In the midst of the ‘Great Resignation’, where millions of workers have quit their jobs during the pandemic in search of more fulfilling roles or better opportunities, job retention has been a key challenge for HR teams.

This mass movement of staff has caused many organisations to scrutinise the effectiveness of their employee engagement. Let’s face it, getting it right really matters – both morally and commercially.

Staff who feel valued, supported and respected are more likely to stay loyal to an organisation and arguably achieve better results. Keeping open, two-way lines of communication has been the right thing to do through an incredibly difficult and stressful period for everyone.

The data only serves to underline the scale of the challenge. According to a study by New Action for Children, more than 80 per cent of parents are struggling with at least one symptom of burnout due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, research conducted for Resolution Foundation and the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics (LSE) found that workforce participation among older workers has dipped by 1.2 percentage points.

But while employee engagement is an important part of retention strategies, it’s also a key to successfully driving organisational change. Having the support of the team behind you should make implementation a much smoother process. The secret ingredient? – a heart-centred leadership approach. Let me explain.

There is approximately a space of 1.5 feet between the brain and the heart. Psychologists call this the ‘longest-shortest’ distance. While the two organs are physically fairly close, they can want very different things and pull business leaders in opposite directions, struggling between rationale and emotion. However, I believe it’s only when something moves from the head to the heart that we become empowered by it and do everything we can to see it through to becoming a reality.

If there’s something business leaders have learnt from the pandemic, it’s the value of people – and that businesses need to look after their employees by taking empathy, compassion and understanding more seriously. Recognising the emotions of ourselves and others has been a vital part of a leader’s toolkit, in order to address certain situations and reach an outcome that is agreeable to all parties.

Using emotional intelligence to look inwards to think, reflect and understand is extremely powerful. Of course, it’s important to make rational decisions, but doing what is right and following your instinct is the key to making things happen. In so doing, this passion can be used to engage and connect with others, get them on board and help enthuse their peers to drive change.

I’ve been lucky enough to see lots of great examples of heart-centred leadership throughout my career, but the most striking instance took place in India, where maternity leave was just three months long at the time.

I worked with a business leader there who ensured that on a colleague’s return from maternity leave, she was able to go to and from home in a taxi to feed her child. She did this every day for a whole year. He didn’t do this for compliance reasons; he did it because he wanted to do something to help.

Today, that female member of staff is now a CEO – this simple gesture played a part in helping that employee to look after her child, while also continuing to work. More than anything this demonstrates the impact that ‘following your heart’, rather than your head, can truly have.

So, what role can HR Directors play in driving organisational change?

We all are aware that attitudes, beliefs and values drive and shape our behaviour. HR Directors can play a key part in helping business leaders to focus their attention on what their values are, help them to articulate what they actually want from their business and what they want their legacy to be. This will then help them to see a different perspective to their rationale mind and how they can engage more from their heart. In this process, HR Directors have an opportunity to play a crucial role in helping leaders to drive the business forward. In particular, focusing on areas that affect employees and finding like-minded champions to implement changes across the business, which can help the leader to bring their vision to life with passion and enthusiasm.

Why is this important? Once this alignment between business need and what the leader actually wants has been established, then the journey can begin. The HR strategy can be set out to support what’s important to the leader, which in turn will drive change throughout the organisation.

At Air Products, we know just how important it is to take a more heart-centred leadership approach. We call it ‘You Belong and Matter’ at Air Products. We have more than 20,000 employees in 50 countries, with 1,500 people across the UK & Ireland, so our HR team plays a crucial role in driving the leadership team’s strategy across a particularly large workforce. We believe it’s important to provide an environment where all people can thrive and develop, and our success can be attributed to a work environment that is collaborative, inclusive and respectful of all people.

January is historically the time for many people to look for new job opportunities, so we can expect the Great Resignation to continue for some months yet. Therefore, engagement is going to be even more important in connecting with our colleagues and leaders to really focus on what matters most to them. This can ultimately lead to a more engaged, productive and happier workforce. If we want to see organisational movement, we need to firstly see movement from the head to the heart. HR Directors can play an important role in this process, which will ultimately help to create legacies and drive transformational change.