While it’s tempting for companies to fall into the trap of “show me the money!” in an attempt to increase performance, productivity, and engagement, the studies have shown that these three drives are more effective and long-lasting.

There are three core motivators that drive performance greater than anything else. What’s shocking is that very few companies and organizations leverage these. Some even constrict or restrict these areas, and we wonder why performance is so hard to manage.

According to a recent survey and featured in an article in Forbes, 2021 is going to be the year of decreased company loyalty and the employee break-up.

After surviving 2020, a lot of companies believe that their employees are just grateful to have a job. While it might be true, that those who did not experience layoffs or furloughs are thankful to have not gone through that—what we are hearing from employees is a completely different tune.

2021 is going to be the year of turnover. People went through hell and back during 2020 and many are struggling to stay positive. They understood we were all just trying to figure things out and survive last year, but now they are looking to their companies to see how they are going to intentionally fix the disengagement, increase resources & support, and redesign culture & the employee experience in a post-covid world.

The last year put pressure on companies and leaders to not just acknowledge the areas where we still need change but to actually do the work of growth, listening, and creating more equitable workplaces and culture.

Over the past several years there has been an increase in D&I in the workplace. However, sadly most of these initiatives have merely equated to Unconscious Bias training and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), both are just stepping stones that shine light on the areas we maybe didn’t know existed before. But what good is it to shine a light on a mess but then do nothing to clean it up?

There are popular books circulating that say the key to success and the company growing to the next level is for risk-taking, courage, and failure to be welcomed and encouraged. But we don’t take the time to break down the old culture first: office politics, leave your emotions at the door, do things my way, know your place and act appropriately for your level, etc. All of these hinder the ability for vulnerable acts like risk-taking and creative thinking.

This is culture, and now with so much of the world working virtually, we’re realizing it. So many of the companies that depended on their casual Fridays, ping pong tables, and free snacks are discovering that they didn’t do the real culture work and their employee’s have taken off their rose colored glasses and don’t like what they see.

This is why leadership is crucial. Each one of these things are dependent on the leader to create the atmosphere for them and ensure they are upheld.