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In episode 133 of “The JoyPowered® Workspace Podcast,” JoDee and Susan discuss what’s hot in the world of people leadership with fellow podcasters Derrin Slack and Liesel Mertes.

For our first episode of 2022, we thought it would be a perfect time to talk about what’s hot in the world of people leadership, so as business leaders and HR practitioners, we are as up to date as we can be. First, JoDee and Susan discuss Visier’s list of workplace trends for 2022, including workplace data democratization, radical flexibility, focusing on output over hours put in, and more. Then, Derrin Slack and Liesel Mertes join the show for a panel discussion of 2022 trends.

Derrin’s number one trend is the new employer-employee social contract. COVID has shown us that we really need to look at how the employer and employee relationship looks. We need to invest in our employees and recognize them as human beings with hopes, needs, and desires that will really help bring value to any organization.

Liesel thinks it’ll be absolutely essential in 2022 to skill up our teams, managers, policies, and procedures to display more empathy in the workplace. There’s still a sense that when someone is going through something hard, we don’t know what to do or say. The reality is, if we don’t have empathy and a support system for employees going through disruptive life events, we’re not showing a robust culture of care, and our people are probably looking somewhere else.

JoDee sees coaching at all levels as a big trend for 2022. In the past, coaching was more geared toward top executive and people who were struggling, but more and more, the people in between are looking for coaching as well. And people are looking for all different types of coaching, whether that’s sales coaching, career coaching, DEI coaching, or another specific area.

Susan expects succession planning to be something companies really focus on in 2022. The pandemic has taught us that people we thought were going to be with us for the long term aren’t necessarily going to be. Studies show that 55% of our employees are thinking about making a career move, but only 35% of organizations have a formalized succession planning program. It’s important to create a solid succession planning process so when key roles come vacant, you’re not scrambling to hire someone.

In this episode’s listener mail, a listener asks how to build trust with employees who are naturally distrustful and skeptical. In the news, a November 2021 Korn Ferry survey showed that 59% of professionals say workers are more rude today than before the pandemic, and four out of five workers find it hard to concentrate after a colleague has been rude to them.

Mentioned in this episode:

• • Purple Ink
  • Susan Tinder White Consulting
  • ”Workplace Trends 2022: The Age of Employees Is Here”
  • ProAct
  • Derrin’s Podcast, Stood in the Gap
  • Liesel’s Website
  • Liesel’s Podcast, Handle w/ Care
  • CliftonStrengths
  • Episode 108, “Difficult People and Negative Attitudes”
  • ”Remote rudeness: Workers less civil now, study says”

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