Creating amazing environments is a choice, and it isn’t anchored in how much you have to spend on employees, though that is a factor.

Amazing work environments have the foundations of trust, respect, and commitment towards the mission of the organization and allow employees to thrive.

For an environment to be amazing, the leader needs to be focused on making their team successful. They are not perfect leaders, but they are intentional in their approaches. They balance strategy and execution, provide clear expectations and accountability, celebrate successes, and evaluate failures for lessons learned.

The old playbooks weren’t written for a knowledge economy and the need to focus on team success versus individual competitive successes. There is no one-size-fits all approach to leading because every person and circumstance is different. The leaders of today need to lean into their vulnerabilities around not knowing all the answers so that they can be open to learning what’s new.

Many organizations are so busy reacting to the changes around them that they aren’t spending time planning for the future. Shifts in direction are made without evaluating the down-stream people implications of the decision, often resulting in confusion, extra effort, lower engagement, and extra cost.

Regular focus on your people strategy will ensure ongoing alignment as your business strategy shifts.

HR leaders often want to be strategic but get mired in the day-to-day responsibilities, delaying that more proactive focus. When HR can be intentional in their focus on developing, implementing and adjusting their people strategy, that’s where the impact comes.