Calls to return to the office resound across all industries, as CEOs are faced with divided opinions on in-person, remote, or hybrid models of work.
The rising demand for a flexible work model has revealed how businesses have failed to understand the needs of employees (and has bolstered the benefits of prioritising people and culture within an organisation).
The data is clear: The happiness of your employees is one of the best investments you can make to improve performance in your company.
Companies where CEOs and leadership have taken an active interest in the health and wellbeing of their employees have proven to treble output, whether they’re working in the office or at home. In the largest study of its kind, McKinsey found that CEOs who insist on measuring and managing cultural elements deliver triple the total return to shareholders compared to other companies.
Employees feel more invested in the company, you’ll have more data points on your employees, and your company’s overall output will increase. It’s a win-win-win situation.
It’s time to ask, what should modern leadership look like in this era of flexible work? We asked 7 successful CEOs what their thoughts were.
People Power
Building and Leading High-Performing Teams in the Era of Hybrid Work.
Erik Kruger
Erik Kruger is a respected figure in the fields of leadership and team development. His firm Modern Breed, trains leaders in building high-performance teams. Erik is a best-selling author, international keynote speaker, and presenter at Wits Business School. He has published 2 books and 3 leadership manuals.
He also writes The Daily Leader, a daily email that inspires thousands of leaders around the world to be more intentional. Erik co-hosts The Expansive podcast with well-known futurist John Sanei.
Founder of Modern Breed and renowned Leadership Speaker
Louise O’Shea
Louise O’Shea is the Chair of FinTech Wales and InsurTech UK’s Advisory Panel, as well as a non-executive director of CFC Underwriting. The former CEO of Confused.com, Louise is an expert at disrupting personal lines distribution. She led Confused.com’s successful exit from Admiral Group in 2021 and the acquisition of TempCover in 2022, doubling revenue and trebling profit.
Louise is passionate about disrupting stereotypes associated with the InsurTech and FinTech sectors. If you’d like to find out more about Louise and the intersection of her personal life and leadership roles you can learn about her views on motherhood in her very popular BBC CEO Secrets interview: watch here
Former CEO of Confused.com
Denise Millard
With experience in the UK motor industry in a range of roles, Denise Millard became Executive Director of Perrys Motor Sales Ltd in 2010, following several years on the main board as a Non-Executive Director, and was then appointed CEO in 2021. Denise plays a key role in ensuring the business meets its strategic goals and strives to foster a positive working environment for all at Perrys.
Denise is passionate about staff wellbeing, spearheading a mental wellness initiative within the group and advocating for greater focus on mental health. As majority shareholder and CEO, Denise is one of the very few female leaders within the motor industry and continues to pave the way for women in automotive.
CEO of Perrys Motor Sales
Dom Hawes
As the Group CEO of Selbey Anderson Group, Dom Hawes led a fast-growing agency group of highly specialised marketing companies that help businesses in complex markets win the future. With over 25 years of experience in marketing, strategy, and M&A, Dom has a proven track record of creating and marketing new products, services, and events for IT, tech, and martech clients.
Dom is also a podcaster, blogger, published author, and competitive rower, with interests in RevOps, data, insight, leadership, and management theory.
CEO of Selbey Anderson
Lucy Adams
CEO at Disruptive HR, ex-HR director of BBC
Lucy Adams created Disruptive HR after having held senior-level HR roles in a variety of sectors, most recently at the BBC. She grew frustrated with the lack of innovation and fresh thinking in the profession and wanted to find new ways of tackling old problems. She now runs the agency to help HR Directors and business leaders to do things differently.
Lucy is the author of the best-seller 'HR: Disrupted' and is a popular keynote speaker on the themes of leading people in a disrupted world.
Steven Bartlett
Steven Bartlett is a speaker, investor, author, content creator and the host of Europe’s No.1 podcast, ‘The Diary of a CEO’. From a bedroom in Manchester, university drop-out Steven built and founded Social Chain Agency, a social commerce marketing group which has reached a market valuation of more than $600m and is currently listed on a European stock exchange.
Steven is particularly focused on inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs and creators from a BAME background. To that end, he joined Dragon’s Den from Series 19 in January 2022, as the youngest ever Dragon in the Show’s history. At just 30 years old, he is widely considered one of Europe’s most talented and accomplished young entrepreneurs and philosophical thinkers.
CEO & Founder of Social Chain
Sammy is the founder and CEO of YuLife, a tech-driven insurance company on a mission to inspire life by providing group insurance, wellbeing, and rewards in one simple app. He originally built Policy Portfolio plc, the first market maker in traded endowments and led the flotation of the company on the full London Stock Exchange. He then went on to become the founding CEO of PruProtect (now VitalityLife), which was the first life insurance company in the UK to reward healthy living. Sammy holds a degree in computer science from Imperial College London.
YuLife’s CEO & Founder
Sammy Rubin
Meet
the CEOs.
We asked 7 CEOs of highly-successful companies across different industries what they think are the most important leadership traits in this era of flexible work.
“I do see … [the physical and mental wellbeing of employees] as our responsibility and I always I think have understood that responsibility… Some organisations see workers like getting the To-Do Lists done … it's all kind of transactional. But I think that organisations that will retain people the best, get the best out of their individuals, have the happiest individuals, will provide much more than financial remuneration.”
Steven Bartlett,
Founder & CEO
Overview
Employee Wellbeing in the Era of Flexible Work.
More than 50%
of UK employers are offering employees flexible work arrangements, with 1 in 4 British workers on a hybrid work week.
Despite employee feedback surveys and annual performance evaluations, CEOs do not have a full picture of employee health and happiness.
employers have invested in resources to promote employee wellbeing despite the potential to triple their total return.
“Decency should be the easiest attribute for a leader to possess, but it's surprising how few do. Being a good human being and remembering that every one of us goes home every night to face friends and family. I want them to do that with dignity, pride and a sense of belonging, even when things are going wrong. If you as a leader can see yourself as a decent human being, and trust yourself to do the right thing, that trust is something you can more easily extend to your employees.”
Dom Hawes,
CEO of Selby Anderson
Humans
- Be creative when it comes to designing processes and systems for people.
- Create networks for employees to get to know each other through initiatives, communities, and overall culture.
- Connect employees with customers to understand the impact of their work.
Consumers
- People want choice and so do employees. A one-size-fits-all environment cannot accommodate everyone, and personalisation can still be achieved without too much complexity or cost.
- Build onboarding and management systems that capture qualitative insights on personal and professional preferences.
Adults
- HRDs and organisations can inherently become parental, whether it’s overbearing or overcritical. Instead, treat employees as adults and start from a position of trust from the get-go.
- Upskill your leadership and management teams to use their judgment when it comes to individual cases instead of relying on broad policies.
-
Empower your employees to own their careers and professional development.
While some jobs simply cannot exist without the physical presence of an employee, others can be carried out anywhere with a laptop and Internet connection.
There are mixed reactions from CEOs on the future of remote working in the UK, but a strong trend has emerged for flexible work––and the research data is making it difficult to form a case against giving employees the autonomy to manage their own time.
However, if we were to look deeper, flexible work is directly tied to a leader’s ability to trust their employees. Because at the heart of a flexible work culture is the belief in the value of decentralising power.
Dom Hawes, CEO of Selby Anderson, believes that hierarchical organisations that are tightly controlled and highly optimised are inflexible and slow, and should be a thing of the past, he adds that ... “Modern leaders decentralise and empower. They build more egalitarian organisations that rely on self-management, the judgement of those nearest to the customer and simple rules. These businesses are extremely flexible, fast to react and can be more profitable too. If a leader can't enable their team to make almost every decision for themselves, they are hiring the wrong people.”
Erik Kruger, Founder of Modern Breed and renowned Leadership Speaker, says that the most important aspect to focus on to create a thriving team environment is to cultivate psychological safety.
“Psychological safety is when we create an environment of rewarded vulnerability. If you want your team to thrive, then you need people to speak up, to raise concerns and to admit mistakes. This only happens when they feel that they won’t be kicked out of the group for doing so. Unfortunately, research has shown that only 1 in 4 leaders creates psychological safety.”
Lucy Adams, CEO of Disruptive HR & ex-HR director at the BBC, also advocates for modern leadership that starts from a position of trust and treats people like adults.
Adams has worked alongside HRDs to create irresistible places to work and developed a framework using key trends in HR called the “EACH” model.
Modern Leaders Need
Trust to Build the Workplaces of the Future.
Modern Leaders Need
to Move Beyond the Bottom Line.
The happiness of your employees is one of the best investments you can make in your company.
29%
of workers in the UK reported their companies invested in their physical and mental health.
Companies where CEOs and leadership have taken an active interest in the wellbeing and health of their employees have proven to treble output.
Companies who don’t invest in their people and culture do so to their own detriment – especially in the current climate where remote work is on the table. It sends a very clear signal: we don’t trust you.
49%
of Millennials and Gen Z in the UK would rather quit than return to the office full time.
Employees need to see that leadership and HR are both investing in them and taking active, meaningful steps to implement their feedback and observations.
Beyond your HR team deploying engagement surveys, leaders need to know that they have a key role to play in gathering feedback.
CEO of Perrys Motor Sales, Denise Millard emphasises the responsibility of leaders to be receptive to feedback.
“It is important to make yourself approachable. As a leader, if your employees feel they can come and speak to you about something, then you’re more likely to recognise adjustments that need to be made in advance. It could be that something isn’t working, or maybe someone is ready for a new role–whatever it is, promoting open dialogue between yourself and your team and creating a working environment where the team feel they can approach you is crucial.”
On Personal Leadership
To that end, Steven Bartlett adds that leaders need to be extremely mindful of conducting themselves with kindness in every interaction.
“One interaction can compound for you or against you. You need to remember that you’re not speaking to just that one person. You’re speaking to everyone they know. That's what I call ‘invisible PR’ and it happens in all organisations.”
Louise O’Shea also believes that it is the responsibility of a leader to build trust over time through consistent behaviour, for her, “it takes openness and vulnerability to achieve deep trust and as a leader. I wore my 'heart on my sleeve' and believe this was a critical part of the success we had at Confused.com.”
“Recognise that each person is an individual with preferences and that one style of management may work for one person but could clash with another. To that end, take the time to ask for feedback on management styles and what they prefer, and adjust your management accordingly. It takes more work than applying one style of management, but it compounds in building trust between you and your team, the rapport you have with each other, communication, and their output.”
Sammy Rubin,
YuLife’s CEO & Founder
of employees would be more willing to give detailed feedback if there was transparency and implementation of the information in decision-making.
72%
Sammy Rubin, YuLife’s CEO & Founder, believes that better HR practices are one of the most transformative actions towards a more productive company and healthier workforce.
This is where it’s beneficial to have your employees feel heard and see their feedback being actioned. If they’ve seen this happen in other areas of the workplace, it’s more likely to carry through to incidents such as conflict in the team.
- Feedback and employee happiness need to become a work in progress.
- Be transparent about why you’re collecting information.
- Problems need to be identified, and solutions workshopped and actioned.
- Follow up and confirm all parties are satisfied with the outcomes.
On engagement surveys:
Employees don’t want to be given a survey once a year to fill in. From their perspective, answers are sent into a void and never to be seen again. Yet data suggests that employees do overwhelmingly care about the results of these surveys. They just want to see action taken when they give away their information.
Modern Leaders Need
To Do Better
With Gathering & Managing Feedback.
2. Alignment
Agree on the best route forward, share challenges, and ensure daily progress.
Be responsible for deliverables, give KPI tracking, and communicate with all stakeholders.
3. Accountability
1. Ambition
Give the team something to strive towards––something worth achieving that others haven’t.
The top 3 key characteristics of high-performing teams, according to Louise O’Shea, who has led a high-performing team that tripled EBITDA in under four years:
More than just how open or kind you appear to others, it is equally important for a modern leader to be a keen observer and recognise the signs of a poor-performing––as well as a high-performing team.
“There’s beauty in silence. I’ve gathered great insight from sitting back and observing team dynamics. Understand how team members interact with each other, the different personalities, who works particularly well and under what conditions, and which team members possess a specific skill set. This will help in allowing you to recognise at what point changes need to be made.” - Denise Millard, CEO of Perrys Motor Sales.
Modern Leaders Need
To Recognise the Signs of High-Performing Teams
To that end, once leaders have identified high-performing characteristics, it is important to give employees positive feedback so teams to continue to perpetuate good behaviour. Erik Kruger has worked with thousands of CEOs in order to develop their personal leadership styles, but was inspired by one CEO’s simple but powerful practice when it comes to giving employees feedback. “In every meeting he ran he would make a point of recognising and praising the people in the team. We know that in the best teams, we typically see a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative feedback. He was very intentional about hitting that number. People are chronically under-recognized and under-appreciated.”
“One of the most effective ways to control costs is during the sign-off process – it is labour-intensive but sets the right tone and is never forgotten by individuals who experience it - every time a purchase order needs agreeing make sure a senior manager has to sign it off and every time make sure that critical questions are asked and, if reasonable, more savings are negotiated. The key is that this will work for a period and then the system will be 'gamed', but it is a good medium-term practice to put in place.”
Louise O’Shea,
Chair of FinTech Wales and former CEO of Confused.com
Founder of Modern Breed and renowned Leadership Speaker, Erik Kruger, says that efficiency should be reserved for processes and not people. “When it comes to our people, we should seek engagement and not efficiency. Automation is great for processes, but engagement is key for people.”
For the leaders that do not wish to cut back on manpower, Dom Hawes, CEO of Selby Anderson, offers this instead, “People are our biggest cost, but they are also our engine, so cutting too hard damages performance and fails the decency test too. Instead, we make use of offshoring and automation and we're experimenting with AI to see how we can do more for less for our clients.” Of course, alongside all this talk on improving wellbeing, leaders also need to balance that with prudence. Especially in this Year Of Efficiency, many CEOs have chimed in on the importance of knowing how to “cut the fat”, alongside caring for their people.
3. Fix future reviews:
Identifying inefficiencies simply cannot be a tick-box exercise. Once the relevant changes are introduced to streamline operations, there needs to be a plan in place to go back and revisit things in the future. This way, you don’t reach the same point in another 18 months' time.
Louise O'Shea, the founder of FinTech Wales and InsurTech UK’s Advisory Panel, and former CEO of Confused.com agrees that reviews are key, too. “Having key moments of review such as deep dives across all contracts, process reviews by individuals who aren't involved day to day, or individual performance rankings help to bring back focus.” CEOs who measure culture double the odds that strategies are fully executed on.
2. Formulate a strategy:
Be strategic in your approach. Inefficiencies cannot be fully addressed overnight – it takes time to reach a point where things need to change, and it will take time to decide and implement those changes through a strategic plan with manageable and bite-sized steps.
Denise Millard states that her approach to identifying inefficiencies within her organisation is threefold:
Spend time speaking to people in the department of interest. The people working in that area of the business day in and day out are the ones who know it most, and I believe they are best placed to tell you where any potential issues lie.
1. Fact-finding:
Of course, alongside all this talk on improving wellbeing, leaders also need to balance that with prudence. Especially in this Year Of Efficiency, many CEOs have chimed in on the importance of knowing how to “cut the fat”, alongside caring for their people.
Modern Leaders Need
to know how to “cut the fat”
The question becomes, do we fundamentally trust our employees to do the work we’ve entrusted them with?
Our role is to empower our employees to find purpose and drive in their role, and then take a step back and allow them to turn that role into their own and grow it into something more than it was.
It is a balance that has haunted CEOs and HRDs for years, and this push towards investigating how offices operate may be what companies need to enact much-needed change in addressing employee engagement and happiness.
KPIs across the board move in the right direction when you invest in your workers and ensure their feedback makes an impact on the operations of the company. Happy employees are engaged employees, this much we know–because we can measure it.
Towards Companies
of the Future.
“Even though we are a few years into this new way of working we are still trying to find our feet in how to best approach hybrid or remote teams. However, there are some things that never change irrespective of context. If you are constantly focused on improving the team environment, aligning behaviours, and communicating effectively then you cannot go wrong. Keep an open mind and know that the way forward is through experimentation, failure, and iteration.”
Erik Kruger,
Founder of Modern Breed and renowned leadership speaker
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