What do you see as the biggest thing managers should focus on in 2022?

Managers need to focus on two things, understand the unique strengths of their employees and knowing how engaged the team is.

We use the Kolbe System to understand the innate strengths of employees, teams, and organizations and we supplement that with CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFInder). But whatever tools you use, make sure as a manager that you know how each individual on your team likes to operate. That clarity helps improve communication and teamwork.

Employee engagement is also very key for managers in 2022. People you think are engaged can often be the most disengaged. You don’t need to know this at the individual level, but you do need to know how engaged your team is overall and see if they will provide frank, anonymous feedback on what the real issues are for them. We use a great tool called Engagement Multiplier to do this with quarterly check ins.

Is the “Great Resignation” about people retiring or is it something else?

It’s about employees having more choices and retirement is certainly one choice. We are also seeing people sell their homes for a profit and moving to other parts of the country. Some are selling homes and buying RVs and working nomadically from anywhere they want! Others are starting their own businesses, others are just leaving the workforce to focus on family. But these are the “how” people are leaving. The bigger question is why.

There are a lot of reasons why people are leaving the workforce, but at the core people are feel that there is a lack of transparency, trust, authenticity, truth, information about what’s really going on in the workplace. Employees are generally not comfortable with mandates, uncertainty about the stability of their job, leaving for higher pay, etc. So all of these reasons factor into why people are leaving employers for different opportunities. Bottom line is that employees have choices today.