After coming back from a fantastic week at the cottage, life has been a bit of a blur this week and didn’t afford me the time I was hoping to write my next article.
In the absence of original content, I thought I would share the articles I found interesting this week, including the key points, and my thoughts and take-a-ways.
Pandemic Leaves Some Struggling with Survivor Guilt at Work
- An interesting article that describes how those workers who have a Myers Briggs Feeling personality are more at risk to experience survivors’ guilt for continuing to work while their peers are not working. The article points out that many in leadership have a Thinking personality and are less at risk to experience survivor’s guilt and the realization that this is an issue they may need to address.
- It then went into detail about mental health in the workplace, the impact COVID has had on mental health, how 91% of employees felt the company has an onus to help with mental health issues, and 73% don’t feel their companies prioritize mental health.
- The key take-a-ways presented are directly in line with what I have been talking about for a while now, including building a culture of trust, the importance of work/life balance, and ensuring employees are aware of the supports you have available.
- What I learned is the importance of leveraging technology to run pulse checks. By running frequent pulse checks, you can ensure that you’re staying ahead of any potential issues that may lead to performance and engagement issues.
Agile IT procurement in a post-COVID world
- Another great read from CIO.com, if you don’t subscribe to their newsletter, you might want to consider doing so. In the article, they talk about the importance of moving to an agile approach to IT procurement.
- One of the drivers mentioned for this change in procurement methodology is the rapid pace of technological innovation that is happening across all markets.
- Demonstrating the need for this change was a key quote they shared from a Fortune 500 CIO, who said, “We spent a year developing ERP specs to include in an RFP only to find that the technology landscape and capabilities had changed, we literally fell a year behind.”
- What I learned is the importance of ensuring your technology partners are at the forefront of innovation, thereby assuring you that your shiny new purchase isn’t out of date by the time you get it set up and running.
9 warning signs of bad IT architecture
- Does your IT architecture require manual rekeying between systems, rely on best of breed point solutions, have the same data stored in multiple systems, to name just a few? If so, the business impacts are high, including higher licensing fees, slower business processes, poor user adoption, and increased training costs.
- What I learned from this article is the importance of ensuring that you are reducing the IT footprint and partnering with technology providers that leverage a single modern backend enabling them to scale and innovate for the future.
COVID-19 and the employee experience: How leaders can seize the moment
- Another great article from McKinsey focusing on the importance of developing trust, employee relationships, and a sense of purpose to drive employee engagement and how to go about improving the employee experience on the return to work.
- McKinsey detailed several great ideas including listening to the voice of your employees, creating a culture of cohesion and inclusion, leading with compassion, creating a sense of purpose, and ensuring that these practices become a core part of the business culture that continues beyond the crisis.
- My thoughts are that we continue to see the research showcasing that high performing cultures based on trust and a sense of purpose lead to high performing teams and that it is critical to your long term success to ensure that this is a part of the plan.