What Lessons Can We Learn From 2024?

fantastic. we launched our podcast newsletter.   We've onboarded new clients and we've had a lot  of fun just ranting about a whole wide range of   topics on the podcast. And what's kind of cool  is, two and a half or three years into running,   this podcast now have over 60 episodes.  We've got listeners in 124 countries and   we've hit six or seven different, you know, 

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get a hold of us is right in the show notes. But  that being said, let's actually get into with the   question of the podcast, which is what lessons can  we learn from 2024? And there's a couple things   that there's a few things that we kind of want  to talk about. I mean this year there wasn't in   a lot of ways as many big like news, you know,  shaking the kind of the business world kind of   stuff that kind of happened in past years, like  with strikes and this and that and this sort of  

thing. This year the stuff that kind of came in  was a bit more subtle, was a bit more kind of   continuation of stuff that happened in the past  years. But it's all really worth talking about   and it is worth reflecting on as we move forward  into 2025. So I'just gonna give you a quick   summary and then we'll dig into the first one. But  the things we want to talk about are these kind of   steady rollback of DEI strategies and positions  in many, many companies kind of kind of across  

North America. we want talk about kind of there's  still layoffs going on in the IT sector and not   necessarily for the same reasons that they were  kind of happening kind of in 2023. companies are   getting really tired of trying to solve complex  problems and that's go going toa be the interest   one that we're going toa talk about. Yeah, and  then we're seeing more and more businesses falling  

into the action is reaction, fallacy. So I think  that a lot of these are going to end up kind of   overlapping a bit but I think we can get started  to jump into talking about the rollback of dei.

to get into necessarily. Well, I think there's  a lot of contributing factors to it. and I think   part of that, part of the contributing factors are  people been. We haven't done DEI very well in many   companies. It's been largely performative or it's  been tick boxes. It's been perfunctory lack of   strategy. It's an annexed off the side department  in and of itself that really isn't integrated into   regular business operations. there's a lot  happening in this space that is noteworthy.

place. And it's embarrassing that in our modern  world these things aren't in place. Absolutely.   It was the good thing about kind of the ramp up  or the immediate kind of need or desire to kind   of jump into improving dei. even the formation  of the term DEI came from you know, something   where people were starting to finally recognize 

this stuff is important. And I think though,   and we've been saying this kind of from the very  beginning that we appreciate the fact that a lot   of people kind of like go, oh, they can of  came to realize that this stuff does matter.   But then everything that kind of happened after  that were things that we always kind of saw as  

being unsustainable. And we've done podcast  episodes where we've talked about, you know,   like, things around like doing inclusion wrong  and what does DEI really mean and all this other   kind of stuff like that. And we've been kind of  critical of the DEI infrastructure that's been   out there. And I think a lot of it kind of comes  from just this immediate almost like, okay, we   need this. So let's just take the first idea that  kind of comes to mind and then that first idea  

kind of spread. And whether it was a good idea was  never validated. It was just, almost just like,   we need to have some something, so let's have  something now. And I think that's where a Lot   of the perform stuff comes from because whatever  we do, we has to look like we're doing something   right. Whether it had any impact or all was almost  like something we'll figure out after the fact.

serve. It is an important element and diversity  of perspective is an incredibly valuable, resource   for businesses to capitalize on. But we've  talked about the difference between inclusion   and integration, when just bringing people into  an organization and having them coexist does not   automatically create an inclusive environment,  it creates integration, which is not a bad thing.   We want people to be able to coexist who have  divergent backgrounds, experiences, opinions,  

what have you. But this has led to a very  unsustainable model of DEI because it's not   creating an environment where people actually  feel like they belong and the movement. I   don't necessarily see the rollback of DEI in  many ways as necessarily a purely negative.   I'm not thrilled with the trend as it's happening.  I would rather we get to the solution by enhancing   our DEI efforts. But I think long term it's 

going to give us an opportunity to look at. Well,   the concepts are still vitally important and  there's real valuable business outcomes that come   from creating an environment where people belong  and leveraging diversity of perspective in our   organizations. I think we will have an opportunity  to reframe what that looks like and not take   the solely performative idea of how do we make  ourselves look good on the company newsletter.

our workplaces. Because you and I firmly   agree that the intended outcome is excellent and  that is something that we should have and it's   embarrassing in the fact that we don't in most  of our workplaces. But you and I have been very   be consistently critical about the way that the EI  gets implemented and the common kind of narrative   around it about what it looks like. Because you're  right, there's a lot of performative solutions.  

There's a lot of like tacked on, you know, like  people hired with no to do DEI roles with zero   authority. You, they're an appendix to kind of  every other department and they're supposed to   kind of lead from like you, the janitor's closet  down the hall on something that's supposed to be   transformative to an organization. Right. The  thing that you and I have always said, and   this is something that we talk about in a number  of different fashions, is the concept of chaos  

solutions. dei, the implementation of it, the  performative approach of it. Again, the reactive   implementation of some type of DEI concept of  tacked on training and tacked on positions is a   chaos solution. And this to refresh people. Chaos  solution is when you implement a strategy or a   plan that you expect will have a transformative  effect but you've not done the prerequisite work   to ensure you have a foundation to build from. 

This creates unsupported and unsustainable   endeavor that will ultimately cause more harm  and turmoil than create a positive effect.

and problem solved. And we can check the box or   we've done something, we've performed an action  that has created dei. and again. Or they hire   people into these positions that sound really good 

that people were very excited for. Come to find   out they maybe have a director level job title,  but their authority is that of a payroll clerk,   like, you know, very much just unsupported and  very performative and people with great skills   who could probably done amazing things in a lot of  these major corporations to create Very effective   transformative change relegated to just a fringe  role that was doomed to fail because it was not  

designed with any kind of strategy. And the  speed the, a lot of the stuff was implemented   really speaks to how chaotic these solutions were  in many companies. So then the fact they're like,   well, clearly DEI is not important, otherwise  it would have made a difference by now.

we're just going to give up on it. Yeah,   but you tried a chaos solution and that you  set yourself up to fail and then you failed.   No surprise. So it's. So you really can't  claim that chaos solution that you tried was   a sincere effort because it was just again  was. There was no prerequisite work done to   build the foundation off of. And it was.  And it was unsupported and unsustainable.

working in this field. but I mean, it's also got   to be discouraging to be in a position where you  have the potential for such meaningful change and   outcomes and to be constantly cut off at the  knees. So I'm hoping that good can come from   this. I'm choosing to remain positive, that we  can actually learn something from this. And as   we begin to look at not what are the performative,  pieces that, because DEI is no longer a buzzword.  

Right. If companies are, moving away from it,  then maybe we can actually take the time for   those companies that truly value it to look at.  Okay. It's not about what everybody else is doing   and it's not about what is going to be really  visual and really, stand out on your company   letterhead or corporate newsletter or whatever 

other crap we previously focused on. How can we   actually create an environment where people feel  like they belong, where we can attract top talent,   where we can bring in diverse perspectives and  where we can make people feel valued for who they   are. Like that's what we need to get to and we  can get there if we just look at take a strategic   approach to what we're doing operate with  intent. It should not be this, I shouldn't have.

point. Right. And here's I think the key. As  long as companies see the failure of the dei,   implementation as a failure of strategy and  not a failure of concept, then I think there is   something very beneficial that can come  from us using this as a reflection point,   trying again with intent, as you aggressively  said, and then actually be able to not create   more chaos solutions, but actually create  sustainable supported projects that will  

actually make a real transformative difference  and not just something that looks good on social   media and sounds good when being interviewed  but actually does make a real difference.

IT sector that continued throughout 2024 and  it was something that a lot of the general   layoffs in a lot of different sectors kind  of did slow down but the layups and it did   seem to kind of continue. And this is something  there's been lots of different like why they did   it. It wasn't so much concern about recessionary  stuff or the economy or this. Some of it was like   talks about there being some still some economic  uncertainty or some people kind of feel like they  

had overhiired in the past. and then others  kind of talk about there being kind of this   rapidly changing transformation and approaches to  business strategy. Some like disrupting elements,   things like, like AI is a good example, but by no  means is it the only example. they found a lot of   companies kind of restructuring the way that they  think about the kind of employee skills that they  

need. And so again I think that there's this kind  of concern of this fast paced kind of like changes   and disruptors are coming into the IT sector that  most companies are in the sector are kind of just   like, well if we're going to be able to kind  of weather this new stuff, we can weather it   better if we're lean than if we're overstaffed.  So let's continue the layoffs. That way we can   pivot easier with a smaller ship. I think that's  probably what some of the mentality behind it is.

lowered with AI. And I think companies   are taking advantage of that, which I mean we  can't really fault them on taking advantage of   these new tools. I mean it happens across all  sectors. but it leaves the tech industry in an   interesting place. If you have the generative  AI doing a lot of the more manual operations   in generating first passes of code, then you need  fewer people. but it's also done an interesting  

piece around data analytics which is. And  the way that AI system is going to actually   understand and generate and visualize  data now is coming a significant ways.

some validity to that concept. But the idea   of being leaner, having less employees, having of  people carrying more work individually than teams   do come of collectively, isn't a replacement  for being able to handle change. Lean doesn't   replace being agile. I guess it may be kind  of the summary of that statement. Right. If   you are concerned about the size of your boat  and it's easier to turn a smaller boat than a  

bigger boat. But if you're really bad at  turning any kind of boat, then the size.

And that's something that I'm not saying every  company that is doing this is acting out of fear   and is unconfident inility to change. But I  do think that's something that is probably   a much bigger part of this story than what  most people are thinking about when they're   pointing to disruptors like AI as being  the cause or the economic uncertainties   being in the cause. I really do think that 

those are probably symptoms. But I think the   core piece is that this is a reaction to being  unprepared or unconfident in managing change.

been really excited to talk about with  you. Definitely a common trend this past   year that companies are tired of trying to  solve complex problems. And that fatigue,   that being tired of this constantly solving  problems is becoming a major strain on any   kind of progress or progression and is  going to be a continual problem in 2025.

they were onboard and kind of pull out. A lot  of that worked for a lot of people dried up,   you know, at very quickly in the last two quarters  of 2024. And so first we were like, oh, well   that's a shame about that isolated incident. But  then we kept hearing about it and I think it is   this fatigue and I do think that it is what you’ve  said that people are tired of trying to address  

these issues. They’re now at the point where they  just don't want the issues to exist and they're   just kind of like covering their ears and closing  their eyes and la la la la la. Ah, this isn't a   problem I have anymore. Is kind of the official  business strategy that we've seen companies turn   down perspective work and proposals in favor of. 

So instead of us hiring you to help us solve this   problem, we're tired of this problem existing, so  we're just going to cover our ears and close our   eyes and pretend that it's not happening. Tends  to be what the normal thing has been, especially   in the last two quarters for many, many, many  people in kind of the consulting and kind of you   organizational solutions and transformation and 

all the kind of in the sectors and been. It's been   sad, especially when you consider how persistent  the problems are. The problems are not going   away. Employee retention, employee motivation,  workforce longevity, all these things are still,   they're actually getting worse. But businesses  seem to be slowing down in their focus and   commitment to organizational transformation,  choosing to ignore the problem in hopes that   it goes away. And this is where we see this. 

And this is just, I think it all boils down to   fatigue. They're just tired of this stuff, so  they're looking for shortcuts or they're looking   to just again, use denial that this problem  will resolve itself. Everybody wants stuff   to go back to normal and they're not willing  to accept that normal is no longer a thing.

the changing priorities. I've said it before with  clients, I've said it before on this podcast that   if you had customers who suddenly stopped buying  from you, you would spend an awful lot of time,   energy and resources into investigating  why they stopped buying from you. And then  

you would take strategic. You'd create a plan,  you'd create a strategy, you'd develop some tool   implementation to change to make sure that your  value proposition is aligned with your customers,   needs that what you are offering them actually  now still meets the outcomes, the needs that they,   that you think that they need. You would put a lot  of time, energy and effort into understanding the  

problem. Yet when workforce expectations changed,  when had, when we saw significant trends in kind   of push back against the normal from years ago,  Companies didn't investigate why. They didn't take   the time to understand the new motivations. They  didn't invest in understanding the problem. They   criticized people for the changing expectations. 

If you had done that in the consumer market,   if your customers stop purchasing from you and  you criticize them and call them lazy for not   buying your product anymore, it's not really  going to help your case now is it? But that's   the approach that many businesses took to labor  problems. Rather than taking a strategic effort in   understanding what needs to change, how do I need  to adapt to the new realities of the situation?

workforce. And they're now facing these same major  issues with employee attraction and retention,   employee motivation, workforce longevity, like  I said before, and they're not really willing   to put the work in to actually resolving them  because the mentality is kind of almost best   summarized as well, these were problems we  didn't have before and we don't want these  

to be problems anymore. So there, like that's,  that's kind of we don't want this to be a problem   is almost like the you when you summarize  everything down to kind of to. To brass text,   that's really what they're saying.  We don't want this to be a problem.

rather than prioritizing work. Well, okay,   even if all of thats true, okay,  what are you going to do about it?

just not want this to be your problem. That can't  be your official position. This stuff you need to,   one, you need to make sure that you understand  the problem. And two, you have to say, you know,   solving this problem is going to be our normal for  the next two, three years, possibly, maybe more,   depending on how deeply rooted it is. Right. 

Like if you have no infrastructure, for example,   one thing that, you know, we're seeing with  businesses that haven't, you know, haven't   had to or t haven't had a lot of turmoil again,  any kind of the ebs and flows of the workforce,   a lot of them don not have great communication  infrastructure with their employees. Like the   people that are on the front lines or people  that are kind like, you know, Odin Fields or   whatever like that they don't have a way to 

communicate with them. So these infrastructural   pieces are absolutely void. They're not there.  And if those big pieces aren't put into place,   then any effort you make isn't gonna work. So the  solutions are gonna take longer. Cause you like,   you got toa build that foundation so before  you can actually address the actual problems.   And to be honest, what I want to say to 

people is buckle up. This stuff isn’t,   you're on a long journey and covering your ears  and closing your eyes and wishing this wasn't a   problem is only gonna make the problem get worse.  And it's something that we get, that you're tired,   that there is s this kind of transformation  fatigue that you're feeling. But if you don't   try and transform your normal to be this is  what it is, then you're just going to end up  

putting yourself a greater and greater risk. And  when you do decide to wake up, you're going to   see that you've wasted a lot of time, effort and  money and the problems are only getting bigger.

day to day. those investigations, that data is   essential to crafting any type of intervention.  transformation, change in a positive way.

first three we talked about the rollback of dei,  the layoffs and the IT sector and kind of this,   companies being tired of solving problems. Those  are things that are kind of like out there that is   just kind of like happening everywhere. This last  one is kind of one that I think we're seeing. And   we don't want to be, say that this is happening  everywhere because we're not 100% sure about  

that. But what we are seeing is there is more and  more organizations that are falling into one of   the things that we call the five threatening  truths. And the threatening truth that we're   seeing probably was just rampant in 2024, was what 

we call the action is reaction fallacy. And this   is when organizations think that the actions their  organization should be taking are about reacting   to things, always kind of, putting things into  place after the fact and never Actually being   proactive, only just responding to things as they  come. And that is what normal businesses are. And  

they do. And that fallacy of thinking that your  actions should only really be reactions, kind of   one actually kind of is a root cause of some of  the other one, the rollback of dei, the layoffs,   the, and the complex problems. But it is a mindset  that is so hard for organizations to ever get.   Sorry. It's difficult for the organizations to  start to actually fix things if that's the mindset   that they're in while these  problems are happening.

to fires as they come up. And you spend your  day putting out three fires and by the end of   the day there's five more that have been created.  And it's exhausting and it creates a significant   amount of burnout and it causes many of the other  issues that we've talked about to become worse.

at the humans required department. I love  my job, but I had to work through a number   of highly reactive this. But it is pervasive  out there that probably you. Many, many, many,   many HR professionals work in a highly reactive  department. And it's again often in the work that   we do that tends to be the first department that 

we really get a full view of. And then it's always   the case that when there's a highly reactive HR  department, everything else, finance, operations,   everything else tends to also be highly reactive.  Just because it's rare that it's ever just like   one department. But this is why the fallacy is  so damaging is to most organizations and to the   leadership of most organizations, this isn't this  what business is supposed to be Isn't this normal?

do. And. And I think so that's kind of like  the summary is that it's a replacement for   strategy. But what it looks like tends to be  the chasing those flavor of the month ideas.

chasing the flavor of the M month. We   never let projects have enough longevity to  m actually measure the improvements. Right,   right. If you we these problems did not crop up  overnight. Whether we're talking about employee   attraction, retention, productivity, performance,  performance management, doesn't really matter. We  

didn't get into the problem overnight. We can't  expect that we can drop a boxed product program   survey what have you in and suddenly all of  our problems are going to be fixed in a month.

strategy is always good. It's always good  to re-evaluate, always good to reflect,   always good to kind of like you assess fit.  There's all kinds of methods that you can do.   You don't have to drop stuff and jump on the  new thing or turn on your blinders and ignore   what's happening in the world while you are laser  focused on this one plan that, you know, maybe,   maybe needs to be re-evaluated. It's not all  or nothing. It's a matter of, you know, like,  

of going forward with intent. And I think  that's really kind of all it comes down to   if you're implementing strategy with intent. Part  of intent is to keep your finger on the pulse of   the environment that you're working in and all  the tools available to you. Just putting your   head down and focusing on one plan and seeing it  through regardless of what happens around you is   no better than just reacting to all the flavor 

of the month and chasing all the new shiny. And   having the fear of missing out is if you don't  have intent, then you really don't have a plan.

And it's one of those things where I really hope   as we move into 2025, that we can learn from  this and not be chasing the new and shiny,   not be doing action with intent, not letting the  fatigue we have with solving problems be kind of   what holds us back from having any kind of success  being building good change management strategy so   we don't have to continue just laying people off  and hope that being small is the same as being   good at change and stop chasing this performative 

solution to start actually having intent,   and truly understanding the prerequisite  work that's required. So we have. We're   building off good plans from a good foundation,   not just buying snake oil and then  surprised that it's not curing our illness.