No matter what position you hold or what industry you work in, lagging motivation can put a serious dent in your overall productivity and negatively affect your career. Unmotivated professionals may find it difficult to focus on the task at hand, see assignments through to completion or even attend to their daily responsibilities.

Organizations are adopting creative strategies for return to work and it might also be time to revamp performance review processes. Current techniques don't work well. The Harvard Business Review reports: "It's still broken and has become a political and bureaucratic battlefield. Part of the reason it doesn't work, in our view, is that all the power still rests with the boss. Additionally, the end-of-year performance review often becomes a negotiation around compensation and promotion rather than a true development discussion." With more hybrid environments, we can give and get feedback from those with the most relevant input at the most relevant time using micro-feedback strategies. 

With the pandemic receding, we find ourselves staring into yet another "new normal." For those of us who traded office space for work from home, the road back isn't clear. Given improved remote collaboration, our teams and colleagues have more options for professional contribution. The post-pandemic workplace is now a metaphoric continuum and may often be based on individual choice. We can be fully in-office, or fully remote or anything in between. This fluidity poses a significant learning opportunity for leaders.

Businesses occasionally take the wrong approach to addressing employee differences, leading to factions being formed within the firm. Other times, companies may split or reorganize, resulting in some employees being siloed from their peers. In each of these cases, a lack of trust can develop between different teams and departments within the company.

So often managers feel caught in the middle of tough demands from their boss and burnout complaints from their reports. Left untreated, this pattern can lead to the spiral of doom, often causing potentially great talent to leave organizations. Research from Gallup's "State of the American Manager" report shows bad bosses to be one of the top reasons for employee departures.

Leaders are lucky to come across “A-listers” during their careers. An A-lister is an employee that brings a unique combination of skill, drive and enthusiasm to the job, resulting in enhanced productivity and innovation.

Getting promoted depends on getting recognized for the contribution and value you bring to your organization. Simply doing your work well, on time and within budget is not enough. These are the minimum requirements for consideration, but not the distinguishing factors that win the coveted spot. 

Most leaders I know are excellent problem solvers and troubleshooters. They’re experts at spotting a setback, hiccup or mix-up from a mile away. Why? Because mistakes cost money. A misplaced comma or unclear memo can end up costing a company hundreds or thousands or millions of dollars.