Big Reset

Playbook
Human-Centered
Leadership
 • Respond: This is an era of the chief medical officer. While
The Big Reset in 2021: most companies don’t have such an official role, there is a
Human-Centered Leadership need for a coordinated response to stress – and that means
bringing together HR, IT, and wellbeing experts to focus on
2021 is a year of transformation and growth. As the pandemic work at home programs, new sick pay and benefits programs,
subsides, consumers and businesses are unleashing demand, support for families, and a wide variety of reskilling and
creating one of the most exciting economies in decades. But education programs.
under the surface there are issues: every company is going
• Return: Many companies are just starting to think about
through a digital transformation; people are working at home
returning to the workplace, and the reaction we hear is that
and in gig work arrangements; and organizations are becoming
this will be a move into a new and unknown normal. Yes, we
more agile, distributed, and creative. Employees are also under
know there will be hybrid work arrangements, but what will
immense pressure; every study shows that stress, loneliness,
be the policies for in-office meetings, travel, and relocation?
and overwork are at crisis levels.
All these new policies are being invented.
Under the covers, there’s even more going on. Companies are
• Transform: Most importantly of all, as the economy heats up,
embarking on a massive reskilling revolution. Every job, from
we are seeing the winners and losers in the post-pandemic
restaurant worker to software engineer, is being transformed
economy, so companies have to seriously push their digital
by technology, forcing us all to learn, reskill, and mentor others.
product, service, and consulting offerings. Retailers are
And most importantly of all, leaders are under stress – creating
being intermediated by delivery companies. Restaurants
the need for a new generation of leadership development,
are becoming “dark kitchens.” And entertainment and event
leadership support, and leadership coaching.
companies are unleashing digital experiences for their fans.
What have we learned over the last year? As our Big Reset
These four stages are all happening at once. While we talk
groups (400-plus senior HR leaders who have collaborated
about going back to the workplace, we’re now understanding
with us over the past year) discovered, one of the biggest
that the new post-pandemic economy is just different. We are
issues identified is the need for human-centered leadership.
just seeing how it will work, so companies have to adapt on a
Not only do leaders need to be curious, creative, and real-time basis.
execution-oriented, they also now need to be empathetic,
Humana, for example, decided to conduct IT and HR staff
inclusive, and highly flexible. It’s as if we are learning new
meetings at local parks so it could create some sense of
principles of leadership, and these principles are impacting
community and regular cadence. This is an example of creating
every company, industry and geography.
a new response different from the original response in March.

We believe that the ultimate future is what we call the “the

Shaping the Response to the Pandemic
post-pandemic economy,” a reinvention of nearly every
The global pandemic was a shock to our economic, social, business and organization in the world. The issues of hygiene,
and business systems, and it created a new cycle for modern safety, health, wellbeing, and resilience are here to stay – so in
leadership. the long run this is really a problem or reinvention – often in
real time with constantly changing information.
• React: Who is impacted by the pandemic, where are their
problems of infection, stress, or low productivity, and what
geographies, locations, or workgroup teams are impacted? In
this stage, companies have been connecting HR, IT, facilities,
and safety officers to quickly respond to unpredictable change.

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 Figure 1: A Sampling of Big Reset Participants

The Big Reset Working Groups 3. Future of HR and Employee Experience: This group focused
on how leading organizations are adapting and innovating to
Started in March 2020, the Big Reset working groups have
deliver the HR services, drive culture, and deliver a positive
clearly transformed the way we share, ideate and research
post-pandemic talent experience. This group was led by
ideas to transform for the new reality of work. Hundreds of
Nazneen Razi and Peter Sackleh.
hours of dialogue with senior leaders from across the globe
and many different industries helped us understand trends and 4. Hospitality and Entertainment Sector: This group focused
burning issues, and supported leaders to share across company specifically on the impact and changes brought on by the
boundaries what works, what lessons they learned and how to pandemic on the hospitality and entertainment sector. This
not just survive but thrive in a world of crisis. group was led by Nazneen Razi, Pete Sackleh, Paul Sanford,
and PV Murthy.
After the first two sprints conducted in 2020, we continued
to convene meetings with executives and quickly realized that 5. Learning and Culture: This group focused on ongoing issues
participant priorities and focus areas had evolved. Therefore, in career development, skills taxonomies, new learning
for this sprint, we formed six topical working groups and solutions, and corporate learning strategies. It was been led
people self-selected accordingly based on their interests and by Nancy Vitale and Nuno Gonçalves.
needs. Each group was led by a senior faculty member of the
6. The Canada Group: We also convened a group of HR leaders
Josh Bersin Academy.
from Canada to understand the international issues in that
The groups were arranged into five major areas. country. This group was led by Naomi Titleman and Mark
Edgar, our partners from future foHRward.
1. Human-Centered Leadership: This group discussed the
what, why and how of human centered leadership and its Throughout this report, we will give you detailed examples
impact on business and people outcomes. This group was led and case studies of what we discovered. Other findings and
by Nancy Vitale and Nuno Goncalves. resources are available to Josh Bersin Academy members.
The Josh Bersin Academy is a highly scalable learning and
2. Diversity and Belonging: Participants explored leading
information platform for HR professionals, and we encourage
practices, ideas and success stories associated with diversity,
you to join to get access to the full range of information we
inclusion, belonging, and equity. This group was led by Ray
are capturing. Members will find video interviews, events, and
Narine and Daniel Shannon.
programs on topics such as resilience, leadership and agility.

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 In the last year, every company in every industry and every Most people think primarily of the first and neglect the latter.
geography has been fundamentally impacted. Business models, Our research shows that it’s time for a rebalance. Some leaders
services and offerings, customer interactions, and ways of think about people first, others think about business first – so
working and living are changing daily. Disruption and change in this report we draw a stark line between the two. And what
are the norm. What we thought would be true changed the we point out in this report is that those that think about people
next day. Communities, regions, countries and states opened first – and make success happen WITH people, not despite of
and closed, saw wave after wave of infections sweeping over them – have more sustainable lasting success.
them. As a result, mental health issues and concerns about
Let us make a broad and simplistic definition to try to focus
work are at an all-time high. Employees need guidance and
the topic. We’d suggest that among the hundreds of leadership
support every day – and leaders are the ones they look to for
models in the market, they fall into two categories.
that support. So leaders play an even bigger role than they
played pre-pandemic. • Business-centered leadership: Here we focus on how to
grow, optimize, and improve the business, with a focus
An HR executive from AstraZeneca explained the impact of
on innovation, marketing, growth, operations, R&D,
the pandemic on leadership in this way, “As we are moving
manufacturing, quality, and financial results. We teach
from a stable, predictable world to a world of unprecedented
leaders about technology, the competitive marketplace,
complexity and unpredictability, we require a totally different
supply chains, and competitive advantage.
set of leadership skills, behaviors and mindsets.”
• Human-centered leadership: Here we focus on hiring,
As we wrote about early last year, the pandemic created a need
developing, coaching, inspiring, and pushing people to grow,
to for leaders to be empathetic, forgiving, and good listeners.
innovate, serve customers, and improve the company. We
CEOs and business leaders started appearing on Zoom calls,
teach leaders to understand what makes people thrive, what
listening to town halls, and regularly talking about employee
drives creativity and problem-solving in the company, and
support, investment, and wellbeing. But do such activities
how we can support people during times of change, stress, or
actually comprise a new model of leadership?
disruption.
In this report, we want to explore the idea that human-
We know that all great leaders focus on both areas, but in
centered leadership has emerged as a new domain in the past
reality, these areas tax different sides of your brain. In a way,
year. Not some new fad, this concept will continue to influence
we are talking about left brain and right brain leadership,
the way we lead and manage for years to come.
and it’s clear from our research that today, companies are
desperate for the latter.
The 2021 Agenda: Business-Centered
In every situation we face as leaders, there are business-
vs. Human-Centered Leadership centered and human-centered issues a play. If we acknowledge
Let’s start with the concept. At first glance, it seems silly to use that there is a juxtaposition of business-centered leadership,
the words “human-centered” in a discussion of leadership since how do human-centered leaders think, focus, and act
the whole idea of leading is to deal with people. But in reality, differently? What skills and behaviors do they have that
this is not always true. distinguish them from others? The following questions will
offer some insight:
When you think of leadership, do you think of individual and
team performance, deadlines, projects, status reports? Or • How do we create a focus on empathy, listening, patience,
do you think about the needs of the people who make work caring, and flexibility when the company may be losing money
actually happen? or threatened by external forces? Do we cut wages and
implement furloughs, or do we permanently let people go?

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 How do we manage the culture of poor financial performance reward and grow people who fit the culture. But do you as
when people view the company as their home? an organization know what your culture really is? Can you
decide who to invest in and who to penalize?
• How do we create a culture of belonging that lasts through
the crisis? If the company lets people go or mistreats people • Do we as a company believe that empowering people and
during the downturn, do remaining employees lose their sense developing people are fundamental to our success? Or do
of belonging? Of course, all companies have to make tough we believe that hiring smart people and recruiting great skills
decisions, but once we come out of this crisis, what kind of are the way we grow? If the latter, do internal candidates get
organization will you have if people feel they were left behind? passed over for plum assignments when we need a strong
new person on the team?
• How are we teaching leaders to be empathetic and flexible
when the rules are not clear? Most companies do not have • Does our company invest regularly (even during bad times)
firm policies for returning to physical workplaces or time off in employee wellbeing, development, flexibility, safety, and
during the pandemic. Do we let leaders make these decisions personal growth programs because we believe employees are
themselves? And when people need help, how do we train core to our success? Or do we cut back on pay, benefits, and
and support leaders to become caretakers or counselors? Or employee programs when our profits lag because they are
do we simply pass such responsibilities off to HR? more optional to our success?

• How are we going to select and assess leaders in the human- • Do we reward leaders who grow and develop people or
centered model? Will we reward kind and generous leaders do we reward leaders who grow and develop the business
over those who are hard charging yet unforgiving? Do we without necessarily growing their people? Would a leader
reward leaders who hit their numbers without regard to who hoards talent be rewarded over a leader who promotes
people issues? talent if their numbers were far better?

• How is our organization as a whole more human-centered in • How often do we discuss, review, or explain our leadership
its role in society? If we have a strong mission and purpose, is philosophy or purpose and mission to our employees? Is it
it truly relevant and reinforce by leaders? Do we expect our a regularly visited topic that continues to drive us forward?
leaders to live by this mission, and if so, how do we remind Or do we spend most of our time talking about revenue,
them of these aspirations? profit, new products, and market share growth? And do our
employees truly believe that we act with purpose or do they
• How do senior execs feel about human-centered leadership
perceive us to be shallow in these topics?
and are they leading the charge, pushing HR to lead, or simply
talking about it? What level of commitment do they have and • Do we see diversity, equity, and inclusion as a noble HR
how are they exemplifying that commitment at the board and program designed to help us win awards or do we seek to
executive level? leverage best practices to create strong employee fairness?
Do we see DEI as fundamental to our entire business,
Additional questions to ask:
relationships with customers and suppliers, and our role in
• Should we fire or demote people who underperform and society? How inclusive is our culture and do employees really
create a competitive culture of reward for performance feel they can be themselves? Do our leaders honestly believe
or should we formally support, develop, and grow people that every person brings value, regardless of their background,
who under-perform to help them excel? At what point do demographics, race, or origin? (Read our new research,
we give up on certain people because the business cannot Elevating Equity,1 to learn more about this critical issue.)
afford to have them underperform or harm others? In the
• Do we believe that financial performance is more important
old GE model, Jack Welch famously found that people who
than people issues like health, wellbeing, engagement, and
fit the culture are more valuable than people who perform
but hurt the culture and developed a simple 2X2 grid to
1 https://joshbersin.com/dei-research-report/

5 B I G R E S E T P L AY B O O K : H U M A N - C E N T E R E D L E A D E R S H I P
 retention? Or do we think such people issues are important • How well did we bring people together into cross-functional
in their own right and worthy of ongoing investment? teams to invent and create new solutions for the pandemic
this year and how well will these teams evolve as the
• How much self-awareness do our leaders possess? Do they
pandemic subsides? Do people feel they were empowered
challenge each other? Are they humble and good listeners?
to help and saw the pandemic as a career-enhancing process
Do they regularly admit mistakes? Or do we hold leaders
and learning experience? Or do people feel tired and stressed
up as princes and princesses who can do no wrong and are
from the last year and wonder what will happen next?
rewarded for their commitment, tenure, and experience?
• On a global level, do we believe our company can contribute
• How quickly and completely do we respond to people crises,
to the long-term health and recovery of our communities and
like health emergencies, virus outbreak, harassment or legal
society? Or are we trying to survive by putting ourselves first
claims, or drops in retention or engagement? Do we have
and secondarily look for ways to help our communities and
systems and practices to quickly identify these issues and
countries to succeed?
respond with meaningful solutions? Have we done this well
in the past? Or do we push these issues aside and delegate
them to HR or legal? The Issue of Heavy Workloads
• Is our investment in learning and development truly strategic Underlying this topic is the problem of heavy workload. Not
and business-sponsored? Or is it a set of programs driven by only has the pandemic impacted business models, demand, and
HR that focus on skills and productivity, but not necessarily the economy, but it has also given employees more and more
aligned around long-term career growth and personal to do. People who work from home are overwhelmed with
growth for employees? How much business leadership is meetings, family distractions, and household needs. Healthcare
committed to the L&D function and investment and do workers are struggling with demand for care among all ages
business leaders regularly participate, support, and influence and need groups. Retailers are rapidly scrambling to deliver
how people are developed and trained? and implement logistics and supply chain systems for hungry
consumers. And tech companies, consulting firms, and financial
• If our stock price dropped or we started to lose money, how
services companies are scaling up for increased demand for
quickly would we lay people off, reduce pay, or possibly
tools, new services, and new financial offerings.
sell off parts of the company to protect shareholders and
investors? Or would we think more seriously about the Over and over companies tell us that people are simply
long-term impact on people and our employees before we overwhelmed with things to do. And this brings HR teams into
immediately respond to investor pressure? a discussion about employee experience and how it relates to
leadership, IT, job design, and business goals.
• Since the pandemic interrupted many of our business
practices and we had to re-engineer many parts of the Human beings are very resilient under the right conditions, but
company, how heavily did we invest in communications, not when they are stressed to the limit. Most companies are
change, readiness, patience, forgiveness, and the human realizing that they must teach people how to focus, give people
issues in this disruption? Is our company stronger as a result time off to rest and regenerate, and force leaders to lead in a
of the pandemic or is it more fragile and disparate in its more caring, empathetic, and human centered way.
outlook for the year ahead?
I spent some time last year with Martin Seligman, often
• How do we manage our leadership pipeline? Do we regularly credited as the father of positive psychology. He studied the
look for leaders at all levels and all ages and promote and problem of burnout and PTSD in the Army, and his findings
incent people to lead throughout their career? Or do we have are just as applicable in business. He found that there is a
a model of tenure-based leadership where we force people to bell curve of performance under stress; some people thrive,
wait their turn or reach a level of performance before we give but others fall apart. He found there were three things that
them opportunities to lead projects, initiatives, or teams? mattered most to determining how people react to stress:

6 B I G R E S E T P L AY B O O K : H U M A N - C E N T E R E D L E A D E R S H I P
 1. Preventing trauma. The first issue is to avoid creating and strength) is to give people something fun. Let them
or enabling trauma. This means focusing on safety, bring a dog to work, sing a song, tell a joke. And stop
protection, and mental and psychological support. talking about the news.
When a manager angrily blows up at a person, they are
I’m not going to focus on these factors in this paper (you can
traumatized in a way, and their response to change is
listen to Marty’s interview2) but they’re important to consider.
radically reduced. So the first issue is simple creating a
Each of these plays into human-centered leadership, and
safe environment in all respects at work.
they have become central to the U.S. Army’s focus on rest,
2. Creating a positive attitude. The second factor is giving resilience, and combat readiness.
people a positive view of the future. This prevents people
from “catastrophizing” and worrying at work, and it can
A High-Level Model for Human-
be accomplished through communications, vision, and a
realistic plan for the future. Leaders have to think this way,
Centered Leadership
and if they are not positive thinkers, they may not belong Following is a high-level model for your consideration,
in leadership roles. developed through hundreds of hours of conversations with
HR leaders from all over the world.
3. Generating a sense of joy. Yes, I know business is not
about having fun, but Marty’s research shows that one of
the biggest ways to reduce stress (and create endurance 2 https://youtu.be/LeuAcMnWOGA

BUSINESS-CENTERED LEADERSHIP HUMAN-CENTERED LEADERSHIP

Mindsets and Attitudes

• Confident, knowledgeable, decisive • Humble, empathetic, listener, growth mindset

• Driven by personal growth, financial success, job title, • Driven by purpose, mission, grit, and passion
and promotion
• Highly aligned, but loosely coupled – enabling growth and
• Highly aligned, coordinated, compliant, and linked innovation anywhere
• Context: structured, organized, stable, with clear goals and • Context: Sees people, culture, and growth as enduring and critical
targets
for success
• See relationships as a means to an end, transactional in
nature • Sees relationships as essential to growth, innovation, wellbeing,
customer success
• Focus on the inside, managing the company
• Focus on the outside, listening to customers and the market
• Focus on problem solving, accountability, solutions
• Focus on systems thinking, understanding why problems occur
• Focus on goals, rewards, incentives, and alignment, hitting the
numbers • Focus on inspiration, skills, empowerment, connections, culture
• Focus on organizational structure, execution, and functional and • Focus on cross-functional teams, bringing people together and
business goals creating mobility and relationships
• Believe complexity is a problem and always tries to simplify • Tolerant of complexity, see patterns for growth in every customer
• Believe energy, passion, and execution must take place every and idea
day
• Understand that people operate in cycles, focus on wellbeing/
• Worries about errors, mistakes, failures sustainability
• Believe leaders must set a good example through strength, • Create a sense of safety for new ideas
execution, and focus
• Understand that leaders need sustainability, rest, and resilience
• Believe in scarcity of talent and that people will work hard if also
they’re paid well
• Believe in abundance of talent and try to align peoples’ needs to
company goals

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 BUSINESS-CENTERED LEADERSHIP HUMAN-CENTERED LEADERSHIP

Skills and Capabilities

• Struggle to balance innovation with execution, innovation in a silo • Understand that execution demands innovation every day
• Technical, functional and financial capabilities rule • Power skills (essentially human skills) are as important as
• Try to push change through massive change programs and technical skills
initiatives • Understand that change is iterative and a series of small
• Know the other leaders well, relationships with leaders measurable steps

• Feel like there’s never enough time to get everything done • Know the leaders and team around the world well, relationships
across the organization at all levels
• Very busy, delegates responsibility, doesn’t interact with the
team • Always make time for the most important issue, person, team,
• Manage details, track and organize work or customer

• Believe leaders sit behind the desk and lead • Spends as much time as possible with the team, to listen and
contribute
• Treat people issues as a sideline (they’re players)
• Lead more, manage less, develop leaders
• Large span of control, often 20-30 or more direct reports
• Believe leaders run projects, teams, initiatives
• Meetings are formal, structured, and focused on results and
communications. • Treat people issues as part of their job (they’re coaches)
• Keep number of direct reports smaller, but leaders are also
“doers”
• Meetings focus on results, alignment, coordination, inclusion,
and ideas

Behaviors and Actions

• Lead the business, people coming along for the ride • Lead the people, people driving the business forward
• Trying to push past problems to focus on growth and change • Take time to talk about problems to learn and evolve the
• Pick favorites, rely on trusted confidants to succeed organization

• Lots of committees, standing meetings, 1-on-1s, and formal • Look for diverse performers, always open to new people and
decision structures approaches

• Investments in R&D and science ebb and flow depending on • Lots of conversations, check-ins, and sprints with decisions made
financials as a whole
• Consume talent to hit the numbers • Investments in R&D and science are imperatives and never slow
• Always do something significantly

• Create an environment of competition within teams where there • Grow talent for the entire organization
are winners and losers • Leave “whitespace” to think and create
• Create the conditions for people to help each other and lift others
up, and support each other

Figure 2: How Human-Centered Leadership Differs from Business-Centered Leadership

8 B I G R E S E T P L AY B O O K : H U M A N - C E N T E R E D L E A D E R S H I P
 Fostering Human-Centered Leadership — At Biogen, the extended leadership team in the
company was divided into groups of eight to ten. Senior
Understanding human-centered leadership and why it is a
leaders held workshops with the groups on trust and
required paradigm shift is an important first step. But how do
psychological safety and how to lead in an environment
we foster this kind of leadership in our organizations?
of uncertainty. Senior leaders were modeling and acting
HR plays a critical role in this. Developing new leadership as a support network for these smaller cohorts in order
mindsets, capabilities and behaviors is one of the most to help participants model their own behaviors to their
important things HR can do to set the organization up for direct reports.
success as we emerge from the pandemic and transform
• Become a better listener: Listening is perhaps the number
our businesses. Beyond traditional leadership development
one power skill of all. In our pandemic response study and
programs, the most successful HR teams build in new ways of
our diversity, equity and inclusion study, listening and acting
working, leading and collaborating.
on results has been identified as the most important practice.
• Learn from your team: A leader’s team arguably has the For organizations to actively listen, leaders also need to be
best insights into the leader’s skills, behaviors and daily skilled and experienced in the art of listening.
actions. 360 reviews have long been part of leadership
— Target engages senior leaders in facilitating listening
development programs, but some organizations take this
sessions with employees on difficult topics like racial
approach in a new direction to accelerate leaderhip growth
inequality, providing leaders and employees with ground
and development.
rules to help guide behaviors and expectations – with
— At Sanofi, employees rate their managers and decide great success.
which project to work on in its new internal gig
• Learn through reflection: The richest experiences and
work marketplace. This program inspires a healthy
content are not going to result in optimal behaviors without
competition amongst leaders to do better for their
time and space for reflection. Human-centered leaders
people and become the leader of choice.
need that time and space to sit back, think about what they
— Sabre includes a leadership equality index in its leader learned, and consider how to do even better in the future.
development plan. The index helps leaders become
— Sabre builds in time for self- reflection time for leaders.
more inclusive and practice equitable people actions.
The company has no meetings on Wednesdays. The CEO
The company also embeds DEI into its leadership
pulls up leaders’ calendars to check for taking time outs,
development program (we learned in our DEI study that
and the company uses Microsoft 365 Insights / Cortana
this is one of the fifteen most impactful DEI practices).3
to schedule breaks during the workday. These practices
— Dow uses technology to track the most popular leaders signify the shift from the industrial age of working to
through its leadership effectiveness survey; then, leaders human-centered work and leadership.
are asked to share what they are going to work on from a
— Biogen has a “no meeting week” three times a year.
personal development standpoint with their teams.
Feedback has been absolutely enthusiastic. Leaders
• Learn from other leaders: Senior leaders set the tone for report increased creativity and flow of thinking; many
the organization and are important role models for leaders have strengthened connections with employees over
further down in the organizational hierarchy. When these walks focused on development.
senior leaders demonstrate that a safe environment, trust,
and empathy are just as important as financials, others will
follow their example.

3 https://joshbersin.com/dei-research-report/

9 B I G R E S E T P L AY B O O K : H U M A N - C E N T E R E D L E A D E R S H I P
 • Social learning: Learning from and with others has been — When Oberoi went virtual, the company didn’t just train
shown to have a bolstering effect on learning and the managers on how to hold virtual meetings effectively,
application of new knowledge. The exchange and mutual but it also included points on how to understand and
support in learning cohorts and the new relationships are appreciate homelife constraints. The training underlined
invaluable for retention of learning. the importance of empathy and human-centered
leadership.
— AstraZeneca uses learning hackathons in which
hundreds of people can learn together and benefit from • Coach and provide feedback: The best leaders today act like
the expertise of others. This program has been wildly coaches, not managers. We’ve heard a theme of transforming
successful with leaders and employees alike. performance management in every session of the Big
Reset. Beyond formal processes and technology related
• Care for wellbeing: Human-centered leaders need to
to performance management, the role of the leader has to
understand wellbeing and mental and emotional health more
change too.
than ever before. But most leaders have not had any formal
education in these complex topics, making this area a rich — Walgreen Boots Alliance shifted from a traditional
ground for expansion. performance management approach to continuous
feedback, listening and coaching. Especially in the time of
— Zebra Tech’s “Managing Your Energy” program
working remotely, the more frequent touchpoints were
encompasses sessions conducted by th company’s EAP
important for increased connection and engagement of
during which leaders learn how to recognize symptoms
people.
of burnout. These sessions have helped raise awareness
and provided managers with skills for prevention and • Develop an inclusive mindset: “You can’t be successful as
early intervention to better support for employees. a leader and unsuccessful in inclusion,” said Ray Narine,
talent development leader and deputy diversity officer at
— Kern Health System uses a “whole person” framework
Consumer Reports. Inclusive leaders are human-centered
to help leaders develop a holistic understanding of
leaders; they put people first and celebrate the similarities
employees that goes beyond work and includes health,
and differences of team members.
family, and personal interests.
— Siemens uses a “Race to Diversification” leaderboard to
— Pelmorex doubled down on mental health, providing
increase inclusion in succession management, sparking
managers with specific and detailed guidelines on how
conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion on
to detect stress and burnout even in employees working
its board.
remotely and how to respond effectively.

• Connect with the team: Connectivity is key – especially

Conclusion
in today’s dispersed and largely remote work world. But
many leaders do not have the time or the capabilities to We’ve learned so much in 2020. The pandemic has led us
establish meaningful connections with their teams. Effective to experiment with new ways of working, new business
leadership development helps them build both capacity and models and new people approaches. It has accelerated digital
capability for connection. transformation and remote work by five to ten years. HR has
stepped up in a massive way to lead in new domains ranging
— Sutter Health repurposed a leadership meeting to
from public health to rapid business transformation, from
dedicate the time for leaders to connect with frontline
workplace design to safety protocols, from burnout prevention
people. Instead of meeting as a leadership team, leaders
to social justice movements. All while helping employees
now listen to their teams, understand their issues and
learn, collaborate, and contribute at lighting speed.
help them navigate challenges.

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 Whatever topic we discussed with our Big Reset groups –
remote work, safe workplace, returning to the workplace,
health and wellbeing, HR transformation, learning, culture,
diversity and inclusion – we heard a common theme. Leaders
need to think, act and behave in new ways for any of this to be
successful. Leaders need to put people not profit at the center
of their jobs.

2021 will be an exciting opportunity for transformation,

change and innovation. Now is the time for leaders to lead
in a human-centered way. When leaders put people first,
everything else will follow. Leaders will need help from
HR to define what this looks like, and to put programs and
approaches in place to cement new behaviors into daily work.

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 LESSONS FROM THE FRONTLINES

Customer-Centricity and Empathy

Accelerate at Wave Financial
Wave Financial is a Financial Services software company for As 2020 rolled on into 2021, Wave continued to invest in L&D,
small businesses whose offerings include accounting, manager training, and mental health resources. A monthly
payments, and payroll. Headquartered in Toronto, Wave was “Mind Share” program offers information and discussion on
acquired by H&R Block in 2020. topics like physical health, self-care, and financial planning. HR
business partners periodically initiate 1-1 meetings with every
Ashira Gobrin, Chief People Officer, had built a strong employee to gauge employee wellness and uncover issues not
foundation for human-centered leadership practices prior to typically discovered in pulse surveys.
2020. What the pandemic brought for many companies, she
said, was “extra momentum to move faster and do all the The consideration of individual needs revealed that work from
things they had wanted to do for a long time.” home wasn’t working for some people. Ashira said, “Eighty
percent of the suffering was happening to 20% of the people.”
Wave’s customer-centric values keep its leadership team Wave decided to reopen the office in July 2020 as soon as the
focused on creating programs to empower employees to serve government allowed for opening —financial services is an
customers in the best possible way. At the outset of the essential business in Canada. A Back-to-Workplace Playbook
pandemic, management was transparent with employees offered friendly safety guidelines, and until early 2021 about
about cost-cutting measures and future scenarios, which did 20 employees out of 350 come into the office on a given day,
not include layoffs unless revenue dropped significantly. They with about 50% of the employees coming in at some point in
urged employees not to worry about job security and instead time. Those who do come in report great benefits to their
focus on the customers and their own health and safety. An mental health and productivity, including Gobrin herself.
example of that philosophy playing out is when the CARES Act
passed in the United States, developers voluntarily worked Wave maintained its high engagement and eNPS scores over
over the weekend to update the software with new tax and 89% in 2020 compared to 2019. For 2021, Gobrin is revising
payroll features to allow simple and easy access for customers performance management to accommodate virtual work while
to what otherwise would have been complex applications. keeping an eye on how to safely reopen the office in a way that
responds to the needs for a hybrid workspace when it makes
As a FinTech company, Gobrin describes the dominant culture sense to do so.
as “super nice people who are left-brained and intellectual.”
Prior to the pandemic, there had been some skepticism about
focusing on emotions in the workplace, but that turned on its
head when everyone had to work from home and navigate
homeschooling, high levels of anxiety, limited space issues, and
other home disruptions. Managers had to show up for their
reports in new ways and focus on emotional connections, not
just goals and objectives.

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 LESSONS FROM THE FRONTLINES

Sabre Supports Leaders with Structured

Programs Delivered Virtually

Sabre is a software and technology company that powers the multiple time zones for a period of six weeks per topic. Topics
global travel industry: hotels, airlines, and travel sites depend included effective communications in a virtual environment,
on its software to make reservations. When the pandemic hit, leading successful virtual 1-on-1 meetings, giving and receiving
Sabre suffered a precipitous drop in revenue and adapted with feedback, and navigating high-stakes conversations.
a combination of team member-related actions including pay
cuts, furloughs, voluntary severance, early retirement, and The team added to this successful rollout by developing an
some reductions in headcount. Most existing budgets were cut awareness/learning series for leaders led by leaders. One
—including the budget for L&D. featured high-level leadership topics related to leading in “the
new now” and another focused on inclusion and diversity. The
In early 2020, Sabre was already amid a strategic combination of skill-building and storytelling gave leaders
transformation that involved shifting all software forums to connect with and learn from one another. These
development and hosting to the cloud and implementing a programs spawned a peer coaching forum for managers across
new online collaboration tool for all team members. In the globe.
addition, the company undertook a massive reorganization
project that shifted roles and managers for about 60% of team To measure results, Sabre is conducting surveys to capture
members. Needless to say, 2020 was a pivotal year for both feedback from leaders during the session. To gather input
planned and unplanned change at Sabre. from team members reporting to the leaders who participated
in these sessions, the team will re-implement its Leadership
After shifting to remote work, the Sabre People Team Quality Index, a survey based on the company’s six leadership
launched into determining how it could best support its 1200+ competencies.
managers. A needs assessment revealed that they were
clamoring for training on how to lead their teams virtually. Delivering meaningful support to leaders in shorter chunks
Drawing upon the success of an online program that coached while working from home is a win for Eric’s team, who had
managers on how to conduct furloughs and layoffs in a previously delivered leadership training via multi-day in-
humane way, Eric Paul, VP, global talent management, and his person events. Sabre’s leaders are now receiving valuable skills
team created a skill-building series in a similar format. The virtually to help them lead their teams and deliver customer
training was delivered in 90-minute increments via the online outcomes during this work-from-home environment. When
platform during which leaders were given lessons, skill the travel industry comes back up to full speed, they’ll be
practice, and a tip sheet on essential skills for leading in the ready.
virtual workplace. Four modules were rolled out across

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 LESSONS FROM THE FRONTLINES

Kern Health Systems Honors the Whole Employee

Kern Health Systems (KHS) is an integrated managed 2. Leadership training. KHS hired a consultant to give
health care delivery system in Kern County, California. managers the skills to lead and communicate in a virtual
Headquartered in Bakersfield, 500 KHS employees manage the world.
health plans of 300,000 county residents.
3. Leadership videos. To keep leaders visible, directors hosted
In late 2019, KHS employees moved into a new facility that meetings about activities in their department.
would soon be vacated when COVID-19 restrictions sent
4. Coffee and conversation. To keep work friendship
everyone home. The organization had not embraced work from
connections alive, the L&D director reached out to
home previously, so it took some time to adjust to the visible
employees to set up short meetings among small groups of
overlap of work and home life.
employees who may not interact in the course of daily work.
Whole person care was a framework already applied to KHS
Given the uncertainty of the year, Martin was surprised to find
members. In healthcare, looking at social determinants and
that the annual employee satisfaction survey delivered better
home/life issues is known to influence better health outcomes.
results than ever. Scores on teamwork and collaboration,
CHRO Anita Martin, Th.D. used her learning in the Big Reset to
confidence in leadership, and satisfaction with communications
help guide KHS’s approach to supporting “the whole person”
rose significantly. KHS achieved its first-ever scores over
working from home. “We had to get the executive team to
80% for satisfaction with corporate and department
understand that employees can’t necessarily leave everything
communications.
behind when they show up to work from home,” she said.
“We’ve had to be very deliberate about our communications
With the leadership team on board, Martin’s team took the
since going remote,” Martin said. “Before, we may have been
following steps to support leaders and employees.
taking little things for granted and assuming communication
1. CEO town halls. Employees sent in questions, and Anita was happening within teams when it wasn’t.”
worked with the CEO and PR consultant to deliver answers
to even the most difficult questions.

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 About Josh Bersin

Josh Bersin is an internationally recognized analyst, educator, and thought leader focusing on
the global talent market and the challenges impacting business workforces around the world. He
studies the world of work, HR and leadership practices, and the broad talent technology market.

He founded Bersin & Associates in 2001 to provide research and advisory services focused on
corporate learning. Over the next ten years, he expanded the company’s coverage to encompass
HR, talent management, talent acquisition, and leadership. He sold the company to Deloitte in
2012, when it became known as Bersin™ by Deloitte. Bersin left Deloitte in June 2018.

In 2019, Bersin founded the Josh Bersin Academy, the world's first global development academy
for HR and talent professionals and a transformation agent for HR organizations. The Academy
offers content-rich online programs, a carefully curated library of tools and resources, and a
global community that helps HR and talent professionals stay current on the trends and practices
needed to drive organizational success in the modern world of work.

Bersin is frequently featured in talent and business publications such as Forbes, Harvard Business
Review, HR Executive, FastCompany, The Wall Street Journal, and CLO Magazine. He is a regular keynote speaker at industry events
around the world and a popular blogger with more than 800,000 followers on LinkedIn.

His education includes a BS in engineering from Cornell University, an MS in engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from the
Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

About Mark Spratt

Mark Spratt, senior vice president, advisory services, leads the Josh Bersin Academy’s Big Reset initiative,
created to help HR leaders address the unprecedented challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. He brings
20 years of management consulting experience to his client. In senior advisory roles at Deloitte and PwC,
he worked with clients on a variety of engagements ranging from preparing workforces for the future to
enterprise HR transformations to integrated learning and talent solutions.

Mark has dual master degrees in public administration and social research from the University of Southern
California; he also served as an adjunct lecturer for three years at USC.

About Kathi Enderes

Kathi is the vice president of research at the Josh Bersin Academy; she leads
research for all areas of HR, learning, talent and HR technology.Kathi has more than 20 years
of experience in management consulting with IBM, PwC, and EY and as a talent leader at
McKesson and Kaiser Permanente. Most recently, Kathi led talent and workforce research at
Deloitte, where she led many research studies on various topics of HR and talent and frequently
spoke at industry conferences. Originally from Austria, Kathi has worked in Vienna, London and
Spain and now lives in San Francisco. Kathi holds a doctoral degree and a masters degree in mathematics
from the University of Vienna.

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 Contributors

Nuno Gonçalves
Nuno is currently the global head of strategic capabilities building for Mars. In this role, he is working
on understanding the critical capabilities for the future and ensuring the company’s business strategy
is fully aligned with the Mars University. Previously, he worked for UCB, a bio-pharma company, where
he held different roles including the HR vice president for neurology, the chief learning officer, and
the global head of talent acquisition and development. Before joining UCB, Nuno was also Sanofi’s chief
learning officer.

Nazneen Razi
President and Principal, NRHR Talent Consulting
Nazneen specializes in HR and talent strategies to drive business improvement. She has 25 years of
experience in working with leading HR organizations. Prior to her current role at NRHR, she was senior
vice president and chief human resources officer for Health Care Service Corporation and executive
vice president and chief global human resources officer for JLL.

Pete Sackleh
Workforce Optimization Advisor, SolutionSpark
Pete led the strategic, experiential and physical development and operations of two world-class
corporate universities - Deloitte’s $300m investment in Deloitte University in Westlake, Texas and
KPMG’s $450m investment in the KPMG Lakehouse in Lake Nona, Florida. He now leads SolutionSpark
LLC, a workforce optimization consulting firm, which applies Pete’s expertise in areas such as innovative
talent experience models, employee engagement, investment and retention.

Nancy Vitale
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Partners for Wellbeing
Nancy Vitale was most recently the chief human resources officer for Genentech where she was
responsible for leading the team that was dedicated to creating a great place for the organization’s
14,000 employees to do their best work. Upon leaving Genentech, she co-founded Partners for
Wellbeing, an advisory and consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations create better places to
work. Nancy also currently serves as a board member for the Make-A-Wish America Foundation.

Daniel Shannon
Chief Inspirational Officer, Daniel Shannon Speaks
Daniel has nearly two decades of executional and thought leadership experience with Fortune 100 companies
in the CPG, financial services, and retail industries. He brings expertise in the areas of strategy, diversity/
equity/inclusion, marketing, multicultural market development, sales, change management, leading through
ambiguity, training and development, emotional intelligence, professional speaking, large group facilitation, and
motivation. In his current role, Daniel provides leadership for Target Corporation's D&I efforts.

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 Ray Narine
Head of Talent Development and Deputy Diversity Officer, Consumer Reports
In January 2020, Ray Narine joined Consumer Reports, the leading consumer advocacy organization
in the US, to lead its talent development, employee experience, and DEI work. Ray develops impactful
solutions that apply expertise in various domains, including talent management, engagement, culture
formation and diversity and inclusion. Ray’s contributions are noted for future-of-work focus and
innovative practical approaches to talent-building programs, technology implementations, and
operational efficiencies. Prior to joining Consumer Reports, Ray held HR and talent management roles
at multiple companies, including S&P Global and American Express.

Dr. P.V. Ramana Murthy

HR Advisor and Consultant, Indian Hotels Company
PV has more than 30 years of experience across the entire gamut of the HR function. He currently
serves as an HR advisor and consultant to the Indian Hotels Company Limited, which operates the Taj
Group of Hotels, Resorts and Palaces. Formerly, he was global head of HR, with responsibilities spanning
performance management, career and succession planning, leadership development, and culture. PV
also served as the executive director of human resources for Coca-Cola in India.

Paul Sanford
Chief Executive Officer, Wincome Management and Development Group
Paul is responsible for Wincome’s West Coast operations, including Southern California where he
oversees all operations. His portfolio includes properties in the South Coast Metro area, as well as the
Disneyland Resort. Prior to joining Wincome, he held a range of executive-level positions with a variety
of upscale and luxury boutique hotels for brands such as Wyndham, Hyatt, Westin, and Holiday Inn
hotel groups. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and master’s degree in business
and management from Pepperdine University.

Fellows
Brooke Harmon
Brooke holds a B.A. in music business from New York University. She is currently completing her M.B.A. at the University of
Southern California, Marshall School of Business and sits on the board of her program as the co-VP of philanthropy.

Jill Gardner
Jill is a corporate learning leader with experience in instructional design, talent development and HR technologies. She currently
is a strategic consultant and operations manager for enterprise learning and development at Farmers Insurance. Previously, she
held multiple learning-related roles at The Walt Disney Company and was a human capital consultant for Deloitte.

Matthew Moeller
Matt has more than 20 years of experience executing human capital projects and organizational transformations. He worked for
Deloitte for 14 years and held a variety of positions. Most recent, he was manager of talent development for Deloitte Services
and manager of workforce transformation for Deloitte Consulting. Matt holds an MBA degree from San Diego State University.

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 Victoria Morgan
Victoria Morgan has a masters from Tufts University, where she focused on communication, intervention and behavior change.
She also holds a PHR certificate from the Human Resource Certification Institute. She has been involved with many aspects of
corporate wellness including physical fitness, nutrition, psychological well-being, and culture change. In addition to her work with
the Josh Bersin Academy, she is a marketing and communications associate with the Worksite Wellness Council of Massachusetts

Minu Nair
Minu has worked in the travel and hospitality industry in the Middle East and India for almost 14 years. Most recently, she was a
reservations officer for Emirates Airlines and managed multi-cultural sales teams and key client accounts. She holds a bachelor’s
degree in hospitality management from Bangalore University and recently completed her master’s degree in talent development
and HR from IE University, Madrid.

Karen Romero
Karen holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of Southern California, where she recently completed her MBA.
Prior to pursuing an MBA, Karen worked in retail management and human resources.

Anne Stevens
Anne has worked for nearly a decade in roles supporting global workforce mobility. She holds an M.A. in migration studies from
the University of Kent and currently sits on the steering committee of the Forum for Expatriate Management. She recently took a
cross-functional assignment in procurement at Mondelez International where she bridges cost-saving opportunities and human
capital strategy. She is now completing her M.B.A. at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

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