Thanks for joining us on Season 6 of The Flourishing Culture Podcast, brought to you by The Best Christian Workplaces Institute. You’ll learn how to build a flourishing workplace culture that drives the ministry impact of your organization, your church, or your company brought to you by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute. Now here’s your host, BCWI CEO, Al Lopus.
Happy New Year and thanks for joining us! Today, we highlight what we see as the seven trends of workplace culture in 2021! Listen in to see if you agree with this about what you see coming in the new year.
Last January, the first trend I predicted was that ‘the virtual workplace is poised for even more growth as tech-savvy employees work remotely!’ I never dreamed that COVID would be the thing that would cause this to be so true!”
Listen to the Audio
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Stitcher Radio | Listen on Google Podcasts
Most of us are really happy 2020 is over! As we look at 2021, what can we look forward to as we lead our organizations, or as the Bible suggests, shepherd the flock that God has entrusted to us?
Now for the past several years, we have outlined the trends we project for the next year. These have become some of the most-read blog posts and downloaded podcast episodes. In fact, last January, the first trend I predicted was “the virtual workplace is poised for even more growth as tech-savvy employees work remotely!” I never dreamed that COVID would be the thing that would cause this to be so true!
So, this year we plan to ask, what are the seven leading trends likely to shape the vitality and future of your culture, your organization’s workplace, in 2021? So let’s go.
As leaders, we have a greater need now than ever before to continually see the bigger, changing picture of the world around us; including the context and the needs of our customers and staff. And then we have to adapt our leadership style and the way we run our organizations accordingly.”
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- The first trend is the return to delegated decision making and customer-focused strategy (03:11)
- BCWI research during COVID vs. Pre COVID. Two themes emerged: First, COVID caused leaders to centralize decision making (04:02)
- Another theme: Communication of the organization’s strategy improved during COVID (04:49)
- Begin to return your focus on decentralizing decision making. Return it to front line employees where they are involved in decisions that affect them (06:08)
- The second trend is all about refocusing on Employee Engagement and culture: It’s going to be all about human flourishing, not toxic workplaces (07:03)
- “What are the issues that are affecting your employees now, and how do you plan to address them?” (09:51)
- Listening to and knowing the engagement levels of your female employees are important to get your arms around this in your organizations (11:40)
- The need for innovation in the workplace has increased tremendously, yet the drivers that create a climate for innovation have diminished during COVID (12:15)
- We will see a focus on human flourishing in Christian–led organizations in 2021 (12:45)
- The third trend is to take diversity and inclusion more seriously (15:13)
- The fourth trend is decentralized/virtual workplaces (return from COVID) are here to stay as the world of work will change forever (18:46)
- The Future Forum research of 4,700 knowledge workers found the majority will never want to go back to the old way of working. Only 12% want to return to full-time office work, and 72% want a hybrid – remote office model (19:40)
- How and why virtual meetings on Zoom and Microsoft TEAMS can deliver results for organizations (20:44)
- The fifth trend for 2021 is that one–on–one meetings are key to your team’s success (22:18)
- The sixth trend is that believe it or not, in 2021, the gig economy will continue to grow (24:56)
- The seventh trend is to go digital for continuous learning and development (26:59)
- What leaders and their organizations stand to lose if they neglect or buck the trend of increased digital learning for their people (28:53)
- The best advice to decision-makers who have their eye on their budget, their talent, and digital tools in 2021 (29:43)
Additional Resources
Download BCWI’s four-page guide for inspirational leadership in crisis for FREE.
Read the Transcript
Read a complete, word-for-word transcript of the episode here

Share the Love
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. By doing so, you will help spread our podcast to more listeners, and thereby help more Christian workplaces learn to build flourishing cultures.