NKD Neo Boost
Recharging your leaders when the dust begins to settle…
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed companies to their absolute extremes. Many businesses endured massive restructurings and cultural overhauls to varying degrees of success. No one could prepare for what 2020 had in store for us. Certain businesses defied odds and rose to the occasion with agility and quick thinking. What can we learn from the companies that won on culture during the pandemic? How can we ensure we follow in their pattern of success and resilience?
We at NKD have worked long and hard to provide a comprehensive tool to ensure your business success through supporting and training business leaders – we believe we have done that with NKD Neo Boost. 7 e-learning modules or ‘boosters’ made up of activities, toolkits, diagnostics, podcasts, quizzes, games and film, available online and via the app store to provide your business leaders with the post-pandemic energy shots to revitalise and thrive in 2021.
Rebuilding Trust
Commercial leaders have undoubtedly felt the heavy burden of tough decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Decisions to change business models, integrate technology, and restructure their enterprise were made at speed to respond to the fast pace of change and state of flux we found ourselves in. Many of our most loved brands from Disney to Cineworld underwent devastating cuts to their teams and resizing of their businesses as a whole.
For many leaders, the task of this decision making weighed on their minds and often led to personal turmoil. Understanding the impact that their decisions would have on co-workers, who would now struggle to keep up with rent or mortgage repayments. On top of this, leaders have been tasked with juggling their obligations to employees, customers, shareholders as well as personal family obligations. This has ultimately left our business leaders overwhelmed and saddled with guilt that no one had prepared them for.
And so, we are proud to launch NKD Neo Boost, 7 boosters of self-reflection, self-development and team development for your leaders.
The first two modules are completely free!
Boost 1: The perfect pandemic will start by acknowledging it’s not been easy, but your leaders have made it! Leaders will explore how to mourn what has been lost and reassemble as one leadership team.
Boost 2: Trust through turbulence is all about restoring the foundations. Leaders will learn how to have some of the unsaid conversations and reconnect from a place of trust.
So what are the other great impacts on the workforce amid the pandemic and how can we best equip leaders moving forward?
Engaging Communications
2020 scattered workforces and isolated employees far and wide. Businesses had to share vital information to a suddenly remote, uncertain and fearful workforce. Primarily, it was a matter of business survival. New communication tools and strategies were adopted across the globe.
Zoom emerged as one of the biggest corporate success stories of 2020, reporting higher sales and profit in the three months from May through July than it did in all of 2019!
People are increasingly looking to their leaders for guidance and support. What leaders say and how they say it will determine employee loyalty, build resilience, act as a catalyst for change and help deliver on business strategy.
Only 24% of companies are teaching managers how to support remote teams, 58% do not feel they have the right tools or culture for remote work, and only 41% feel they have adequately trained employees on how to be “well” in this new environment.
Boost 3: Dream maker or dream faker is designed to teach leaders how to communicate with empathy and become great storytellers – creating a compelling message and narrative which will connect their teams emotionally especially in times of turbulence and isolation.
Next-Generation Performance Management
Changing the way we manage performance is something most of us have had on our radar. But overnight the world changed, throwing traditional performance management into chaos and accelerating our need to do something different.
We now need to check in with employees more frequently, remotely and digitally, work around people’s home situations and always lead conversations with empathy, trust, clarity and transparency. And that takes a different mindset.
In March, Facebook announced that it would be giving all 45,000 employees the same “exceeds expectations” performance review rating for the first two quarters. Some companies cancelled their next review cycle altogether. Others took the opportunity to review and scrap their traditional annual performance management reviews towards agile, collaborative goal- setting, on-going continuous conversations, timely recognition, informal dialogue on a weekly basis and quarterly performance reviews.
Boost 4: Not for robots is designed to transform your leaders into performance coaches equipped with the mindset and capabilities to create shared accountability and collaboration for performance, to have meaningful conversations ensuring their teams feel valued, connected, supported and listened to – unlocking their performance potential.
Following the NKD Thrive model, your leaders will master both the ‘1 to 1’ and ‘1 to many’ conversation – owned by the individual, rooted in positive psychology and strengths-based.
Decision Making
In 2020 the world literally changed overnight. There was no time for talking. Just doing. Businesses made bold decisions quickly with scant data.
McKinsey’s 2019 report ‘Three Keys to faster, better decisions’, claims that managers at a typical Fortune 500 company may waste more than 500,000 days a year on ineffective decision making.
But in 2020, there was no time for this. Companies had to accelerate digital transformations in a matter of days and weeks and creatively adapt business models if they were going to survive.
Other companies that failed to adapt and keep pace with the rapidly changing world did not do so well and ultimately gave out. But others were decisive, creative and resilient.
British retailer John Lewis adapted their in-store services in support of ‘Virtual Britain’, by offering free, bookable, one-to-one video appointments with their specialist Partners to provide advice, inspiration and support on home design and personal styling to Britain’s customers during lockdown. They also created a brand new online hub “Your Partners Through It all” – available for anyone looking for tips, inspiration and activities online.
Boost 5: Wake up and smell the coffee will explore how to improve decision making using sound reasoning, critical thinking and rigorous analysis, and how to make informed decisions based on head, heart and guts.
Continuous Improvement
As businesses look to shave costs and drive efficiencies as long-term economic instability lingers and revenues across many once thriving sectors continue to fall, continuous improvement is the new normal. Small incremental improvements over time by identifying opportunities to enhance work processes and reduce waste.
In just 4 months, Australian giant Woolworth’s ‘Better Every Day’ programme has saved $4m across their supply chain, with a projected $10 million in annual savings. NKD partnered with Woolworths to use a unique continuous improvement approach to create a culture which always puts the customer first. In creating the perfect team of 7000 Customer 1st Champions and the C1C toolkit comprised of learning and communications tools, we developed CI capability and mindset. This was to encourage the sharing of ‘pockets of brilliance’ across the business.
Boost 6: Better. Faster. Stronger. will explore how leaders can keep their radar on to detect new and better approaches to continuous improvement, and engage their teams with a continuously improving mindset.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
The combination of the direct effects of COVID-19 on individuals and their families, and the indirect effect on financial security, housing, unemployment and social isolation has led to an increase in worry, stress and anxiety worldwide. Such emotional responses are to be expected during such times of instability, but for those already suffering from mental illness, the extra pressure exacerbates their condition.
Statista’s Research Department’s statistics on COVID-19 and mental health reports that 66.9% of employees reported higher levels of stress since the coronavirus outbreak in 2020 and 57.2% of reported greater anxiety. It also reports the direct link on the productivity of those who reported mental health challenges since the outbreak. There was 28.3% that experienced difficulty concentrating, 20% took longer to do a task, 14.7% had difficulty thinking, reasoning or deciding, 12.3% put off challenging work and 11.8% had difficulty juggling tasks or responsibilities.
Employees need a new kind of support. Remote care for mental health has spiked, telemedicine services are more popular than ever, and exercise programs have moved online.
Some organizations have prioritised virtual wellness programmes and initiatives to help ease the stress and anxiety of working from home.
Grammarly, the digital writing assistant tech company is offering everything from extra days off across their offices, offering sick days as mental health time, fitness, yoga, nutrition videos for stress reduction and mental health, virtual counselling sessions for stress and anxiety workshops. Grammarly is also offering support for employees who are parents with group web sessions. And holding weekly “Good vibes Monday” snippets curated by their People team, which shares a list of positive events around the world to show how people are coming together during this time.
Wellness programmes are great, but even more important is the emotional support and understanding from managers and leaders. In our final boost 7: Well, well, well – we’ll be enabling leaders to recognise and support the mental health and wellbeing of their people.
From rebuilding trust, engaging communications, new performance management, decision-making, continuous improvement and wellbeing – NKD’s Neo Boosters will help develop the critical leadership capabilities needed to enhance the employee experience and business performance for 2021. Get in touch with us today to find out more!