Improving Organizational Performance: Building the Workplace of the Future

The dialogue among organization leaders today revolves heavily around the “workplace of the future.” Increasing concerns about a loss of productivity and innovation and its impact on organizational performance dominate the conversation. Remote work has become a widespread phenomenon in U.S. organizations and in many around the globe. But while the popularity of remote and hybrid work environments has soared, there is a growing sense of dissatisfaction among leaders who attribute subpar business outcomes to these arrangements. Many organizations have begun to reduce remote work and explore return-to-office approaches.

We argue that the real culprit behind reduced organization performance is not the hybrid or remote work itself but, rather, the absence of effective management in these work environments. The solution lies not in employees spending more days per week in the office but in reimagining the work environment and work management.

Join us for a “Work Environment of the Future” blog series as we delve into the intricacies of increasing organizational performance in the new world of work and uncover the secrets to fostering success in this evolving landscape. In our series, we’ll outline a new way of structuring and managing the work environment that puts performance, engagement and innovation first.

In this entry, we will explore the foundations of this new environment that we call the “4 A’s”: alignment, accountability, autonomy and authenticity.

A New Approach to Employee Value

Like how and where we work, the pillars that attract and retain talent have changed. Before COVID and the Great Resignation, companies relied on the tangible. Compensation, elements of the total rewards package, and career advancement topped the list of attractors. Today that list is evolving.

Instead of a system of broad-based tangible rewards, today’s astute leaders recognize the importance of understanding what draws individuals to their company. We believe that part of the workforce of the future is a new model for employee value proposition (EVP). We’ve designed five tiers that together improve the engagement of employees and, hence, the organization’s success.

Tier 1: Total rewards and compensation for work performed

Tier 2: Work factors such as flexibility and work role fit

Tier 3: Leadership and culture, including psychological safety and leaders’ ability to develop the 4 A’s (alignment, accountability, autonomy and authenticity) in their spheres of influence

Tier 4: Employees’ growth and development, including career pathing and holistic development

Tier 5: Employees’ feeling of purpose and its connections to the other four levels

Employee engagement is the foundation for this new model of strengthening organizations. When employees are engaged, they are more productive and more loyal. Organizations whose values guide business decisions and whose managers maintain connections and communication with employees see better engagement and are better equipped to face business challenges.

To leverage this enhanced engagement into improved organizational performance, this new EVP must be at the heart of management. This EVP is based on the 4 A’s: alignment, accountability, autonomy and authenticity.

Driving Performance with the 4 A’s

Many conversations about the workplace today focus on whether the power rests with employees or employers and what the implications of that balance are for workplace policy. We argue that this is the wrong focus. When the interests of the organization and the employee are in sync, the result is performance and engagement – and, therefore, retention. The 4 A’s help achieve this and create a mutually reinforcing cycle that drives increasing levels of performance in the organization. Each of these elements is described below.

1. Alignment: Data shows five straight quarters of declining productivity among American workers, which hasn’t happened since WWII. While managers blame remote and hybrid work, the actual cause is a misalignment of objectives and productivity. Despite a seismic shift in the work environment, organizations’ reward systems and leaders’ management styles have remained constant, leading to overworked, underskilled teams.

Instead, managers must assess teams based on alignment with company goals and a standardized set of organizational objectives, ensuring that:

• Each contributor understands their work and how it supports the overall business strategy
• Teams have a direction driven by a standard set of outcomes and guideposts
• Workflow includes regular check-ins to align with business objectives

Alignment is a simple concept but very difficult to execute. It requires effective ongoing communication and coaching as well as seamless information flow throughout the organization. It requires the right reward system, strategy knowledge and ongoing dialogue about performance and results. Many managers struggle to keep their own work aligned with the organization’s goals and strategies and, therefore, struggle with their team’s alignment.

2. Accountability: Remote and hybrid work are causing a crisis of confidence in managers. 82% of managers say they are unable to hold others accountable, and employees agree — 91% say leadership needs to improve its ability to hold others accountable.

To solve this problem, leaders need to divorce accountability from physical proximity and, instead, create a culture that holds employees and their leaders to excellence standards and that compels employees at all levels to meet their established agreements. This requires not only training but also effective performance support for managers and employees.

3. Autonomy: The freedom and flexibility to make decisions about how to get work done has long been connected to employee motivation and performance. Yet many leaders struggle to allow this freedom for fear that productivity will suffer and goals will be missed. Since remote and hybrid work involves additional freedoms around where and when work gets done, bringing people back into the office is often deemed as the solution to productivity and engagement problems. But, as we argue throughout this piece, this way of thinking misses the mark.

With a strong foundation, clear alignment and accountability, leaders are in a better place to “let go” and trust employees to choose the optimal approaches to achieve desired outcomes. This trust enables greater employee freedom and motivation and, ultimately, increased production, improved quality, more reliable operations and a more efficient workforce.

4. Authenticity: Companies reported a decrease in innovation during the global pandemic. This was partly a symptom of stifling employees’ creativity as leaders grappled for control in an unmanaged work environment.

But when employees and leaders act in ways that are true to their personalities, values and spirit, well-managed remote work can encourage innovation, which will remain critical for business success into the future.

Authenticity must occur at the organizational level as well. What an organization communicates as its values must match how it actually manages. Leaders must be transparent and must communicate strategy and results regularly. This authenticity then reinforces alignment and helps employees see where they fit, completing the cycle created by the 4 A’s.

Organizations have the opportunity to create a more dynamic workforce, one that can flexibly engage different internal and external resources to employ the right capabilities when and where they are needed. A work environment that has the 4 A’s at its foundation can not only function more effectively with employees, it can also blend many different labor types (contingent, outsourced, partnerships, crowdsourcing, etc.) to enhance performance. This requires robust workforce planning as a foundation, with the 4 A’s to build the right capabilities at the right time and at the right cost. With these tools, leaders can unleash innovation and agility to advance their missions.

Our upcoming blogs will delve into the practical steps that leaders can implement to cultivate a culture of alignment, accountability, autonomy and authenticity within their organizations. Stay tuned for future blogs in this series where we’ll unpack how to:

• Optimize team skill makeup with a different approach to work-role fit
• Enhance career mobility and career pathing
• Get incentives right
• Help employees find purpose
• Devise a new labor strategy to drive productivity and innovation

Contact hrQ today for management strategies that can transform your organization’s EVP – and drive better results.