PREDICTIONS REPORT 2018OBSERVATIONS IN PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT AND BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT

INTRODUCTION 3

1. WORKPLACE HIERARCHY: 4THE RISE OF OPEN, FREE AND COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS

2. EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE: 5GETTING TO THE HEART OF ITS IMPACT

3. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: 6SUPERCHARGING TEAMS TO CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE

4. RECOGNITION: 7SIMPLE, INSTANT AND SOCIAL

5. WHO OWNS PEOPLE ANALYTICS? 8SHARING DATA WITH EVERYONE

6. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: 9PREPARING FOR GENERATION Z

7. APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP: 10EMPOWERING MANAGERS TO BE LEADERS FIRST

8. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: 11USING TECHNOLOGY TO CONNECT WORKPLACES

CONCLUSION: 12

CONTENTS

Productivity battles, the emergence of Generation Z and a mass of digital innovation to wade through. How will you tackle the challenges of the years ahead? We hope these observations, which are based on conversations with our customers in retail, automotive and other transformational sectors, will spark a discussion about how your business will navigate 2018 and beyond.

We know that people feel most engaged when their company is honest, where they and their colleagues can be open and transparent. Engagement can be heightened if people work in a supportive, collaborative team, where they can take responsibility without fear of failure. And if they are given room to be creative, whilst also feeling appreciated and recognised for doing a good job, it can activate real change.

But the above reasons are supercharged if teams understand the goals of their company, how they can contribute to achieving those goals and if they can see the impact of their contribution.

Our hope is that by debating these challenges that we all face now and in the future, it will encourage action on how you’ll shape your business, your people and your technology platforms in the days to come.

INTRODUCTION

Anthony Monger Head of Sales and Marketing

M: 07765 394 684 E: anthony.monger@riveragency.com

In 2018, businesses that want to adopt a less autocratic leadership style need to find ways to relinquish control (or at least redistribute it). We’ll see a shift from pure ‘top down’ management to more bottom-up thinking, from agile teams that self-heal and self-organise around business goals.

What are the gains? Well, with less hierarchy there’s often less friction between people. That means individuals can work together, rather than fending for themselves. So, we’re likely to see a greater trend from top-down command, to work environments in which everyone has a voice. And this will lead to more innovation because anyone can come up with ideas.

As giants like Google and Netflix are carving out a future with open, free and collaborative cultures, the time is ripe for structures that are as flat as possible and built upon self-managing teams.

Some might say that history paints a different picture and it’s shown that without that hierarchical authority, teams are actually much less likely to unite around a common goal. But that mindset was born from an industrial age where employees clocked on and clocked off. Haven’t we moved forward since then to an age where physical space doesn’t determine the people you work with, the goals you share, or the hours you keep?

The future isn’t just about retaining and attracting loyal people, it’s about enhancing business performance and benefiting the bottom line.

1. WORKPLACE HIERARCHY:THE RISE OF OPEN, FREE AND COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS

Most people now see the link between engagement and profitability. It’s even become a hotly debated topic around boardroom tables. But, over recent years, companies have become tied to an engagement score, whether it’s an accurate reflection of engagement or not.

If employees are genuinely, emotionally engaged, the impact can be significant on more potent KPIs than a survey score. After all, big data is relatively easy. It’s true insights which are the holy grail, especially when they are actionable and generate tangible business value.

These insights don’t just come from the top but at all levels of the organisation. Support this by empowering employees to make their own changes and this will improve the experience for them and the people they work with too.

So, we’ll start to see a greater shift from simply gathering and benchmarking engagement data to a strong desire to develop big insights. If engagement scores are isolated from business outcomes, we can’t make the important link to profitability. Nowadays, a lack of actionable insights equates to a lack of engagement. So in 2018, companies that use tools to analyse the impact of data on business performance will be big winners.

2. EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE:GETTING TO THE HEART OF ITS IMPACT

Another key to unlocking business outcomes is the ability for teams to come together, virtually, and self-organise around goals that matter to them.

In the past, we’ve seen employee engagement driven by very transactional HR platforms. Now businesses need to move towards more app-based tools that support collaboration and continuous improvement.

So leaders will be looking at ways to help their teams understand the goals of their company. But it’s also key for people to know how they can contribute to achieving those goals, and to clearly see the impact of their contribution.

In a modern world where teams aren’t always in the same physical space, collaborative working needs to be supported by digital tools that help people foster connections, have conversations and take action around those goals.

3. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT:SUPERCHARGING TEAMS TO CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE

It’s true that recognition is a key reason why employees feel engaged at work. And the recognition industry is big business. Every large company has a programme and billions of pounds of rewards are redeemed each year. But measuring the business impact is often non existent.

So as companies start to question the business problems they are trying to solve with a recognition programme, we’ll see a more powerful link to company values. Rather than recognition that stands alone, we’ll see a trend towards recognition that becomes social, shared, and underpinned by core values. Recognition will play a greater part in supporting, highlighting and focusing on a company’s bigger cause. Because achieving a common goal is engaging for everyone.

As you probably know, not all recognition is effective. In 2018, we’re likely to see a continued emphasis on non financial recognition. This is often more powerful and carries more weight than cash bonuses and financial incentives. It’s also a cost effective approach that has a huge and memorable impact.

Next year those looking for strong, collaborative teams should blaze a trail for free flowing, abundant peer to peer recognition that doesn’t grind to a halt with nominations, shortlisting and reward levels. We’ll see more recognition that’s based around genuine, effective contribution towards business goals. So, remove the friction, keep it simple, instant and social.

4. RECOGNITION: SIMPLE, INSTANT AND SOCIAL

The data relating to our people has typically ‘belonged’ to internal HR teams. But as board level Execs take a growing interest in analytical information that they can link to business outcomes, a light is being shone on powerful insights which impact all aspects of organisational performance.

The key shift here is that businesses can no longer hide this data behind bureaucracy and hierarchy. Managers need to share results with everyone. And in a modern connected workplace there really is no reason why results shouldn’t be visible to all.

More and more, we’re seeing business analytics move out of the management domain. We’re all exposed to performance data - it’s everywhere - in terms of social likes, shares, and web hits. So visibility of performance analytics as the preserve of management will become less and less viable.

However, there’s not enough mining of data currently, and it’s often too difficult to get to. But businesses that can find the insights and then use them to understand how they can improve, retain their people and attract new talents will be rewarded.

5. WHO OWNS PEOPLE ANALYTICS?SHARING DATA WITH EVERYONE

If you haven’t seen the warning signs of a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to performance management, now is the time to consider its dangers. A lot of organisations base their assessments on a set of predefined competencies. And if a person fits that hole, it’s a measure of success.

But forward thinking businesses have to build something more flexible, oriented around individuals. This is especially true when preparing to attract Gen Z employees. Younger generations demand continuous feedback from their managers (and peers) and the concept of a single annual review with a backwards look at the past year, coupled with goal setting and process improvement, is completely alien.

In response, we’ll see a shift towards more innovative ways to manage performance on a daily basis which is faster, lighter and employee owned. Businesses will need to continuously address development needs with mentoring and coaching that extends beyond their first line manager. This means developing someone as a whole, looking at their strengths and weaknesses, as well as understanding their motivations. This will guide them in their current role but also drive the needs of both themselves and the company in the future.

Essentially, when asking people to engage with their work we’re asking them to care. But care is reciprocal and more likely to be given when received. Care cannot come from a company, which is little more than a collection of assets and contacts. It must come from the people within it. A mentoring arrangement is a great way to engender a relationship based on care and built around personal development that is genuinely focused on each unique person.

6. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: PREPARING FOR GENERATION Z

Ever noticed how many leadership consultants are in your network? And why is LinkedIn riddled with content that explains what it takes to be a good leader? The point is, there are too many people in leadership positions that don’t make good people managers. Fuelled by low engagement rates, businesses are starting to take note as the problem of ‘accidental managers’ is clearly linked to productivity.

Stagnant organisations are often filled with long serving employees who’ve been rewarded with leadership positions purely through their length of service. Rather than people management being a logical ‘next step’ of career progression, we’ll see a shift towards more team and project leaders and fewer functional leaders.

Tools and techniques to recognise leadership behaviours in young recruits are becoming more important as we look to nurture those qualities for the future. We’ll also see more ‘leaders by action’ as opposed to ‘leaders by name’ if we can shrug off the kudos attributed to reaching the dizzy heights of people management.

If development needs and career aspirations can be met in more unique ways, we can empower our people to succeed in their roles and foster the right leaders for our future.

7. APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP:EMPOWERING MANAGERS TO BE LEADERS FIRST

Digital is the new norm, we’re all agreed on that, right? But what does it really mean for HR? There’s great pressure for businesses to digitally transform, and that’s not letting up anytime soon with new technologies, apps and social networks springing up everyday.

There’s a balance to be struck between one single enterprise level HR system and enabling a suite of digital tools for the right teams. In the past, it might have been the remit of IT to decide upon the best software and then deploy it to the organisation at scale. Now there’s a growing trend of HR leaders that want to drive organisational change and see the potential that technology brings in spreading information company wide.

There’s also a shift towards socially connected workplaces and new communication styles. Just as office spaces become physically more open places, teams need to be able to collaborate in virtual environments where they can make instant decisions.

The best way to assist performance improvement is to choose a technology partner that allows teams to collaborate, create actions, recognise each other and be celebrated for achieving those actions. Teams with visibility of the goals that are relevant to them, who receive feedback on improvements they make, will be far more engaged. And in the battle towards increased productivity, it’s important to remember that ideas can come from anywhere in the business. It’s usually the teams closest to the problem that will be able to find answers that innovate processes and improve customer service.

8. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION:USING TECHNOLOGY TO CONNECT WORKPLACES

We want to inspire meaningful conversations about engagement between team and line manager. And for those conversations to be regular, abundant, open and honest. This is our vision.

We believe that companies who’ll win in 2018 and beyond will foster lots of conversations about improving how people feel, all of the time. When combined, this results in rapid and extraordinary business improvement.

At River we have a wealth of experience in providing innovative organisations like Asda, Clarks, Compass Group and Jaguar Land Rover with a continuous improvement framework that allows teams across the business to engage, connect and improve.

CONCLUSION: OVER TO YOU

Businesses that trust us to deliver:

Anthony Monger Head of Sales and Marketing

M: 07765 394 684 E: anthony.monger@riveragency.com

THANK YOU

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