Leaders, Are you Frustrated about Productivity?
…So are your workers. And they may be frustrated with you.
By Ken Oehler, Ph.D.
Senior Partner, Head of People Science
RADICL’s 2023 State of the Work Experience Report examined the current work experience, gaps and solutions to help create an Epic work experience for everyone. This research of over 1,000 U.S. workers shows that just 21% of people have an Epic work experience defined as having reason (purpose), accomplishment, direction, identity, connection and learning. For these lucky few, the top words to describe their experience are fun, happy, nice; caring, valued; fulfilling, rewarding, exciting; flexible, collaborative, challenging and productive. Their work is full of meaning, clarity and connection…and they work longer and are more productive.
The 8 out of 10 without an Epic work experience also describe their experience as fun, rewarding and challenging. Unfortunately, for the 8 out of 10 without an Epic work experience, exhausting, stressful, micro-managed, overwhelmed and …frustrating are among the Top 10 words used to describe their experience. Exploring the 2023 RADICL dataset further, this paper examines the degree, and sources, of worker frustration, and provides insight into how leaders can unlock the upside productivity potential of an Epic work experience.
The data in this report from over 1,000 U.S. employees was collected in partnership with QuestionPro.
People with an Epic Work Experience
What do people talk about when they mention “frustration” at work?
We analyzed what words co-occur with the words “frustrating” or “frustrated” from the work experience descriptions for the 79% without an Epic work experience. The graphic above shows that the loudest sources of frustration have to do with lack of clarity, conflicting priorities, competence of leaders, micromanagement, boring/repetitive tasks and overwork/stress. Not allowing remote work or feeling underpaid are top of mind for many workers but not the greatest sources of frustration. There are some more subtle, peripheral themes that indicate these frustrating experiences are connected to negative outcomes like quiet quitting, productivity and customer service. Most of these themes have to do with how work is managed and how an individual’s effort and impact are being stifled - by leaders and managers (labeled as incompetent).
Different Work Experiences. Different Sources of Frustration.
There are hundreds of unique work experiences across individuals, but our cluster analysis found six prominent experience types (in the graph below) with different permutations of Reason, Accomplishment, Direction, Identity, Connection and Learning. The chart below lists the top 5 words (there are ties within the top 5) used to describe each of these experiences, as well as how “loud” frustration is and what is associated with the frustration. For example, the 21% of people with an Epic work experience have strong experiences in all of these indicators and describe their experience as fun, fulfilling, flexible, collaborative, rewarding and hard work - and do not mention frustration at all.
Frustration is highest within the 20% of people experiencing a Toxic work environment. These people are low across the experience indicators and describe their work most frequently as frustrating - and this frustration is tied to “conflicting direction, incompetence, underpaid and bullying micromanagement.” There is a similar frustration sentiment with the 10% having a Pressure Cooker experience marked by higher direction and low identity and connection. Those with a Destructive experience are very low across all experience indicators and appear to be somewhat beyond frustration where “exhaustion, horrible, soul-crushing” are among their top descriptors. People with a Purposeless or Good, not Great experience are having a more fun and collaborative experience, but appear to be most frustrated with “unclear or changing direction.” We gave respondents a chance to provide recommendations to create an optimal work experience. A call to “Fire Management” was relatively loud. Whereas this may or may not be the solution, it does provide a visceral sense of the frustration and where it is directed.
The Future of Work Requires Epic Leadership
Work itself and expectations of work have changed and will continue to change. Hybrid and distributed work is here to stay. Two-thirds of people are working on hybrid and/or distributed teams. Change is coming very fast with AI, the need to reskill the workforce and changing expectations of Gen Z workers. Many of the themes and prescriptions in this analysis point to a core issue that employees are frustrated by blockers to their own productivity and effectiveness. So, it seems that leaders and workers actually share the desire to be more productive. But, old operating models of leading productive work are not working any more. Focusing on delivering the meaning, clarity and connection employees need to be productive, not on productivity itself, is how to reduce the damaging frustration employees are feeling and deliver the outcomes everyone wants.
The New Job of Leadership is to Deliver Meaning, Clarity and Connection.
Deliver Meaning
Anything that depletes meaning, personal impact and growth also depletes speed, resilience and productivity.
Reviewing the past, present and future for people in 3-6 month intervals often reveals meaningful growth and evolution that can be lost in the day to day.
Illiuminate the growth journey to shake off senselessness
Attach meaning to break through boring work
What’s meaningful to your employees? If you don’t know, ask. Share how customers are positively impacted through employees' work.
Stay the course to reduce overwhelm
Constant change may be the result of an unclear north star and creates stress and overwhelm. Keep focus on how strategies connect to the longer-term mission.
Deliver Clarity
Anything that undermines clarity creates wasteful rework, delays and course corrections.
Align with other leaders to avoid confusion
In our distributed team reality, conflicting goals create chaos, cross-functional collisions, and are the nemesis of productivity. Define shared goals with other leaders at the organizational and cross-functional levels to unlock organizational value.
Empower to let go of micromanagement
Clarify the “why” and the “what.” Let workers figure out the “how.” Check in to support and coach.
Remove blockers to reduce exhaustion
Understand blockers and get them out of the way to make objectives attainable.
Deliver Connection
Without trusted connection the experience and the system simply breaks down.
Protect people to break through toxicity
Would you allow a virus to attack 26% of your IT network capacity? The fact is 26% of people are experiencing some level of toxic or destructive experience at work. Identify the source(s) and protect the humans that are your most important asset.
Listen in order to combat feeling unappreciated
Listening to understand and recognize a person’s journey, personality, blockers, growth goals and motivations, will build empathy and trust. If a worker doesn’t think you care, why should they?
Be a connector to break through a conflicted experience
The future is distributed work across functions and geographies. This requires leaders to help people make trusted work connections across boundaries that are mutually beneficial.
Epic Leadership is Regenerative Leadership
Notice that “Lead people back into the office” or “Crank up a performance culture” are on the list above. Why? Because these are old strategies that do not deliver meaning, clarity or connection. Leading in the future of work requires a mindset shift from thinking of people as infinite resources that can be depleted because there will always be more… to thinking of people as precious, rare and distributed resources that need to be protected, connected and regenerated. Leaders need to double down on the basics of goals, empowerment and recognition. Leaders must also amplify the regenerative power of unlocking meaningful impact and growth, clarifying aligned, collaborative direction, and brokering caring, trusted connections. This is the new leadership skill people are seeking. Here is a simple question to ask: “How are people better off emotionally, personally, professionally for being led by you?” If you hesitate or don’t know, it’s time to reflect on how you can deliver meaning, clarity and connection for your people.
It’s time to become the Epic leader you were meant to be.