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Employee Wellbeing 2022

The link between intentional leadership and business success

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Fania Stoney

Business Development Strategist, Great Place to Work

People leaders are key when it comes to creating a high-performing work environment. With what their people see them doing — they are infinitely more likely to create other outstanding leaders.


Leaders who aren’t intentional about supporting their people’s wellbeing are more likely to be blindsided by high-performer burnout and see increased team churn. These factors can have an impact on business performance, including productivity, profitability and customer engagement.

The need for authentic leadership

Here at Great Place to Work®, we work with organisations from a range of industries and across a spectrum of scales. One thing remains true across all of these workplaces: leaders have a crucial role in building and sustaining great workplaces for all their people.

We see in our data that people are increasingly savvy about who is being authentic and who is merely paying lip service to culture. Leaders who create safe spaces for their people to thrive and demonstrate value-led behaviours are more likely to be creating great workplaces.

Leaders are busy

Leaders are busy driving the business, getting their job done and managing their teams. Many have had to adapt and build new competencies like never before. Here in Great Place to Work, what we are seeing strong leaders do is include their people in that ‘busyness.’ They focus on articulating purpose, discussing the big picture and ensuring people feel their work is uniquely connected and necessary to the success of the organisation. They establish a sense of shared purpose among their people — at both the individual and team levels.

Leaders who create safe spaces for their people to thrive and demonstrate value-led behaviours are more likely to be creating great workplaces.

A new digital relationship

We have seen the digitisation of the relationship between the organisation and their people — and between people within the organisation. There are now numerous tools that allow people to connect virtually in a workplace setting. However, challenges have coincided with this. New talent entering the workforce have lost the chance to learn from those around them. Many team members have never met each other, and new working relationships have been strained. Leaders have struggled to pivot to manage teams virtually, with a particularly acute challenge of delivering difficult performance management conversations digitally.

Given this challenge, leaders need to be intentional about encouraging people to build connections, especially when they are new to a company or role. These connections support people and the organisation by providing fulfilling relationships, driving new ideas and allowing for the flow of information around how to get things done within the organisation. Ultimately, it improves decision-making, efficiency and effectiveness.

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