Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2021 - 19

Every day we wear
perspective glasses
but often forget to
change the lenses.
deal with change, a company that was
financially stable and strongly rooted in
the community, had a strong culture, and
offered good benefits and training. Most
importantly, employees were looking for
flexibility, empathy and an understanding
of their psychological safety concerns
regarding returning back to the office.
In response, emotional intelligence
concepts and resources were discussed
with the senior and executive management
team. Managers and supervisors were
provided with a variety of leadership
trainings to foster conversations
supporting flexibility, psychological safety
as well as how to manage a remote and
in-person staff fairly.
* Seek continual improvement, which
includes not being afraid to ask for
help or ask questions to facilitate
self-discovery.
Discipline, Introspection and
Perspective (DIP) and Change
Looking back over the past year with
a different perspective of how the
pandemic impacted work, I asked
myself, " Did we do a good job supporting
workers? " Our teams were faced with
adjusting to working remotely as well
as juggling home schooling, taking care
of elderly family members, facing their
own health concerns and even family
member's loss of employment.
Did we have a contingency plan to
support them emotionally? Did we
have strong soft skills necessary to
lead them and help them cope? Did we
have an understanding of our workplace
demographics and how different
generations would be impacted by or
respond to the challenges we faced?
What could we do to prepare for the
uncertainty we endured for over a
year and how could a new normal be
established faster to provide a sound
foundation for employees to lower their
anxieties about the future?
In response, senior and executive
management
needed
to
better
acknowledged
understand
they
what
team members were concerned with
and feeling to begin strategic work to
identify support resources. In an effort
to provide answers to these questions,
we engaged in two work environment
surveys. The first survey scoped how
concerned employees were with the
virus, loss of employment, financial
stability, food resources and child
care. The second survey focused on
availability of resources, communication,
benefits, diversity and inclusion,
empowerment, accountability, culture
and leadership.
It was clear that employees were
looking for a senior and executive
management team who could quickly
We continued to experience an increase
in the number of employees shifting to
remote work, coupled with increased
workloads brought on by government
programs and fewer on-site employees
to help manage in-office tasks, and the
result was that a pool of courageous
leaders emerged from the shadows
and became the champions of change
impacting remote and in-office staff
ability to stay connected. While the
needs of all employees during a time
of incredible change were not the
same, our ability to be open to and act
on the survey feedback in an honest
and transparent manner provided a
foundation of courage for others to carry
the torch.
Identifying the next generation of
leaders and developing their emotional
intelligence soft skills now will not only
help current leaders develop but will
prepare our future leaders for managing
both daily work and crises they may
encounter. Developing emerging leaders'
soft skills will create a pool of talent that
is less likely to be negatively impacted
by the presence of stressors. The future
of work is here; navigating the unknown
challenges will be easier to manage in
a positive, productive and emotionally
healthy way if we take time to develop the
next generation of soft-skilled, emotionally
intelligent leaders, today.
Lisa Hutcherson, CPTM, is the SVP
Director of Human Capital Strategies at
First Federal Bank. Email Lisa.
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| 19

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Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2021

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