Stop pretending leadership failures can be fixed with an office

A leader’s success or failure hinges on relationships, and employees are deeply aware of this. Working together as a team can be immensely valuable and irreplaceable—if done well. However, the return-to-office mandates will fail unless empathy is involved. To drastically change work attitudes, leaders must continuously improve their empathy and self-awareness if they want to align the goals and passions of their organizations and people.

In a discussion about this post-pandemic, social-media-skewed environment, Phil Fersht, CEO and Chief Analyst at HFS Research, joined author Laura Gassner Otting for the inaugural episode of the podcast From the Horse’s Mouth.

Reflecting on working for former US President Bill Clinton, Laura unearthed perhaps the most important advice for leaders everywhere

“When he talks to you, it’s like you’re the only person in the room.” Hold that in mind.

Laura’s background summary launched a discussion with Phil, beginning with the “kernel of truth” underpinning misinformation. From the illusion of perfect lives on social media to full-blown conspiracy theories, business leaders are not exempt from the responsibility to see past this kernel and support their people.

“So much of our unhappiness at work is because we’re fed false ideals. We’re often given this idea that it’s all about wealth or prestige, when in fact, each of us defines what makes us happy very differently,” she said.

Employee perceptions of leadership are based on relationships, not results

Laura’s company has run a global online assessment since January 2019, compiling 7,000 responses from 74 countries, covering demographics in “every possible industry, all ages, all races.” It found that worker attitudes hadn’t changed wholesale, despite headlines about ‘quiet’ quitting and the great resignation.

The study noted that “bad leaders bleed out team members—a big shocker.” It focused on people who say they work for a leader who delivers results, has been with the firm a while, and is accepted by the company as a good leader. A stark conclusion was that those who said, “I work for a perceived ‘good leader,’ but I have no relationship with that leader,” are just as likely to leave as somebody who says they work for a perceived “bad leader.” When employees feel their leaders don’t know what makes them tick, what they care about, or the “why” of their work or being at the company, they will leave. So why would anyone want to come back to an office when they feel such a disconnect?

True fulfillment at work is deeper than kombucha

Leaders must consider that if employees overly avoid social interactions with coworkers—during office hours or outside of work—there’s a complex dynamic to unpack. This includes the reasons they work for the company and whether there’s a cultural barrier to different employees being included in the company’s social side. Those social barriers will certainly affect the company’s work.

Laura brought some color to the failings of many businesses: “The tech world, especially, for years, said, ‘We’ve got ping-pong tables, beer on tap, and kombucha in the break room.’ But that doesn’t bring happiness at work. We ask HR to constantly find the next big flashy thing, but it’s not providing deep fulfillment in work.”

True fulfillment at work comes from a deeper alignment where what you do represents who you are

Laura identifies eight motivating factors, as shown in the following exhibit.

Exhibit 1: Eight motivating factors for aligning what you do to who you are

Source: Laura Gassner Otting, in the inaugural episode of From the Horse’s Mouth, 2024.

Laura’s research found that only 37% of employees said money is the most important factor in determining happiness at work. For the contingent workforce, which is a considerable component of the tech world, that number drops to 32%.

Exhaustion is often not solely due to busyness (although please do hire enough people to reasonably complete your workloads!) it’s that, in Laura’s words, “they’re too busy doing things that they don’t care about.” People don’t want to do “costume changes” with their personalities between home and work.

Employees want work-life alignment—not just work-life balance

I think we can all agree with Laura on this: “Employees want to talk about what they do with their friends and be proud of the company, the work, the leader they serve, the cause that they’re helping, the business they’re building. And even if they don’t socialize, they want to respect and admire the people they work with. It’s not a one-size-fits-all.”

Leaders should seek to understand their employees’ passions and their “why.”

Laura’s research found less than half of all employees understood how their work impacted company goals

Office time can have a fantastic effect on connecting employees to each other, their leaders, and their organizations. But that still doesn’t mean success and work fulfillment can be taken for granted or even easily defined. Understanding individual goals and linking them to the organization is vital to achieving true buy-in.

The Bottom Line: Your platform as a leader includes the responsibility to be far more self-aware and empathetic than the average person.

“With a platform comes responsibility.” The political implications of Laura’s closing comments are obvious, and she and Phil discuss this further in the episode, along with the broader societal implications and solutions for social media (hint: education will always beat shielding people from technology, whatever their age) and why passion at work is often misunderstood and mismanaged.

To conclude, reconsider Laura’s thoughts on Bill Clinton: “When he talks to you, it’s like you’re the only person in the room.” Leaders in business and politics should take this to heart: find, understand, and align your people and organization around a mutually beneficial “why.”