Here are the critical questions that are at the core of key articles in this issue.
Time to Refresh Your Values?
By Rob Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer, BlackRock
- Do your principles and values need to be revisited, given the acceleration of stakeholder capitalism and the greater role that companies are expected to play in society?
- What did the company learn about itself after navigating the crises of the past two years?
- Did the walk match the talk for your organization’s leaders? Have their actions matched their stated commitments?
- Have you brought key influencers throughout the organization—the people who can serve as ambassadors of your culture—into the discussion to get their perspectives?
- How can your values and principles be communicated most effectively in hybrid and remote work environments?
'Challenge and question yourself on whether your values and principles need to be revisited. If you were involved in creating them years ago, it’s only natural to feel invested in them and to believe in their timeless value.'
—Rob Goldstein, BlackRock
Making the Shift to a Skills-First People Strategy
By Chris Ernst, Chief Learning Officer, Workday
- What is your company doing to give employees opportunities to learn new skills and work on new projects so that they feel they are growing in their careers?
- Is your company’s org chart, and the way it’s managed, aligned to the current and future needs of the organization?
- What surveys and other listening mechanisms can you use to determine employees’ interest in mobility and skill-building within the company?
- Would an internal gig platform like the one described in the article work in your culture?
- Does your company have a shared understanding of the skills it wants to develop in its workforce?
'We need workplaces where leaders can connect people to opportunities that allow businesses to get work done in a much more inclusive, agile and flexible way. It’s time to flip today’s traditional talent strategy from “acquiring talent” to “creating talent,” and to put skills first.'
—Chris Ernst, Workday
Innovating Through a Crisis
By Kirsty Russell, Head of People and Culture, Logitech
- How has your organization managed to keep developing its innovation muscles even as it navigated the challenges of the last two years?
- If people work on projects that do not work out as planned and are abandoned, are they penalized in any way? Or is their work celebrated and rewarded for the lessons learned?
- In times of crisis, and in remote and hybrid work environments, the expression that “There is no such thing as over-communication” becomes increasingly important to leading effectively. What is your leadership team doing to over-communicate in ways that build
- trust and transparency?
- What is your organization doing to help avoid burnout from back-to-back meetings?
- Do you ask recent hires to share their insights on the company, as a way to leverage their “newcomer’s advantage”?
'We make sure everybody understands that [the leadership team sees] mistakes as opportunities to learn. ... Over time, this establishes a foundation of trust, which reduces the stress of uncertainty and allows for open minds and communication.'
—Kirsty Russell, Logitech