Over the past year, remote work has provided many employees more flexibility, more quality time with family and demonstrated that a physical office isn’t always essential for high productivity. But as more organizations announce their post-COVID plans for bringing teams back to work, knowledge workers are weighing their options.

With a recent study estimating that more than 40% of employees are thinking about leaving their current job in 2021, leaders must remove barriers to job satisfaction in order to retain talent. As CEO of an accelerated learning company, I've helped leaders around the world transform toxic cultures by reducing complexity and bureaucracy.

While it’s challenging for one human to eradicate every strip of corporate red tape overnight, you can make things simpler for teams within your area of the business or sphere of control. An effective tactic for motivated leaders in highly bureaucratic organizations is the Simplification Mantra. In a matter of minutes, you can publicly communicate and commit to simplifying your work — and the work your teams are responsible for.

Start by capturing the workplace habits or actions that waste time, frustrate you and block your teams’ ability to meet their goals or delivery dates. Avoid calling out specific people or processes; just focus on the underlying behaviors that drive those sources of irritation. For instance, instead of “Liz always defers decisions by requesting more info,” make a note to “limit the amount of data I need to make a decision.”

Next, identify behaviors or actions that would make it easier for you and your team to get work done. Some examples might be “fewer acronyms,” “no more arbitrary delivery dates” or “looser permissions around internal access to info.” Armed with your notes around both topics, draft at least three affirmative statements in the style of the examples shown below.

Every day, I will:

1.    Eliminate redundancies and unnecessary work.

2.    Not create false urgency.

3.    Push back if I think something is unnecessary.

4.    Use clear, jargon-free language when I communicate.

5.    Keep my emails, documents, meetings and conversations short.

6.    Limit the amount of info I need to make decisions.

7.    Empower others to make decisions without me.

8.    Make information available to others (within legal limits).

9.    Say no to “more, more, more.”

When choosing three simplifying statements, aim for those that will deliver the greatest positive impact for the largest number of employees. Once you’ve polished your statements, share the mantra with your teams publicly and frame it as your commitment to make their workdays more meaningful and less frustrating. Ask them to hold you accountable and to refer back to this promise if you start falling off the simplification wagon.

Rather than a list of rigid rules, your mantra can serve as a reminder of how you’ll simplify your team’s work environment. And with every day that you put those choices into action, you’re enabling employees to do more valuable work…and possibly preventing their departure.