At encountas, we spend time “under the hood” of organisations, understanding what works and what doesn't. Through collaboration, we design solutions to drive progress and propel organisations forward.
Our clients and peers understand the significance of creating conditions that activate the entire workforce, prioritising retaining existing talent, and recognising the challenges posed by market constraints that may limit hiring opportunities. In other words, maximise, activate, and grow the talent you have rather than rely on what might or might not be out in the market.
Here are some key strategies for activating your workforce:
We see an increase in legislation and expectations on organisations to ensure healthy and safe workforces. There is value in knowing your workforce intimately through structured, neutral, and confidential listening processes. By identifying emerging themes and proactively addressing any challenging issues that surface, organisations can unlock the full potential of their people. Your workforce may possess talent yet remain inactivated due to various factors; identifying these reasons is key.
Take action. Utilise your insights and discoveries to inform active and adaptive strategies. Avoid fixed, one-size-fits-all solutions. Activating everyone in your workforce will be a multi-faceted solution that includes accountabilities for every leader in your organisation. Be ready to learn along the way and adapt. Influencing factors can affect different people, teams, and businesses at different times. Stay in touch with what is current, listen, and be alert.
Work with partners that will help you build a sustainable solution, not a reliant solution. External partners bring a neutral and expert lens. However, look to build processes, leverage internal strengths, different ways of learning, and systems to adapt as you deliver your solutions. You don't need to have all the answers yourself; learn from other people's experiences.
The manager's experience of work and the employee's experience are different. If you have talented people in your organisation dealing with challenging behaviours, processes, and systems that your organisation has created, you need to surface them and deal with them head-on. Work with partners that can support and build the capability internally for you to mediate and address these problematic issues. Stay curious about why these behaviours are present. Challenging cultures can sometimes create challenging behaviours as a survival mechanism.
We all know that people leave their manager, not their job. More than ever, leadership capability at all levels is critical to activating teams. We also see a rising expectation of leaders in the new working world. To activate your organisation, it is a non-negotiable to empower leaders at all levels to lead their teams in a safe and confident way. This means actively and continually supporting managers and equipping them with the right mindset and skills to show up for their teams.
Create processes and expectations for listening to and learning about your workforce. And share this learning with your teams. Organisations need to adapt and change quickly in our working world, so knowing your organisation and to have a workforce that engages in a continual conversation is a competitive advantage. Regularly listening to and staying attuned to evolving needs and concerns allows your leaders and teams to feel heard and engaged and creates an environment of trust.
Activating your workforce is a constant process underpinned by several driving principles, depending on your organisation. Allow your team members a voice, involve them, commit to them as you ask them to commit to you, build trust, and skill them in managing difficult situations. Avoid adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, as true change and transformation come from adaptive solutions based on continually listening and engaging with your teams.
Together, encountas Co-Founders Juliette Hall and Leonie Rothwell are two passionate and driven women committed to solving complex challenges and delivering engaging, inclusive, and accessible learning experiences. They design experiences that not only deliver on organisational outcomes but also provide real, authentic opportunities to grow, connect, innovate, collaborate, and engage with a diverse range of people.
