Q As VP of a $500+ million global recognition and workplace culture company, OC Tanner, what is your primary focus?
My primary focus is to work with my team within the O.C. Tanner Institute to identify and communicate new insights supported by empirical data about organizational culture and the employee experience. The Institute conducts extensive global research to inform the market and our clients regarding trends and best practices. Our research also informs enhancements to our product and services. Our goal is to help organizations and leaders create positive employee experiences that improve culture and deliver business outcomes.
Q What do you think are going to be the main challenges for the work culture in the next 5 years?
The main challenges of retaining, engaging, and attracting great people will continue over the next 5 years. The challenge for organizations will be to understand the employee experience from the employee’s point of view and to redefine the role of leaders.
Too many HR professionals equate the employee experience with the employee lifecycle. This often leads to one-size fits all initiatives that only address a limited number of career events rather than addressing the wide variety of everyday human interactions that define life at work.
Employees are outright rejecting traditional leadership. Modern leaders must move away from a focus on directing, evaluating and gatekeeping to coaching, developing, and connecting. Leaders must move from doers to influencers and constantly think about how they can create positive employee experience based on what is most important to an employee’s decision to join, engage, and stay.
Q With nearly 30 years of expertise, could you tell us, what is the best way to positively impact the employee experience?
Improving the employee experience is all about connecting employees’ everyday interactions and work to purpose, opportunity, success, appreciation, wellbeing, and leadership. These are the six most important factors in an employee’s decision to join, engage, and stay at any organization. Everyone wants to know how their work aligns to purpose, they want to have a voice and the opportunity to do meaningful work. They need to know what success looks like, feel appreciated, and know that their company and leaders care about their overall wellbeing.
Q What are your TIPS for creating a thriving workplace culture?
Leaders need to find opportunities to interact more with their people. Holding more frequent, less formal one-to-ones is so important. Regularly recognizing team members for not only their work but how they uniquely do their work is also key. We all need to feel appreciated and valued. Lastly, we need to focus on increasing autonomy and emotional safety within our workgroups and teams to foster collaboration and innovation.
Q What would you recommend doing daily to keep up with the ever-changing working environment?
We all, as leaders, should ask the following two questions every day:
- How can I influence or connect my people to one or more of the following: Purpose, opportunity, success, appreciation, and wellbeing?
- How can I better coach, develop, and connect my team to one another and to the organization?
Meet Gary Beckstrand, VP, OC Tanner in person and learn so much more first-hand from him and other senior HR practitioners, talent acquisition experts, global executives, from large complex organizations with their valuable insights on HR trends and the future of work!
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