Organizational Change: Good
News from the Front Lines
Semper
Gumby. Coined by the U.S. Marines during the 1991 Persian
Gulf War to characterize the moving-target nature of their
mission, it's also the perfect battle cry for today's business
environment, says Betsy Blee, Senior Director of Leadership
Development at Pfizer—and a retired Marine herself.
Change is the only constant. Mantra or cliché,
it's the truth. In a survey we conducted at a recent OD
conference, 80% of respondents said their organizations
experienced three or more major changes in the last three
years.
We called a few front-line change agents to see how they're
faring as they usher wave after wave of change through their
organizations. Would they be too battle-weary to even pick
up the phone? Actually, what we found was very encouraging.
Although change is still difficult to execute well, folks
have found strategies that not only smooth the way for them
but also keep them feeling downright positive.
Keep Senior Leaders Actively Involved
"Leaders
walking the talk" was cited in our survey as one of the
most critical factors in successfully implementing change.
Yet for a majority of respondents, there is a gap between
what they know works and what actually happens: nearly 70%
rated their senior executives as only "marginally" or "somewhat"
effective at implementing change initiatives.
How can you keep senior managers active owners of change?
Steer them away from the our-work-is-done syndrome, suggests
Maureen Gavahan, Senior OD Consultant at Fortis Health.
She advises her senior leaders that they have to "slow down
to go fast." It's a gentle reminder that just because they
may have been planning, prepping and living with a change
for months, it's still new to everyone else. They're not
finished. It will take their constant and consistent involvement
for the organization to arrive at their desired results.
At Selectica, a company that designs and develops customized
e-commerce software applications, executive ownership of
initiatives is purposely built into the change process.
"Good change depends on quality of execution," says Russell
Williams, VP of HR. To that end, each initiative has an
executive sponsor whose job it is to continuously "pave
the way and educate the audience on the impact of the project."
Address
the Facts and Feelings with Formal and Informal Communications
"Ongoing
and effective communication" was cited by 60% of our survey
respondents as the most helpful factor in implementing change.
While most organizations readily buy the value of ongoing—read
frequent and formal—communications (such as e-mails
and town hall meetings), "effective" is harder to pinpoint.
For Gavahan at Fortis Health, it goes back to ownership by
the senior team and line managers. If communications are "left
to others [or the internal communications team] to figure
out," she says, they can be "open to varying interpretations
by the employee population" and lead to misinformation. When
leaders drive the conversations from the outset,
there is more credibility, less grapevine and no need to go
in and manage misperceptions down the road.
For Selectica's Williams, effective communications are inclusive,
candid and decidedly two-way. They "let people know where
you are—not just the good things, but the obstacles
and hurdles, too—and promote constant and constructive
feedback." For people to see "the real benefits and why they
should invest," he says, communications must support "a flow
of dialogue" around how they are feeling about the
information coming at them.
Culture
Can Help
A
strong company culture where leaders live the values can
make changes in direction easier to swallow. In a world
where "whatever road map you put out today will be obsolete
next week," as Pfizer's Blee puts it, her company's established
culture provides the bedrock consistency that actually helps
people spin on a dime.
At Selectica, change is seen not as some "radical idea"
but as something "fundamental to good—i.e., profitable—business,"
says Williams. His company's culture of inclusion makes
sure every employee knows how his or her actions and decisions
affect every revenue dollar, and how the company measures
success. He credits collaborative, open processes plus core
values of "being authentic, promoting ongoing dialogue and
working at being honest with each other" with mitigating
resistance to change and inspiring new thinking.
Culture aside, Gavahan admits she is personally "energized
by going into the new." What fuels her energy, change after
organizational change? Besides embracing the unexpected
("You get to the same goal and there's less recovery time"),
she sums it up in practical terms: "If you become complacent,
you'll get knocked over."
