Op-Ed | Colin Lovering: Stop Just Motivating! Inspire Your People Back to the Office

Mihai-Alexandru Cristea 08/10/2020 | 17:50

Colin Lovering is a familiar, seasoned business performance coach for over 12 years in Romania where he has spent his time helping organisations and professionals to reach the next level of growth and performance. He is International Business partner with Brainovate Creative Leadership consultants and a Senior Advisor with Corporate Office Solutions (COS). Read an exclusive Business Review op-ed written by Colin to get his views on the Covid-19 challenge to business and his advice to organisations looking to bring people gradually back to the office.

 

As we enter into yet another month of Covid-19 uncertainty there is still an air of trepidation and anxiety as to what the eventual outcomes are going to be and when this will happen.

By Colin Lovering

 

The good news is however, that there are now solid statistics and research from the past months to reflect upon and take certain actions from also. There was always this natural yet unfortunate default with organisations through any austerity period and that was the usual casualties of marketing and training. Smart leaders recognize the complete opposite and use these times to fill the gaps in knowledge, skills and organizational branding.

Those gaps are ever increasing over these months as the ‘working from home’ necessity has further discouraged and postponed the essential need to continue to nurture and grow our people.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about a bunch of cozy soft skill courses here, I’m talking about the fundamentals of Leadership, I’m talking about the absolute priority of diverse communication and influence through a high level of emotional intelligence. Everything was changing in the business world prior to our friend Covid-19 visiting us and that change is being accelerated to such a degree that organisations who don’t act fast will find themselves lost at sea without a paddle through 2021.

The emotional impact of this period with the separation of families, friends and work colleagues is now, very much, risen to the surface and the need for belonging and engagement has never been more threatened than it is today. Many organisiations are surrendering to the ‘working from home’ trend without considering the psychological and practical impact on its people and business.

 

MOTIVATION SIMPLY DOESN’T WORK ANYMORE

Romania boasts an ever growing Business Services Industry and with that, comes a relatively lower average age of 27-28 years old. 2018 saw the evolution of employee benefits as it became more and more difficult to attract and retain young talent who were becoming confident of a buoyant work market filled with tasty options and opportunities.

Everything from being close to a mall, metro access, flexible working hours, relaxed dress code, play areas within the office, private health care and other incentives soon became the norm and when something becomes the norm, it dramatically loses it’s power and effect. The same is applying as organisations try to encourage their teams back to the office or, indeed, encouraging them to stay at home with certain gestures and incentives to do so.

Waving a juicy snack to the cat in an attempt to get him to come inside may work but without the snack the scenario is completely different. There has to be a much more consistent and sustainable incentive that inspires people to make a decision but still maintain that important sense of flexibility and choice that indeed is becoming the norm and will be post Covid-19.

There are few things more enjoyable than experiencing something new, developing a personal skill or simply coming out of your comfort zone like making your first public speech. Learning & Development in organisations is the powerful mechanism for providing young people with goals and measurable mile-stones to aspire to. It continues to grow the organization through increased professionalism and skills within the team.

At Brainovate, we have learned and embraced the new priorities in the workplace and realized the growing need for communication based learning particularly Emotional Intelligence and the new style of Leadership and developed our own skills in online training and inspiration for professionals, young and old and despite the expected challenges, the combination of offline and online learning can work very effectively as more and more people simply get used to the idea.

Of course, there are many other ways to inspire individuals but Nurturing and Growing your Talent has to remain a top priority through and beyond these transformational times for businesses throughout Romania or we will face the consequences of poor retention and a diluted brand, culture, engagement and loyalty to making 2021 a truly inspiring year.

Contact Colin at colin@brainovate.com

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