It’s no secret that trust is key in an engaging and productive work culture. When crisis strikes, organizations with a strong culture of trust tend to have the highest levels of engagement and productivity.

Connection is the core of effective leadership development.

Throughout the year at our blog, we share practical leadership tips and observations. The “greatest hits” of the year (the six most visited posts) are often an interesting snapshot of what matters to leaders right now. This year the top visited blogs tell the story of the challenges leaders face in the new normal: How should leaders spend their time? How can they engage teams? Below we present you with six of our most talked about Insightful Ideas from 2021:

Why is it that some Fridays find us feeling proud of our productivity, while other weeks we barely make it to Wednesday before the completion anxiety kicks in? Sometimes the interruptions come in waves and fires pop up with alarming frequency. All of your best people call in sick, your voicemail fills up, and your inbox piles high.

It’s that time of year again, at least in the United States: The leaves are falling, the turkey is calling, and “thanks” are in the air. With all that is happening in the workforce at the moment, it feels like the right moment to stop and thank the people who make us leaders — our teams. Something has shifted in the global workplace over the course of the past several months as millions of workers have left their positions. The “Great Resignation” is real; the data is clear, even if the reasons are less so. This mass exodus from the workforce has opened our eyes to the notion that “good help” really is hard to find — and even harder to retain. In light of this, it feels fitting to thank those who have stuck with us, who have continued to make our strategies a reality and have been our boots on the ground. Over the past 20 months, companies have had to ask their teams to do much more with fewer resources. Employees have worked longer hours, adapted new behaviors and mindsets, and worked remotely, all while surrounded by constant uncertainty. It has not been easy, and if there is anything to learn from the “Great Resignation,” it is that these past two years have shed a new light on the importance of work. What we are hearing from many people who have chosen to resign from work is that they want to be heard and that they want their efforts, struggles, and successes to be acknowledged. What better time to acknowledge and express gratitude to our team than now during this season of giving thanks?

Developing leaders is not a simple, one size fits all process. Leaders have different styles, strengths, and challenges. Any learning program needs to support diverse learning styles and be relevant to the specific context and situation facing leaders in their work environment.

Employees are often promoted to their first leadership position as a result of their performance as individual contributors. These new leaders, therefore, need to make the shift from delivering results themselves to delivering results through others. In some cases, individuals are not promoted to people-leadership roles but rather to larger-scope individual contributor roles. In these types of roles, they are required to influence and deliver results through others, often as project leaders or by working with cross-functional or matrixed teams. Insight Experience is excited to have recently adapted a leadership development program, originally designed for frontline and first-time leaders, into one for individual contributors. Though there were some notable changes to the program design and business simulation, the core learning points remain intact.