Canadian firms are struggling to develop leaders in the multigenerational workforce
Canadian firms are struggling to develop leaders in the multigenerational workforce, according to a report from Deloitte's Human Capital Trends.
Leadership continues to top the list of concerns for HR leaders, with 90% of them citing it as the biggest worry – followed by culture and engagement.
With this in mind, we spoke to Piyush Patel, leading author and workplace culture expert, who revealed to how toxic culture can filter from the top down.
“The biggest tell-tale of toxicity is when leadership isn’t told the truth – just what they want to hear. It’s hard to hear the truth, as a leader, but you need to create an environment where employees feel like they can tell the truth.”
And this was a lesson that Patel learned the hard way, when one of his best people voiced her concerns.
“I had a top performing employee quit on me. We were making a lot of money, growing massively – but at the height of everything she quit. When I asked her why she said it was because we we’re no longer focus on the customer. I asked her to help me fix it – and it took our company from $3 million in revenue $10 million – to ultimately a $45 million cash exit.”
A Korn Ferry study found that 19% of executives think new hires leave a company purely because of the toxic culture, whilst 47% of people actively looking for new positions say culture is the overriding reason.
Patel has his own novel way of measuring whether or not a company is toxic. “The earliest waring sign that a company culture is turning toxic, is when the bathroom starts to get really out of control. I have rule in my office, where if I go to the bathroom after you and there’s no toilet roll left – I don’t care what position you are in the firm, you’re out.
“In that moment you’re leaving your colleague in the most vulnerable position. You consciously used the last piece and chose not to replace it. In a workplace environment where you’re team oriented, that’s the first sign of a breakdown of comradery.”
Wirth 80% of organizations planning on improving their company culture, it’s a clear cause for concern for HR leaders. 73% of managers credit company culture with giving their firm a competitive edge – which begs the question, how can leaders go about changing their culture quickly?
“Your success as a leader is proportional to how many uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have,” added Patel.
“I’m a big believer in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At the bottom are physical needs, food and shelter, then above that is safety, but often companies focus purely on that. You may have an abundance of food and cool perks, but having beanbags in the breakroom doesn’t mean you have a great company culture.
“Leaders need to have vulnerability, they need to have vulnerability with their staff in order to create something special.”
Leadership continues to top the list of concerns for HR leaders, with 90% of them citing it as the biggest worry – followed by culture and engagement.
With this in mind, we spoke to Piyush Patel, leading author and workplace culture expert, who revealed to how toxic culture can filter from the top down.
“The biggest tell-tale of toxicity is when leadership isn’t told the truth – just what they want to hear. It’s hard to hear the truth, as a leader, but you need to create an environment where employees feel like they can tell the truth.”
And this was a lesson that Patel learned the hard way, when one of his best people voiced her concerns.
“I had a top performing employee quit on me. We were making a lot of money, growing massively – but at the height of everything she quit. When I asked her why she said it was because we we’re no longer focus on the customer. I asked her to help me fix it – and it took our company from $3 million in revenue $10 million – to ultimately a $45 million cash exit.”
A Korn Ferry study found that 19% of executives think new hires leave a company purely because of the toxic culture, whilst 47% of people actively looking for new positions say culture is the overriding reason.
Patel has his own novel way of measuring whether or not a company is toxic. “The earliest waring sign that a company culture is turning toxic, is when the bathroom starts to get really out of control. I have rule in my office, where if I go to the bathroom after you and there’s no toilet roll left – I don’t care what position you are in the firm, you’re out.
“In that moment you’re leaving your colleague in the most vulnerable position. You consciously used the last piece and chose not to replace it. In a workplace environment where you’re team oriented, that’s the first sign of a breakdown of comradery.”
Wirth 80% of organizations planning on improving their company culture, it’s a clear cause for concern for HR leaders. 73% of managers credit company culture with giving their firm a competitive edge – which begs the question, how can leaders go about changing their culture quickly?
“Your success as a leader is proportional to how many uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have,” added Patel.
“I’m a big believer in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At the bottom are physical needs, food and shelter, then above that is safety, but often companies focus purely on that. You may have an abundance of food and cool perks, but having beanbags in the breakroom doesn’t mean you have a great company culture.
“Leaders need to have vulnerability, they need to have vulnerability with their staff in order to create something special.”
