Build Your Team and Let Them Fly (Sponsor Letter)

A quick look at the Springfield Business Journal’s latest Economic Growth Survey indicates employers have high hopes for the expansion of their organizational workforce but also a little trepidation. While those that expect not to hire have ticked up, a strong majority (70%) expect to grow their employee roster or recruit some new team members in the next year, even if those numbers are a bit down from the past two surveys. For all the recent volatility, Springfield remains bullish on local growth. So what’s the trepidation? Employees report a range of factors in their say-yes to the new job calculus: better wages and benefits, access to childcare and transportation, and 63 percent report housing concerns represent some or a large impact in an employment change decision. For employers, those are not necessarily easy to solve.

So what else do employees want? Even taking into account generational factors that situate Gen Z differently from Gen X, millennials, and boomers, some of this is less complicated than meets the eye. Employees want fair pay and useable and useful benefits, transparent and engaged leadership, a path toward advancement within the organization and in their career, and a sense of purpose and belief that their work matters. And in response to technology changes, many team members want a measure of flexibility, inclusive of some ability to work remotely but more wholistically, of a workplace that is open to new ideas. What should leaders do? Provide a written annual evaluation. Ask team members for their ideas; all organizations need more creative problem solvers. Teach and live the mission. Leaders should share credit often and accept blame willingly; thank you and I’m sorry are important words: say them and mean them.  If you are a leader, remember what it was like to be on the ground floor. If you’re a new hire, watch, learn, network, and read so that you can grow into the kind of leader you want to work with. 

Bundled together, this might be encoded as workplace culture, that magical cocktail of creativity, respect, and clarity embodied by the sum of an organization’s workforce becoming greater than its individual parts. While culture creation can be done in many different ways, the net result is a place where people embrace the sound of the morning alarm rather than pull the covers over their head. Work has to become a place of community with palpable reasons to trust others in service of a common cause. Culture can be simple: folks of a certain age remember the theme song to the show Cheers which reminded us we like to go where everybody knows our name. Don’t know an employee’s name? Ask and remember. Culture can be complicated: building trust requires honesty, a shared vision, and an approach where leaders are developed at every level of an organization and empowered to execute the mission. 

At Drury, I share a written update every three weeks to the faculty, staff, and trustees, meet regularly with different campus groups including our students, offer small group sessions for more specific Q and A, and try to be in each of our buildings once a week or more just to check in and say hello. Our organization is not perfect, but we are intentional in making sure everyone feels connected, informed, and welcome to offer ideas and raise concerns.  I think that makes a difference and turns culture from a buzzword into something real.     

Jeff Frederick, Ph.D., President, Drury University