Session Focus: New Workplace Sustainability Leadership Frameworks

Good bosses matter–now more than ever.
A post-pandemic era requires a different type of leadership.

Here is a recent example in the news now of what we need to avoid:

GM delays return-to-office mandate after employee backlash (SEP 2022)

GM employees who have been working remotely due to the pandemic will be required to return to the office at least three days a week.

Just days after telling staff they’d have to come in, GM pushed back its return-to-office plans at the end of September 2022.

On Friday, the company told staff to expect to return at least three days a week this year. But a memo sent the following Tuesday said the change will not begin before the first quarter of 2023.

Most organizations, teams, schools, and families today still operate from a “command and control model,” focusing on hierarchies and compliance from people. But this way of leading is drastically outdated because of the changing nature of the world, the workforce, work itself, and the choices we have for where and how to work and live.

 

In Stephen M.R. Covey’s newest book, Trust and Inspire, he offers a simple yet bold solution: to shift from this “command and control” model to a leadership style of “trust and inspire.” People don’t want to be managed; they want to be led.

In this roundtable discussion, let’s talk about new ways of leading that start with believing that people are creative, collaborative, and full of potential.