The HCL Review Podcast

Providing Steady Guidance in Uncertain Times: What Employees Need from Leaders, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a period of significant uncertainty for businesses and their employees, as organizations navigated lockdowns, remote work transitions, and economic volatility, looking to their leaders for stability, direction, and support during this ambiguous and changing time when effective leadership is most critical. While the specific needs of employees in an environment of prolonged uncertainty have not been fully addressed, this article explores key leadership behaviors and practices that can bolster employee morale, engagement, and well-being during turbulent times based on guiding principles of transparency, empathy, and a long-term vision that will best position leaders to weather uncertainty. Specifically, research suggests employees need clarity and communication through frequent, transparent updates; psychological safety and support addressing well-being, resilience, and pressure points; meaningful work and growth connecting responsibilities to purpose and fostering development; and collaboration and teamwork through designated teams solving problems and preventing isolation. The article provides targeted recommendations, such as regular all-hands meetings, central information channels, frequent check-ins, establishing counseling resources, assessing workload priorities, articulating organizational purpose, rotational assignments, cross-functional task forces, and virtual team building. Industry examples illustrate specific strategies like increased communications in tech, manager "walk-arounds" in hospitality, banking course subsidies, retailers' rapid response teams, and appreciation gestures in utilities. In conclusion, effectively guiding employees through prolonged uncertainty depends upon leaders upholding principles of transparency, empathy, and vision while attending to the crucial needs of clarity, safety, purpose, and togetherness to strengthen organizational resilience through challenging times.

Advocating for Yourself When Others Won't: Strategies for Navigating Difficult Workplace Dynamics, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: This article addresses the challenging situation of having a manager who does not properly advocate or sponsor one's career advancement. Drawing on academic literature related to workplace relationships, politics, and self-promotion, the brief explores potential reasons why a superior may not champion a high-performing employee. Four specific self-advocacy strategies are then presented for professionals to take matters into their own hands when facing an unsupportive boss. These include making one's case directly to their manager, building allies and external relationships, undertaking high-profile projects for greater visibility, and meticulously documenting achievements. Real-world examples across industries are provided to demonstrate how these approaches have enabled professionals to overcome unconstructive manager dynamics. The article emphasizes focusing on relationship-building, impactful work, and data-backed self-promotion over time rather than complaining about one's manager. With strategic effort and patience, professionals can still influence career outcomes despite lacking direct manager advocacy through developing their reputation and profile on their own accord.

The Future of Work is Forcing a Leadership Evolution, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: This article explores the major trends transforming the future of work through technological advancements like AI and robotics, globalization enabling distributed teams, and changing workforce demographics as younger generations and diversity alter the makeup of companies, necessitating that up to 375 million workers may need to switch jobs or acquire new skills by 2030. In response, the future of work demands new approaches to leadership that move beyond vision and problem-solving skills to emphasize soft abilities like engagement, empowerment, facilitation, and expertise in digital transformation, diversity/inclusion, lifelong learning, and virtual team management to match contemporary flat, adaptive organizational structures. Progressive companies are evolving leadership by leveraging digital tools to personalized learning and community-building, requiring that leaders effectively engage dispersed teams using technology while also fostering relationships, with a focus on developing global/cultural competence and championing inclusion, diversity, and cultures that prioritize trust, well-being, belonging and continuous development to cultivate workforce adaptability amid ongoing disruption.
 

Succeeding in an Era of Volatility: Leadership Strategies for an Uncertain Future, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: The business landscape has undergone immense changes in recent decades due to factors like globalization, technological disruption, shifting workforce and customer demographics, and economic turbulence, creating a profoundly uncertain and volatile environment that requires constant adaptation for companies to avoid obsolescence. However, by drawing from research on complex adaptive systems and uncertainty management, the article provides strategies for cultivating agile, resilient cultures focused on embracing uncertainty and continuous adaptation to thrive amid unpredictability. Leaders must foster agility through empowering experimentation, risk-taking, and iterative learning from failures to build resilience emphasizing adaptability, interdependence, diversity, communication, and flexibility, while embracing ambiguity recognizes leaders cannot predict the future and respond to new opportunities. Continuous learning and adaptation are also critical using flexible structures, short feedback loops, and scenario planning to identify weaknesses. The article then outlines an adaptive leadership framework to assess an organization's agility, resilience, and change readiness, proposing specific actions to decentralize decision-making, accelerate innovation, strengthen networks, communicate purpose, and conduct regular assessments/reviews, demonstrated through a banking example of innovative digital platforms, startup culture, customer empowerment, and experimentation enabling thriving amid turbulence. By developing cultures focused on continuous transformation over control and adaptability, companies gain strategic flexibility to reconfigure successfully amid unpredictability.

Tracking Employee Lifetime Value: Strategically Leveraging Metrics to Grow Your Talent Pipeline and Bottom Line, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

This practitioner-oriented research brief examines why and how companies can strategically track employee lifetime value (ELV) metrics. ELV refers to the total financial contributions and indirect cost savings an employee provides over their career both within and beyond their tenure at an organization. After outlining the scholarly foundation demonstrating ELV as a key driver of competitive advantage, productivity, revenue and firm performance, the brief delves into methods for quantifying ELV. Two primary components are contribution value from direct compensation and indirect support roles, as well as retention value from avoided replacement expenses and future referral potential. Examples are given of calculating ELV through estimating average tenure, forecasting contribution streams, incorporating various rates and modeling knowledge depreciation. The brief then analyzes how leveraging robust ELV insights supports strategic decisions around talent deployment, succession planning, training investments, and evaluating alignment of strategies to sustain ELV. Finally, real-world case studies from the technology and financial services industries demonstrate multi-billion dollar impacts achieved by companies that proactively track and maximize employee lifetime value through workforce planning and positive engagement of employee networks.

Finding Fulfillment: Leveraging Meaningful Feedback to Boost Worker Engagement, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

This article explores how organizations can design more meaningful feedback practices to boost employee engagement. Drawing on academic literature linking feedback and engagement, key drivers of the connection are identified, such as fulfilling psychological needs for competence and purpose. The brief then advocates shifting feedback focus from retrospective evaluations to forward-looking development centered on learning, growth opportunities, and stronger role alignment. Practical application examples across industries including healthcare, education, technology, and manufacturing demonstrate embedding feedback within organizational purpose and contextual priorities. Additional implementation strategies are offered, such as framing managers as coaches, emphasizing continual check-ins over annual reviews, rewarding continuous learning, and soliciting worker feedback. The conclusion asserts that by reframing routine feedback interactions to stimulate motivation, skills, and purpose-driven work, companies can transform this tool into a key lever for fostering enduring employee commitment, dedication, and fulfillment.

Affinity Bias: An Overlook Threat to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: Having a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace has become an important priority for many organizations today, however, diversity alone does not guarantee inclusion or equity as unconscious biases like affinity bias can undermine efforts if left unchecked. Affinity bias refers to the tendency to form stronger connections and have more positive feelings towards others similar in attributes, stemming from cognitive processes that view similarity as trustworthy, commonly impacting opportunities in organizations. It persists due to forces like homophily naturally gravitating towards similarity, unconscious biases operating below awareness, lack of diversity allowing similarity as default, conformity pressures, and more apprehension evaluating dissimilar others. If unaddressed, negative impacts include less diverse pipelines and leadership over time, inequitable experiences and outcomes, lower innovation and problem-solving, and loss of talent. Research shows affinity bias can be overcome through intentional efforts across organizational levels including designing fair structures and systems like instituting consistent talent criteria, unconscious bias training, diverse interview panels and anonymous screening, as well as enhancing diverse social networks through mentoring, sponsorship, and networking programs, providing ongoing DEI learning delivered to all employees on topics related to identity, privilege and inclusion, and modeling inclusive behaviors through KPIs and goals linked to diversity accountability in performance reviews, challenging exclusionary behaviors, and appointing C-level oversight. A case study demonstrates how one firm systematically addressed affinity bias threatening diversity goals through training, anonymous assessments, consultant evaluation, a new sponsorship program, and ongoing learning with leadership commitment and reporting that narrowed representation gaps and improved inclusion within two years. Leaders must recognize affinity bias and commit to fair processes and empowering connections to build truly inclusive cultures reflecting society.

The Joy of Coaching: Finding Delight in Developing Others, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: This practitioner-oriented research brief explores coaching as the aspect of leadership that brings the greatest personal satisfaction and joy. Through a review of relevant literature on coaching paradigms and their effectiveness compared to more traditional leadership approaches, the brief establishes coaching as a means of empowering individuals to maximize their performance through alignment of strengths, clear expectations, feedback, and collaborative problem-solving. Real-world consulting examples from the author's experience illustrate how coaching has fostered individual growth, cultural change, innovation and improved business outcomes across diverse organizational contexts and industries. The brief then discusses why the coach-based approach is more fulfilling, pointing to factors like flexibility, impactful relationships, continuous learning, and shared success. The conclusion reiterates how cultivating human potential through coaching gets to the heart of true leadership and yields the most impressive long-term results both personally for leaders and professionals, as well as organizationally.

The Power of Hidden Teams: Leveraging Informal Relationships to Drive Organizational Success, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: This article explores the importance of informal networks, or "hidden teams", that exist within organizations alongside formal hierarchical structures, as research has shown these organic relationship-based networks play a key role in knowledge sharing, innovation, and driving work forward through efficient exchange of ideas and solutions across boundaries in communities of practice and "invisible colleges", while teams that bridge different professional communities are better able to solve complex problems. The article provides recommendations for how leaders can identify, support, and leverage hidden teams to drive business success by mapping networks through analysis and employee surveys to uncover natural collaborations, supporting hidden teams through dedicating time and space for collaboration, cross-pollinating memberships, institutionalizing information flows, and recognizing contributions, as demonstrated through two case studies where a technology company and healthcare system identified existing hidden teams, formalized roles and support, and achieved rapid, grassroots change and meaningful business impacts, suggesting that viewing informal networks as assets that break down silos and strengthen connections across groups can empower change and improve organizational performance.

Overcoming Feelings of Being Stuck: Strategies for Moving Your Career Forward, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: It is inevitable that at some point in our careers, most professionals will experience feelings of being stuck, whether due to a lack of growth opportunities, unsupportive management, unclear responsibilities, or unfulfilling work that fails to engage talents and interests long-term. However, sticking with the status quo will only prolong negative feelings, so it is important to understand common reasons for getting stuck, like a lack of ongoing development limiting skills growth, ambiguity around career paths and advancement requirements, repetitive or unchallenging tasks lacking meaning, unsupportive managers who do not provide feedback, coaching or sponsorship, and rigid organizational structures and policies that hinder agility and autonomy. Research has shown taking ownership through proactive strategies can overcome even deeply entrenched sticking points. To address a lack of growth, prioritizing continuous self-directed learning through establishing annual skill-building goals and volunteering for special assignments expands competencies and pathways. Clarity on career direction comes from creating a professional development plan outlining short and long-term SMART goals, required skills, and action items to attain the next level. For unchallenging work, employees should advocate for job enrichment through leveraging strengths in more stimulating, complex and impactful tasks. An unsupportive manager can be offset by developing alternative mentor and sponsor relationships within the organization and externally. When faced with bureaucracy, cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset focused on self-generated projects, autonomy, initiative, and collaboration keeps professionals solution-oriented. Overall, continuous learning, deliberate career management, leveraging strengths, building support systems, and resourceful entrepreneurialism empower stuck individuals to identify fulfillment and advancement opportunities regardless of external constraints. Maintaining a growth mindset focused on solutions rather than complaints ensures no career need remain permanently stalled.