CEOs drank their morning coffee while reading my newsletters.
I shared the latest in business leadership, pushing executives to think beyond the status quo when it came to remote work, elevating equity in the workplace, and the potential of learning & development to transform their business.
Below are excerpts from the weekly newsletters I wrote for the Josh Bersin Academy and Nomadic Learning.
To view all samples, click “Read more”.
Nomadic Learning
Field Notes
Observed
The number one question we get from our clients and learning leaders is this: how can we get our learners more engaged?
We’re excited to announce the release of The New Learner Engagement Toolkit, an interactive guide to making your L&D efforts more strategic to increase learner engagement. Download your free copy today for tips on how to effectively communicate learning’s importance across your organization, design learning that fits the rhythms and realities of your company, and reconsider the metrics used to measure learning success. Here’s a sneak
peak.
Communicate that learning is a tool, not a task. Help learners feel invested in their own development by encouraging managers to set up one-on-ones to discuss learning goals and progress. Managers should drive home the message that learning:
1. Can lead to career progression
2. Is a core part of work
3. Is valued by leaders
Download your free copy of The New Learner Engagement Toolkit for more engagement strategies and an interactive checklist that helps you put it all into
action.
-The Nomadic Team
Around the Internet
In the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ruling guaranteeing legal access to abortion, executives are taking a tactical approach by asking the vital question, “How do we take care of our workforce?”
“Reverse mentoring”: you don’t stop learning when you become a top executive. Leaders can stay on top of trends and spot opportunities for innovation by being open to listening and learning from their junior employees.
In a recent survey, CEOs reported that inflation was the top threat to their businesses this year. As inflation fuels the risk of an economic downturn, 43% of CEOs are still feeling pretty optimistic about company growth. Are they
underestimating the moment, or is this optimism actually warranted?
Toxic leadership is hard to shake. Even our most star executives can be good at what they do, be good people, and be bad managers. We can improve our company leadership by creating new opportunities for promotions and upward career progression, in addition to offering management roles.
Unleash your inner CEO. A new training method in leadership development, in-role CEO programs empower leaders at all levels to be innovative and strategic to meet organizational needs. Spotify’s global head of L&D says it best: “Over-control destroys creativity and innovation.”
We’re happy our stakeholders value L&D, but sometimes our beliefs about learning clash. Navigating that disagreement can be difficult. From busting learning myths to a friendly competition of A/B testing, this article shares 10 different approaches you can take to communicate with stakeholders about their L&D beliefs.
At Nomadic
At Nomadic
Let’s face it. Zoom fatigue is real. Traditional forms of digital learning, like click next courses and Zoom trainings, simply don’t keep learners engaged enough to drive real transformation in your organization. However, cohorts are a different story.
By requiring cohorts to engage in discussions and debates about what they’ve learned, members walk away with a deeper understanding of their coursework. A healthy dose of peer pressure also helps hold learners accountable to complete their learning programs.
We explore how cohorts keep learners engaged in our most recent blog.
Further Afield
As you relax by the beach to enjoy some light reading this summer, know that you’re engaging in a centuries-old practice that changed how books were
written and published.
Josh Bersin Academy
Josh Bersin Academy Newsletter
The Long View
A historic decision was made by the US Supreme Court last week to overturn the ruling of Roe v. Wade, a 1973 court case that determined the Constitution protects a woman’s liberty to have an abortion. Given that this impacts employees in many states, some companies are starting to act.
Many organizations, like Lyft, Salesforce, and Bank of America, now offer travel expenses and leave to cover abortion procedures. Others may decide against this, depending on factors like location and the desires of its employees.
While this particular situation is specific to the US, similar questions of whether and when to take action, create policies, and speak out on various issues have played out around the world. When in doubt, keep in mind the advice shared by the former CEO of Best Buy and current professor at Harvard Business School, Hubert Joly: it’s our job to ensure the people in our organizations “are well represented and feel that they can be the best versions of themselves.” Craft communications and policies that live this out, and you cannot go wrong.
-Matt Burr, CEO and co-founder, Nomadic
Know someone who might enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to your friends and colleagues so they can sign up today.
The Latest
Meta silences employee discussions of Roe v. Wade’s overturning. “Discussing abortion openly at work has a heightened risk of creating a hostile work environment.”
Poor L&D costs the UK economy about £2.43 billion in rehiring costs. Learn about the effects ineffective learning has on employees—and how to avoid it.
Is ageism limiting your talent pool? AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins thinks older workers are the solution to the ongoing talent shortage.
Have you heard of the compliment sandwich? Feedback is hard to give and receive. Here are 15 tips for setting up a healthy feedback process in your organization.
Beyoncé’s new song has been dubbed a “Great Resignation anthem.” Search queries for “how to resign” jumped by 350% just 24 hours after the song’s release.
By the numbers
26%
Employees who work at a company with high fair treatment perform at a level that is 26% greater than those who don’t.
Seen and heard
The latest from the Josh Bersin Academy Community. Join the conversation.
“I would like to see unit leaders take on more responsibility for engagement and realize they have so much influence over how engaged their employees are. This would require a change in design of our survey methods, and a paradigm shift in how the organization views responsibility for engagement.”
-Nikki Closson, Josh Bersin Academy community member
One thing to try this week: Build a culture of resilience.
In an era of ongoing change, it’s important to foster a culture of resilience in our organizations. Whether it be a change in leadership or a transition to hybrid work, there are five key areas we should analyze when assessing our organization’s resilience-building strategy. A few questions to consider from each area:
• Mission and Purpose. Does our organization have a clear mission and
purpose?
• People and Talent. Are our people burnt out or feeling rejuvenated?
• Communication and Transparency. Are senior leaders regularly
sharing information with the organization? If so, how? If not, why?
• Listening and Feedback. What are we doing with the information once
it’s shared?
• Vision and Strategy. Are we setting ourselves up to be more agile,
flexible, and prepared for the future than we were before?
Read more about Building a Culture of Resilience on our Resources page. There, you can also find other great Resources, Programs, and Community.
Mark your calendars
July 4, 2022: Human-Centered Leadership
Nuno Gonçalves, global head of strategic capability building at Mars Inc., noticed that a teammate was regularly apologizing for being off-camera for certain meetings, because she was dialing in while driving her kids to school. Nuno decided to send a strong message that his team should never feel bad for “being a person first”-so he told her to keep doing whatever she needed to do to take care of her family, and never apologize for it.
Human-Centered Leadership explores this and more strategies for not just tolerating the more human side of our teams, but welcoming it, along with methods for measuring our organization’s progress in adopting a culture and leadership style that’s both more human and more effective.
July 11, 2022: Elevating Equity
One company wanted to diversify their hiring pool for engineering roles, so they set out to analyze every single step of their twenty-step talent acquisition process. By identifying where they were losing people along this talent funnel, they were able to make big changes that led to a notable increase in the numbers of diverse hires.
Explore more initiatives like this in Elevating Equity. This is not a traditional diversity, equity, and inclusion program. Instead, this is a Program centered on effective actions that drive real, measurable change. It features global stories, historical stories, and HR stories that evoke conversations around the complexity of this work and how we can continue to evolve.