RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE ADB AS AN ORGANIZATION
NOTES TO MANAGEMENT
Drawing from our analysis of aggregated data and recurring themes, the Office of the Ombudsperson (OOMP) offers the following points as “food for thought,” highlighting key trends, challenges, and opportunities that shape ADB’s workplace environment.
The insights herein are intended to inform Management and the ADB community about the evolving organizational climate, with the aim of fostering a more supportive, inclusive, and effective work culture.
Rising Case Complexity Across Core Themes
While the total number of cases managed in 2024 declined,1 OOMP noted the increasing complexity of cases. This was compounded by a web of interconnected and overlapping issues. Staff members and other ADB personnel increasingly brought multiple issues to each visit, often intersecting among concerns related to supervision, team dynamics, safety and health, and peer relationships. These areas of concern collectively represent 84% of all issues raised. Moreover, the broader global context has intensified workplace pressures, elevating stress levels and diminishing resilience to routine challenges and interpersonal friction.
Supervisory Challenges: Avoidance
Supervisory challenges within the organization are increasingly characterized by avoidance behaviors and ambiguous expectations, which can undermine both workload balance and trust among team members. When supervisors avoid managing conflicts and making difficult decisions, which is a prerogative of their role, they create communication gaps and diminish trust. This observed behavior reveals a pressing need to equip managers with skills and tools to manage conflicts through open, honest, and professional communication. It is upon the supervisor to create an environment where people can professionally and respectfully disagree, in turn fostering a culture of inclusion and innovation, and reinforcing teamwork and commitment to ADB’s mission. It especially assists with the seamless transition of new staff into ADB’s challenging organizational culture.
New Staff Integration Requires More Than Onboarding
Increasingly, new staff are coming to OOMP to seek help as they navigate ADB’s complex organizational culture, which is a difficult journey for many. A lot of the new staff who came to us in 2024 with this concern expressed experiencing low morale, demotivation, and heightened levels of stress. They speak about the inability to connect with peers and colleagues, the struggle to communicate effectively, and the feeling of being unwelcome and unsupported.
We often confuse onboarding with transitioning. While the processes of onboarding are very important, the seamless transition into ADB’s complex organizational culture has profound implications affecting professional development, work–life balance, and retention. Evidence continues to underscore the need for a formal, comprehensive mentorship program—one that helps new staff acclimatize to ADB’s culture. An established culture of mentorship builds confidence as careers progress, providing tools for transitioning into more formal leadership roles. In addition, it helps us to identify those who have outstanding leadership potential. For those who are starting their leadership journey in ADB, the mentorship program may help refine supervisory and other skills that contribute to transformational change in the organization and create a culture of excellence and innovation.
Multigenerational and Multicultural Tensions
ADB’s workforce is not only multicultural but also spans multiple generations, each bringing distinct perspectives, experiences, work ethics, and communication styles. These differences manifest in varying expectations regarding how we approach our work, how we give and receive feedback, and how we disagree. People of different generations communicate differently; view professional development differently; disagree differently; and come with different professional priorities, values, and motivation. As a result, day-to-day interactions increasingly reflect the complexity of navigating both generational and multicultural diversity, often giving rise to tensions that can impact team cohesion and overall workplace climate.
Peer and Colleague Relationship Conflicts on the Rise
We are also experiencing a steady increase in interpersonal conflicts, now emerging as a significant area of concern—statistically approaching the prevalence of other major workplace issues. These conflicts often reflect the challenges of navigating diverse working styles, communication preferences, differing perspectives within teams, and a decline in multicultural competency. Implementing a structured mentorship program would be especially valuable in this context, as it can help normalize the practice of giving and receiving constructive feedback, foster open dialogue, and model healthy approaches to disagreement across varying styles and stages of professional life.
To be clear, the mentorship program we envision is not just for those who are already in leadership roles, but it is also for those potential and emerging leaders. If such a mentorship program were open to all levels of staff, it would benefit not just the individuals who participate but also the organization.
Crosscutting Solution
Across all themes—promoting supervisory clarity, supporting effective integration of new staff, navigating multigenerational and multicultural expectations, and encouraging open and honest interpersonal communications—the evidence consistently points to the need for systemic solutions. Implementing a structured mentorship program, anchored by clear objectives and comprehensive mentor training, would serve as a powerful catalyst for positive change and the quality of work life. Such a program could not only enhance the daily work climate and strengthen supervisory capacity but also provide stability and support as the organization continues to evolve. By fostering meaningful connections and shared understanding, mentorship can help bridge gaps, promote equity, and ensure that all staff are equipped to thrive amid ongoing organizational transformation.
A mentorship program reinforces the organization’s mission and values, encourages good work ethics, and improves quality of work. It should be viewed as a “talent incubator”—a training ground to identify and nurture talent. We should not undermine its value in the recruitment and retention of talented staff. It can serve as a mechanism to capture and address underlying concerns. Above all, it sends a message that we are committed to our most important resource—our people.
1
Because of the limited staffing in OOMP, we were unable to accommodate all meeting requests, which were in fact within the range of the number of requests, if not more, in the previous years.