

Emotional Expression

 

Charles Darwin defined emotional expression as an internal state that feels and, therefore, expresses itself. Thus, the first step to emotional expression is diving deep into how something is making you feel. 

However, some emotions are challenging to pinpoint, which makes them difficult to express. When someone feels frustrated, it could come across as envy, disappointment or sadness if not represented accurately. A key aspect of practical, emotional expression is understanding the “why” of the emotion before we communicate. Why are we feeling this way? What caused this emotional reaction?

Emotional expression can also be non-verbal. As tempting as it is to want to roll our eyes when someone says something that bothers us, it is crucial to evaluate the impact our non-verbal cues can have on someone. If you were to silence your voice, what would your body language be telling us?

Most importantly, to understand how to express emotions, people need to be aware of others’ feelings. Identifying other people’s feelings allows them to be more empathetic friends, colleagues, and leaders.  Emotional expression can lead to a happier, healthier, more engaged workplace, which people are craving more than ever.

The Mental Health Impact

 

The pandemic and people’s mental well-being are ample reasons to start building a more emotionally expressive culture. The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) conducted a study that revealed 70 percent of people in Ontario felt a severe mental-health crisis was looming. 

The cold hard truth is, people were struck financially by COVID-19, and they are starting to run out of their emergency funds for their mental wellness budget. Beyond financials, people are generally limited to the amount of stress-relieving activities available. Going to the gym or a hug from a friend is not something we can do in the latter part of 2020.

Without the usual mental wellness outlets, people must rely solely on themselves to effectively manage and express their emotions. Learning to communicate when you need support during these unprecedented times is vital in your mental well-being, especially in the workplace.

Express Don’t Suppress

 

Everyone keeps saying the “we are in this together,” which is a cliche that people are sick of hearing. It is also just completely untrue. People were all hit by the pandemic differently, depending on their home-life circumstances, job position, financial status, and health conditions. The emotionally intelligent way to express the “we are in this together” statement is instead to say, “we are all weathering a different storm, and HOW can we ask for help to get through it.” If we do not learn how to express emotions effectively, we will repress our feelings, and we will never get the help we need.

Below are some strategies to help people better express their emotions.

Learn the Emotional Lingo

 

There are many emotional intelligence tips to teach you how to express your feelings in the workplace constructively. There are various mood meter applications, emoticons, or emotion posters to deepen your emotional vocabulary. Understanding the different names and intensity levels for emotions can help people better understand and constructively express their feelings. Building a dynamic lexicon gives people power over their own emotions and allows them to communicate clearly and effectively without letting emotions get the best of them.  

Check Yourself

 

Once people understand the variety of emotions, it is necessary to practice sharing them: leaders need to curate regular, emotional check-ins. These check-ins allow space for people to express feelings appropriately. At the beginning of the meeting, ask each person for a one-word feeling. This technique can help make it less intimidating for people to express themselves at work.

Encourage Kind Emotions 

 

Avoid escape coping and acknowledge the changes happening. Problems that are put under the rug develop a deep level of distrust and uncertainty within the organization. Active coping allows organizations to take on the problem head-on and keep employees in the action plan. When employees know their role in the change, they are more inclined to offer help, work harder, and take on more responsibility.

Transparent Leadership  

 

The emotional expression of a leader will set a precedent for the team. Being emotionally expressive as a leader is essential in encouraging constructive communication and inspiring others to exceed their goals. However, that doesn’t mean leaders should hide their negative emotions. Leaders have to be honest with themselves and show transparency and vulnerability to create a culture of emotional acceptance. 

Emotional Expression is the Key to a Happier Workplace

 

We have been on an emotional roller coaster ride during the past nine months – with emotions have been all over the place. Building a workplace culture that allows for constructive emotional expression creates a safe space to learn and understand how other people feel in the workplace. 

With the emotional and financial instability of COVID-19, the last thing people want to do is suppress what they are feeling – which can indefinitely hinder their mental wellness, as shown in the results from the CMHA survey. 

Top 3 Reasons People Don’t Show Emotions at Work proves that bringing emotions to work can create a happier, healthier work environment, and hiding feelings can lead to higher stress levels, health problems, and poor communication. Executive leaders are the drivers of culture. When they learn to use emotive language when expressing their ideas and thoughts, it will contribute to higher productivity, increased job satisfaction and improved team performance. 

Bringing humanity and emotional expression into the workplace may be the difference between success and failure for you and your business. If you are interested in learning more about expressing emotions in the workplace, check out our keynote on Managing Emotions, available in live or virtual delivery. 

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Top Three Reasons People Don’t Show Emotions at Work

Top Three Reasons People Don’t Show Emotions at Work

by | Dec 8, 2020 | Emotional Intelligence, Work Environment

When you think about expressing emotions, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s celebrating the new year, showing love to your partner, or having a verbal fight with a close friend. Now, let’s think about expressing emotions at work – what do you envision? 

If you drew a point-blank, you’re not alone. Showing emotions in the workplace has become an increasingly important topic. In the past century, we experienced the Industrial Revolution, where assembly line workers in factories simulated robotic work. If somebody showed emotions in this environment, they saw it as preventing the team’s overall productivity and efficiency. 

In the modern world, jobs have now evolved; emotional intelligence is one of the top ten skills required for the future workforce. In fact, learning to deal with emotions is the key to effectively leading people. Now that people understand that emotions matter, society has to work together to bring humanity back into the workplace and make people comfortable bringing their emotions to work.  

While it may seem simple, there are a few common barriers to showing emotions at work. Let’s take a look at the top three reasons why.

1. Fear of Failure

 

When envisioning a leader, do you picture a “perfect” individual who is fearless and never makes mistakes? If yes, it’s time to adopt a new vision. The truth is, nobody is perfect. We cannot expect perfection from leaders, and leaders need to welcome failure as a learning opportunity. Both team members and leaders need to accept that mistakes are bound to happen. The number of errors made should not define failure, but the lesson learned from each mistake. It is easy to commit a mistake and brush it under the rug for no one to see. From a leaders’ perspective, covering their mistakes may seem like the right thing to do. They may think, “If I make a mistake, then am I even worthy of my position? Let’s pretend that did not happen”. Following this mindset will result in an unhealthy mentality and feeling the pressure to be perfect.

So how should a leader approach their failures? Our answer is to acknowledge and reflect; this shows self-awareness and a willingness to improve. When the leader demonstrates that mistakes are bound to happen, the mentality will trickle down to the team. Bouncing back and learning from mistakes will develop resilience. By overcoming a fear of failure, teams will emerge resilient and self-aware. Moreover, leaders will be cultivating a culture of learning and not being afraid to fail, sparking innovation within the team.  

2. Vulnerability as a Weakness

 

Embedded in the false image of a “perfect” leader lies a robust and fearless persona. We picture our superiors always to know what to do. Take the example of a military leader – if they say, “I’m scared to cross the fence!” how will that impact the team performance? Similarly, if your company’s CEO states they are uncertain about meeting the revenue goals for this year, how will the team react?

In The Future of Work Depends on Emotional Intelligence, we mentioned letting go of the corporate persona. The corporate persona is a personality displayed at work. With the changing workplace, we are now getting a glimpse of team members’ personal lives, especially in virtual meetings. Now more than ever, leaders need to ease off their corporate personas and unveil their true selves. Especially in these times of uncertainty, it is normal to feel uneasy and unsure. We need to regulate the message showing vulnerability is not a weakness but rather a demonstration of courage. 

Let’s return to the example of the CEO stating their uncertainty about achieving revenue goals. While it may be tough to admit that the company may not be heading the direction they wish, displaying this vulnerability creates trust within the team. Vulnerability is one of our greatest measures of courage. Brene Brown defines vulnerability as uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. It is the willingness to show up and to be seen, even when there are no guarantees. In essence, its leadership. Leaders need to be transparent with their team to build confidence and stimulate problem-solving and decision making. For example, when a leader says they are uncertain about the company meeting its financial goals and asks for help from the team, it provides the team with the perfect opportunity to think critically and brainstorm solutions to solve the problem while simultaneously supporting the leader.

3. Is it Only Me?

The last common reason why leaders refrain from showing emotions links to authenticity and comparison. If no one else is showing emotions, what will happen when the leader does? Will team members believe them, or worst, will it negatively affect and demotivate the team? It may be common to think, “If only I am feeling this way, are my emotions even valid?” 

You will never know how others feel until you ask. Please do not try to predict or assume your team members’ emotions; the purpose is to normalize showing emotions at work. Think of emotions as data, not as good or bad. It can provide you with interesting information about how people or ideas are triggering you. With that data, you can make more conscious choices of how you will respond or act. 

If no one else is showing emotions at work, then it presents the perfect opportunity to begin. Start small; it can be simple as showing appreciation for your team members. Recognition can go a long way and encourage them to do the same, kickstarting a chain reaction. While it may be intimidating to be the first one to begin expressing emotions at work, every journey starts with a single step. Emotions show others the “why” behind your ideas – your motivations or concerns behind your thoughts.

It’s Time to Show Emotions at Work

 

Showing emotions at work will lead to improved well-being and an overall emotionally intelligent workforce. Hiding feelings at work can lead to higher stress levels, health problems, and poor communication. Besides, hiding emotions at work will contribute to suppressed emotions; emotions run in the background during our everyday lives at work. If we choose not to acknowledge or cope with our emotions, there will be a reverse effect. For instance, if we feel angry and do not cope with the feeling, the anger will snowball and intensify the next time we feel angry. 

Emotional intelligence plays an essential role in the workplace. It can improve leadership skills, develop interpersonal relationships, and assist in decision making. If you would like to learn more about emotional intelligence, see where your emotional intelligence stands with our emotional intelligence assessments. We offer both leadership and workplace assessments, with a personalized debrief from a certified EQ coach. To continue to transform your workplace into an emotionally intelligent one, you can also check out our special packages, which offer a unique combination of a workshop, retreat, EQ assessment, and/or online classes. 

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Hiring for the Future Using Emotional Intelligence

Hiring for the Future Using Emotional Intelligence

by | Nov 23, 2020 | Corporate Culture, Hiring and Recruiting, Interview Questions

One of the key driving factors behind every organization’s success is the people. People are the minds behind the operations to ensure business needs are met. Human capital is vital to each organization; in fact, they can either make or break the company. As one of the most important assets, it is crucial that companies hire and retain top talent. 

Hiring for the Future Using Emotional Intelligence

 

Current trends in human resources show that the workplace is shifting to a digital approach, with working remotely on the rise. This changing work environment affects both current and future employees. For instance, most interviews now take place virtually. Furthermore, newly hired employees will have to adapt to remote working situations and complete their training and onboarding processes online as well. As they have not worked in the office before, they may feel intimidated and unaware of the company’s culture and workplace norms. 

Another trend on the rise in the human resources industry is the hunt for soft skills.  Organizations are now not only looking for applicants who possess technical skills, but also soft skills such as creativity and emotional intelligence. According to The Future of Jobs Report by the World Economic Forum, emotional intelligence is one of the top 10 skills required for the workforce in the future. Emotional intelligence is a guiding principle to improved decision making, stress management and relationship building. And is now recognized as an emerging yet crucial skill for candidates to have. 

As the unemployment rate falls, jobseekers are keen to find a new role. Along with the trends of a changing workforce, employers must adapt while finding a way to scout the best candidates. To aid you in your mission, we have compiled a guide on how to hire for the future! 

How to Gauge Emotional Intelligence in Interviews

 

As mentioned above, emotional intelligence is now one of the top skills to look out for.  Traditional structured interview questions are not going to find recruits with high levels of emotional intelligence, instead, ask a series of open-ended, non-leading, behavioral questions like this: 

1. How do you motivate your team members?

 

This question can showcase a candidate’s ability to work in a team and approach to interpersonal relationships. While it is important that the candidate is able to stay self-motivated, they will also be working with others. Does the candidate value teamwork? How will their work behaviour affect team morale? This question can also be insightful if the candidate is applying to a position where they will need to lead a team, either in the present or future. Upon reviewing their answers, think of how the candidates’ skills and behaviours will also impact your team’s relationships. 

2. Tell me about a time when something went wrong. How did you handle it? 

 

This question can display a candidate’s emotional resilience. When the going gets tough, how do they manage? Do they simply give up or are they resilient? Their answer can also give insight about their problem solving skills and attitudes towards conflict. Think about how their situation could apply in your company and how their response would uphold. Take note if they mention anything they would have done differently. This is significant as you want candidates who are able to reflect upon their mistakes and learn from them.

As these questions are more personal, the candidate may need to take extra time to think about their answers. The interviewer should strive to make the interview process comfortable and build a safe space to allow more personal answers. Lastly, it is crucial to turn on cameras for virtual interviews. Leaving cameras on not only allows the interviewer to view the candidate’s expressions and reactions, but mirrors the in-person interview experience we were previously familiar with. 

Hire for Culture-Fit, not Skills and Experience

Imagine that you have just conducted two interviews for an administrative assistant role and need to make a decision by the end of the day. Candidate A possesses over five years of experience in a similar role and is highly proficient in the project management tools and Microsoft Suite. The only problem with Candidate A? They showed a lack of interest in working for your company, citing the salary as the main source of their motivation. Teamwork was also not seen as relevant to them either. As for Candidate B, they have less than a year of experience and stated they are unfamiliar with the project management tools, but would be willing to learn. In addition, they expressed their interest in the company through explaining how the company core values aligned well with their own. Their motivation was the potential to grow with the company and to learn from team members. Now that you know their backgrounds, who do you hire? 

While it may seem like the logical answer to pick Candidate A based on their experience, Candidate A exhibits low interest in the company and culture. In contrast, Candidate B may lack a few skills but shows a keen interest in learning and growing with the company. As Candidate B is well aligned with the company’s core values and culture, they would be the better choice. 

A company’s culture is an integral part of your business.  It can affect nearly every aspect of a company – from recruitment to employee satisfaction – it’s the core need of a happy workforce.  Without a clearly defined corporate culture, employees can struggle to find value in their work and this can greatly affect your bottom line. To help find candidates who possess similar values and culture, make sure your job descriptions contain a short blurb that defines your core beliefs.  

An Investment for the Future 

If your newly hired employee does not share the same values as the company’s, they are likely a short-term solution. Remember, you can always train for skills, but you cannot train for attitude and personality!  

Employees need to be treated as a long-term investment for your company, especially since human capital is the driving force behind turning visions into reality. As the workforce changes, be a step ahead by guaranteeing a smooth hiring process through leveraging emotional intelligence and selecting applicants who will contribute to your corporate culture. 

If you are interested in fostering a strong corporate culture, check out our workshop, Cultivating a Positive Corporate Culture. We also offer a Virtual Retreat, which provides a unique opportunity to build culture and bond teams on a deeper level through understanding how emotions impact workplace behaviours and relationships. You can also visit our previous blog post, Emotional Intelligence Interview Questions, for more examples of interview questions that can gauge a candidate’s emotional intelligence. 

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Bridging the Gap Using Emotional Intelligence

Bridging the Gap Using Emotional Intelligence

by | Nov 8, 2020 | Teamwork, Work Environment

Everyone is facing similar challenges that 2020 has brought on, but they are all handling it differently. Each generation is in a different emotional position, and leaders need to acknowledge each individual struggle equally. However, despite the generational gap in handling obstacles, it is possible to all come together over a commonality: everyone wants to feel cared about. 

By bridging these gaps in the workplace through emotional expression, connection, and awareness, people will feel more cared for and more inclined to offer a helping hand to their peers, no matter their generation. Organizations need to take advantage of all their peoples’ strengths and weaknesses and come together as a team to leverage each other’s talents with the new direction the workforce is headed in.

Bridging the Gap with Emotional Intelligence

 

The main generations we see in today’s workplace are Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and now Generation Z. This eclectic generational mix in the workforce will undeniably lead to conflicts and misunderstandings. A one-size-fits-all culture is one of the past, and organizations need to learn to take into account the different personalities, needs, skills, and challenges each individual can face, while delivering leadership in the same manner to everyone – respectfully. 

Each generation typically has their own working style. In general, Baby Boomers are often considered the workaholic generation, Generation Xers want flexibility and autonomy, Millennials want to make an impact and have a purpose, and Gen Zers prefer self-directed and independent learning. Despite these different work expectations, all employees have three core human needs: to survive, belong, and become. Just like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, once people surpass the need for food and water, they are looking to be accepted for who they are, and succeed at becoming their best selves. 

Emotionally intelligent leaders make sure their people aren’t worried about the food and water needs, and take the money worries off the table. When you pay an employee what they think they are worth, they will rise to that. They focus on contributing to something greater than themselves. Emotionally intelligent leaders create a sense of community and connection for their staff. They appreciate their efforts and talents, and provide them work that fulfills them and helps them realize their full potential.

Bringing Strengths to the Table

 

Leveraging a team’s strengths is essential in bridging the gap between the generations, especially amidst a world-wide shift in the workforce. With the new challenges 2020 has brought on, some generations are more resilient to change than others. Emotional Resiliency indicates how much hardship you can deal with without experiencing stress. In other words, people with high “emotional resilience” are better able to roll with the punches and lead happy healthy lives despite the inevitable hardships and challenges they may be facing.

Generation Z is now entering the workforce, and are facing a lot of instability and uncertainty head-on. With Gen Zer’s need for stability, they are most likely not managing the stressors that come with the current work environment. However, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers have experienced many booms and busts of the economy and value optimism and rebellion in times of despair. In fact, a University of British Columbia study found older generations to be less stressed and threatened by the pandemic and experienced better emotional well-being than other generations. Instead of leaving Generation Z in the dust, this provides a teaching opportunity for the older generation to step up to the plate and support Gen Zers in developing a sense of grit and resilience. 

Although younger generations may not be as strong in stress management, they make up for it in their tech-savviness and entrepreneurial spirit. Older generations can learn from Gen Zers and their tech knowledge, reaching out for support during this huge shift to remote work. Gen Zers also prefer independent learning, so the shift to a virtual environment has given them the opportunity to work in a self-directed manner. However, Baby-Boomers prefer face to face collaboration and are missing social interaction. If both generations can work together to create a virtual work environment that allows for self-directed work, an engaging and collaborative face-to-face experience, there will be less resentment between the communication preferences.

Here are some tips on how to bridge the gap and leverage strengths within different generations:

1. Mentor Opportunities

 

Pairing up younger workers with more seasoned employees in a mentoring format could form a mutually beneficial relationship. Younger workers could share their knowledge of technology and the different opportunities for collaboration in a remote work environment. Whereas, more experienced employees could share their knowledge on stress management, and how they are navigating through all the new challenges the pandemic has brought into the workplace. By connecting different generations, it increases cooperation and leverages the different skill sets to solve problems quickly and effectively.

2. Conflict Management

 

Leaders need to create a process for conflict management and address it immediately. With the large age gaps within workplaces, there are bound to be misunderstandings. It is important to address conflict head-on and act as a mediator, letting each employee voice their side of the story. It is important to acknowledge both sides and come up with a strategy to leverage both generational perspectives and avoid the recurrence of the same issue.

3. Hire Positive Workers

Leaders can train any skill to new hires, but it is near impossible to change their negative attitude. It is important that leaders in charge of the hiring process, like HR departments, identify and profile the behavior of a positive worker, which can be done through EQ Assessments. Recruiting positive workers will bring a level of energy to the team to increase productivity and optimism into the culture – which is needed now more than ever!

Focus on What Matters

 

Accommodating the needs of multiple generations can pose a difficult task, so it is helpful for leaders to focus on what is constant in the workplace. Core values can act as an anchor amidst a storm. Make sure there is a reason people have chosen to become a part of the team and culture, generations aside. 

Focus on the positive commonalities of the workplace culture prior to the global pandemic, and otherworldly divides. If the team was doing weekly lunches together, then bring that to the table virtually. If the organization values connection, collaboration, and communication, then leaders need to find a way to continuously support these values despite the changing conditions. 

A team comes together to achieve a common goal, despite their differences. It is important to emulate the same culture throughout all generations, to bring them on the same page beyond their personality differences. When a team is working together on a common goal and has fostered a culture of support, care, and empathy, they will naturally leverage each other’s strengths and come together in the end.

To learn more about how to bridge the gap between generations, check out our Using EI to Lead Multigenerational Workers Keynote or our Leading a Multigenerational Workforce Workshop. Look out for our next blog on managing the future workforce – Hiring for the Future Using Emotional Intelligence!

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