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Beth Elletson, the Chief People Officer for the Miami Marlins, recently commented on LinkedIn that she preferred the term “Great Realignment” to “Great Resignation.”
I agree with Beth. There are both personal and organizational realignments taking place at this time.
Personal Realignments
Many personal realignments had to take place because of Covid.
There were certain unexpected personal benefits. More time with family, due to working from home and not having to go on business trips. More personal time in the day, due to the lack of commuter time. New national and global relationships, due to virtual networking platforms.
There were many personal losses. The loss of access to family members, due to safety and travel restrictions. The loss of family members, due to illness. The loss of immediate access to managers and team members, due to geographic differences. The loss of jobs, due to furloughs, layoffs, and expedited exits and retirements.
Covid also increased complexity. Technology intended to address communication difficulties had steep learning curves. Homes had to be refigured to provide workspace.
All of these Covid results caused many people to re-evaluate and clarify their priorities, their lifestyle choices, and their employment options.
Organizational Realignments
Organizations had to quickly realign their entire operations.
They had to send employees to work at home. They needed to create safe working conditions for essential employees who were required to be on location and for customers. They had to consider how to facilitate communication between managers, employees, team members, and customers. They were required to invest in new technology to address communication issues.
Managers had to realign their management approach to motivate, engage, and coach a hybrid workforce. Trainers were faced with a steep learning curve when they needed to reformat their classroom training programs to work effectively on virtual platforms.
Today, organizations still face difficult realignment decisions.
Some no longer need certain brick-and-mortar locations. Many struggle with whether to allow employees to continue to work from home- and if so, which employees. This is an ongoing issue due to the pushback from employees who do not want to work in the office. Difficulty filling vacant positions force decisions regarding job duties, location, and pay.
The Great Realignment
This Great Realignment began due to Covid and will continue for some time to come. It will require readjustments and new skills for employees and managers alike.
If you want to make sure that your managers have the necessary skills to be effective throughout the Great Realignment, schedule a brief consultation with Deborah Laurel at https://bit.ly/3olwAiR
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