The previous article discusses one of the workplace trends in 2019, namely decreased emotional agility. It affects the organization’s performance as a whole. Improved emotional agility is characterized by open communication style. This eventually creased a supporting environment, where every employee can do his/her best for the organization. The next trend is declining trust upon the organization’s management style.

Workplace Trends in 2019 related to Employee’s Trust

The next workplace trends in 2019 are still based upon the survey conducted by Gallup, as cited in the previous articles. The following are more challenges for successful leaders in 2019:

Few employees agree that leaders have a clear direction

Gallup found that only about 22% of employees agreed that the leaders have clear vision for the organization. It means that most employees do not actually know here the organization is going. They do not have any idea on what the vision means for the business and for the employees, and how they will achieve it. Worse, only about 15% of the employees feel optimistic about the leadership style of their organization.

An important question, “What causes this problem?” According to Christine Comaford, the most common problem is lack of involvement in the process of visioning, communicating, and planning. Engagement in the process means engagement in the outcome. When a leader does not involve the employees in the process, the result is lower engagement.

Few Employees Believe in the Organization’s Promises

Gallup survey found that only 26% of employees believe in what the organization promises to the customers. This is actually a fatal problem. When the employees are not sure about the organization’s integrity, they will lose motivation to serve the customers in an excellent way.

Such a loss of trust may be resulting from lack of understanding. Perhaps, the promises are not clear enough to be understood by the employees. Or, the leaders do not communicate related policies and procedures. In other words, a disconnect somewhere in the lines of communication may lead to loss of trust among the employees.

Therefore, the leaders need to make the promises clear, including the procedures and policies to deliver them. The employees feel comfortable with the team when they feel trusted. To realize this, the strategy is communicating the promises that the organization makes to the customers.

Very Low Trust on the Performance Reviews

Another aspect of workplace trends in 2019 is that very few employees believe that performance reviews benefit them. Gallup survey found that only about 14% of employees believe in the performance reviews. This adversely affects their motivation to perform better.

Why does this happen? Gallup survey founds that few employees believe in the fairness and accuracy of the performance reviews. The reasons may include irregular evaluation or lack of follow-up after the reviews.  If these happen, participation in the performance reviews and development will be much lower.

Those three challenges in leadership form the workplace trends in 2019. Successful leaders must be able to prevent them or take necessary steps immediately when they happen. Find out more challenges in leadership on the next post.