Pandemic has boosted workforce trust in leadership
One third believe their organizations are fully resilient, with agile leadership seen as a key characteristic.
Community engagement, employee awareness and workplace culture all rose in importance according to the BSI Organizational Resilience Index 2021.
The challenges of the pandemic gave business leaders the opportunity to boost employee trust, and as a result, the resilience of their organizations has risen according to the latest analysis of the BSI Organizational Resilience Index report. The long-running report from BSI, the business improvement and standards organization, surveyed 500 senior leaders across the globe.
The 2021 Index saw the perceived performance of leadership teams improve around the globe, with effective leaders seen to demonstrate empathy toward their colleagues and focus less on rigorous alignment than pre-pandemic. In all, 33 per cent of business leaders surveyed for the report felt their organization was fully resilient, up from the 28 per cent recorded in 2019. People factors such as culture, community and alignment all rose in performance over the course of the pandemic, according to the Index.
The report concludes that a focus on improving employee well-being is a key factor in rebuilding resilience post-pandemic, with 47 per cent of business leaders seeing this as vital, far higher than the proportion expecting gains from remote working at 39 per cent. The report warns that a shift to hybrid/remote working that isolates employees from their colleagues may even roll back the gains in leadership trust catalyzed by highly visible management decisions that were seen to be forward-looking and decisive by their workforces.
The report findings have been used to underpin the launch of a new best practice approach, the BSI Prioritizing People Model©. The model maps out what best practice in creating a culture of trust really looks like, one that will create the right conditions for individual fulfilment (well-being) and organizational resilience. The model signposts organizations to standards that can support them on their journey to prioritize their people, including ISO 45003, Occupational health and safety management — Psychological health and safety at work — Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks the first global standard giving practical guidance on managing and improving psychological health and safety in the workplace. The leaders of resilient organizations are seen to react quickly to look after their people and do so with an eye on the long-term physical and mental health of their employees.
Kate Field, Global Head, Health, Safety and Well-being at BSI, commented: “The pandemic saw business leaders distinguish themselves in the eyes of their workforce, and now is the moment to seize the opportunity to embed this trust for long term resilience. Successful leaders set aside hierarchy and reached out directly to their people to instil a culture of trust, and in being seen to act decisively created a clear sense of alignment across their organizations.
“As we shift from stabilizing to rebuilding, there is a risk of leaders losing touch with their workforce. Remote working has allowed us to peer directly into our manager’s homes and understand them as individuals with children, pets and their own decorative tastes. Leaders returning to the workplace full-time, or adopting a hybrid model, should look to adapt their leadership styles to maintain the visibility and engagement they delivered during lockdown.”
The BSI Prioritizing People Model© adapts the ‘needs’ framework from Maslow’s hierarchy to provide a framework that not only allows organizations to demonstrate a human-centred approach, incorporating aspects such as welfare, physical and mental health and safety, diversity and inclusion, career development and innovation but also sets out the organizational outcome, culminating in increased organizational resilience. Using BSI’s best practice model demonstrates to employees, other stakeholders and shareholders that sustainable health, safety and well-being really is an organization’s number one priority. In addition, the adoption of best practice across these areas offers an effective way for organizations to demonstrate alignment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
BSI’s Prioritizing People white paper can be found at: https://www.bsigroup.com/en-NZ/industries-and-sectors/health-and-safety/prioritizing-people-whitepaper/
