Nudge Strategies for Leadership Development

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Companies spend nearly $3.4 billion every year for turning their managers into leaders – and yet research studies have shown that 50% to 60% of managers fail to execute the strategies that they were hired to implement even after 18 months of taking up the job. And it is not because they lack the required knowledge or experience; it is simply because they need to develop leadership skills. And this may compel you to think that if training couldn’t do the trick, then what will?

The answer is just a gentle nudge that guides them in the right direction without imposing any restrictions!

It is the gap between the ‘knowing ‘and the ‘doing’ that changes nothing even with all the trainings on leadership strategies, communication skills, and management fundamentals. This gap is created by flawed reward systems, short-term goals, or priorities that are constantly competing for the manager’s attention.

Fortunately, companies can nudge their managers to perform better by leveraging behavioural insights. Nudge strategies capitalize on encouragement and enablement instead of direct instructions and strict enforcements.

Here are some examples to help you better understand how nudge techniques use behavioural science to boost managerial performance:

Direct InstructionsNudge
Instructing a child to clean the roomPlaying a game that includes room-tidying
Signs that tell people not to litter with fine warningsPlacing more dustbins where they are easily visible and accessible
Budgeting for grocery shoppingUsing a basket instead of a trolley

Nudging techniques take into account people’s knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Based on the understanding of these factors, choices are designed for people so they can make the right decisions without being forced or directly instructed.

Creating Leadership Strategies Using Nudge Techniques

You can start with a written plan that covers the following questions:

  • What is your goal?
  • What is your nudge campaign targeting to improve or enhance? Is it employee engagement? Is it productivity? Or is it leadership skills?
  • Who is your target audience? Managers? Or Employees?
  • How frequently do you plan on nudging people? Every day? Once a week? Or once a month?
  • How are you scheduling your nudge messages? Based on specific events? Or a certain time of the day?
  • How are you going to send out your nudge messages? Via automated emails? Signs? Or during meetings?
  • Are you involving any others teams or departments? Do you need the help of your IT team? Should the messages be reviewed by top management before they can be circulated?
  • What plan do you have to measure the effectiveness of your nudge tactics? Anonymous surveys? Data analysis? Performance reports?

The Transition from Training to Reinforcement

The increased demands of work often make even the most highly motivated and efficient managers fall back on their old techniques and become task-focused. But, if your leadership strategies are based on behavioural science, they will work to ensure that managers remain mindful of their communication style, give feedback, recognize employees and take informed decisions even when they are under pressure and stress.

A nudge program can prove to be your turbocharger for increased productivity and efficiency. Companies that want to unlock their employees’ true potential can team up with a reputed HR consultancy to roll out their nudge campaigns. An HR advisory will design and execute proven leadership strategies that help your managers and employees to adapt and thrive in a dynamic business landscape.

Author Bio:

Liliana Chitnis is a former HR professional who now works as a content marketing executive at NamanHR, an organization that offers end-to-end HR solutions to help companies build a strong human capital base. She strongly believes in the power of consistent training in the workplace. Liliana writes about various topics related to human resources and shares trends, techniques, and tips with her readers. She loves to read and practice yoga regularly, and occasionally binge on Netflix.

How Employee Retention Can Help You Win the War for Talent

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Employees are the core part of every team, and they are essential to survive in such a competitive market. Thus as an employer, you should have a quality team to stay with you to progress more. Your employee retention strategy should be robust, which leads to employee satisfaction. An open mind and prioritizing your employees is crucial for the success of any business. 

Employee engagement is an emotional commitment the employee builds with the organization. When employees feel involved, they care about the company and put in their best work to achieve the company’s goals. Their primary objective is to bestow to the company’s success. Besides employee engagement, this generation of employees also expects organizations and future employers to provide them with the ability to work remotely. Organisations need to be ready to integrate technologically connected employees and virtual workers and be prepared that their future dream-talents will be positioned outside city or country boundaries. Developing a distinct employer brand and fostering a strong culture to attract talent and retain them is critical. This may not be easy but is manageable with the right approach. 

Wondering how to win the employee retention conflict? How to keep from losing your employees in a competitive job market? To keep your employees retained and satisfied, consider trying these employee retention strategies:

1. Communicate job duties and expectations: When employees feel that they don’t grasp the essence of their job duties, company policies, and the performance metrics by which employers will evaluate them, it can prove tremendously frustrating and damage morale to the point that employees may be tempted to look for employment elsewhere. It is best to share important information with your employees regarding pay-raise schemes, duties as per job description, and relevant policies. 

2.   Put culture first: Workplace culture impacts retention. A recent study revealed that 72% of workers cited corporate culture as a factor influencing their decision to work at a given company. Another survey observed that at least one-third of job seekers would pass up the perfect job if the corporate culture were a bad fit. Starting a meeting with a prospective with a question about company culture, hiring policies, or employee retention reflects its importance. A few of the significant employee satisfaction drivers are high-quality senior leadership, a clear mission, and career opportunities.

3.  Get your employer brand right: Ensuring your organization’s online footprints tell a story is the first step in building an employer’s employer even before candidates apply. Building a reputation is essential in addition to amping up your website and social media networks. Employer branding is the process of influencing and managing the company amongst job seekers and critical stakeholders. It should define the company’s values and describe your employee value proposition to potential and current employees.

4.  Update your benefits package: Health and other benefits are a top priority in employees’ decisions to stay in a particular job. Most HR professionals use these benefits as a strategic tool to retain employees and recruit talent. Employee benefits also include a healthy work-life balance. New age employees look for flexible timings and work from home options to achieve a better work-life balance.

5.  Encourage position transfers within the company: Another wise move to retain and satisfy employees efficiently is to discuss their end goals and their satisfaction in their current roles. It is also essential to encourage them to look into other departments if they’re not they’re Some companies are implementing this idea into their policies and procedures, so employees can quickly look at their handbook and find out if this is an option.

6.  Ask for feedback: An assured and successful way to know the employees better is to ask them. Avoid assuming or guessing how satisfied they are with their work or department. Implement anonymous employee surveys, so they feel comfortable sharing qualitative feedback. Hold discussions where employees can provide their opinions, thoughts, and feelings about the company and improve.

The employee retention strategy of any company is a combination of various elements that makes way for employee satisfaction. Initiatives such as mediation programs, flexible work schedules, a positive work environment have the capability of making the work environment more attractive for challenged parents, excellent talents, and new generations. As an employer, you need to have an open mind and think of your employees as the essential elements for your business or organization’s success. Adopt these techniques and stay consistent in your mission to win the war for talent. 

Author Bio: 

Kelly Barcelos
Kelly Barcelos is a progressive digital marketing manager specializing in HR and is responsible for leading Jobsoid’s content and social media team. When Kelly is not building campaigns, she is busy creating content and preparing PR topics. She started with Jobsoid as a social media strategist and eventually took over the entire digital marketing team with her innovative approach and technical expertise.

Ethical Leadership: Running a Business That Focuses On Values, Morals, and Beliefs

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How you approach leadership is likely to factor into your company’s ongoing success. You want to make certain that all your stakeholders — colleagues, staff, customers, and the industry at large — have positive experiences as a result of your influence. As such, there is increasing emphasis on leadership styles that reflect the changing priorities of the public. Increasingly, we can see that these are focused on businesses that exhibit strong ethics, make moral decisions, and engage in values-led activities.    

This requires a strong commitment to ethical leadership. Company figureheads must set the highest standards for business activities based on core moral values, and lead by example rather than direction. It certainly helps to have a strong foundation of tools — a robust and relevant code of conduct, and consistent messaging among them. But the key point is that business leaders must exemplify their ethics in everything they do, and seek to guide the rest of the business along an equally moral path.     

This approach can make a significant impact. Employees — particularly Millennial and Gen-Z workers — tend to be more loyal to businesses with values that empower them to be part of something bigger than themselves. Customers invest in businesses that they know are supportive of them and their communities. We’re going to take a look at a few of the primary areas you can focus on to ensure that your leadership direction includes the traits that epitomize solid ethics.  

Transparency

One of the primary tenets of ethical leadership is a commitment to mindful transparency. This is often a sticky issue for entrepreneurs. Historically, there’s been a culture of secrecy surrounding business, that it’s acceptable to obscure practices in the name of maintaining the competitive edge. However, allowing this to become too prevalent in your leadership approach can create barriers between you, your employees, and your customers — which doesn’t exactly breed trust.

Instead, seek to inspire a culture of transparency throughout the organization. Be honest about everything, and encourage honesty in return. This extends to when you feel as though you or the company have done something wrong, or are shirking your responsibilities. This is particularly important when the business is going through turbulent periods. To gain the full support of customers and employees, they need to have confidence that you are honest about the full extent of the situation, and have a plan to move forward.

Whether from day-to-day issues or when a difficult situation arises, your transparency should exhibit openness and inclusion. Ethical leaders utilize their interpersonal and communications skills to make employees a part of solutions. When brainstorming ideas for projects and problems alike, bring employees of all levels into the process — guide them to understanding what the challenges and the goals are. Use visual techniques such as mind mapping and brainwriting alongside verbal discussions to ensure that your transparency of the process is underpinned by clarity. By involving everybody, you show not only that there is nothing to hide, but you encourage a spirit of collaboration and mutual support.   

Diversity

Ethical leaders recognize that they have a responsibility to prioritize inclusivity. Indeed, they have a duty to their community and their industry to encourage growth that is representative of the varying perspectives, needs, and talents in our society. From a purely economic viewpoint, they also understand that their enterprises do not benefit from a monocultural stance. As such, diversity plays a key role.

This begins with employees. A diverse workforce that includes people from various racial, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds is essential. A range of perspectives results in teams that are sharing new ideas, opinions, and skillsets in a way that tends to foster innovation. As such, ethical leaders adapt company policies and activities to ensure that their workplaces are suitable and welcoming for all workers. This includes mentorship programs for those from marginalized communities that may not have access to traditional education. It’s going beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines to make physical workspaces accessible. 

Ethical leaders also understand that their commitment to encouraging and supporting diversity has to go beyond their immediate workplace. They also have empathy toward the challenges that marginalized people face and use their influence and resources to make a difference in their communities. Technology conglomerate Cisco Systems is considered one of the most diverse companies in the U.S. They demonstrate this not just in their equality-led hiring and payment practices, but also their ongoing support of social justice projects that include financial support for minority students, and provision of venture capital for Black-owned businesses. As such, your leadership needs to go further than self-interest and contribute positively to the work being done by communities. 

Authenticity

There have been too many examples of companies who claim to prioritize social issues only to fail to exhibit this in their ongoing actions. Recently, many companies posted messages of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on their social media channels to gain credibility, but their operations were clearly in conflict with this. As just one example among many, Amazon posted a black square announcing their solidarity, and yet — their poor employment standards history aside — only have one Black employee at the senior level.

As such, as an ethical leader, you need to exemplify authenticity in everything you and your company do. Your transparency will assist this aspect of your leadership style. By being open, employees and the public alike will be able to see whether the company and its leaders have a genuine concern for their needs. This is why authenticity also needs to be supported by accountability. Create a culture of open dialogue, where you can be directly contacted if anybody feels as though you and the business have fallen short of ethical expectations. Follow this up with authentic action; do the work to put things right, and involve your stakeholders in this.

Conclusion

Ethical leaders can have a positive impact not only on their businesses but also on the wider community. By following the key tenets of a morally solid business — transparency, diversity, and authenticity among them — entrepreneurs can ensure that all stakeholders can connect to the company and its leadership in a way that engenders trust and mutual respect. After all, ethical businesses are what consumers deserve, and business owners can in turn reap the immense potential benefits.

Author Bio:
Adrian Johansen is a writer and consultant in the Pacific Northwest. She loves sharing knowledge with others and learning along the way! You can find more of her writing at Medium


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