No surprise right? Haven’t we been reading about these numbers for years now? We keep getting feedback that we are “crap” at managing change. And yet not much changes.

It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. Doing more of what we are already doing will not help us to turn the corner. We still rush to solution, don’t talk to our people enough, don’t connect change with strategy, often underestimate people’s reactions and time-frames to get “comfortable” and so on.

My fundamental belief is that we need to rethink our approach to change and start building awareness of change processes, frameworks and tools at all levels. If change is the big constant, why aren’t we equipping all our people to work in this environment?

When computers changed our world, didn’t everyone have to learn enough to use them?

Here we are in a world where everyone experiences change, some welcome and some not, and yet we provide no context about how change gets implemented, what gets considered as part of a change program, how people respond to change, and how companies “manage” it. We are asking people to operate in a vacuum of knowledge.

Imagine if everyone had a base level of knowledge about these things. Then they could recognise aspects of the change program as  they happened. They could provide feedback if they felt engagement was insufficient. They could contribute to the process from a place of knowledge rather than a place of forced ignorance.

We need to change the game and give our people the information and tools they need to thrive in this ever-changing world.

What do you think?

Most of the organisations I work with are big into professional and formal communication. There seems to be an underlying belief that if you stray from “professional and formal”, you risk damaging your reputation or credibility.

Part of communicating professionally it seems, is keeping our language and sentence structure formal, using jargon, acronyms and technical sounding words. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting adopting twitter abbreviations or saying “Gday mate” at the end of the email. There is a middle ground.

Let me give an example. This is something that might be sent out. It is on the  Professional/Formal side:

“Please read the attached document before the meeting and come prepared with any questions or feedback. If you are unable to attend, let Jane know ASAP so she can make alternative arrangements”,

How about this instead:

“I’ve attached some pre-reading. We’ll use the meeting to get your feedback and questions. If the meeting time doesn’t work for you,  call Jane and we’ll work something else out”.

The first is cold, bland, and sounds like a business with no soul.  The second sounds warm, friendly and actually feels like the sender is a real person who values a more personal relationship.

The reality is that people really notice and appreciate the difference between the two. I can’t count the number of times that clients have mentioned how much they appreciate my relaxed writing style and approach.

In a changing environment, the tone of messages conveys so much. Warm up your messages and people will relate to them more easily. They will stand out from the other communications they receive, and properly done – will contribute to creating the right environment for change.

“setting clear aspirational targets,  creating a clear structure, maintaining energy and involvement throughout the organization, and exercising strong leadership.”

The theme of  building capabilities, particularly leadership capabilities,  came out as a strong driver of success. The success factors were closely interrelated:

• strong leadership enabled collaboration and engagement of people throughout the process;
• the ability to break the the change program down into manageable smaller initiatives that people could understand;
• getting employees involved at planning stage was highly engaging,
• identifying the critical mindset shifts very early on assisted with planning and change activities

The critical role of leaders in change is reinforced:

“strong leadership and maintining energy for change among employees are two principles of success that reinforce each other when executed well.”

I am gathering my thoughts around what change leadership is…..

Being a change leader means understanding how to create this energy for change, sometimes in environments where people are tired or experiencing change fatigue. 

Being a change leader means understanding shifts required in mindsets and attitudes, and focusing on this early on.

Being a change leader means understanding that behaviour and mindset changes are considered inputs to change planning, not outcomes of process change

Being a change leader means  finding ways for people to take ownership of parts of the change through delivery, rather than have them feeling things are being “done to them” and are not within their control

Change leaders find ways to achieve these things regardless of their role,  level, or leadership status. It’s an approach - a value set – that underpins how they think and plan.

I believe that supporting people (leaders or otherwise) to become strong change leaders must be a component of successful change.

What are your thoughts on capabilities of change leaders?

(The full McKinsey article from March 2010  ”What Successful Transformations have in Common” – is found here (www.mckinseyquarterly.com,  but it requires premium membership to view)

Sure – email is a convenient form of communication. Its fast, we can reach a lot of people,  and we can attach content like there’s no tomorrow. And once we hit the “send” button, we can tick the box and say communication is complete.  And afterwards we feel as though we can absolve ourselves of responsibility because after all – we did tell people.  If they aren’t doing what we told them in the email, it’s their problem right?

I think it’s still our problem actually. We already know that:

• depending on how much email people already receive, there’s a pretty good chance that your’s won’t even be read
• Or, it will be scanned through but not absorbed
• Or people will read the first paragraph, and when it doesn’t capture their attention they won’t read the rest
• Or it will go into a “reading” file, never to be read
• Or worse – for external contacts – it slides into the junk folder
• Or culturally, people are not used to changing their ways by reading emails, so it falls on deaf ears

Our responsibilities for ensuring the right information gets to the right people in a way that is meaningful to them, demands that we think beyond using email as the primary information channel.

 A good piece of communication should provide context and rationale, create trust, help people to understand how to change, enable people to make informed decisions, and answer the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the change.

So nex time you’re ready to bang off an email with important information inside that you want people to act on – think again! You may need to task your managers with discussing it in team meetings, doing some presentations or workshops, even creating visual reminders. Post your information in multiple locations and find a way to get feedback on whether people are “getting it” and “doing it”

If you do some reading on the subject, you’ll quickly find the predominant school of thought is that all communication must be “professional”, and that if it’s not, you risk damaging your reputation or credibility.

Part of communicating professionally it seems, is keeping our language and sentence structure formal, using important sounding words and not letting anyone in on the big secret – that we are actually real people.

For example, saying: “Please le us know at your earliest convenience if this appointment is suitable”, rather than: “If this doesn’t work for you, just give me a call and we’ll work out another time”.

The first is cold, bland, and sounds like a business with no soul. The second sounds warm, friendly and actually feels like the sender wants a personal relationship with you.

My own experience is that in the business world -no matter how large or small the buisness – the  impersonal, cool, arms-length style is the preferred mode of communication.

At the risk of flying in the face of conventional wisdom, I believe letting our real selves shine through in our communications allows us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. It’s not all bad news for corporates though. There are a few of the big organisations that do warm communication well. If you are a Virgin customer, you’ll know that they excel at friendly and fun communications.

For me this is closely linked with how people behave at work: 

not wanting to be “too friendly”, seeming in charge,  and appearing unemotional.

The reality is that people really notice and appreciate the difference between the two. I can’t count the number of times that clients have mentioned how much they appreciate my relaxed style and sense of humour.

So take a look at the messages you are sending out. Do they need to be rewritten in plain conversational English? Are the icicles dripping off the pages of your emails and letters, or is the hearth warm and inviting?

After all –who wants to sound big, bland and cool like everybody else? Leave that to those who think it’s important (although why they do escapes me).

So when situations like the bonus scheme at AIG get world focus, it does give me pause.

There’s a bunch of people who may or may not have worked hard – we won’t ever know. They operated in an environment where the upside of their performance-based reward was signficant. But clearly not linked to overall company performance.

There’s been enough written about the “rightness” of this -and I guess my only additional perspective is that those employees didn’t create the bonus system -  the management did and the board endorsed it.  Casting blame at the employees is misdirected, I believe. But I digress. 

In my line of work, I’m fortunate enough to be well rewarded for what I do. Working with businesses and larger organisations has benefits.

My good friend, on the other hand, works in an industry where the reward scales are significantly lower. He sells wine. This is a guy who absolutely loves wine – he loves understanding it, talking about it, helping others increase their knowledge, and of course drinking it.

His level of knowledge and passion for what he does is no less than mine. He spends more time doing his work than I do. And yet his level of reward pales in comparison.

Fairness and equity are big drivers for me. This just doesn’t feel right. Back in my idealised world I imagine a world where people who have passion, drive and achieve results can earn similar salaries, regardless of the industry they work in.  Where the expression “doing something for the love of it” doesn’t imply lower salaries.  And where variable reward programs encourage team and business performance more than individual performance.

Anyone else want to come and work in that world?

OK- I know it’s unrealistic – and there’s the fact that some roles contribute hugely to company success. I know all that…..But I can dream right?

See the Top 100 here.

Google remains at the top for the second year running, although half of the top ten have changed from 2007.

Check out some the unusual benefits being offered by these companies:

• scuba diving certification (Chesapeke Energy – rank 52)
• prayer and meditation rooms (Ebay – rank 68)
• $200 grocery voucher (Methodist Hospital System – rank 10)
• travel subsidy for using public transport instead of own vehicle (Genetech  – rank 5)
• free lunches Mon-Thu (Factset Research – rank 52)
• 20% rental subsidy for living on one of the companies properties (Camden property Trust – rank 50)
• get married in a chapel on the grounds of an Erickson retirement village for free (Erickson Retiremetn Communities – rank 93)
• charity donations matched dollar for dollar up to $60K (EOG Resources – rank 64)
• free bus ride and ticket to Cavalier team baseball games (owned by the CEO of Quicken Loans rank 2)
• tuition reimbursement up to $20K per year (Mitre – rank 42)

To get a flavour of why these companies score so highly, check out this post from an employee. 

These organisations do more than pay lip service to the saying “people are our most important asset”.  They invest heavily in understanding what their employees want, and delivering it. 

As the economy contracts, having your best people working to their best is critical to riding out the storm.

What’s happening in your world – what does your business do to retain people and make them delighted to work for you?

Background to Top 100 – How are companies rated?

Most of the company’s score (two-thirds) is based on the results of a 57-question survey created by the Great Place to Work Institute® - sent to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees from each company. The survey asks questions related to their attitudes about the management’s credibility, job satisfaction and camaraderie. The other third of the scoring is based on the company’s responses to the Institute’s Culture Audit, which includes detailed questions about demographic makeup, and pay and benefit programs, as well as a series of open-ended questions about the company’s management philosophy, methods of internal communications, opportunities, compensation practices, and diversity efforts, etc

Here’s what I’ve found to be critical to maintaining morale and gaining buy-in to a potentially unpopular strategy:

Be upfront and honest about what you tell people

Right from the start we’ve been completely open about what this strategy means. Keeping secrets from employees is the best way to disengage them and reinforce the “management – employee” dichotomy.

Tell people what you know, as soon as you know it.

Even if the news is “bad”, people feel as though they are fully informed if they believe and know you are communicating everything as it happens. In this project, we committed to keeping people informed as soon as any decisions were made, or as soon as the work led us to conclusions. Because of our commitment in Point 1, we even told poeple when we had no news. Again, this reinforced our credibility with the workforce, and helped them believe that we wouldn’t hold back information.

Give line managers the job of communciating to employees 

People prefer to hear things from those they trust and know. In most cases this will be their direct manager and /or the next manager up. The project team is remote, and in some circumstances, can be seen as “the bad guy”.

Always communicate significant stuff in person

Anything that provides informaiton on people’s roles and when/how they will be affected just has to be done in person.  People need to know you place the same significance on this as they do, and that you are making the time and investment to consider them individually, and understand their personal positions.

Frequency of communications

More more more. Use many different channels – but do it often. More than you think you should. And always meet any commitments you make around communicating within specific timeframes.

Support people in understanding their reactions

Validating people’s feelings and reactions is an important component of helping them come to terms with big changes. Providing support that explains how people move through change can help some poeple move faster. Of course, people will move at their own pace, and some may never get past the anger stage. This too, is completely normal and should be expected and planned for.

Get people to participate in the change

If possible, getting people involved can help them feel valued and useful, even though the change may be affecting their own jobs. If you have been a decent employer (or people manager), people will often take pride in working professionally through a difficult time. Alternatively, they may learn a bunch of new skills that could be useful later. 

Acknowledge the difficult environment – and thank people

Ignoring the fact that a change is happening at your preil. You need to spend some time validating how people feel (challenged, unvalued, stressed), and them thanking them for their attitude/efforts or whatever is relevant.

Of course there’s more – a lot more. But if you’re doing these things then I believe your approach to the change is the right one:

• Care about people and what they are going through, and
• Keep them as informed as you are

A recent survey by Talent2 found that 67% of Australians admit to working more than 40 hours on a regular basis, and 45% said they were working harder than they did 2 years ago.

Construction and engineering are the hardest industries hit, followed by property, legal and HR.

Combine this with responses from another survey by Talent2 that found:

Nearly 25% of Australian workers are sick of giving their boss a free ride and would prefer to work on a contract basis, demanding they are paid for the work they do.

If we feel undervalued in or jobs – that we have to work harder and harder but for no additional reward – then the consequences are obvious. People will focus on the financial aspects of their employment, rather than any other benefits that might be on offer.

The whole case for engaging employees rests on fair reward for effort. Take that away and you get a workforce fixated on wage increases and hours worked. You can also kiss goodbye to any efforts to reduce the “us versus them” divide between management and employees.

The message – pay people fairly, especially if you want your pound of flesh – or else ensure people can work to a reasonable number of hours per week (by their standards not yours!).

In his words – ” I just don’t know what they are doing. We seem to have no direction, and I have no confidence that they (management) know how to change things”

I think we’ve all been in this situation. My question is this. How often should you feel like this before you start to think about moving on?  There’s no doubt we all have frustrating days – days when nothing goes right or we feel like we are pushing a heavy load up a steep hill.

I think there’s two things you can do. Well, actually there’s 3 things – but the first one gives you a lousy outcome, so why choose it?

1. Do nothing. Continue to complain and undermine management when they aren’t around. Never say what you think or feel and reinforce the “us versus them” mindset so typical in companies (can you tell – not my preferred option??)
2. Recognise where you head’s at and decide to do something about it. It’s easy to feel hard done by – not as easy to initiate a conversation with your manager about your concerns and voice what’s going on for you. It might  be that your manager(s) haven’t been communicating the reasons for their decisions and actions. They may actually appreciate knowing that they aren’t doing enough in this area, and start to keep the business informed more regularly.  This is a great outcome for all parties.
3. If you have done option 2, but nothing has changed, then you have some thinking to do. If you believe that ultimately this is a short term issue, or that the situation will improve, then staying put is definitely an option. Then again, if you don’t get that feeling, perhaps it’stime to move on to another company which is more aligned with what you want.  Lisa over at Management Craft has something to say about this as well – Check it out on her blog:  So Go Already

Ultimately, we each choose what we take to work each day – and that includes our attitude. So if we decide to stay where we are, then we can choose to adopt a constructive outlook, one which doesn’t sit back passively but becomes an active and positive influence on the culture.