Growing Pains in Small Business

Recognizing and Assessing the Need for Organizational Change

By Eric Flamholtz, Ph.D.

When an organization has not been fully successful in developing the internal systems it needs at a given stage of growth, it begins to experience "growing pains." Growing pains are symptoms that an organization needs to make a transition. This article examines in detail the most common organizational growing pains. It also discusses the degree to which different sizes and types of business experience growing pains based on data collected over the past twenty years.

The Ten Most Common Organizational Growing Pains

As organizations enlarge, they often experience a variety of growing pains that signal that something has gone wrong in the process of organizational development. The ten most common organizational growing pains are listed here:

1. People feel that "there are not enough hours in the day."2. People spend too much time "putting out fires."3. People are not aware of what other people are doing.4. People lack understanding about where the firm is headed.5. There are too few good managers.6. People feel that "I have to do it myself if I want to get it done correctly."7. Most people feel that meetings are a waste of time.8. When plans are made, there is very little follow-up, so things just don't get done.9. Some people feel insecure about their place in the firm.10. The firm continues to grow in sales but not in profits.

Each of these growing pains is described below.

People Feel That "There Are Not Enough Hours in the Day."One of the most common organizational growing pains is the complaint that there is never enough time. Employees feel that they could work twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week, and still not have sufficient time to get everything done. They begin to complain about "overload" and excessive stress. Both individuals and departments feel that they are always trying to catch up but never succeeding. The more work they do, the more there seems to be, resulting in a never-ending cycle. People feel as if they are on a treadmill.

The effects of these feelings can be far reaching. First, employees' belief that they are being needlessly overworked may bring on morale problems. Complaints may increase. Second, employees may begin to experience physical illnesses brought on by excessive stress. These psychological and physical problems may lead to increased absenteeism, which can decrease the

company's productivity. Finally, employees may simply decide that they can no longer operate under these conditions and may leave the organization. This will result in significant turnover costs and replacement costs related to recruiting, selecting, and training new people.

When many employees have the feeling that there is not enough time in the day, usually no one is suffering more from this feeling than the company's founding entrepreneur. The entrepreneur, feeling ultimately responsible for the firm's success, may work sixteen hours a day, seven days a week in an effort to keep the company operating effectively and help it grow. As the organization grows, the entrepreneur begins to notice that he or she can no longer exercise complete control over its functioning. This realization can result in a great deal of personal stress.

People Spend Too Much Time “Putting Out Fires.” A second common growing pain shows itself in excessive time spent dealing with short-term crises—“putting out fires.” This problem usually results from a lack of long-range planning, and, typically, the absence of a strategic plan. Individual employees and the organization as a whole live from day to day, never knowing what to expect. The result may be a loss of organizational productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency.

Examples of the “putting out fires” problem are easy to find. In one company, a lack of planning caused orders to be needlessly rushed, resulting in excessive pressure on employees. Drivers had to be hired on weekends and evenings to deliver orders, some of which were already overdue. In other companies, lack of planning can produce other short-term crises. For example, lack of planning can result in shortages of salespeople. Because of these shortages, a company may be forced to hire new people and put them to work almost immediately, sometimes without adequate training. This, in turn, can contribute to short-term productivity problems because the new people do not possess the skills necessary to be good salespeople.

Fires were so prevalent at one $50 million manufacturing company that managers began to refer to themselves as “fire fighters,” and senior management rewarded middle management for their skill in handling crises. When it became apparent that managers who had been effective in “fire prevention” were being ignored, some of them became “arsonists” to get senior management’s attention.

People Are Not Aware of What Other People Are Doing. Another symptom of organizational growing pains is that many people are increasingly unaware of the exact nature of their jobs and how these jobs relate to those of others. This creates a situation in which people and departments do whatever they want to do and say that the remaining tasks are “not our responsibility.” Constant bickering between people and departments over responsibility may ensue. The organization may become a group of isolated and sometimes waning factions.

These problems typically result from the lack of an organization chart and precise role and responsibility definitions as well as effective team building. Relationships between people and between departments as well as individual responsibilities may be unclear.

The isolation of departments from one another may result in duplication of effort or in tasks that remain incomplete because they are “someone else’s responsibility.” Constant arguments between departments may also occur over territory and organizational resources.

People Lack Understanding About Where the Firm Is Headed. Another typical growing pain is a widespread lack of understanding of where the firm is headed. Employees may complain that “the company has no identity” and either blame upper management for not providing enough information about the company’s future direction or, worse, believe that not even upper management knows what that direction will be. Basically, there has been a communication breakdown. This was one of the critical problems at Wang Laboratories that led to the resignation of Frederick Wang, son of company founder An Wang. It appears that the senior management at Wang failed to develop and/or communicate their strategy for maximizing market opportunities. As a result, salespeople became confused about which market Wang wanted to pursue.

When insufficient communication is combined with rapid changes, as is often the case in growing firms, employees may begin to feel anxious. To relieve this anxiety, they may either create their own networks for obtaining the desired information or come to believe that they know the company’s direction even though management has not actually communicated this information. If anxiety increases to the point where it becomes unbearable, employees may begin leaving the firm. Turnover of this kind can be very costly to a firm.

There Are Too Few Good Managers. Although a firm may have a significant number of people who hold the title of “manager,” it may not have many good managers. Managers may complain that they have responsibility, but no authority. Employees may complain about the lack of direction or feedback that their managers provide. The organization may notice that some of its components have significantly higher or lower productivity than others. It may also be plagued by managers who constantly complain that they do not have time to complete their administrative responsibilities because they are too busy increasing business. When any or all of these events occur, something is wrong with the management function of the organization.

The problem may be that the company has promoted successful “doers” (salespeople, office workers, and so on) to the role of manager, assuming that they will also be successful in this role. These two roles require significantly different skills, however. Thus, without proper training, many “doers” will fail in the manager’s role. Their tendency to continue “doing” will show itself in poor delegation skills and poor coordination of the activities of others. Subordinates may complain that they do not know what they are supposed to do.

Problems like these suggest that the company is not devoting sufficient resources to developing a pool of managerial talent. It may be relying too much on on-the-job training rather than on formal management development programs. For example, during the days of rapid growth at Ashton-Tate, managers multiplied almost as rapidly as rabbits. One manager stated: “I was hired and then escorted to my department. The escort said: ‘Here’s your department. Run it.’” Similarly, rapid growth at Apple Computer led Steven Jobs to bring in “professional managers,” including John Sculley, to help manage the firm, because the company had not developed a cadre of managers as it grew.

Management problems may also result from real or perceived organizational constraints that restrict a manager’s authority. The feeling that only upper management has decision-making responsibility is common in firms making the transition to professional management. It is a relic from the days when the founding entrepreneur made all the firm’s decisions.

People Feel That “I Have to Do It Myself If I Want to Get It Done Correctly.” Increasingly, as people become frustrated by the difficulty of getting things done in an organization, they come to feel that “if I want to get something done correctly, I have to do it myself.” This symptom, like lack of coordination, is caused by a lack of clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and linkages between roles.

As was discussed previously, when roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined, individuals or departments tend to act on their own because they do not know whose responsibility a given task is. They may also do the task themselves to avoid confrontation, since the person or department to whom they are trying to delegate a responsibility may refuse it.

Operating under this philosophy, departments become isolated from one another, and teamwork becomes minimal. Each part of the company “does its own thing” without considering the good of the whole. Communication between management and lower levels of the organization and between departments may be minimal because the organization has no formal system through which information can be channeled.

Most People Feel That Meetings Are a Waste of Time. Recognizing that there is a need for better coordination and communication, the growing organization may begin to hold meetings. Unfortunately, at many firms these meetings are nothing more than discussions between people. They have no planned agendas, and often they have no designated leader. As a consequence, the meetings become a free-for-all, tend to drag on interminably, and seldom result in decisions. People feel frustrated and conclude that “our meetings are a waste of time.”

For example, shortly after John Sculley joined Apple Computer he attended a management meeting at Pajaro Dunes, California, where Apple had many retreats. While Sculley tried to focus on strategic issues, he had relatively little success in controlling the discussion. The traditional operating procedure for this group was for members to say whatever was on their minds, regardless of its factual base or relevance to the particular agenda item. As a result, it was difficult to accomplish the goals of such meetings in an effective manner.

Other complaints about meetings involve lack of follow-up on decisions that are made. Some companies schedule yearly or monthly planning meetings during which goals are set for individual employees, departments, and the company as a whole. These sessions are a waste of time if people ignore the goals that have been set or fail to monitor their progress toward these goals.

A further example of ineffective use of meeting time may appear in the performance appraisal process. In many organizations that are beginning to make the transition to professional management, performance appraisals are merely discussions between supervisor and subordinate. Objective performance goals may not be set or, if set, may not be monitored by

employee or manager. Managers in these firms also tend to avoid providing negative feedback. Without such feedback, employees cannot learn what they need to do to improve performance. Because little real information is exchanged, performance appraisal meetings are a waste of both supervisor’s and subordinate’s time.

When Plans Are Made, There Is Very Little Follow-Up, So Things Just Don’t Get Done. Another sign of an entrepreneurship with growing pains is a lack of follow-up after plans are made. Recognizing that the need for planning is greater than in the past, an entrepreneur may introduce a planning process. People go through the motions of preparing business plans, but the things that were planned just do not get done. In one amazing case, there was no follow-up simply because the plan, after being prepared, merely sat in a drawer for the entire year until the next year’s planning process. When asked about the plan, one senior manager stated: “Oh that. It’s in my desk, I never look at it.”

In some cases there is no follow-up because the company has not yet developed systems adequate to monitor its goals. For example, many firms desire to monitor financial goals but have not developed an accounting system that can provide the information needed to do so.

In other cases, follow-up does not occur because personnel have not received proper training in setting, monitoring, and evaluating goals. They set goals that cannot be achieved or cannot be measured, or they do not know how to evaluate and provide useful feedback on goal achievement. These problems tend to appear most often in the performance appraisal process.

Some People Feel Insecure About Their Place in the Firm. As a consequence of other organizational growing pains, employees begin to feel insecure about their places in the firm. Typically, the entrepreneur has become anxious about problems facing the organization and has therefore hired a “heavyweight” manager from outside. This action may have been accompanied by the termination of one or more current managers. Employees feel anxious partly because they do not understand the reasons for these and other changes. When anxiety becomes too high, it may result in morale problems or excessive turnover.

Employees may also become insecure because they are unable to see the value of their position to the firm. This occurs when roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined and terminations are also occurring. Employees begin to wonder whether they will be the next to “get the axe.” In an attempt to protect themselves, they keep their activities secret and do not “make waves.” This results in isolation and a decrease in teamwork.

Entire departments may come to suffer from the need to remain isolated in order to protect themselves from being eliminated. This can lead to a certain amount of schizophrenia among employees. They begin to ask, “Am I loyal to my department or to the organization at large?”

The Firm Continues to Grow in Sales But Not in Profits. If all the other growing pains are permitted to exist, one final symptom may emerge. In some instances, sales continue to increase while profits remain flat, so that the company is succeeding only in increasing its workload. In the worst cases, sales increase while overall profits actually decline. As you will see in the chapters that follow, companies may begin to lose money without having any idea why. The

business loss can be quite significant, even though sales are up. There are many examples of entrepreneurial companies which have experienced this problem, including Apple Computer, Maxicare, Wang Laboratories, People Express and Osborne Computer.

In a significant number of companies, the decline in profits may be the result of an underlying philosophy that stresses sales. People in such companies may say, “If sales are good, then profit will also be good,” or “Profit will take care of itself.” Profit in these companies is not an explicit goal but merely whatever remains after expenses.

In sales-oriented companies, people often become accustomed to spending whatever they need to in order to make a sale or promote the organization. Organizations may also suffer because of systems that reward employees for achieving sales goals rather than profit goals.

Measuring Organizational Growing Pains

Conclusion

Some people believe that the solution to problems of growth is to avoid growth. Unfortunately, very soon after an organization is founded, it must grow or it will die. Managers can, however, control the rate of growth, but it is unrealistic to try to remain at a given size or stage of development. This means we must learn how to manage growth and the inevitable transitions it requires. Managers of rapidly growing companies of any size or type must learn to recognize organizational growing pains and take steps to alleviate them so that their organizations can continue to operate successfully.

http://entrepreneurs.about.com/cs/beyondstartup/a/uc070903_5.htm

How to Reduce Resistance to ChangeBy Susan M. Heathfield

Resistance to change is a natural reaction when employees are asked, well, to change. Change is uncomfortable and requires new ways of thinking and doing. People have trouble developing a vision of what life will look like on the other side of a change. So, they tend to cling to the known rather than embrace the unknown.

Change produces anxiety and uncertainty. Employees may lose their sense of security. They may prefer the status quo. The range of reactions, when change is introduced, is immense and unpredictable. No employee is left unaffected in most changes. As a result, resistance to change often occurs when change is introduced.

Resistance to change is best viewed as a normal reaction. Even the most cooperative, supportive employees may experience resistance. So, don't introduce change believing that you will experience nothing but resistance or that resistance will be severe. Instead, introduce change

believing that your employees want to cooperate, make the best of each work situation, and that they will fully and enthusiastically support the changes as time goes by.

By your thinking and your approach, you can affect the degree to which resistance to change bogs the change down. You can reduce natural resistance to change by the actions you take and how you involve the employees who will be asked to change.

In a best case scenario, every employee has the opportunity to talk about, provide input to, and impact the change. Rationally, this depends on how big the change is and how many people the change will affect. In a company-wide change effort, for example, the employee input will likely be about how to implement the change at a departmental level, not about whether to make the change in the first place.

These recommendations are made for the millions of managers, supervisors, team leaders, and employees who are asked to change something - or everything - periodically at work. You may or may not have had input into the direction chosen by your executives or your organization. But, as the core doers at work, you are expected to make the changes and deal with any resistance to change that you may experience along the way. You can reduce employee resistance to change by taking these recommended actions.

Manage Resistance to Change

These tips will help you minimize, reduce, and make less painful, the resistance to change that you create as you introduce changes. This is not the definitive guide to managing resistance to change - but implementing these suggestions, will give you a head start.

Own the changes. No matter where the change originated - and change can show up at any point in your organization, even originating with you - you must own the change yourself. It's your responsibility to implement the change. You can only do that effectively, if you step back, take a deep breath, and plan how you will implement the change with the people you influence in your organization.

Get over it. Okay, you've had the opportunity to tell senior managers what you think. You spoke loudly in the focus group. You presented your recommended direction with data and examples to the team. The powers that be or the team leader have chosen a different direction than the one you supported. It's time for the change to move on. Once the decision is made, your agitating time is over. Whether you disagree or not, once the organization, the group, or the team decides to move on - you need to do everything in your power to make the selected direction succeed.

No biased and fractional support allowed. Even if you don't support the direction, once the direction is the direction, you owe it 100% support. Wishy-washy or partial support is

undermining the change effort. If you can't buy into the fact that the chosen direction is where you are going, you can, at least, buy into the fact that it is critical that you support it. Once the direction is chosen, it is your job to make it work. Anything less is disrespectful, undermining, and destructive of the team decision.

Recognize that resistance to change is minimized if you have created a trusting, employee-oriented, supportive work environment prior to the change. If you are considered to be honest, and your employees trust you and feel loyal to you, employees are much more likely te get onboard for the change quickly. So, the efforts you have expended in building this type of relationship will serve you well during change. (They will serve you well at work, in general, but especially during times of stress and change.)

Communicate the change. You undoubtedly have reporting staff, departmental colleagues, and employees to whom you must communicate the change. How you communicate the change to the people you influence has the single most important impact on how much resistance to change will occur. If you wholeheartedly communicate the change, you will win the hearts and minds of the employees.

One of the key factors in reducing resistance to change is to implement change in an environment in which there is wide-spread belief that a change is needed. So, one of your first tasks in effective communication is to build the case for why the change was needed. (If the rationale was not communicated to you, and if you are not clear about it yourself, you will have difficulty convincing others, so consult with your manager, first.)

Specifically inform the employees about what your group can and cannot affect. Spend time discussing how to implement the change and make it work. Answer questions; honestly share your earlier reservations, but state that you are onboard and going to make the change work. Ask the employees to join you in that endeavor because only the team can make the change happen. Stress that you have knowledge, skills, and strengths that will help move the team forward, and so does each of the team members. All are critical.

Help the employees identify what's in it for them to make the change. A good portion of the normal resistance to change disappears when employees are clear about the benefits the change brings to them as individuals. Benefits to the group, the department, and the organization should be stressed, too. But, nothing is more important to an individual employee than to know the positive impact on their own career or job.

Additionally, employees must feel that the time, energy, commitment, and focus necessary to implement the change are compensated equally by the benefits they will attain from making the change. Happier customers, increased sales, a pay raise, saved time and steps, positive notoriety, recognition from the boss, more effective, productive employees, and an exciting new

role or project are examples of ways in which you can help employees feel compensated for the time, energy, focus, change, and challenge that any change requires.

Listen deeply and empathetically to the employees. You can expect that the employees will experience the same range of emotions, thoughts, agreement, and disagreement that you experienced when the change was introduced to you or when you participated in creating the change. Never minimize an employee's response to even the most simple change. You can't know or experience the impact from an individual employee's point of view. Maybe the change seems insignificant to many employees, but the change will seriously impact another employee's favorite task. Hearing the employees out and letting them express their point of view in a non-judgmental environment will reduce resistance to change.

Empower employees to contribute. Control of their own jobs is one of the five key factors in what employees want from work. So, too, this control aspect follows when you seek to minimize resistance to change. Give the employees control over any aspect of the change that they can manage. If you have communicated transparently, you have provided the direction, the rationale, the goals, and the parameters that have been set by your organization. Within that framework, your job is to empower the employees to make the change work. Practice effective delegation and set the critical path points at which you need feedback for the change effort - and get out of the way.

Create an organization-wide feedback and improvement loop. Do these steps mean that the change that was made is the right or optimal change? Not necessarily. You must maintain an open line of communication throughout your organization to make sure that feedback reaches the ears of th employees leading the charge. Changing course or details, continuous improvement, and tweaking is a natural, and expected, part of any organizational change. Most changes are not poured in concrete but there must be a willingness to examine the improvement (plan - do - study - act).

If you implement your change in an organizational environment that is employee-oriented, with transparent communication and a high level of trust, you have a huge advantage. But, even in the most supportive environment, you must understand and respond to the range of human emotions and responses that are elicited during times of intense change.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/resistancetochange/a/how-to-reduce-resistance-to-change.htm

Change, Change, Change: Change Management Lessons From the Field

Change Management Is a Needed Management Skill

By Susan M. Heathfield

Change is possible; the need for change is increasing; change capability is necessary for the organizations that will succeed in the future. So say the respondents to my survey about change management success.

In fact, internal and external consultants, and organization development, training, facilitation and human resources professionals responded in a fairly consistent voice. (The one underrepresented group was line managers--I’ll find ways to tap their ideas in the future.) Change is not going away; change is manageable; organizations can do change well. I looked for patterns and trends in the responses, and provide them here for you.

Successful change management requires:

effective communication,

full and active executive support,

employee involvement,

organizational planning and analysis and

widespread perceived need for the change.

These are the big five when successful change is achieved.

Implementing your change in an organizational environment that is already employee-oriented, with a high level of trust, is a huge plus. Understanding and responding to the range of human emotions during times of intense change, is also cited as critical. All of this may sound straightforward, but your suggestions about how to do each of these successfully are priceless.

This article focuses on the key change management actions recommended by the majority of the change management study participants. A second article provides tips for addressing resistance to change. Another provides “voices from the field" and enables study participants to speak to you with their own words.

Changes Experienced

Change management study participants made their recommendations from their involvement in a broad range of changes. These are too numerous to mention and include downsizing; mergers; department and company reorganizations; implementing every conceivable initiative from the 1980s and 1990s including teams, self-directed work teams, quality, TQM, employee involvement, reengineering, management by objectives and matrix management; new compensation programs; changing work systems because of the Internet; implementing a strategic planning process; implementing new technology and software packages including MRPII and SAP; restructuring jobs; doubling production productivity; relocating facilities; adopting new appraisal processes; and changing work requirements, including doing more with fewer resources.

Change Management Recommendations

Now that you have some context for the changes experienced by the study respondents, these are the factors they experienced that increased their organization’s success with change management. Each participant did not cite all of these; I am highlighting those change management factors most frequently mentioned.

More rigorous studies of change management success and failure are required to assess the impact of each of these actions, but, I believe, the results of my change management survey provide you with great guidance as you embark upon your desired change.

Additionally, each of these factors does not occur separately from the others. They do not occur in a predictable sequence. In other words, portions of “Executive Support and Leadership” are usually happening while “Organization Planning and Analysis” is underway. You will also find overlap across all areas.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons.htm

Harness the Power of an Employee Suggestion Program: Beyond the Suggestion Box

Employee Suggestion Program Musts

By Susan M. Heathfield

The pitfalls of an ill-conceived employee suggestion program are multiple, legendary and most frequently - avoidable. A carefully constructed employee suggestion program, that is launched with organizational commitment, clarity and ongoing communication can positively impact your bottom line and your employee motivation and enthusiasm. An ill-conceived, hastily launched,

undefined employee suggestion program can turn people off and generate ill will, cynicism and misunderstanding.

Does Your Company Need an Employee Suggestion Program?

Before launching an employee suggestion program, consider your corporate culture. Are you currently receiving fresh and thoughtful ideas? Are employee suggestions already percolating to the surface at staff meetings and in casual conversation? If so, maybe more informal methods for cultivating new ideas are warranted rather then a full-blown employee suggestion program.

Perhaps you can schedule departmental brainstorming sessions or generate ideas about particular topics during portions of your weekly staff meeting. You can set a day a month for a luncheon at which every employee is asked to submit at least one idea. You can ask your managers to bring three employee ideas to each manager’s meeting. Creativity serves you well in idea generation.

If not, I’d begin by asking what about your culture is currently stifling ideas? Will these issues continue to exist when you implement an employee suggestion program? If so, your successful employee suggestion program must eliminate or circumvent these road blocks.

I am not traditionally a fan of employee suggestion programs since they are unwieldy, difficult to keep up with, time consuming, can cause more hard feelings than positive outcomes and must be strictly managed.

Elements in a Successful Employee Suggestion Program

I have seen few employee suggestion programs succeed, but the employee suggestion programs that did succeed shared common success elements. You may take a pause at the number of factors I consider significant to the success of an employee suggestion program, but these are factors common to any successful work process that takes employee time and offers the possibility for significant rewards and recognition. If you pursue an employee suggestion program, the following must happen for success.

Appoint a Cross-functional Suggestion Review Team

A cross-functional team must review the suggestions which must be acknowledged within 48 hours. If this team is all managers, or all directors, it can be perceived as out of touch or blocking change. It will, however, have the power to implement the suggestions it receives. If it involves other employees, the process can be time-consuming and perceived to serve self-interests. Senior management agreement and ownership become a second step in the approval process. People on the team must be willing to change and willing to ask “why not” rather than “why”?

Finance, especially, and all other departments must be represented on the suggestion review team. If the managers or directors review suggestions, the review must be part of a regularly scheduled meeting, with suggestions distributed and considered in advance. If the team meets more often than monthly, it becomes more work than people are usually willing to do. Rotate members of this team 4-6 times a year, but not all members at once, if a cross-functional

employee team is your selected suggestion review vehicle. The choice of team members for the suggestion review team should reflect how business is generally accomplished in your culture.

Here are more ideas for designing and administering an effective employee suggestion program - beyond the suggestion box.

The process decided upon for the submission and review of suggestions in the employee suggestion program should be publicly communicated. Share all of the guidelines and especially, the goals that you are trying to accomplish, by starting an employee suggestion program.

Establish Guidelines for Your Employee Suggestion Program

You'll need to set guidelines such as which topics are open to suggestions. These will likely include ideas that affect cost savings, quality, productivity, process improvements, revenue-generation and morale-enhancement.

Otherwise, as a client in Florida discovered when he promised $25 per employee suggestion; he received a series of employee suggestions such as: put an ice cream machine in the lunch room, put a corn popping machine in the lunch room and any employee who meets their daily production numbers should be able to go home no matter the time of day.

An employee suggestion needs to be more than a suggestion. It must provide some detail about how the proposer thinks the suggestion should be implemented. It is easy to dash off an idea, I would require that additional detail accompany the idea – not a full blown action plan - but at least more detail than an idea. Definitely require the “why” and “how” the idea will impact the company, including a cost savings analysis. At the same time, within these parameters, the suggestion process should be simple. I once knew a company that had a three page employee suggestion form whose managers wondered why they didn’t receive any employee suggestions.

Ideas that are integrally connected to a person’s job should not be considered, or should be dealt with differently. At Toyota, millions of suggestions are generated each year. It is my understanding that the reason they have so many employee suggestions is that the employees are closely focused on improving their own jobs. The employee thinks of an improvement idea, shares it with his or her supervisor and then, if warranted, the idea is implemented immediately. There is no time-consuming process or group of managers that must consider most ideas. In this scenario, managers must be able to reward people who come up with ideas that fit the parameters of the program.

More Guidelines for Your Successful Employee Suggestion Program

You need to designate an administrator for the employee suggestion program who will make sure the process moves as promised. A mid-sized Michigan manufacturing firm found itself with a list of over a hundred suggestions that were bogged down in a review committee that kept postponing meetings. What a morale buster for the people who had so hopefully turned those suggestions in for consideration!

The process decided upon should be publicly communicated with all of the guidelines and especially, the goals that you are trying to accomplish, by starting an employee suggestion program. Set guidelines such as the topics open to suggestions: cost savings, quality, productivity, process improvements, revenue-generating ideas and improved employee motivation and positive morale.

A senior manager needs to champion the employee suggestion program and sit on the evaluation committee. This lends credibility to the employee suggestion program and makes suggesters feel important.

Find ten more important "musts" for the successful employee suggestion program.

Here are more ideas for designing and administering an effective employee suggestion program - beyond the suggestion box.

Rewards and Recognition in Your Employee Suggestion Program

The reward for implemented suggestions must be clearly defined on the front end. If the employee suggestion is a cost savings idea, in many employee suggestion programs, the employee receives a percentage of the cost savings: often this award can equal five-twenty percent of the proven cost savings.

When thinking about your employee suggestion program, recognize that cost savings are hard to “prove” if you don’t have good numbers defining the process before the employee suggestion is implemented. So, often the first step in a cost saving suggestion implementation is to “measure” the process to make sure you know how the process is currently performing.

Other, less measurable process ideas need a standard reward designated. Often, the recognition is most important to the employee.

Rewards can include merchandise with the company logo, gift certificates, lunch with a manager of the employee's choice, a quarterly award dinner and points toward purchasing more expensive items from catalogs.

Indeed, given the difficulty of measuring the outcome of many employee suggestions, some companies offer these recognition rewards even when the ideas added to the bottom line substantially. In my experience, this is not as motivating as the employee receiving a portion of the savings realized during a defined time period such as a year.

Feedback in Your Employee Suggestion Program

Make the feedback to people with suggestions private, especially if the idea is rejected. Otherwise, people will be loath to stick their necks out by offering out-of-the-ordinary, and possibly your most fruitful, suggestions. On the other hand, when an employee suggestion is implemented and it results in a reward, I would publicly acknowledge the contribution at a staff

meeting, with the permission of the employee involved. Additionally, you can post the employee suggestion, the names of the employees on the implementation team and the reward given.

Keeping the employee suggestion program participants abreast of the progress of their suggestions in the program is more important than providing the suggester with quick answers. Employees just want to know what is happening with their ideas. In many organizations, suggestions seem to disappear into a dark hole from which they may not emerge for months - guaranteed failure for the employee suggestion program.

A popular approach to suggestion implementation is to include the suggester on any implementation team. This also keeps the suggestions turned in reasonable. At minimum, if a suggestion is accepted, you need to have a timeline for implementation that the suggester is aware of and understands.

More Pointers for Your Successful Employee Suggestion Program

Employee suggestion programs need to emphasize the quality of suggestions rather than the quantity of suggestions. Many programs encourage the opposite, which is one of the reasons people become so easily discouraged with them; they don't supply much bang for the money and time invested.

I do not believe in anonymous employee suggestions. People should be willing to publicly stand behind their ideas. At least, that’s the kind of company culture I hope you are encouraging in your organization.

In fact, Peter Block, one of the most important Organization Development gurus working today, is opposed to any anonymous feedback (from employee surveys and so on) because of the culture anonymous feedback encourages. Will some employees not turn in suggestions? Probably, but ask yourself what kind of company do you want to create? Encourage organizational courage.

Reward not just the employees who submit winning ideas. Reward and recognize the managers and supervisors who have done the best job of both encouraging employee suggestions and getting out of the way of progress.

Consider including customers and suppliers as suggesters, too, especially as your employee suggestion program matures and is successful.

I have seen many suggestion programs implemented in the past thirty years. Most failed because of the failure of the organizations to pay attention to these points.

People tend to start ill-defined, fuzzy programs that fail to define rewards, implementation strategies and communication systems. People, who fail to get timely feedback, stop submitting ideas. If every idea becomes a “why should we” rather than a “why should we not”, people get discouraged quickly. The process becomes a joke. Or, simply ignored. How many empty

suggestion boxes are sitting in companies in America? More than I care to count. Use these suggestions to make sure your employee suggestion program thrives.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/quality/a/suggestion_pro_3.htm

Big 5 in Managing Change

Leadership and Management Success Tips About Change

By Susan M. Heathfield

When you make changes in your organization, certain factors are critically important for successful change. These are factors that will inhibit the adoption of change by employees if you fail to pay attention to them and understand them.

They will constrict your vision and limit the involvement of your key employees who must be involved - intimately - in any effort to change your organization in significant ways. These employees need to feel that they are part of driving any changes that you make. If they don't feel involved, they will not own the changes.

You need your key players to own any changes made. If they don't own the changes, they will not push forward the vision. Ownership is different from being sold on something or being asked to buy in - neither of these approaches gains the support you  need to have employees one hundred percent dedicated to and embracing the changes you  need to make.

These are the big five that you need to embrace when successful change management is achieved.

effective communication, full and active executive support, employee involvement , organizational planning and analysis, and widespread perceived need for the change.

Implementing your change in an organizational environment that is already employee-oriented, with a high level of trust, is a huge plus.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/qt/tips_change_c1.htm

More Change Communication Musts

Communication in Change Management

By Susan M. Heathfield

Here are more tips about how to communicate during change. Develop a written communication plan about the change or changes to ensure that all of the following occur.

Clearly communicate the vision, the mission, and the objectives of the change effort. Help people to understand how these changes will affect them personally. (If you don’t help with this process, people will make up their own stories, usually more negative than the actual truth.)

 

  Recognize that true communication is a “conversation.” It is two-way and real discussion

must result. It cannot be just a presentation.

 

  The change leaders or sponsors need to spend time conversing one-on-one or in small

groups with the people who are expected to make the changes.

 

  Communicate the reasons for the changes in such a way that people clearly understand

the context, the purpose, and the need. Try to build a memorable, conceptual framework. Create a theoretical framework to underpin the change that you can clearly communicate and that employees will “get”.

These tips about communicating change will help you implement the changes you seek.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/qt/tips_change_c5.htm

Employee Commitment to Change

Management Success Tip About How to Gain Employee Commitment to Change

By Susan M. Heathfield

A new manager asked me recently how she should go about getting her staff to buy into some changes she wants to make in the operation of their department. I asked her whether she wanted to spend the time on the front end necessary for earning staff commitment to the changes. Alternatively, I told her that she could spend her time policing the changes on the back end.

Indeed, if staff members reacted too unfavorably, she might even have her ideas sabotaged and / or an open position or two to fill. At the minimum, her staff would experience a lack of motivation and feelings of disgruntlement.

She chose the first path, but not all managers do. You need to recognize that if you want whole-hearted commitment to any change, you must involve staff members. The employees who will be expected to implement the change, must be involved in the creation of the change.

That doesn’t mean that they set the ultimate goal by consensus, but they must be significantly involved in the definition of the picture of what you want to attain on the far side and the details about how to get there.

If you want to foster employee commitment to change, the employees must be involved in designing the changes, implementing the changes, and evaluating the effectiveness of the changes. Employees will never whole-heartedly support a change that they were not involved in creating.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/qt/tips_change_c2.htm

Lead the Team: How to be the Person Others Follow

Leadership Success Secrets

By Susan M. Heathfield

Leaders are hard to find. They exhibit a unique blend of charisma, vision and character traits that attract people to follow them. They exhibit the other nine characteristics around which this article series was developed.

Leaders recognize the need to attract followers. Followership is key to understanding leadership. To follow, people must feel confidence in the direction in which the leader is headed. They are enabled and empowered to do their part in accomplishing the stated objectives.

Further, leaders people follow are accountable and trustworthy. If progress towards accomplishing the goals ceases, the leader takes responsibility to analyze the problem – he

doesn’t search for people to blame. So people can have confidence that their efforts won’t be punished if they take reasonable and responsible risks.

Followers need to believe that, at the end of the journey, they will be recognized and rewarded for their contribution. The leader must help followers answer the question, “What’s in it for me”? Successful leaders are honest about the potential risks inherent in the chosen path. They communicate, not just the overall direction, but any information followers need to successfully and skillfully carry out their responsibilities.

Occasionally, the leader is the person who is in charge, the founder of the business, the CEO, the president or department head. Leadership qualities combined with positional power magnify the ability of an individual to attract the all-important followers. In fact, business owners can count on a certain amount of respect and followership based on their ownership and title. Longevity, too, plays a role in attracting and retaining followers. People who have followed the leader for ten years will continue to follow unless they lose trust in the leader’s direction.

Characteristics of a Successful Leadership Style

Much is written about what makes successful leaders. I will focus on the characteristics, traits and actions that, I believe, are key.

Choose to lead. Be the person others choose to follow. (Current article - you are here.) Provide vision for the future. Provide inspiration. Make other people feel important and appreciated. Live your values. Behave ethically. Set the pace through your expectations and example. Establish an environment of continuous improvement. Provide opportunities for people to grow, both personally and professionally. Care and act with compassion.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/leadership/a/leader_follower.htm

Executive Support and Leadership in Change Management

Leadership Is Key in Change Management

By Susan M. Heathfield

Successful change management requires a large commitment from executives and senior managers, whether the change is occurring in a department or in a complete organization. One recent survey respondent said, “a change effort cannot be optional for senior staff. They must

lead or get out of the way. The new system will ultimately have to stand on its own feet, but every new system needs support and nurture.”

Senior leaders can do the following for successful change management.

Establish a clear vision for the change management process. Paint a picture of where the organization will end up and the anticipated outcomes. Make certain the picture is one of reality and not what people “wish” would occur.

Appoint an executive champion who “owns” the change management process and makes certain other senior managers, as well as other appropriate people in the organization, are involved.

Pay attention to the changes occurring. Ask how things are going. Focus on progress and barriers for change management. One of the worst possible scenarios is to have the leaders ignore the process.

Sponsor portions of the change or the change management process, as an involved participant, to increase active involvement and interaction with other organization members.

If personal or managerial actions or behaviors require change for the changes to take hold in the organization, “model” the new behaviors and actions. (Walk the talk.)

Establish a structure which will support the change. This may take the form of a Steering Committee, Leadership Group, or Guiding Coalition.

Change the measurement, reward, and recognition systems to measure and reward the accomplishment of new expectations.

Solicit and act upon feedback from other members of the organization.

Recognize the human element in the change. People have different needs and different ways of reacting to change. They need time to deal with and adjust to change. (Read Downsizing Survivors for additional information about the impact of change on staff.)

Senior leaders must participate in the training that other organization members attend, but, even more importantly, they must exhibit their “learning” from the sessions, readings, interactions, tapes, books or research.

Be honest and worthy of trust. Treat people with the same respect you expect from them.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_leaders.htm

Planning and Analysis in Change ManagementBy Susan M. Heathfield

While the executive vision and support, clearly communicated, is important, it is not enough. More fundamental approaches to planning and analysis need to occur to encourage effective change management.

Assess the readiness of your organization to participate in the change. Instruments are available to help you assess readiness, as well as qualitative information from internal or external staff and consultants. Answer questions such as these. What is the level of trust within your organization? Do people feel generally positive about their work environment. Do you have a history of open communication? Do you share financial information?

These factors have a tremendous impact on people’s acceptance of and willingness to change. If you can start building this positive and supportive environment prior to the change, you have a great head start on the change implementation.

Turn the change vision into an overall plan and timeline, and plan to practice forgiveness when the timeline encounters barriers. Solicit input to the plan from people who “own” or work on the processes that are changing.

Gather information about and determine ways to communicate the reasons for the changes. These may include the changing economic environment, customer needs and expectations, vendor capabilities, government regulations, population demographics, financial considerations, resource availability and company direction.

Assess each potential impact to organization processes, systems, customers and staff. Assess the risks and have a specific improvement or mitigation plan developed for each risk.

Plan the communication of the change. People have to understand the context, the reasons for the change, the plan and the organization’s clear expectations for their changed roles and responsibilities. Nothing communicates expectations better than improved measurements and rewards and recognition.

Determine the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) of the change for each individual in your organization. Work on how the change will affect each individual directly, and how to make the change fit his or her needs as well as those of the organization.

Some respondents found the development of a theoretical underpinning for the change effective in helping individuals understand the need for change.

Be honest and worthy of trust. Treat people with the same respect you expect from them.

Effective change management can help you successfully implement any change necessary for your future prosperity and profitability.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_planning.htm

Communication in Change Management

Communication Is Key in Change Management

By Susan M. Heathfield

You cannot over-communicate when you are asking your organization to change. Every successful executive, who has led a change management effort, in my experience, makes this statement.

I have never worked with a client organization in which employees were completely happy with communication. Communication is one of the toughest issues in organizations. Effective communication requires four components interworking perfectly for “shared meaning,” my favorite definition of communication.

The individual sending the message must present the message clearly and in detail, and radiate integrity and authenticity.

The person receiving the message must decide to listen, ask questions for clarity, and trust the sender of the message.

The delivery method chosen must suit the circumstances and the needs of both the sender and the receiver.

The content of the message has to resonate and connect, on some level, with the already-held beliefs of the receiver.

With all of this going on in a communication, I think it’s a wonder that organizations ever do it well.

Change management practitioners have provided a broad range of suggestions about how to communicate well during any organizational changes.

Recommendations About Communication for Effective Change Management

Develop a written communication plan to ensure that all of the following occur within your change management process.

Communicate consistently, frequently, and through multiple channels, including speaking, writing, video, training, focus groups, bulletin boards, Intranets, and more about the change.

Communicate all that is known about the changes, as quickly as the information is available. (Make clear that your bias is toward instant communication, so some of the details may change at a later date. Tell people that your other choice is to hold all communication until you are positive about the decisions. This is disastrous in effective change management.

Provide significant amounts of time for people to ask questions, request clarification, and provide input. If you have been part of a scenario in which a leader presented changes, on overhead transparencies, to a large group, and then fled, you know what bad news this is for change integration.

Clearly communicate the vision, the mission, and the objectives of the change management effort. Help people to understand how these changes will affect them personally. (If you don’t help with this process, people will make up their own stories, usually more negative than the truth.)

Recognize that true communication is a “conversation.” It is two-way and real discussion must result. It cannot be just a presentation.

The change leaders or sponsors need to spend time conversing one-on-one or in small groups with the people who are expected to make the changes.

Communicate the reasons for the changes in such a way that people understand the context, the purpose, and the need. Practitioners have called this: “building a memorable, conceptual framework,” and “creating a theoretical framework to underpin the change.”

Provide answers to questions only if you know the answer. Leaders destroy their credibility when they provide incorrect information or appear to stumble or back-peddle, when providing an answer. It is much better to say you don’t know, and that you will try to find out.

Leaders need to listen. Avoid defensiveness, excuse-making, and answers that are given too quickly. Act with thoughtfulness.

Make leaders and change sponsors available, daily when possible, to mingle with others in the workplace.

Hold interactive workshops and forums in which all employees can explore the changes together, while learning more. Use training as a form of interactive communication and as an opportunity for people to safely explore new behaviors and ideas about change and change management. All levels of the organization must participate in the same sessions.

Communication should be proactive. If the rumor mill is already in action, the organization has waited too long to communicate.

Provide opportunities for people to network with each other, both formally and informally, to share ideas about change and change management.

Publicly review the measurements that are in place to chart progress in the change management and change efforts.

Publicize rewards and recognition for positive approaches and accomplishments in the changes and change management. Celebrate each small win publicly.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons2.htm

Build a Mentoring Culture

People Development

By Judith Lindenberger

By Judith Lindenberger*

The people in your organizations train for years and go into debt for college. People work late nights and weekends. People spend the entire day taking phone calls when they’re supposed to be on vacation. And people generate ideas and create the solutions that your organizations need.

People do these things. The people you have working for you today and the people you may hire tomorrow. And, the people who may resign because no one has recognized their abilities.

Yet, clearly, organizations do not do a good enough job developing and promoting their most important resource – their people.

What does it take to develop your people?

It takes more than writing “equal opportunity” into your organization’s mission statement. It takes more than sending someone to a training class. It takes more than hard work on the part of your employees. What development takes is people – from the CEO’s office to the mailroom – people who are willing to listen and to help their colleagues. Development takes coaches; it takes guide; it takes advocates. Development depends on mentors.

Time after time, successful people I talk to say that one of the most important keys to their success is having a mentor. It is hard to make it without a mentor and it takes too much time without a mentor.

But often there is no mentor around when you need one and especially when you face “particular challenges.” What do I mean when I talk about the “particular challenges" that people in organizations face?

Challenges That Need Mentoring

Let me give you a few examples of some challenges we working people all deal with. Imagine that you are facing these situations. How would you react?

First scenario. You’ve been working in a staff job and a line job opens up in another city. It would be a perfect career move for you but the company fills the job without even asking if you’re interested. They don’t ask because they assume your spouse wouldn’t want to leave his or her job to relocate. What would you do?

Or imagine this. You’re in a meeting. It’s your opportunity to shine in front of upper management. You’ve got an important point to make and you start to talk. Someone cuts you off. What would you do?

Or let’s say you make that important point—and no one says a word about it. But five minutes later, a guy at the other end of the table says the same thing you did. This time it’s a brilliant idea, and he gets all the credit. What would you do?

You’re in another meeting — there’s always another meeting - and one of your bosses tells a demeaning joke about the Pope - you are Catholic, and everyone knows it. What would you do?

Or a joke about gays — which you are, and maybe no one knows it. Or a joke about women — which you’re not, but some of your colleagues sitting right next to you are. What would you do?

My point is not so much whether you or I know how to react in each of these situations.

My point is really that we need to recognize that there are people in every organization — whether they’re men or women, minorities, or people who grew up without any business role-models in their lives — who don’t know how to react in these situations.

And it’s our responsibility to teach them.

Organizations are only as successful as the men and women who make them work.

So, if we care about our organizations and our people, we have to share our knowledge of the organizational culture; we have to share our wisdom; we have to mentor.

Mentoring Best Practices

If you want to establish a mentoring culture within your organization, here are some mentoring best practices.

Set organizational goals. Don’t establish a mentoring program just because it is a good business practice. Develop a mentoring program based on solid business goals such as increasing diversity or making your organization a better place to work.

Find out why the talented employees you wanted to keep left you.

McKinsey and Co. asked top people what they look for when deciding which company to join and stay with. The answer: a great company and a great job. Talented employees want exciting challenges and great development opportunities. They leave because they are bored. Mentoring is a key to attracting and retaining talented employees.

Develop people to their fullest potential. In order to develop your people, provide training opportunities, challenging projects and assignments, feedback, coaching and mentoring. In one study with people who had experienced real mentors, half of them said the mentoring experience “changed my life.” Those are powerful words.

Foster mentoring for women and minorities. Ten years ago, when I began a new job, I sat with female colleagues during company presentations, and wondered, “Why are the guys up there and we’re not?” One of my first job assignments was to develop and manage a mentoring program. We included a special group mentoring program for women. Today, many of the

young women I knew ten years ago at that company, have, in fact, climbed onto the stage themselves. Mentoring helped move women into the ranks of vice president, senior vice president and division president.

Point to the money. Losing talented employees and wasting talent costs companies money.

And remember, whatever programs you design; they won’t be effective unless there is commitment from the top. Visible, daily commitment.

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*Judith Lindenberger is a two-time recipient of The Athena Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Principal of The Lindenberger Group, a human resources consulting firm that, among other things, creates award-winning mentoring programs. The Lindenberger Group works with individuals and organizations to increase productivity and to make their work environments more enjoyable. For more information contact them at 609.730.1049, or send email to: info@lindenbergergroup.com.

http://humanresources.about.com/cs/coachingmentoring/a/mentoring.htm

Build Support for Effective Change Management

Use Preparation and Planning to Build Support for Change

By Susan M. Heathfield

Just as you ready your garden for spring planting, an organization adapts to change most successfully when the ground is well prepared in advance. Respondents about change management success, over the years, have spoken about creating a trusting and trustworthy environment in advance of the change.

Successful change management practitioners spoke about change working best in organizations that traditionally value each employee and respect their potential contribution. You described change management and change as easier in organizations that have a norm of frequent, honest communication.

You have also said that change is easier when there is widespread agreement, in the organization, about the need to change. To build this agreement about change and institute effective change management, do the following.

Build Support for Effective Change Management

Provide as much information as possible, to as many employees as possible, about the business. Share financial information, customer feedback, employee satisfaction survey results, industry projections and challenges, and data from processes you measure.

Assuming decisions about needed change are made based on relevant data, an informed workforce will understand and agree with the need for change. (They may not agree on the how and/or what, but you are miles ahead if you have agreement on the why and the whether.)

Create an urgency around the need to change. Project, for your workforce, what will happen if you don’t make the needed changes. Communicate this information honestly and use data whenever it is available. You do have compelling reasons for making the changes? Right?

Spend extra time and energy working with your front line supervisory staff and line managers to ensure that they understand, can communicate about, and support the changes. Their action and communication are critical in molding the opinion of the rest of your workforce.

Align all organizational systems to support needed changes. These include the performance management system, rewards and recognition, disciplinary approaches, compensation, promotions, and hiring. A consistency across all Human Resources systems will support faster change.

Align the informal structures and networks in your organization with the desired changes. If you can tap into the informal communication and political network, you will increase change commitment. (As an example, eat lunch in the lunchroom and discuss the changes informally. Spend extra time communicating the positive aspects of the change to people you know are “key communicators” in your organization.)

Help employees feel as if they are involved in a change management process that is larger than themselves by taking these actions to effectively involve employees in change management.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons5.htm

Change Management Lessons About Employee Involvement

Employee Involvement Is Key in Change Management

By Susan M. Heathfield

A wise person once told me I could never expect one hundred percent support from any individual who was not personally involved in devising a change which had an impact on his work. The wise person was right, and I’m really happy to have known him early in my career.

In any change, especially ones that affect a complete organization, it is impossible to involve every employee in each decision. Respondents to my change management questions over the years suggested, however, that when change works, the organization has gone out of its way to try employee involvement.

Employee Involvement for Effective Change Management

Create a plan for involving as many people as possible, as early as possible, in the change process.

Involve all stakeholders, process owners, and employees who will feel the impact of the changes, as much as possible, in the learning, planning, decisions, and implementation of the change. Often, in change management, a small group of employees learns important information about change and change management. If they fail to share the information with the rest of the employees, the remaining employees will have trouble catching up with the learning curve.

If a small group makes the change management plans, employees affected by the decisions will not have had needed time to analyze, think about, and adjust to the new ideas. If you leave employees behind, at any stage of the process, you open the door in your change management process, for misunderstanding, resistance, and hurt.

Even if employees cannot affect the overall decision about change, involve each employee in meaningful decisions about their work unit and their work.

Build measurement systems into the change process that tell people when they are succeeding or failing. Provide consequences in either case. Employees who are positively working with the change need rewards and recognition. After allowing some time for employees to pass through the predictable stages of change, negative consequences for failure to adopt the changes, are needed.

You cannot allow the nay-sayers to continue on their negative path forever; they sap your

organization of time, energy, and focus, and eventually, affect the morale of the positive many. The key is to know, during your change management process, when to say, enough is enough.

Help employees feel as if they are involved in a change management process that is larger than themselves by taking these actions to effectively involve employees in change management.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons3.htm

Change Management TipsBy Susan M. Heathfield

These change management tips should help you implement changes ranging from implementing ISO9001 to lean manufacturing to total organization transformation.

Deal with people involved in the change process with patience, gentle humor, grace, persistence, pragmatism, respect, understanding, and support.

Take a long and broad view of change, and think about the impact of changes over one, three, and five years.

Continue all of the behaviors and processes discussed in the articles below until change has the opportunity to become anchored in the culture. I am reminded of Dr. W. Edwards Deming's emphasis on constancy of purpose.

Set up changes so that people in you organization experience some early wins.

Recognize that effective change is usually a realignment of the world view, rather than a �program or flavor of the month.

People involved in change will need to recognize that change is risky; change can be scary; change can often entail the real desire and need to slip back into the comfort zone. Effective change requires constant vigilance to resist slipping back into the old, comfortable ways of doing business.

Finally, as much as employees need to celebrate new beginnings, you will need to provide opportunities for employees to mourn the past, to let go of familiar ways of doing work. Even as change is, hopefully, a gain for your organization, it is also always a loss.

People lose coworkers, comfortable work processes, known ways of doing things, communication networks, security and stability, or confidence in their own capability. Recognize their loss, and you will assist people to move more quickly with you into the brave new world.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_tips.htm

Change Management Wisdom

Strategy, Planning, and Communication During Change

By Susan M. Heathfield

As the speed of change continues to increase, change management is a fundamental competency needed by managers, supervisors, Human Resources staff, and organization leaders. To tap your wisdom, my recent survey about change management afforded me the opportunity to consolidate hundreds of years of experience in change management.

I have collected and categorized your lessons learned and shared in my recent change management survey. Your words demonstrate the nuances of change strategy, planning, implementation, and courage much more graphically than any I can offer on my own. Here, in your words, is your best advice about change management.

Change Strategy and Planning

"I don't think that change is difficult to structure or navigate. I think we try to bend the rules; we expect people to embrace the change because we like it or we are paying for it. I have never seen a poorly-structured change succeed or a well-structured one fail. I have seen well-structured changes poorly communicated, with the result being pain on the way to the change; I've also seen badly-structured changes beautifully executed, with the result that no one changes."

"Human behavior is very complex, but I honestly believe that organization change is often overcomplicated by bad execution and lack of clarity and a plan. Change principles are simple (does not mean easy). In my opinion, 70-90% of the successful change efforts I've been involved in have focused very heavily on the basics... Those that failed usually did so not for poor intent or a bad company strategy, but because of bad CHANGE strategy and implementation.

More MBA and other business degree programs should concentrate on Human Performance Improvement and Organization Development (and Design) principles. Better identification and

selection of leaders would also help staff the top ranks of organizations with those who are better emotionally suited to produce change. Successful change management strategies require not only an awareness of human behavior, but also workplace evolutionary trends.

Many consultants only see half the picture and rely on historical evidence of successes. The workplace trends we are seeing do not have historical context, thereby this tactic will eliminate many potential "solutions" that previously may have worked."

"A lot of what I see regarding change, hasn't changed over the years.....it's "repackaged", replicated, improved upon, etc. Basically if you define the objective, train your people (give them the tools), communicate at all levels expectations/WIFM/R&R's), (Note: what's in it for me and rewards and recognition) and reward for success, change (and teams) will be successful."

"A theoretical framework to underpin the change."

"Doing risk assessments early on and having a specific mitigation plan for all the major risks."

"Clarity of mission, vision and objectives for the change effort. Creating an urgency around the need for change."

"Creating and communicating a vision beyond the initial implementation."

"Change should be clearly related to an important, strategic business objective, otherwise management attention will wane. Developing a clear, catchy sound bite that summarizes the behavior change enables people to remember the new behaviors."

Communication During Change

"You can't communicate enough or talk to enough people. Most employees are quite satisfied with the status quo--20-60-20. Focus on the 60% in the middle--not on the 20% that will never buy-in."

"You cannot communicate too much. Have measurable goals so you can track and communicate your progress towards the goals."

"Have meetings at least once a week including all members who will be impacted by or are driving the process together in the same room."

"Build skills in communication such that the real conversations can be held on a regular basis."

"Not trying to answer questions to which we had no answers yet...maintaining credibility."

"Communicating clearly and frequently, especially about measurements, results and consequences."

"Getting the whole organization together can build momentum, create a memorable event, and build peer pressure for the change."

"Every change seems to bring new stuff to do; in today's marketplace, folks have to have the option of dropping or reducing other tasks...we cannot go on adding forever."

Consulting During Change

"Negotiating 'entry' with clients. Having uncovered the people with decision making abilities - and getting their co-operation. Never doggedly following a model of improvement. Focusing heavily on the human side and relationship forming. Working with peoples' enthusiasm as much as possible. Providing change resource - gophers, catalysts, analysts. Concentrating on evaluation so people can see change happening. Focusing on small cycles of change so that it's not a one-big-bang approach."

More? See Consequences and Employee Involvement During Change

Here are additional words of wisdom about change management spoken by participants in my change management survey. The words of my participants demonstrate the nuances of change

management: change strategy, planning, implementation, and courage, much more graphically than any I can offer on my own.

Consequences of Change

"Carry the wounded; help the long term stragglers find another place to work."

"At the same time, and again in scenarios of critical change, do not retain (for too long) any key management personnel who show no signs of willingness to accept change."

"Publicize rewards and recognition for positive approaches and accomplishments, and celebrate each small win publicly."

"Provide positive consequence for change, and negative consequence for not adopting the change. Set up some early wins."

Employee Involvement During Change

"Lao Tzu... the best change is what the people think they did themselves... i.e., high involvement is better so long as it is not overlay cumbersome and doesn't interfere with people being successful in their regular roles."

"I find personally and I believe for most employees that it is critical that they are involved in the process. The level of involvement will depend on the employee--inviting suggestions and feedback, delegating aspects of the process, etc. The process is more successful, I believe, when the employees are bought into the process and see that their input is valued and makes a difference."

"Hold facilitated groups to solicit input after a presentation that focuses attention to a specific area are most effective during the planning stages. I've seen too many loosely organized wide open requests for group input that turn into free-for-all's. These generate frustration and hurt feelings, contributing to further resistance because there was no focused purpose to identify achievement."

Change Management Lessons

"Most of the problems in organizations are fixable through organizational changes (structure, process, culture) and learning (not necessarily the same as training). It's far more rare than we might think that you really need to get someone out of the organization."

"Change is continuous. Change Management is a fad that in many respects may or may not work. It is clearly the measurement of change that organizations are most interested in as they wish to drive and direct it. The workplace evolution of change causes great difficulty as it has appeared to accelerate beyond, in many cases, the human capacity to keep up. This has been referenced for hundreds of years, the fact that generally people are not prepared to embrace any change as quickly as most organizations wish to impose.

It is, in fact, this skill (adaptability, flexibility, resiliency) that is the basis of survival of the fittest, not a new philosophy. The fittest, however, most often not the masses. Finally, it is the imposition of change, in a formal fashion, that causes the greatest change shift in the wrong direction. Change that is assumed, incorporated or aligned with the true motivations of the individual is the change that is most positive and most profound. This is the work that my company strives to achieve, meeting the people where they are...Change by permission, rather than enforcement."

"The key in any change process is to discern the need that is felt both from the organization's perspective and the individual's. Usually change efforts wait until after the last minute when the pain is so high it can no longer be resisted. This leads to massive lay-offs and over reactions. If on the other hand the leadership build a strong reflective process and trust for each other, two things take place.

1. Issues are surfaced before they become overwhelming and a strategy can be developed which all understand or 2. When crises develop the substance is present to pull together and deal with it. Obviously this is not an easy place to live as there is always a temptation to lapse into being so appreciative that you stop paying attention to the realities that may be harsh themselves. Open and honest communications are assumed but don't happen, because of a lack of trust."

"Expect tough times ahead; everyone expects that after the initiation event, it should go smoothly, but the most painful part is yet to come: the transition period. Recognizing this early on in the process will help weather the storms ahead."

"In the government, change interventions generally come from outside pressure. Congress or others might designate a new pay program as something that should be done or a study of an

agency failure makes recommendations. Thus few inside an agency psychologically own the solution so they only talk, not walk the talk. Management underestimates or avoids the personal energy/time required for success. Upper management makes statements, forms task forces, and waits for the change to roll-out. Lower levels do what is forced and wait it out."

Here are additional words of wisdom about change management spoken by participants in my change management survey. The words of my participants demonstrate the nuances of change management: change strategy, planning, implementation, and courage, much more graphically than any I can offer on my own.

Leadership

"A change effort cannot be "optional" for the senior staff. They must lead or get out of the way. The new system will ultimately have to stand on its own feet, but every new system needs support and nurture."

"Change efforts must be coordinated by leadership. When change efforts are frequent and happening simultaneously on several fronts without coordination, the organization fractures. Employees become confused and frustrated (and hence angry) because they are being pulled in conflicting directions."

"Active management support isn't totally necessary, but active management antagonism is likely fatal. (I've been thrown out by a middle manager who said, "If we're going to have change, we're going to drive it ourselves," even after being invited in by first level management to help) ."

"If the structure is not there, the change will fail. Lines of authority and control MUST be respected; you cannot directly change what you do not control. You can influence those in control, but you cannot force them. (2) You probably cannot gauge the size of a change to its targets. What you can assess is the organizational structure and the likelihood that the change, however large or small, will succeed."

"Informal leaders who participate in designing the change effort can sell the effort and deal with objections on a day-to-day basis."

"Just because change is required for organizational survival does not mean that cold-hearted meanness is required. I have experienced these attitudes, words and actions from executives over the years, and it always bleeds through the communication to the organization and undermines the change efforts."

"There's a huge difference in outlook between "its OK to fail" (but it would be far better for you if you did not,) and "you have permission to fail." (We expect you might and want you to get the most out of it.)"

"Unless those seeking change realize that change management requires them to alter their behavior and to develop their own skills, the change will go nowhere for the better."

"Too many companies spend too much time playing with esoteric theories and "techniques du jour" -- instead of just sticking to the basic practices of effective, hands-on management."

"Ensuring or obtaining executive sponsorship and creating what Kotter calls a "guiding coalition."

"Working with and developing a group of informal leaders throughout the organization plus senior management commitment, attention and role modeling."

"Having buy-in from the top and earning it with the front-line supervisors."

Openness to Change

"People who are afforded clarity, honesty, dignity, understanding, and compassion have a greater openness to change."

"Expressing the reasons for change honestly and directly will help people be open to change."

Learning and Training During Change

"Identify all necessary training and provide it. Try to involve the impacted groups upfront. Pilot the change, if possible."

Measurements and Benchmarks During Change

"Managers tend to view events as successful without knowing why---they have no measurements or clear expectations about what the change will produce. Staff see the shortcomings and fewer advances. It's vital for the group to know: How will we know that we have gotten to success?"

"Establish measurement systems around the desired changes and report the results frequently."

"Data defining the gap between current practices and desired practices is useful in establishing credibility."

Here are additional words of wisdom about change management spoken by participants in my change management survey. The words of my participants demonstrate the nuances of change management: change strategy, planning, implementation, and courage, much more graphically than any I can offer on my own.

People Matter Most During Change

"People can become far more than many expect them to become, if they are taken seriously, listened to, and given some help."

"Work on how each person will be affected and how to make that fit their needs as well as the organizations, while broadening participation in the process."

"Belief in the value equality/role differentiation among people in the change."

"Prepare employees for the change. Outline detailed plans and timelines for the change."

"Don't fatigue people with constant small changes. Choose big impact changes that an important segment of your constituents will support immediately. Change for the good of the organization and your customers first, change for profit only second at best, change for yourself last."

"The organization and individuals must be able and willing to learn (as in double-loop, etc.) and take responsibility for themselves."

"The focus is always on helping transform the entire system to make it more what they want it to be."

"Do not assume that the level of enthusiasm will continue, put methods in place that will help sustain that enthusiasm during the long road ahead. Prepare for sabotage, not everyone gets on board and those that don't will sabotage implementation with or without known intent to harm. Capture the opportunities that exist within the times of transition, this is the most creative time for employees and given permission to explore, many wonderful things can result."

"Acknowledge and allow people to go through the stages of change (like Kubler-Ross's stages of dying - denial, anger, etc.). They will anyway, whether or not you accept it. And expecting it allows you to better cope with it, and not overreact to early denial or anger, which ultimately helps the overall change effort."

"Start at the top. Start with each individual. Start where they actually are (not where you want them to be). This means sometimes you start from short term planning and sometimes vision and values and sometimes individual mentoring."

Persistence in Change Management

"You need to continue at the process until the change is anchored in the culture."

"You need to monitor the process through its entire lifecycle."

Sense of Urgency in Change Management

"Urgency does not equal fear. Fear hurts. Urgency helps."

"Keep the momentum up. 2 - 3 weeks without visible activity causes the effort to flounder."

"Anticipate and deal with objections and resistance. Like in a political campaign, if you let them sit, people will assume they are true. Stay flexible. Be willing to modify the process in the face of public opinion and evolving events."

"Set the stage by creating urgency and why the change is important("unfreezing" through communication."

"The best change efforts a) like Socio-Technical Systems Planning -- involve external/environmental, technical and social issues concurrently. Faster is better. If things draw out too long without noticeable results and recognition, folks "wear out" and go back to old ways."

Trust During Change

"Fix the trust thing. Everything else, the vision, values, shared sense of purpose, and purposeful change will all follow, simply because people want them to."

I think I'll end with this trust thing, because I agree with this final comment. If you fix the trust thing, you've removed many of the barriers to positive change. So, fix the trust thing; walk the talk; communicate; tell the truth; involve the people; set goals; help people learn and develop; measure results. We know that these are the foundations, not just for effective change management, but for effective organizations as well. Now, go forth and create them in your organization. As one university HR department decided when given a guiding principle of "Making People Matter," as HR professionals they are, "People Making People Matter...Not Madder."

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_wisdom_4.htm

Change Management Checklist

Use a Change Management Checklist to Guide Your Efforts in Managing Change

By Susan M. Heathfield

Need help with change managment? Change management is a constant in the quickly changing world of organizations. This change management checklist will assist you to approach change in your organization in a systematic manner that will help you effectively implement the change.

When you take the right steps, involve the appropriate people, and tend the potential impacts of change, resistance to change is reduced. These change management steps help your organization make necessary and desired changes.

Let's start with my favorite quote about change: "Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have — and underestimate the value of what they may gain my giving it up." --- Belasco & Stayer. Make sense? Fit your experience? Now, on with our change management checklist.

Change Management Checklist

This change management checklist will guide your change management efforts.

humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change-management-checklist.htm

Change Management Lessons About Employee Involvement

Employee Involvement Is Key in Change Management

By Susan M. Heathfield

A wise person once told me I could never expect one hundred percent support from any individual who was not personally involved in devising a change which had an impact on his work. The wise person was right, and I’m really happy to have known him early in my career.

In any change, especially ones that affect a complete organization, it is impossible to involve every employee in each decision. Respondents to my change management questions over the years suggested, however, that when change works, the organization has gone out of its way to try employee involvement.

Employee Involvement for Effective Change Management

Create a plan for involving as many people as possible, as early as possible, in the change process.

Involve all stakeholders, process owners, and employees who will feel the impact of the changes, as much as possible, in the learning, planning, decisions, and implementation of the change. Often, in change management, a small group of employees learns important information about change and change management. If they fail to share the information with the rest of the employees, the remaining employees will have trouble catching up with the learning curve.

If a small group makes the change management plans, employees affected by the decisions will not have had needed time to analyze, think about, and adjust to the new ideas. If you leave employees behind, at any stage of the process, you open the door in your change management process, for misunderstanding, resistance, and hurt.

Even if employees cannot affect the overall decision about change, involve each employee in meaningful decisions about their work unit and their work.

Build measurement systems into the change process that tell people when they are succeeding or failing. Provide consequences in either case. Employees who are positively working with the change need rewards and recognition. After allowing some time for employees to pass through the predictable stages of change, negative consequences for failure to adopt the changes, are needed.

You cannot allow the nay-sayers to continue on their negative path forever; they sap your organization of time, energy, and focus, and eventually, affect the morale of the positive many. The key is to know, during your change management process, when to say, enough is enough.

Help employees feel as if they are involved in a change management process that is larger than themselves by taking these actions to effectively involve employees in change management.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons3.htm

What Affects Your Ability to Manage Change?

By Susan M. Heathfield

Are you interested in what affects your ability to manage change? It's a constant in today's workplace. Resisting change that your organization introduces makes you appear to be a non-team player. So, it behooves you to become comfortable with managing change.

You won't succeed without the ability to manage change. But, your ability to manage change is affected by these factors.

The amount of change currently occurring in your life affects your change outlook. When you are beset by changes everywhere, it is difficult to hold onto what is not changing. It is also difficult to manage many changes at once.

People have different ways of regarding and reacting to change. Some people have difficulty adjusting to change. Uncertainty is a bad experience. Other employees love change and the challenge that change management inspires. Some people like to initiate change; other employees are much happier with the status quo.

Some employees need to talk about the changes – a lot. Other employees tend to suffer in silence. Some love to complain and others talk and talk and talk, but actually support the change. Others find ways to sabotage changes and undermine your organization’s efforts to move forward.

Employees also have different amounts of experience with change management. The good news? People become better at managing change with experience.

Various employees also have different levels of support in their lives. The amount of support from your spouse, significant other, friends, supervisor, and coworkers has an impact on your ability to manage change.

Finally, the degree to which you feel change weary has an impact on how well you implement change management. Employers who introduce a new program every year, fail to follow up on them, and shift gears regularly can create a work environment in which employees are weary of committing to and pushing change forward.This creates resistance to change that is difficult to overcome.

You can learn and practice effective change management techniques. You will enhance your career and magnify your contribution in your organization. These tips and techniques show you how.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/managing-change/fl/What-Affects-Your-Ability-to-Manage-Change.htm

What Is Change Management?

Employees Need Change Management Skills to Succeed

By Susan M. Heathfield

Change is here to stay. You can't run away from it; you can't make it go away. You can't return to the good old days. You can't continue to do your job as you have always done it. You live in a work world with customers who are increasingly demanding. Technology is changing every aspect of work.

Doing more with less requires redefining staff roles and responsibilities, changing processes and systems, and refining service to customers. The need for your employees to make decisions and act quickly within the parameters of their jobs increases as customer demands and the need for a flexible workplace increase.

In this fast changing environment, change management skills are paramount if you wish to succeed. No matter your job, you must learn to manage change. Whether you love change or hate it, for a successful, fulfilling work life, you must manage change, and even more importantly, you need to take charge of change.

Whether the change is in your personal life and will spill over into your work day or the change is associated with work, your skills in change management will help you navigate the journey.

Change management is the process of helping individuals and your organization transition from the current state to the desired state. It involves tools, skills and best practices in areas that include:

Executive leadership and support Communication Employee Involvement Planning and analysis Building support through effective preparation Addressing factors that will create resistance to change

The goals of any change management process include reducing the distraction that the organization experiences while it moves from the current state to the desired state.

Distractions include employees over-reacting and resisting change, changing daily priorities, changing company direction or vision that affects the goals and strategies of employees, and spending planning time on lower priority items.

A change management process can be organization wide and involve every employee or it can be more narrowly focused on a department, a work group, or an individual. The more people who are involved, the more time, energy, and commitment are needed.

Types of Change to Manage

Changes to manage are infinite currently. Some are whole organization change initiatives. Others are closer to home: departmental changes and personal changes. As a consequence, you may be experiencing the need to manage change in areas such as these.

Changing mission or vision based on markets changing.

Changing customer needs, requirements, and expectations based on available competitor products and approach.

Changing employee needs based on generational differences, new employment laws, competitor best practices, and changing employee needs and expectations from work.

Your department head was replaced by a new boss and his priorities are different than those of the former boss.

You've been promoted and must learn a whole new job.

The person who shares your office has moved to another department and you have a new roommate to get to know.

Your child care provider is moving out of state.

Your children's school moves to a year round schedule necessitating changes every few months.

Notice that the range of changes affecting you is wide. All of them require that you know how to effectively manage change even if you don't immediately regard changes as something you must manage.

You can learn and practice effective change management techniques. You will enhance your career and magnify your contribution in your organization. These tips and techniques show you how. See what has an effect on your ability to navigate change successfully.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/managing-change/g/what-is-change-management.htm

Employee Readiness for Change

Have You Considered Whether Your Employees Believe in the Change?

By Susan M. Heathfield

Are your employees ready to change? Employees are more apt to support change if they are ready to make changes. This means that they believe in the changes, have the time and energy to invest in the changes, and your organization is ready to support the changes.

Recently, a CEO sent an email asking about how his executive staff felt about starting a continuous improvement process using work teams. The immediate response from several who have real world experience, was that the organization was not ready for such a process. They’re right. The company is making the transition from tactical to strategic and that is taking up all of the available energy.

You can assess the readiness of your organization to participate in change, too. Instruments are available to help you assess readiness, as well as qualitative information from internal or external staff and consultants. Answer questions such as these. What is the level of trust within your organization? Do people feel generally positive about their work environment. Do you have a history of open communication? Do you share financial information?

These factors have a tremendous impact on people’s acceptance of and willingness to change. If you can start building this positive and supportive environment prior to the change, you have a great head start on the change implementation.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/qt/tips_change_c3.htm

Planning and Analysis in Change ManagementBy Susan M. Heathfield

While the executive vision and support, clearly communicated, is important, it is not enough. More fundamental approaches to planning and analysis need to occur to encourage effective change management.

Assess the readiness of your organization to participate in the change. Instruments are available to help you assess readiness, as well as qualitative information from internal or external staff and consultants. Answer questions such as these. What is the level of trust within your organization? Do people feel generally positive about their work environment. Do you have a history of open communication? Do you share financial information?

These factors have a tremendous impact on people’s acceptance of and willingness to change. If you can start building this positive and supportive environment prior to the change, you have a great head start on the change implementation.

Turn the change vision into an overall plan and timeline, and plan to practice forgiveness when the timeline encounters barriers. Solicit input to the plan from people who “own” or work on the processes that are changing.

Gather information about and determine ways to communicate the reasons for the changes. These may include the changing economic environment, customer needs and expectations, vendor capabilities, government regulations, population demographics, financial considerations, resource availability and company direction.

Assess each potential impact to organization processes, systems, customers and staff. Assess the risks and have a specific improvement or mitigation plan developed for each risk.

Plan the communication of the change. People have to understand the context, the reasons for the change, the plan and the organization’s clear expectations for their

changed roles and responsibilities. Nothing communicates expectations better than improved measurements and rewards and recognition.

Determine the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) of the change for each individual in your organization. Work on how the change will affect each individual directly, and how to make the change fit his or her needs as well as those of the organization.

Some respondents found the development of a theoretical underpinning for the change effective in helping individuals understand the need for change.

Be honest and worthy of trust. Treat people with the same respect you expect from them.

Effective change management can help you successfully implement any change necessary for your future prosperity and profitability.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_planning.htm

Resistance to Change DefinitionBy Susan M. Heathfield

Definition:

What is resistance to change in your workplace and how does it manifest itself? Resistance to change is the act of opposing or struggling with modifications or transformations that alter the status quo in the workplace.

Managing resistance to change is challenging. Resistance to change can be covert or overt, organized or individual. Employees can realize that they don't like or want a change and resist publicly and verbally. Or, they can just feel uncomfortable and resist, sometimes unknowingly, through the actions they take, the words they use to describe the change, and the stories and conversations they share in the workplace.

However resistance to change happens, it threatens the success of your venture. Resistance affects the speed at which an innovation is adopted. It affects the feelings and opinions of employees at all stages of the adoption process. It affects productivity, quality, and relationships.

Spotting Resistance to Change

How do you spot resistance to change? Listen to the gossip and observe the actions of your employees. Note whether employees are missing meetings related to the change. Late assignments, forgotten commitments, and absenteeism can all be signs of resistance to change. Something as simple as listening to how employees talk about the change in meetings and hall conversations can tell you a lot about resistance.

Some employees will publicly challenge the change, the need for the change, or how the change is unfolding. The more powerful the resisting employee, in terms of job title, position, and longevity, the more success he or she will have with resistance. Less well-positioned employees may resist collectively through organizations such as a union.

Resistance to change appears in action such as verbal criticism, nitpicking details, failure to adopt, snide comments, sarcastic remarks, missed meetings, failed commitments, interminable arguments, lack of support verbally, and outright sabotage.

Resistance to change can intensify if employees feel that they have been involved in a series of changes that have had insufficient support to gain the anticipated results. They become change weary when this year's flavor of the month is quality. Last year's was continuous improvement and employee involvement and teams. This year it's a focus on serving internal customers and three years ago, employees were asked to adopt a new management structure.

Resistance is intensified because, not only do you need to gain support for the current change, which employees may or may not see in their best interests, you need to justify the former change and the need to change - again.

Minimize Resistance to Change

In an organization that has a culture of trust; transparent communication; involved, engaged employees; and positive interpersonal relationships, resistance to change is easy to see - and also much less likely to occur. Employees feel free to tell their boss what they think and to have open exchanges with managers.

When a change is introduced in this environment, with a lot of discussion and employee involvement, resistance to change is minimized. Resistance is also minimized if there is a wide-spread belief that a change is needed. Find out more about how to reduce employee resistance to change.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryr/g/Resistance-To-Change-Definition.htm

How to Add Value in Continuing Strategic Change

Managing Polarities

By Robert W. Jacobs, Barry Johnson, Frank McKeown

Do you live with any of these seemingly no-win balancing acts?

Employee interests and company interests Be the voice of the employee and interpret and enforce company policy Advocate for employees and advocate for management Educate and regulate Employee development and organization development Competitive employee compensation and competitive organization bottom line Focus on relationships and focus on task Training for the job and doing the job Employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction

In this downsized, outsourced world with resources stretched thin and performance expectations high, the Human Resources (HR) function must exert leadership to prove its worth as a business partner and show that it can provide incalculable value to the organization.

Paradoxically, this requires HR to act as both stabilizer and champion in the midst of the storms of change. The rest of the organization looks to HR to provide needed structures, processes and approaches to support change management. And, most importantly, to see that change management efforts deliver enduring results.

How HR Can Deliver Change Management ResultsHR can deliver these impressive results through a powerful combination of two new paradigms, a principle-based approach to change which simultaneously promotes stability and the management of the organization's embedded polarities.

Adopting this combined approach will enable HR to:

accelerate the pace of sustainable change, increase commitment to needed changes, and develop greater capacity for future change in the organization.

At the same time, this dual approach will provide increased stability needed in the midst of the change management process.

New Paradigm #1 - Managing Polarities in Change Management"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order." --Alfred North Whitehead, Mathematician, Logician and Philosopher

Increasingly, an organization's ability to respond and adapt quickly while providing increased stability in the midst of change is a great leverage point for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. But this is not about predicting or riding trends; change needs to be a lot more than that. Organizations can get caught in pendulum swings from one trend to another. Sometimes Human Resources professionals are responsible for flavor-of-the-month initiatives; other times they may be trapped by flawed strategies advanced by senior executives. Common examples of these traps include the following.

Cultural shifts: such as from directive to participative management styles, or from hierarchical to team based management and decision-making

Structural shifts: such as from more centralized to more decentralized operations (and back again!), or from downsizing to rehiring

Strategic shifts in focus: such as from quality improvement to cost cutting or from product focus to customer focus.

Many change efforts follow a predictable pattern likely to lead organizations down paths filled with frustration, resistance, and ultimately preservation of the status quo. After compelling arguments are developed as to why change is needed, a plan for getting from where you are now � to where you want to be is viewed as the solution, with implementing the strategy seen as the last step. However, if your vision of the future - the where you want to be - is a shift from one pole of a polarity to the other, your efforts are guaranteed to generate amazing resistance.

On the next page, read about the resistance to and application of strategic change.

Polarities are interdependent opposites that need each other for sustainable success over time. Examples of polarities include:

directive vs. participative culture, centralized vs. decentralized operations, quality focus vs. cost focus, company good vs. employee good

Polarities, unlike problems, can’t be solved – they can only be managed. For example, a corporate decision to merge or not merge is a problem to solve. However, there are underlying polarities that will affect the success of a merger if that is the decision taken.

One polarity to manage is tapping the strengths of both cultures while avoiding the negative aspects of either. A second is paying attention to what’s good for the merged company versus what is good for employees caught in the transition. HR should play a critical role in managing polarities such as these to best support and impact corporate decisions.

How to Manage Employee ResistanceWhen in your efforts to implement strategies and plans you experience resistance, the most popular assumption is that you have a communication problem and the need is for greater clarity regarding the vision or change management strategy. Perhaps you have not defined the problem in dramatic enough

terms, built a hot enough fire for the platform. Maybe you assume that you have not been clear enough about the vision, or that that the strategy doesn’t go into enough detail.

However when dealing with polarities, the clearer the communication, the greater the resistance generated. Some people, seen as resisters, are unwilling to sacrifice the benefits of current ways of doing business and only too clearly see the downside of the proposed strategy.

It’s not that people don’t understand your interests – it’s that every time you try explaining them again, you confirm that you don’t understand theirs. And paradoxically, what you thought was your best solution becomes your greatest problem.

Employee Resistance case StudyHere’s an example: A global oil company was committed to redesigning its entire assessment process to better assess and reward managers for promoting a culture that supported diversity. Two key new measures in the assessment were that:

the manager demonstrate flexibility in working with people different from him/herself, and the manager show respect toward those people.

At face value, these appear to be solid diversity-related criteria. However, the solution was met with resistance from some managers who were willing to be politically incorrect. They wanted to make sure that they could still be directive and clear when warranted, and were afraid that everything would become participative and flexible in deference to diversity.

They were concerned that too much flexibility was going to lead to inconsistencies and unclear direction in the company. Finally they worried that it would be unacceptable to address poor performance as this would be interpreted as lack of respect for diversity.

The polarities at play in this situation are:

direction and participation, clear and flexible, and conditional and unconditional respect.

The paradoxical nature of polarities means that over-focusing on one pole will eventually result in experiencing the downside of that same pole.

Over-focusing on participation, especially to the neglect of direction, results in slow decision-making and unclear roles.

Over-focusing on direction, especially to the neglect of participation, leads to limited options and low levels of ownership for decisions made.

Effective management means achieving more of the positive dimensions of direction and participation, while minimizing their negative aspects. Similarly, over-emphasizing decentralization to the exclusion of centralization leads to inefficiencies and lack of integration.

Highlighting quality targets "at any cost" can price you right out of your market. What Polarity Management provides is tools for recognizing, understanding and managing these complexities all the way from company strategy level right through to dealing with daily line issues.

Next, read about real-time strategic change management principles.

Managing polarities, as well as solving problems, is a key to effective organizational change. Real Time Strategic Change (RTSC) is a principle-based approach to achieving rapid, sustainable, organization-wide change that also helps manage polarities.

'Rapid' means thinking and acting as if the future were now. 'Sustainable' means that an organization is able to adapt and continue to be successful as new realities emerge over time.

The stability and consistency of the RTSC principles provide a solid platform and a blueprint for an organization’s change journey. Each of the six RTSC principles supports organizations in better understanding the nature of key polarities involved in any change management effort, and how to manage them effectively.

Principle-based Real Time Strategic ChangeLet’s see how the RTSC principles support the oil company, from the case study on page 2, in managing the multiple polarities inherent in its move to a culture of diversity and redesigning its assessment process to reflect that shift.

Real Time: This principle challenges people to think and act as if the future were now. The oil company could benefit from early warning signals from the team redesigning the assessment process.

By adopting desired ways of working as they were developing the improved assessment approach (i.e., being flexible and respectful with people who were different), the team’s own work could become an early prototype for the emerging culture. And if over-focused on a particular pole, they likely would realize that the plans they were developing would be as out of balance for the company’s managers as they were for themselves.

Preferred Future: This principle reminds people to pay attention to bringing the best of the past and present with them while at the same time they build the future they desire. The "politically incorrect" managers, who raised objections to the new performance assessment process, are actually calling attention to traditional strengths of the organization: clear direction setting and a performance-based culture.

Going beyond the Burning Platform – Vision trap, this principle focuses the oil company on a compelling future for the entire organization – engaging those who care for each side of the key polarities identified above.

Creating Community: This principle encourages people to join together as strong individuals while at the same time becoming a strong community, and vice versa. A key question related to this principle is: "What kind of community do we want and need to be?" In the oil company

story, members of the organization deserve a basic level of respect; however, earned respect via individual competence and ongoing personal development are also required for the organization to continue thriving.

Common Understanding: This principle ensures that informed decisions are made through inviting diverse viewpoints while at the same time establishing a larger collective organizational intelligence. The minority viewpoints expressed in opposition to the new assessment process in the oil company highlight the importance of exploring the implications of potential actions from multiple perspectives.

Paradoxically, raising diverse viewpoints – and encouraging these supposedly opposite voices – proves to be the best path to developing an informed assessment process.

Reality is a Key Driver: This principle guides decisions and actions through people focusing in on specific issues and opportunities that provide significant leverage for change. They simultaneously scan for relevant information amidst the complex, wide-ranging, and often messy realities of change.

Focusing in on the reality of not fully tapping the potential of its diverse workforce is the catalyst for the oil company’s decision on a new culture and the redesign of the manager assessment process. The team’s staying open to new realities, different from their own, during the redesign leads to a better assessment process, with greater ownership from all managers.

Empowerment/Inclusion: This principle focuses on empowering individuals and teams through inclusion and delegation while clearly defining where power will be retained where it currently resides. In the oil company story, including people who are directly impacted by decisions regarding the new assessment process is the insurance policy needed to ensure the final product’s quality.

This level of inclusion is empowering to people representing opposite poles, and leads to support for and ownership of both the desired culture and the redesigned assessment process by a critical mass of managers.

On the next page, read about real time strategic change.

Applying a Combined Polarity Management - Real Time Strategic Change Management (PM/RTSC Approach)What might it look like to apply this integrated approach in your organization? Let’s revisit the oil company story, from page 2, this time by describing what the PM/RTSC delivers:

Work with a representative cross-section of key stakeholders (e.g., managers, employees, senior executives and other HR professionals) to plan the changes needed to embed the new culture and implement an effective assessment process.

Diversity in team composition makes it easier to manage key polarities. This microcosm group knows what will and won’t work for the larger organization, so you’re planning with a real-time focus group throughout.

The new diversity culture starts to become a way of doing business as the team, not only plans to create the desired diversity culture in the future, but begins to implement it in their work with each other and the larger organization – here and now.

People developing the new system integrate it into their daily work outside of their microcosm team responsibilities. Process improvements are identified by many and channeled back to the redesign group to integrate these new ideas.

A critical mass of key stakeholders (ranging from 20 to 2,000) think through intended and unintended consequences of proposed changes, the upsides and downsides of opposite poles. They roll up their sleeves in real or virtual large group working sessions planned by the representative microcosm team.

This broad-based employee involvement improves the definition of the diversity culture and their commitment to its successful implementation. It also builds ownership in the new assessment process while also paving the way for accelerated implementation.

Managers recognize the new culture and the new assessment approach as their own work, shifting it from something imposed to something chosen. With this shift comes sustainable change, as people make these choices the way they do business, instead of relegating this effort to another "binder on the shelf."

Finally, as a bonus and by-product of this integrated PM/RTSC approach to change, individuals and the organization develop a growing capability and capacity to handle future change. Such a competency is arguably one of the few sources of distinctive competitive advantage as organizations head full speed into the future.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/value_change_4.htm

Motivating Your Staff in a Time of Change

Want to Know What's Most Important About Motivating Employees?

By Business: The Ultimate Resource

In today's turbulent, often chaotic, environment, commercial success depends on employees using their full talents. Yet in spite of the myriad of available theories and practices, managers often view motivation as something of a mystery. In part this is because individuals are motivated by different things and in different ways.

In addition, these are times when delayering and the flattening of hierarchies can create insecurity and lower staff morale. Moreover, more staff than ever before are working part time or on limited-term contracts, and these employees are often especially hard to motivate.

Definition of Employee MotivationTwyla Dell writes of motivating employees, "The heart of motivation is to give people what they really want most from work. The more you are able to provide what they want, the more you should expect what you really want, namely: productivity, quality, and service." (An Honest Day's Work (1988))

Advantages of Employee MotivationA positive motivation philosophy and practice should improve productivity, quality, and service. Motivation helps people:

achieve goals;

gain a positive perspective;

create the power to change;

build self-esteem and capability,

manage their own development and help others with theirs.

Disadvantages of Motivating Staff

There are no real disadvantages to successfully motivating employees, but there are many barriers to overcome.

Barriers may include unaware or absent managers, inadequate buildings, outdated equipment, and entrenched attitudes, for example:

"We don't get paid extra to work harder."

"We've always done it this way."

"Our bosses don't have a clue about what we do."

"It doesn't say that in my job description."

"I'm going to do as little as possible without getting fired."

 

Such views will take persuasion, perseverance, and the proof of experience to break down.

How do you motivate your employees? The Action Checklist for Motivating Employees is designed for managers with responsibilities for managing, motivating, and developing staff at a time when organizational structures and processes are undergoing continual change and can help your organization.

Employee Motivation Action ChecklistThis checklist is designed for managers with responsibilities for managing, motivating, and developing staff at a time when organizational structures and processes are undergoing continual change.

1. Read the GurusFamiliarize yourself with Herzberg's hygiene theory, McGregor's X and Y theories and Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Although these theories date back some years, they are still valid today. Consult a digest to gain a basic understanding of their main principles; it will be invaluable for building a climate of honesty, openness, and trust.

2. What Motivates You?Determine which factors are important to you in your working life and how they interact. What has motivated you and demotivated you in the past?

Understand the differences between real, longer-term motivators and short-term spurs.

3. Find Out What Your People Want From WorkPeople may want more status, higher pay, better working conditions, and flexible benefits. But find out what really motivates your employees by asking them in performance appraisals, attitude surveys, and informal conversations what they want most from their jobs.

Do people want, for example:

more interesting work?

more efficient bosses?

more opportunity to see the end result of their work?

greater participation?

greater recognition?

greater challenge?

more opportunities for development?

4. Walk the JobEvery day, find someone doing something well and tell the person so. Make sure the interest you show is genuine without going overboard or appearing to watch over people's shoulders. If you have ideas as to how employees' work could be improved, don't shout them out, but help them to find their way instead. Earn respect by setting an example; it is not necessary to be able do everything better than your staff. Make it clear what levels of support employees can expect.

5. Remove DemotivatorsIdentify factors that demotivate staff - they may be physical (buildings, equipment) or psychological (boredom, unfairness, barriers to promotion, lack of recognition). Some of them can be dealt with quickly and easily; others require more planning and time to work through. The fact that you are concerned to find out what is wrong and do something about it is in itself a motivator.

6. Demonstrate SupportWhether your working culture is one that clamps down on mistakes and penalizes error or a more tolerant one that espouses mistakes as learning opportunities, your staff need to understand the kind and levels of support they can expect. Motivation practice and relationship building often falter because staff do not feel they are receiving adequate support.

7. Be Wary of Cash IncentivesMany people say they are working for money and claim in conversation that their fringe benefits are an incentive. But money actually comes low down in the list of motivators, and it doesn't motivate for long after a raise. Fringe benefits can be effective in attracting new employees, but benefits rarely motivate existing employees to use their potential more effectively.

8. Decide on an ActionHaving listened to staff, take steps to alter your organization's policies and attitudes, consulting fully with staff and unions. Consider policies that affect flexible work, reward, promotion, training and development, and participation.

Read more of the Action Checklist for Motivating Employees.

9. Manage ChangeAdopting policies is one thing, implementing them is another. If poor motivation is entrenched, you may need to look at the organization's whole style of management. One of the most natural of human instincts is to resist change even when it is designed to be beneficial. The way change is introduced has its own power to motivate or demotivate, and can often be the key to success or failure. If you:

 

tell - instruct or deliver a monologue - you are ignoring your staff's hopes, fears, and expectations;

tell and sell - try to persuade people - even your most compelling reasons will not hold sway over the long term if you don't allow discussion;

consult - it will be obvious if you have made up your mind beforehand;

look for real participation - sharing the problem solving and decision making with those who are to implement change - you can begin to expect commitment and ownership along with the adaptation and compromise that will occur naturally.

 

10.Understand Learning PreferencesChange involves learning. In their Manual of Learning Styles (1992), Peter Honey and Alan Mumford distinguish four basic styles of learning:

 

activists: like to get involved in new experiences, problems, or opportunities. They're not too happy sitting back, observing, and being impartial;

theorists: are comfortable with concepts and theory. They don't like being thrown in at the deep end without apparent purpose or reason;

reflectors: like to take their time and think things through. They don't like being pressured into rushing from one thing to another;

pragmatists: need a link between the subject matter and the job in hand. They learn best when they can test things out.

As each of us learns with different styles, preferences, and approaches, your people will respond best to stimuli and suggestions that take account of the way they do things best.

11. Provide FeedbackFeedback is one of the most valuable elements in the motivation cycle. Don't keep staff guessing how their development, progress, and accomplishments are shaping up. Offer comments with accuracy and care, keeping in mind next steps or future targets.

 

More Tips: Dos and Don'ts For Motivating Your Staff in a Time of ChangeDo:

Recognize that you don't have all the answers.

Take time to find out what makes others tick and show genuine caring.

Lead, encourage, and guide staff - don't force them.

Tell your staff what you think.

 

Don't:

Don't make assumptions about what drives others.

Don't assume others are like you.

Don't force people into things that are supposedly good for them.

Don't neglect the need for inspiration.

Don't delegate work -- delegate responsibility.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/motivationsucces3/a/motivatestaff_3.htm

Managing Change: Managing People's Fear

Change is natural and good. Reaction to change is unpredictable, but manageable.

By F. John Reh

Managing change means managing people's fear. Change is natural and good, but people's reaction to change is unpredictable and irrational. It can be managed if done right.

ChangeNothing is as upsetting to your people as change. Nothing has greater potential to cause failures, loss of production, or falling quality. Yet nothing is as important to the survival of your organization as change. History is full of examples of organizations that failed to change and that are now extinct. The secret to successfully managing change, from the perspective of the employees, is definition and understanding.

Resistance to change comes from a fear of the unknown or an expectation of loss. The front-end of an individual's resistance to change is how they perceive the change. The back-end is how well they are equipped to deal with the change they expect.

An individual's degree of resistance to change is determined by whether they perceive the change as good or bad, and how severe they expect the impact of the change to be on them. Their ultimate acceptance of the change is a function of how much resistance the person has and the quality of their coping skills and their support system.

Your job as a leader is to address their resistance from both ends to help the individual reduce it to a minimal, manageable level. Your job is not to bulldoze their resistance so you can move ahead.

Perception Does MatterIf you move an employee's desk six inches, they may not notice or care. Yet if the reason you moved it those six inches was to fit in another worker in an adjacent desk, there may be high resistance to the change. It depends on whether the original employee feels the hiring of an additional employee is a threat to his job, or perceives the hiring as bringing in some needed assistance.

A promotion is usually considered a good change. However an employee who doubts their ability to handle the new job may strongly resist the promotion. They will give you all kinds of reasons for not wanting the promotion, just not the real one.

You might expect a higher-level employee to be less concerned about being laid off, because they have savings and investments to support them during a job search. However, the individual may feel they are over extended and that a job search will be long and complicated. Conversely, your concern for a low-income employee being laid off may be unfounded if they have stashed a nest egg in anticipation of the cut.

Your best salesperson may balk at taking on new, high potential account because they have an irrational feeling that they don't dress well enough.

If you try and bulldoze this resistance, you will fail. The employee whose desk you had to move will develop production problems. The top worker who keeps declining the promotion may quit rather than have to continue making up excuses for turning you down. And the top salesperson's sales may drop to the point that you stop considering them for the new account. Instead, you overcome the resistance by defining the change and by getting mutual understanding.

DefinitionOn the front end, you need to define the change for the employee in as much detail and as early as you can. Provide updates as things develop and become more clear. In the case of the desk that has to be moved, tell the employee what's going on. "We need to bring in more workers. Our sales have increased by 40% and we can't meet that demand, even with lots of overtime. To make room for them, we'll have to rearrange things a little." You could even ask the employees how they think the space should be rearranged. You don't have to accept their suggestions, but it's a start toward understanding.

Definition is a two-way street. In addition to defining the problem, you need to get the employees to define the reasons behind their resistance.

UnderstandingUnderstanding is also a two-way street. You want people to understand what is changing and why. You also need to understand their reluctance.

You have to help your people understand. They want to know what the change will be and when it will happen, but they also want to know why. Why is it happening now? Why can't things stay like they have always been? Why is it happening to me?

It is also important that they understand what is not changing. Not only does this give them one less thing to stress about, it also gives them an anchor, something to hold on to as they face the winds of uncertainty and change.

You need to understand their specific fears. What are they concerned about? How strongly do they feel about it? Do they perceive it as a good or a bad thing?

Manage This IssueDon't try to rationalize things. Don't waste time wishing people were more predictable. Instead, focus on opening and maintaining clear channels of communication with your employees so they understand what is coming and what it means to them. They will appreciate you for it and will be more productive both before and after the change.

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http://management.about.com/cs/people/a/MngChng092302.htm

Dissatisfaction Causes ChangeBy F. John Reh

Have you ever wondered why the employees who rate themselves “most satisfied” at work are the one that their peers label as the least productive? Why is it that the slackers most frequently say that their company is a great place to work and that everyone there does an equally good job?

According to Martha C. White in a Life Inc. article Want to be happier at work? Try goofing off the slackers are the happiest at work because 1) you are doing their job for them and 2) if they don’t know exactly what 100 percent looks like and how that translates into performance they can’t really tell how close they are to that standard. As I thought about that, and about what managers can do to break that cycle and lead their teams to greater productivity, I recognized that the underlying issue is satisfaction. The slackers are very satisfied with their situation at work. The other employees who are having to cover the slacker’s workload are dissatisfied. The slackers won’t change until they have reason to be dissatisfied at work, like maybe their boss getting after them. And the better workers who are dissatisfied will attempt to become more satisfied by going somewhere else, perhaps to a different part of the company, but more likely to a different company.

Satisfaction Is KeySatisfaction is what keeps us going along as we are. If we are satisfied with the way things are or are going, we see no reason to change. In fact, we often forcefully resist that change. On the other hand, when we are dissatisfied, we start thinking about making changes and then start looking for a way out, and finally, when the level of dissatisfaction exceeds the incentives to stay, we make a change.

Use Dissatisfaction To Start ImprovementAs a manager, you can clearly see the need to change the satisfaction level of the slackers in your organization. If they are satisfied with their current low level of performance, you have to do something. One thing you can do is to increase their level of dissatisfaction.

One way to increase their level of dissatisfaction is to let them see what the standard is and how they compare. In a call center, for example, if service representatives are expected to handle an average of one hundred calls per day you can post a chart in the team area or on the team’s intranet page that shows how many calls each team member handled that day, this week, and monthly average. This clearly shows the slackers the amount they need to improve. Couple it with you, as their manager, letting them know you are dissatisfied with their performance should get their own dissatisfaction level up enough to cause them to make some improvements.

Many work teams don’t have performance metrics that are as cut-an-dried as call center representatives, but the concept is the same. Make everyone on the team aware of what is expected of all of them and how they are measuring up to that expectation. As much as you let the slackers know you are dissatisfied with their performance, be sure to let your stars know how very satisfied you are with them star performance.

Use Dissatisfaction To Start ChangeUsing your dissatisfaction with their performance to cause slackers to improve is one use of dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction also can be used to start change. Let’s say your company has decided to move the office. Your team, like most people, doesn’t like change so they don’t like the idea. After all, they know the best commute routes to get to work; they know the back roads to use when there are traffic problems. They like the cubicle they have now and don’t know what the new one will be like. How do you get them motivated toward the move? You use dissatisfaction.

Rather than focusing on the things they like currently, those things that satisfy them, bring their attention to the things they don’t like currently, the things that dissatisfy them. The lunch room is too small. You can’t ever find an open conference room when you want to have a meeting. There are too few stalls in the ladies’ room. They can probably point out these things to you as points of dissatisfaction. You can add things like the carpet is stained in that long hallway. The cubicle partitions are old and tired-looking. There’s that musty smell over by Marketing. By getting them to focus on their dissatisfaction issues, you will have them motivated toward making the move. They will stop grumbling and will start to look forward to the move.

Bottom LineDissatisfaction is a powerful motivator for change. Use it as part of your manager’s tool kit. Just don’t forget the flip side of the coin, satisfaction is a powerful force for keeping things the way you like them.

http://management.about.com/od/employeemotivation/a/Dissatisfaction-Causes-Change.htm

There Is No "I" In Team

But there seems to be very little "team" in teamwork

By F. John Reh

I find one of the hardest things about building teams in the workplace is the lack of good examples. I often use sports analogies, such as "What Professional Baseball Can Teach Professional Managers", but they don't work for for everyone, as you can see from this poll.

The One-Man ShowI am amazed at how little the team seems to matter in a team sport like baseball. For the past several days, all we have seen in the sports news is Barry Bond's chase of Mark McGuire's record for most home runs in a season (congrats, Barry, on 73 at this moment) and Ricky Henderson's attempt to beat Ty Cobbs' record for most runs scored in a career (which he did).

Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn retired at the end of the season amid heavy press coverage. Both have had distinguished individual careers in baseball. Ripken, was the "iron-man" whose string of 2,632 consecutive games played broke Lou Gehrig's record and is probably unbreakable. Gwynn was one of the purest hitters in the game. He won eight NL batting titles, had a .338 lifetime average and 3,141 hits, 17th on the all-time list.

TeamworkWhile these individual records are impressive, the most team-oriented sports story in baseball this year is completely overlooked. This past week, the Seattle Mariners tied a record set only three years ago by the New York Yankees for most wins in a season by an American League team. Joe Torre, the Yankee manager, said at the time that someone would hit 80 home runs in a season before his club's win record would be broken.

One night later, the Mariners broke the Yankee record and set an new AL record for most games won in a season. Last night they tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the Major League record of most wins in a season with 116. Other than in Seattle itself, and on a few Internet forums of true baseball fans, these accomplishments were simply overlooked in favor of the individual records being chased.

This kind of news coverage reinforces our fascination with individual accomplishments, even in a team sport. That is not a good thing when you are trying to build up teamwork in the workplace.

Manage This IssueFocus your team building on how the Mariners accomplished this feat, rather than on the lack of coverage it got in the press. That a team lost three super-stars (Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Alex Rodriguez) in three consecutive years, yet came back to win more games than any pro baseball team ever, is powerful proof of what teamwork can do.

I saw a fan hang a banner in the Mariners' stadium that I think nicely sums up the power of teamwork "Every Night A Different Hero".

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Additional Internet Resources"What Professional Baseball Can Teach Professional Managers" examines the similarities between coaching a successful baseball team and managing a successful business.Benchmarking. In this article, I use another of my baseball analogies to define what benchmarking is and how it can help you.

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If you have any questions or comments about this article, or if there is an issue you would like us to address, please post them on our Management Forum to share with the entire group.

http://management.about.com/cs/people/a/NoIteam100801.htm

The Right People in the Wrong JobsBy F. John Reh

Recently, I was speaking with a System Architect friend who expressed frustration with her current project. "The Project Manager is not using the (people) resources well," summarized this former manager's complaint.

Manager's PerspectiveWhat manager hasn't struggled with the problem of not having enough of a key resource needed to do the job? You shuffle people, juggle tasks and priorities, and plead for more resources. You cross-train where you can, contract specialists if you can, and work far too much overtime. You know how much it is taking out of you over time, but what about the people you supervise. What is it doing to them?

What About Your People?The key people on your team like being busy and feeling needed. Yet they can easily burn out and begin to resent the demands you place on their skills. Others on the team are bored with being underutilized or unhappy being cross-trained to help in areas they lack skill or interest.

"Think of all the hours lost," the system architect told me "by people doing jobs they aren't suited for or excited about."

Why Does It Happen?Some people are in the wrong job, and doing the work, because they want the attributes of the job. A doctor might be a surgeon for the prestige, but have no interest in people. Some are 'stuck' in a job they don't like because they cant get anything better suited to them. This may be due to a

lack of the specific skills needed, a lack of initiative, or no job hunting skill. Others may work at the wrong job because of pressure to stay in 'the family business', or because they think a certain career is expected of them for what ever reason. Many people start a work history with the first job they can get and just stay in that industry forever.

What Can You Do?We know that people do best at the work that they enjoy doing. You, as a manager, have some control over the situation simply by how you manage. When you give a person the latitude to decide how to do their job, instead of micro-managing every detail of every task, they will do things in a way that is most enjoyable for them. The result will be a more productive, satisfied employee. You will have more time for managing the 'big picture' and will make yourself more promotable. You'll also be able to concentrate your time on the things that YOU do best too.

More importantly, be sensitive to the skills and interests of your employees as you assign them to jobs. Try to put people in jobs that suit them. Put the dreamer in charge of creative tasks. Put the detail-oriented individual on tasks with more structure. Don't put your introverted loner into customer service.

Just think how much more would get done if people only did jobs for which they had the talent, and a real passion.

How Do You Determine The Best Fit?There are a lot of companies that will either sell you the tools to do employee screening and testing or do the work for you, for a fee. Most of this is aimed at pre-employment screening to make sure you get the best employees. Firms like EmployeeScreenIQ will check out a prospective employee for you by checking for criminal record, verifying educational qualifications and employment history, etc. While that is important, this article focuses on this 'best employee' after they have been hired. How do you make sure you get them in the right spot.

Carl Jung, noted Swiss psychologist and the founder of the Jungian approach to psycotherapy, gave us the concept of personality typology. Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine C. Briggs created a refinement called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Many companies, like The Brain Type Institute, will conduct MBTI personality inventories of yourself and your employees, classifying an individual into one of 16 types.

Dr. David Keirsey developed the concept into the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. His self-administered test lets you answer 72 questions online and determine your temperament and variant. His descriptions of the 16 types and subtypes should help you better understand, and place, your people.

What's Your Brain Type?Are you an ENSP, an INTJ, or an IxFP? How does that help you understand yourself and your people and manage them better? See what your peers think and share your perspective.

Go to our Management Forum and post your feeling on this topic.

http://management.about.com/cs/people/a/RightWrong1099.htm

Why Change is So Hard

Managing Change - Why Change is So Hard and What to Do About It

By Jack Zavada

Change is hard—so hard, in fact, that most of us avoid it at all costs.

But by avoiding change, we create even bigger problems, such as lost opportunities, broken relationships, or sometimes a wasted life. Millions of people who need to change are drifting along with no real purpose, no joy, feeling as if they're traveling a dead end street.

I can relate. I've had to make some major changes in my life, and each time they were painful. I usually fought those changes until I reached my misery threshold, then I reluctantly did something rash to escape the bad situation.

Intimidated by the UnknownEach time I needed to make a change, I was afraid because I didn't know what was coming. Like most people, I like predictability. I thrive on sureness. Change means stepping into the unknown and losing your comfortable routine, and that's frightening.

I also knew that to a large degree, I had to give up control. That's scary too. Sure, I prepared as well as I could, but I couldn't run everything. Change involves so many factors that you just can't manipulate all of them.

When you're not in control, you lose your sense of invulnerability. You quickly realize you're not as powerful as you thought. That bravery you put so much pride in seems to evaporate when you realize you're not the one in charge any more.

Family members and friends can help you change, but they have their own lives to lead and their own priorities. They can't do everything for you. Most of the time they're struggling so much in their own lives that they can't give you all the support you'd like.

The Critical Element to Lasting ChangeOne of the reasons so many celebrities keep going in and out of rehab is that they leave out the critical element to lasting change: God. Change is too hard when you try to do it without him.

God supplies everything you need for successful change, and when you make changes with his help, you stay changed.

The unknown can overwhelm you, but God is omniscient, which means he knows all things, including the future. He can prepare you for the future in ways you can't prepare yourself, and he works all things for the good of his followers (Romans 8:28, NIV). God is the guide who is never surprised.

God is in control as well. The being who created the vast universe and keeps it operating in perfect harmony is also a personal God who intervenes in people's lives. He exercises his control to keep those who obey him in his will.

When you feel weak in the face of change, God is omnipotent, or all-powerful. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" the Bible says. (Romans 8:31, NIV) Knowing the invincible God is on your side gives you tremendous confidence.

The most important attribute God brings when you're making a change is his unconditional love for you. Unlike that of family and friends, his love never wavers. He wants only the best for you, and when change makes you suffer, as it often does, he stands closest to you, giving comfort and strength. Sometimes his love is the only thing that gets you through.

Unlimited Help or No HelpWhere are you now? Is there something wrong in your life you need to change?

Remember this: If you believe you're on a dead end street, you can turn around.

God will show you how to make a legal U-turn, then he will keep giving you directions through his Word, the Bible. He will gently guide you on the way you should go, and he will stick with you through traffic jams and trouble along the way.

The Holy Spirit's role is to help you change your character into that of Christ, but he needs your permission and cooperation. He knows exactly what needs to be changed and how to do it.

The choice is simple, really: unlimited help from God, or no help. Does it make sense to turn down the assistance of the most loving, most powerful being in the universe who has only your best interests at heart?

Don't make change harder than it has to be. Do it the right way. Ask God for help.

Jack Zavada, a career writer and contributor for About.com, is host to a Christian website for singles. Never married, Jack feels that the hard-won lessons he has learned may help other Christian singles make sense of their lives. His articles and ebooks offer great hope and encouragement. To contact him or for more information, visit Jack's Bio Page.

http://christianity.about.com/od/topicaldevotions/a/whychangeishard.htm

Change Quotes

Change Quotes: It's Time to Shift Gears

By Simran Khurana

If the stimulus is the need to change, the typical response is to reject that need. We prefer to reject change rather than embrace it. Why? Because inertia makes us feel comfortable. Change forces us to explore new turf. When there is no change, things are familiar, and hence there is a feeling of security. Change is unsettling. But change can add an exciting twist to a mundane life. If you like a fast paced life, full of twists and turns, read some provoking change quotes that remind you of the benefits of change.

Marian Wright EdelmanIf you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.

Robert C. GallagherChange is inevitable - except from a vending machine.

John PorterPeople underestimate their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a difficult thing. A leader's job is to help people have vision of their potential.

Arthur SchopenhauerChange alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.

Kathleen NorrisNone of us knows what the next change is going to be, what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting a few months or a few years to change all the tenor of our lives.

Albert EinsteinTechnological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.

OvidAll things change; nothing perishes.

William ShakespeareWe know what we are, but know not what we may be.

Maya AngelouThe need for change bulldozed road down the center of my mind.

Marcus AureliusLoss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.

http://quotations.about.com/od/changequotes/a/change4.htm

Resistance to Change DefinitionBy Susan M. Heathfield

Definition:

What is resistance to change in your workplace and how does it manifest itself? Resistance to change is the act of opposing or struggling with modifications or transformations that alter the status quo in the workplace.

Managing resistance to change is challenging. Resistance to change can be covert or overt, organized or individual. Employees can realize that they don't like or want a change and resist publicly and verbally. Or, they can just feel uncomfortable and resist, sometimes unknowingly, through the actions they take, the words they use to describe the change, and the stories and conversations they share in the workplace.

However resistance to change happens, it threatens the success of your venture. Resistance affects the speed at which an innovation is adopted. It affects the feelings and opinions of employees at all stages of the adoption process. It affects productivity, quality, and relationships.

Spotting Resistance to Change

How do you spot resistance to change? Listen to the gossip and observe the actions of your employees. Note whether employees are missing meetings related to the change. Late assignments, forgotten commitments, and absenteeism can all be signs of resistance to change. Something as simple as listening to how employees talk about the change in meetings and hall conversations can tell you a lot about resistance.

Some employees will publicly challenge the change, the need for the change, or how the change is unfolding. The more powerful the resisting employee, in terms of job title, position, and longevity, the more success he or she will have with resistance. Less well-positioned employees may resist collectively through organizations such as a union.

Resistance to change appears in action such as verbal criticism, nitpicking details, failure to adopt, snide comments, sarcastic remarks, missed meetings, failed commitments, interminable arguments, lack of support verbally, and outright sabotage.

Resistance to change can intensify if employees feel that they have been involved in a series of changes that have had insufficient support to gain the anticipated results. They become change weary when this year's flavor of the month is quality. Last year's was continuous improvement and employee involvement and teams. This year it's a focus on serving internal customers and three years ago, employees were asked to adopt a new management structure.

Resistance is intensified because, not only do you need to gain support for the current change, which employees may or may not see in their best interests, you need to justify the former change and the need to change - again.

Minimize Resistance to Change

In an organization that has a culture of trust; transparent communication; involved, engaged employees; and positive interpersonal relationships, resistance to change is easy to see - and also much less likely to occur. Employees feel free to tell their boss what they think and to have open exchanges with managers.

When a change is introduced in this environment, with a lot of discussion and employee involvement, resistance to change is minimized. Resistance is also minimized if there is a wide-spread belief that a change is needed. Find out more about how to reduce employee resistance to change.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryr/g/Resistance-To-Change-Definition.htm

How to Add Value in Continuing Strategic Change

Managing Polarities

By Robert W. Jacobs, Barry Johnson, Frank McKeown

Do you live with any of these seemingly no-win balancing acts?

Employee interests and company interests Be the voice of the employee and interpret and enforce company policy Advocate for employees and advocate for management Educate and regulate Employee development and organization development Competitive employee compensation and competitive organization bottom line Focus on relationships and focus on task Training for the job and doing the job Employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction

In this downsized, outsourced world with resources stretched thin and performance expectations high, the Human Resources (HR) function must exert leadership to prove its worth as a business partner and show that it can provide incalculable value to the organization.

Paradoxically, this requires HR to act as both stabilizer and champion in the midst of the storms of change. The rest of the organization looks to HR to provide needed structures, processes and

approaches to support change management. And, most importantly, to see that change management efforts deliver enduring results.

How HR Can Deliver Change Management ResultsHR can deliver these impressive results through a powerful combination of two new paradigms, a principle-based approach to change which simultaneously promotes stability and the management of the organization's embedded polarities.

Adopting this combined approach will enable HR to:

accelerate the pace of sustainable change, increase commitment to needed changes, and develop greater capacity for future change in the organization.

At the same time, this dual approach will provide increased stability needed in the midst of the change management process.

New Paradigm #1 - Managing Polarities in Change Management"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order." --Alfred North Whitehead, Mathematician, Logician and Philosopher

Increasingly, an organization's ability to respond and adapt quickly while providing increased stability in the midst of change is a great leverage point for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. But this is not about predicting or riding trends; change needs to be a lot more than that. Organizations can get caught in pendulum swings from one trend to another. Sometimes Human Resources professionals are responsible for flavor-of-the-month initiatives; other times they may be trapped by flawed strategies advanced by senior executives. Common examples of these traps include the following.

Cultural shifts: such as from directive to participative management styles, or from hierarchical to team based management and decision-making

Structural shifts: such as from more centralized to more decentralized operations (and back again!), or from downsizing to rehiring

Strategic shifts in focus: such as from quality improvement to cost cutting or from product focus to customer focus.

Many change efforts follow a predictable pattern likely to lead organizations down paths filled with frustration, resistance, and ultimately preservation of the status quo. After compelling arguments are developed as to why change is needed, a plan for getting from where you are now � to where you want to be is viewed as the solution, with implementing the strategy seen as the last step. However, if your vision of the future - the where you want to be - is a shift from one pole of a polarity to the other, your efforts are guaranteed to generate amazing resistance.

On the next page, read about the resistance to and application of strategic change.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/value_change.htm

Change Management Lessons About Employee Involvement

Employee Involvement Is Key in Change Management

By Susan M. Heathfield

A wise person once told me I could never expect one hundred percent support from any individual who was not personally involved in devising a change which had an impact on his work. The wise person was right, and I’m really happy to have known him early in my career.

In any change, especially ones that affect a complete organization, it is impossible to involve every employee in each decision. Respondents to my change management questions over the years suggested, however, that when change works, the organization has gone out of its way to try employee involvement.

Employee Involvement for Effective Change Management

Create a plan for involving as many people as possible, as early as possible, in the change process.

Involve all stakeholders, process owners, and employees who will feel the impact of the changes, as much as possible, in the learning, planning, decisions, and implementation of the change. Often, in change management, a small group of employees learns important information about change and change management. If they fail to share the information with the rest of the employees, the remaining employees will have trouble catching up with the learning curve.

If a small group makes the change management plans, employees affected by the decisions will not have had needed time to analyze, think about, and adjust to the new ideas. If you leave employees behind, at any stage of the process, you open the door in your change management process, for misunderstanding, resistance, and hurt.

Even if employees cannot affect the overall decision about change, involve each employee in meaningful decisions about their work unit and their work.

Build measurement systems into the change process that tell people when they are succeeding or failing. Provide consequences in either case. Employees who are positively working with the change need rewards and recognition. After allowing some time for employees to pass through the predictable stages of change, negative consequences for failure to adopt the changes, are needed.

You cannot allow the nay-sayers to continue on their negative path forever; they sap your organization of time, energy, and focus, and eventually, affect the morale of the positive many. The key is to know, during your change management process, when to say, enough is enough.

Help employees feel as if they are involved in a change management process that is larger than themselves by taking these actions to effectively involve employees in change

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons3.htm

Successful Change Communication

Leadership and Management Success Tips for Successful Change Communication

By Susan M. Heathfield

Want to make your change management efforts successful? These tips about how to communicate during change will help you make your change communication effective and successful.

Provide answers to questions only if you know the answer. Leaders destroy their credibility when they provide incorrect information or appear to stumble or back-peddle, when providing an answer. It is much better to say you don’t know, and that you will try to find out.

Leaders need to listen, just listen. Avoid defensiveness, excuse-making, and answers that are too quickly given. Act with thoughtfulness. The power of real listening cannot be over emphasized. Real listening is one of your most critical components in change communication.

Make leaders and change sponsors available, daily when possible, to mingle with others in the workplace.

Communication should be proactive. If the rumor mill is already in action, the organization has waited too long to communicate.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/qt/tips_change_c6.htm

Change, Change, Change: Change Management Lessons From the Field

Change Management Is a Needed Management Skill

By Susan M. Heathfield

Change is possible; the need for change is increasing; change capability is necessary for the organizations that will succeed in the future. So say the respondents to my survey about change management success.

In fact, internal and external consultants, and organization development, training, facilitation and human resources professionals responded in a fairly consistent voice. (The one underrepresented group was line managers--I’ll find ways to tap their ideas in the future.) Change is not going away; change is manageable; organizations can do change well. I looked for patterns and trends in the responses, and provide them here for you.

Successful change management requires:

effective communication,

full and active executive support,

employee involvement,

organizational planning and analysis and

widespread perceived need for the change.

These are the big five when successful change is achieved.

Implementing your change in an organizational environment that is already employee-oriented, with a high level of trust, is a huge plus. Understanding and responding to the range of human emotions during times of intense change, is also cited as critical. All of this may sound straightforward, but your suggestions about how to do each of these successfully are priceless.

This article focuses on the key change management actions recommended by the majority of the change management study participants. A second article provides tips for addressing resistance to change. Another provides “voices from the field" and enables study participants to speak to you with their own words.

Changes Experienced

Change management study participants made their recommendations from their involvement in a broad range of changes. These are too numerous to mention and include downsizing; mergers; department and company reorganizations; implementing every conceivable initiative from the 1980s and 1990s including teams, self-directed work teams, quality, TQM, employee involvement, reengineering, management by objectives and matrix management; new compensation programs; changing work systems because of the Internet; implementing a strategic planning process; implementing new technology and software packages including MRPII and SAP; restructuring jobs; doubling production productivity; relocating facilities; adopting new appraisal processes; and changing work requirements, including doing more with fewer resources.

Change Management Recommendations

Now that you have some context for the changes experienced by the study respondents, these are the factors they experienced that increased their organization’s success with change management. Each participant did not cite all of these; I am highlighting those change management factors most frequently mentioned.

More rigorous studies of change management success and failure are required to assess the impact of each of these actions, but, I believe, the results of my change management survey provide you with great guidance as you embark upon your desired change.

Additionally, each of these factors does not occur separately from the others. They do not occur in a predictable sequence. In other words, portions of “Executive Support and Leadership” are usually happening while “Organization Planning and Analysis” is underway. You will also find overlap across all areas.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons.htm

Change Management Tips

By Susan M. Heathfield

These change management tips should help you implement changes ranging from implementing ISO9001 to lean manufacturing to total organization transformation.

Deal with people involved in the change process with patience, gentle humor, grace, persistence, pragmatism, respect, understanding, and support.

Take a long and broad view of change, and think about the impact of changes over one, three, and five years.

Continue all of the behaviors and processes discussed in the articles below until change has the opportunity to become anchored in the culture. I am reminded of Dr. W. Edwards Deming's emphasis on constancy of purpose.

Set up changes so that people in you organization experience some early wins.

Recognize that effective change is usually a realignment of the world view, rather than a �program or flavor of the month.

People involved in change will need to recognize that change is risky; change can be scary; change can often entail the real desire and need to slip back into the comfort zone. Effective change requires constant vigilance to resist slipping back into the old, comfortable ways of doing business.

Finally, as much as employees need to celebrate new beginnings, you will need to provide opportunities for employees to mourn the past, to let go of familiar ways of doing work. Even as change is, hopefully, a gain for your organization, it is also always a loss.

People lose coworkers, comfortable work processes, known ways of doing things, communication networks, security and stability, or confidence in their own capability. Recognize their loss, and you will assist people to move more quickly with you into the brave new world.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_tips.htm

Inspirational Quotes for Business and Work: Change Management

Change Management and Change Quotes

By Susan M. Heathfield

Do you need a business quotation for your newsletter, business presentation, bulletin board or inspirational posters? These change and change management quotes are useful to help motivation and inspiration. These quotes about change and change management will help you create success in business, success in management and success in life.

Quotations About Change and Change Management

"People can't live with change if there's not a changeless core inside them. The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value." --Stephen Covey

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." --Richard Feynman

"Change is not only likely, it's inevitable." --Barbara Sher

"Change can either challenge or threaten us...Your beliefs pave your way to success or block you." --Marsha Sinetar

"Everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable. But that still implies that change is like death and taxes it should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm." --Peter F. Drucker

"Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got." --Peter F. Drucker

http://humanresources.about.com/od/inspirationalquotations/a/quotes_change.htm

Change Management Wisdom

Strategy, Planning, and Communication During Change

By Susan M. Heathfield

As the speed of change continues to increase, change management is a fundamental competency needed by managers, supervisors, Human Resources staff, and organization leaders. To tap your wisdom, my recent survey about change management afforded me the opportunity to consolidate hundreds of years of experience in change management.

I have collected and categorized your lessons learned and shared in my recent change management survey. Your words demonstrate the nuances of change strategy, planning, implementation, and courage much more graphically than any I can offer on my own. Here, in your words, is your best advice about change management.

Change Strategy and Planning

"I don't think that change is difficult to structure or navigate. I think we try to bend the rules; we expect people to embrace the change because we like it or we are paying for it. I have never seen a poorly-structured change succeed or a well-structured one fail. I have seen well-structured changes poorly communicated, with the result being pain on the way to the change; I've also seen badly-structured changes beautifully executed, with the result that no one changes."

"Human behavior is very complex, but I honestly believe that organization change is often overcomplicated by bad execution and lack of clarity and a plan. Change principles are simple (does not mean easy). In my opinion, 70-90% of the successful change efforts I've been involved in have focused very heavily on the basics... Those that failed usually did so not for poor intent or a bad company strategy, but because of bad CHANGE strategy and implementation.

More MBA and other business degree programs should concentrate on Human Performance Improvement and Organization Development (and Design) principles. Better identification and selection of leaders would also help staff the top ranks of organizations with those who are better emotionally suited to produce change. Successful change management strategies require not only an awareness of human behavior, but also workplace evolutionary trends.

Many consultants only see half the picture and rely on historical evidence of successes. The workplace trends we are seeing do not have historical context, thereby this tactic will eliminate many potential "solutions" that previously may have worked."

"A lot of what I see regarding change, hasn't changed over the years.....it's "repackaged", replicated, improved upon, etc. Basically if you define the objective, train your people (give them the tools), communicate at all levels expectations/WIFM/R&R's), (Note: what's in it for me and rewards and recognition) and reward for success, change (and teams) will be successful."

"A theoretical framework to underpin the change."

"Doing risk assessments early on and having a specific mitigation plan for all the major risks."

"Clarity of mission, vision and objectives for the change effort. Creating an urgency around the need for change."

"Creating and communicating a vision beyond the initial implementation."

"Change should be clearly related to an important, strategic business objective, otherwise management attention will wane. Developing a clear, catchy sound bite that summarizes the behavior change enables people to remember the new behaviors."

Communication During Change

"You can't communicate enough or talk to enough people. Most employees are quite satisfied with the status quo--20-60-20. Focus on the 60% in the middle--not on the 20% that will never buy-in."

"You cannot communicate too much. Have measurable goals so you can track and communicate your progress towards the goals."

"Have meetings at least once a week including all members who will be impacted by or are driving the process together in the same room."

"Build skills in communication such that the real conversations can be held on a regular basis."

"Not trying to answer questions to which we had no answers yet...maintaining credibility."

"Communicating clearly and frequently, especially about measurements, results and consequences."

"Getting the whole organization together can build momentum, create a memorable event, and build peer pressure for the change."

"Every change seems to bring new stuff to do; in today's marketplace, folks have to have the option of dropping or reducing other tasks...we cannot go on adding forever."

Consulting During Change

"Negotiating 'entry' with clients. Having uncovered the people with decision making abilities - and getting their co-operation. Never doggedly following a model of improvement. Focusing heavily on the human side and relationship forming. Working with peoples' enthusiasm as much as possible. Providing change resource - gophers, catalysts, analysts. Concentrating on evaluation so people can see change happening. Focusing on small cycles of change so that it's not a one-big-bang approach."

Here are additional words of wisdom about change management spoken by participants in my change management survey. The words of my participants demonstrate the nuances of change management: change strategy, planning, implementation, and courage, much more graphically than any I can offer on my own.

Consequences of Change

"Carry the wounded; help the long term stragglers find another place to work."

"At the same time, and again in scenarios of critical change, do not retain (for too long) any key management personnel who show no signs of willingness to accept change."

"Publicize rewards and recognition for positive approaches and accomplishments, and celebrate each small win publicly."

"Provide positive consequence for change, and negative consequence for not adopting the change. Set up some early wins."

Employee Involvement During Change

"Lao Tzu... the best change is what the people think they did themselves... i.e., high involvement is better so long as it is not overlay cumbersome and doesn't interfere with people being successful in their regular roles."

"I find personally and I believe for most employees that it is critical that they are involved in the process. The level of involvement will depend on the employee--inviting suggestions and feedback, delegating aspects of the process, etc. The process is more successful, I believe, when the employees are bought into the process and see that their input is valued and makes a difference."

"Hold facilitated groups to solicit input after a presentation that focuses attention to a specific area are most effective during the planning stages. I've seen too many loosely organized wide open requests for group input that turn into free-for-all's. These generate frustration and hurt feelings, contributing to further resistance because there was no focused purpose to identify achievement."

Change Management Lessons

"Most of the problems in organizations are fixable through organizational changes (structure, process, culture) and learning (not necessarily the same as training). It's far more rare than we might think that you really need to get someone out of the organization."

"Change is continuous. Change Management is a fad that in many respects may or may not work. It is clearly the measurement of change that organizations are most interested in as they wish to drive and direct it. The workplace evolution of change causes great difficulty as it has appeared to accelerate beyond, in many cases, the human capacity to keep up. This has been referenced for hundreds of years, the fact that generally people are not prepared to embrace any change as quickly as most organizations wish to impose.

It is, in fact, this skill (adaptability, flexibility, resiliency) that is the basis of survival of the fittest, not a new philosophy. The fittest, however, most often not the masses. Finally, it is the imposition of change, in a formal fashion, that causes the greatest change shift in the wrong direction. Change that is assumed, incorporated or aligned with the true motivations of the individual is the change that is most positive and most profound. This is the work that my company strives to achieve, meeting the people where they are...Change by permission, rather than enforcement."

"The key in any change process is to discern the need that is felt both from the organization's perspective and the individual's. Usually change efforts wait until after the last minute when the pain is so high it can no longer be resisted. This leads to massive lay-offs and over reactions. If on the other hand the leadership build a strong reflective process and trust for each other, two things take place.

1. Issues are surfaced before they become overwhelming and a strategy can be developed which all understand or 2. When crises develop the substance is present to pull together and deal with it. Obviously this is not an easy place to live as there is always a temptation to lapse into being so appreciative that you stop paying attention to the realities that may be harsh themselves. Open and honest communications are assumed but don't happen, because of a lack of trust."

"Expect tough times ahead; everyone expects that after the initiation event, it should go smoothly, but the most painful part is yet to come: the transition period. Recognizing this early on in the process will help weather the storms ahead."

"In the government, change interventions generally come from outside pressure. Congress or others might designate a new pay program as something that should be done or a study of an agency failure makes recommendations. Thus few inside an agency psychologically own the solution so they only talk, not walk the talk. Management underestimates or avoids the personal energy/time required for success. Upper management makes statements, forms task forces, and waits for the change to roll-out. Lower levels do what is forced and wait it out."

Here are additional words of wisdom about change management spoken by participants in my change management survey. The words of my participants demonstrate the nuances of change management: change strategy, planning, implementation, and courage, much more graphically than any I can offer on my own.

Leadership

"A change effort cannot be "optional" for the senior staff. They must lead or get out of the way. The new system will ultimately have to stand on its own feet, but every new system needs support and nurture."

"Change efforts must be coordinated by leadership. When change efforts are frequent and happening simultaneously on several fronts without coordination, the organization fractures. Employees become confused and frustrated (and hence angry) because they are being pulled in conflicting directions."

"Active management support isn't totally necessary, but active management antagonism is likely fatal. (I've been thrown out by a middle manager who said, "If we're going to have change, we're going to drive it ourselves," even after being invited in by first level management to help) ."

"If the structure is not there, the change will fail. Lines of authority and control MUST be respected; you cannot directly change what you do not control. You can influence those in control, but you cannot force them. (2) You probably cannot gauge the size of a change to its targets. What you can assess is the organizational structure and the likelihood that the change, however large or small, will succeed."

"Informal leaders who participate in designing the change effort can sell the effort and deal with objections on a day-to-day basis."

"Just because change is required for organizational survival does not mean that cold-hearted meanness is required. I have experienced these attitudes, words and actions from executives over the years, and it always bleeds through the communication to the organization and undermines the change efforts."

"There's a huge difference in outlook between "its OK to fail" (but it would be far better for you if you did not,) and "you have permission to fail." (We expect you might and want you to get the most out of it.)"

"Unless those seeking change realize that change management requires them to alter their behavior and to develop their own skills, the change will go nowhere for the better."

"Too many companies spend too much time playing with esoteric theories and "techniques du jour" -- instead of just sticking to the basic practices of effective, hands-on management."

"Ensuring or obtaining executive sponsorship and creating what Kotter calls a "guiding coalition."

"Working with and developing a group of informal leaders throughout the organization plus senior management commitment, attention and role modeling."

"Having buy-in from the top and earning it with the front-line supervisors."

Openness to Change

"People who are afforded clarity, honesty, dignity, understanding, and compassion have a greater openness to change."

"Expressing the reasons for change honestly and directly will help people be open to change."

Learning and Training During Change

"Identify all necessary training and provide it. Try to involve the impacted groups upfront. Pilot the change, if possible."

Measurements and Benchmarks During Change

"Managers tend to view events as successful without knowing why---they have no measurements or clear expectations about what the change will produce. Staff see the shortcomings and fewer advances. It's vital for the group to know: How will we know that we have gotten to success?"

"Establish measurement systems around the desired changes and report the results frequently."

"Data defining the gap between current practices and desired practices is useful in establishing credibility."

More? See People Matter and Urgency During Change.

Here are additional words of wisdom about change management spoken by participants in my change management survey. The words of my participants demonstrate the nuances of change

management: change strategy, planning, implementation, and courage, much more graphically than any I can offer on my own.

People Matter Most During Change

"People can become far more than many expect them to become, if they are taken seriously, listened to, and given some help."

"Work on how each person will be affected and how to make that fit their needs as well as the organizations, while broadening participation in the process."

"Belief in the value equality/role differentiation among people in the change."

"Prepare employees for the change. Outline detailed plans and timelines for the change."

"Don't fatigue people with constant small changes. Choose big impact changes that an important segment of your constituents will support immediately. Change for the good of the organization and your customers first, change for profit only second at best, change for yourself last."

"The organization and individuals must be able and willing to learn (as in double-loop, etc.) and take responsibility for themselves."

"The focus is always on helping transform the entire system to make it more what they want it to be."

"Do not assume that the level of enthusiasm will continue, put methods in place that will help sustain that enthusiasm during the long road ahead. Prepare for sabotage, not everyone gets on board and those that don't will sabotage implementation with or without known intent to harm. Capture the opportunities that exist within the times of transition, this is the most creative time for employees and given permission to explore, many wonderful things can result."

"Acknowledge and allow people to go through the stages of change (like Kubler-Ross's stages of dying - denial, anger, etc.). They will anyway, whether or not you accept it. And expecting it allows you to better cope with it, and not overreact to early denial or anger, which ultimately helps the overall change effort."

"Start at the top. Start with each individual. Start where they actually are (not where you want them to be). This means sometimes you start from short term planning and sometimes vision and values and sometimes individual mentoring."

Persistence in Change Management

"You need to continue at the process until the change is anchored in the culture."

"You need to monitor the process through its entire lifecycle."

Sense of Urgency in Change Management

"Urgency does not equal fear. Fear hurts. Urgency helps."

"Keep the momentum up. 2 - 3 weeks without visible activity causes the effort to flounder."

"Anticipate and deal with objections and resistance. Like in a political campaign, if you let them sit, people will assume they are true. Stay flexible. Be willing to modify the process in the face of public opinion and evolving events."

"Set the stage by creating urgency and why the change is important("unfreezing" through communication."

"The best change efforts a) like Socio-Technical Systems Planning -- involve external/environmental, technical and social issues concurrently. Faster is better. If things draw out too long without noticeable results and recognition, folks "wear out" and go back to old ways."

Trust During Change

"Fix the trust thing. Everything else, the vision, values, shared sense of purpose, and purposeful change will all follow, simply because people want them to."

I think I'll end with this trust thing, because I agree with this final comment. If you fix the trust thing, you've removed many of the barriers to positive change. So, fix the trust thing; walk the talk; communicate; tell the truth; involve the people; set goals; help people learn and develop; measure results. We know that these are the foundations, not just for effective change management, but for effective organizations as well. Now, go forth and create them in your organization. As one university HR department decided when given a guiding principle of "Making People Matter," as HR professionals they are, "People Making People Matter...Not Madder."

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_wisdom_4.htm

How to Make Strategic Planning Implementation Work

Develop a Strategic Culture for Successful Strategic Planning Implementation

By Susan M. Heathfield

In an earlier, popular article, I gave you a strategic planning framework, samples, and examples for creating your organization’s mission statement, vision statement, values, and goals. Want to know more about strategic planning implementation now that you have created your strategic planning framework?

Strategic planning implementation is at the heart of how to make change of any kind happen in your organization. Start by answering why your organization might want to embark on a strategic planning process and implementation. Want to be one of the organizations, in which employees understand the mission and goals? They enjoy a 29 percent greater return than other firms. This seems like a good reason to start strategic planning implementation to me. How about you?

Keys to Strategic Planning Implementation Success

These are the keys to effective strategic planning implementation for your business.

Full and active executive support, Effective communication, Employee involvement,

Thorough organizational planning and competitive analysis, and Widespread perceived need for the strategic planning.

If you are implementing your strategic planning in an organizational environment that is already employee-oriented, with a high level of trust, you start the strategic planning implementation with a huge plus. An additional plus is an organization that already thinks strategically.

Unfortunately, the implementation of strategic planning most frequently occurs as an organization moves from being traditionally reactionary to strategic. So, often, learning to think strategically is part of the strategic planning implementation learning curve.

Full and Active Executive Support for Successful Strategic Planning

Successful strategic planning implementation requires a large commitment from executives and senior managers, whether the strategic planning is occurring in a department or in a complete organization. Executives must lead, support, follow-up, and live the results of the strategic planning implementation process. Or, the strategic planning implementation process will fail. It’s as simple as that.

Without the full commitment of the organization’s senior executives, don’t even start strategic planning. Participants will feel fooled and misled. A vision statement and a mission statement, along with this year’s goals, filed, unimplemented in a cabinet or computer, is a serious source of negativity and poor employee morale.

Senior leaders can do the following to create a successful strategic planning implementation process.

Establish a clear vision for the strategic planning implementation process. Paint a picture of where the organization will end up and the anticipated outcomes. Make certain the picture is one of reality and not what people “wish” would occur. Make sure key employees know “why” the organization is changing.

Appoint an executive champion or leader who “owns” the strategic planning implementation process and makes certain other senior managers, as well as other appropriate people in the organization, are involved.

Executive support in strategic planning implementation is critical to its success. Executives must lead, support, follow-up, and live the results of the strategic planning implementation process. These are additional ways executive leaders can support the strategic planning implementation process. See the first part of this article for more ways that leaders can support the strategic planning implementation.

Pay attention to the planning occurring. Ask how things are going. Focus on progress and barriers for change management. One of the worst possible scenarios is to have the leaders ignore the strategic planning implementation.

Sponsor portions of the planning or the strategic planning process, as an involved participant, to increase active involvement and interaction with other organization members.

If personal or managerial actions or behaviors require change for the vision statement, mission statement, values, and goals to take hold in the organization, “model” the new behaviors and actions. (Senior managers must walk the talk.)

Establish a structure which will support the move to a more strategically thinking and acting organization. This may take the form of a Steering Committee, Leadership Group, Core Planning Team or Guiding Coalition.

Change the measurement systems, reward, and recognition systems to measure and reward the accomplishment of the new expectations established through the strategic planning process.

Develop a performance development planning process within your performance management system to communicate, reinforce, and provide a structure that supports the articulation and accomplishment of the strategic planning goals.

While every person in your organization cannot make their voice heard on every issue within the strategic planning, you must solicit and act upon feedback from other members of the organization. Integral in the strategic planning process must be the commitment of each executive to discuss the process and the plans with staff members. Too often, I have experienced executives holding information closely and consolidating their own dysfunctional power within the organization at the expense of other company employees feeling – and acting – excluded. (And then they ask: how can I get my staff to “buy-in” to these new expectations?)

Recognize the human element inherent in any change – the change from reactionary to strategic thinking is a huge leap. People have different needs and different ways of reacting to change. They need time to deal with and adjust to change.

If ttraining is part of the strategic plan, senior leaders must participate in the training that other organization members attend, but, even more importantly, they must exhibit their “learning” from the sessions, readings, interactions, tapes, books or research.

Lastly, and of immense significance, be honest and worthy of trust.

Throughout the strategic planning process, treat people with the same respect you expect from them. And you will enjoy the 29 percent greater return than non-strategic planning companies, predicted earlier. With your vision statement, mission statement, values, strategies, goals, and action plans developed and shared, you'll all win, both personally and professionally.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/strategicplanning1/a/implement_plan_2.htm

How to Change Your Culture: Organizational Culture Change

You Can Transform Your Culture With Conscious Steps

By Susan M. Heathfield

Changing your organizational culture is the toughest task you will ever take on. Your organizational culture was formed over years of interaction between the participants in the organization. Changing the accepted organizational culture can feel like rolling rocks uphill.

 

Organizational cultures form for a reason. Perhaps the current culture matches the style and comfort zone of the company founder. Culture frequently echoes the prevailing management style. Since managers tend to hire people just like themselves, the established organizational culture is reinforced by new hires.

Organizational culture grows over time. People are comfortable with the current culture. For people to consider culture change, usually a significant event must occur. An event that rocks their world such as flirting with bankruptcy, a significant loss of sales and customers, or losing a million dollars, might get peoples' attention.

Even then, to recognize that the organizational culture is the culprit and to take steps to change it, is a tough journey. In no way do I mean to trivialize the difficulty of the experience of organizational culture change by summarizing it in this article, but here are my best ideas about culture change that can help your organization grow and transform.

When people in an organization realize and recognize that their current culture needs to transform to support the organization's success and progress, change can occur. But change is not pretty and change is not easy.

The good news? Organizational culture change is possible. It requires understanding, commitment, and tools.

Steps in Organizational Culture Change

There are three major steps involved in changing an organization's culture.

1. My earlier article discusses How to Understand Your Current Culture. Before an organization can change its culture, it must first understand the current culture, or the way things are now. Do take the time to pursue the activities in this article before moving on to the next steps.

2. Once you understand your current organizational culture, your organization must then decide where it wants to go, define its strategic direction, and decide what the organizational culture should look like to support success. What vision does the organization have for its future and how must the culture change to support the accomplishment of that vision?

3. Finally, the individuals in the organization must decide to change their behavior to create the desired organizational culture. This is the hardest step in culture change.

Plan the Desired Organizational Culture

The organization must plan where it wants to go before trying to make any changes in the organizational culture. With a clear picture of where the organization is currently, the organization can plan where it wants to be next.

Mission, vision, and values: to provide a framework for the assessment and evaluation of the current organizational culture, your organization needs to develop a picture of its desired future. What does the organization want to create for the future? Mission, vision, and values should be examined for both the strategic and the value based components of the organization. Your management team needs to answer questions such as:

What are the five most important values you would like to see represented in your organizational culture?

Are these values compatible with your current organizational culture? Do they exist now? If not, why not? If they are so important, why are you not attaining these values?

What needs to happen to create the culture desired by the organization? You cannot change the organizational culture without knowing where your organization wants to be or what elements of the current organizational culture need to change. What cultural elements support the success of your organization, or not? As an example, your team decides that you spend too much time agreeing with each other rather than challenging the forecasts and assumptions of fellow team members, that typically have been incorrect.

In a second example, your key management team members, who must lead the company, spend most of their time team building with various members of the team on an individual basis, and to promote individual agendas, to the detriment of the cohesive functioning of the whole group. Third, your company employees appear to make a decision, but, in truth, are waiting for the "blessing" from the company owner or founder to actually move forward with the plan.

In each of these situations, components of the organizational culture will keep your organization from moving forward with the success you deserve. You need to consciously identify the cultural impediments and decide to change them.

However, knowing what the desired organizational culture looks like is not enough. Organizations must create plans to ensure that the desired organizational culture becomes a reality.

Change the Organizational Culture

It is more difficult to change the culture of an existing organization than to create a culture in a brand new organization. When an organizational culture is already established, people must unlearn the old values, assumptions, and behaviors before they can learn the new ones.

The two most important elements for creating organizational cultural change are executive support and training.

Executive support: Executives in the organization must support the cultural change, and in ways beyond verbal support. They must show behavioral support for the cultural change. Executives must lead the change by changing their own behaviors. It is extremely important for executives to consistently support the change.

Training: Culture change depends on behavior change. Members of the organization must

clearly understand what is expected of them, and must know how to actually do the new

behaviors, once they have been defined. Training can be very useful in both communicating expectations and teaching new behaviors.

Additional Ways to Change the Organizational Culture

Other components important in changing the culture of an organization are:

Create value and belief statements: use employee focus groups, by department, to put the mission, vision, and values into words that state their impact on each employee's job. For one job, the employee stated: "I live the value of quality patient care by listening attentively whenever a patient speaks." This exercise gives all employees a common understanding of the desired culture that actually reflects the actions they must commit to on their jobs.

Practice effective communication: keeping all employees informed about the organizational culture change process ensures commitment and success. Telling employees what is expected of them is critical for effective organizational culture change.

Review organizational structure: changing the physical structure of the company to align it with the desired organizational culture may be necessary. As an example, in a small company, four distinct business units competing for product, customers, and internal support resources, may not support the creation of an effective organizational culture. These units are unlikely to align to support the overall success of the business.

Redesign your approach to rewards and recognition: you will likely need to change the reward system to encourage the behaviors vital to the desired organizational culture.

Review all work systems such as employee promotions, pay practices, performance management, and employee selection to make sure they are aligned with the desired culture. As an example, you cannot just reward individual performance if the requirements of your organizational culture specify team work. An executive's total bonus cannot reward the accomplishment of his department's goals without recognizing the importance of him playing well with others on the executive team to accomplish your organizational goals.

You can change your organizational culture to support the accomplishment of your business goals. Changing the organizational culture requires time, commitment, planning and proper execution - but it can be done.

Take a look at the first steps you need to take to change your corporate culture.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture_change_2.htm

Communication in Change Management

Communication Is Key in Change Management

By Susan M. Heathfield

You cannot over-communicate when you are asking your organization to change. Every successful executive, who has led a change management effort, in my experience, makes this statement.

I have never worked with a client organization in which employees were completely happy with communication. Communication is one of the toughest issues in organizations. Effective communication requires four components interworking perfectly for “shared meaning,” my favorite definition of communication.

The individual sending the message must present the message clearly and in detail, and radiate integrity and authenticity.

The person receiving the message must decide to listen, ask questions for clarity, and trust the sender of the message.

The delivery method chosen must suit the circumstances and the needs of both the sender and the receiver.

The content of the message has to resonate and connect, on some level, with the already-held beliefs of the receiver.

With all of this going on in a communication, I think it’s a wonder that organizations ever do it well.

Change management practitioners have provided a broad range of suggestions about how to communicate well during any organizational changes.

Recommendations About Communication for Effective Change Management

Develop a written communication plan to ensure that all of the following occur within your change management process.

Communicate consistently, frequently, and through multiple channels, including speaking, writing, video, training, focus groups, bulletin boards, Intranets, and more about the change.

Communicate all that is known about the changes, as quickly as the information is available. (Make clear that your bias is toward instant communication, so some of the details may change

at a later date. Tell people that your other choice is to hold all communication until you are positive about the decisions. This is disastrous in effective change management.

Provide significant amounts of time for people to ask questions, request clarification, and provide input. If you have been part of a scenario in which a leader presented changes, on overhead transparencies, to a large group, and then fled, you know what bad news this is for change integration.

Clearly communicate the vision, the mission, and the objectives of the change management effort. Help people to understand how these changes will affect them personally. (If you don’t help with this process, people will make up their own stories, usually more negative than the truth.)

Recognize that true communication is a “conversation.” It is two-way and real discussion must result. It cannot be just a presentation.

The change leaders or sponsors need to spend time conversing one-on-one or in small groups with the people who are expected to make the changes.

Communicate the reasons for the changes in such a way that people understand the context, the purpose, and the need. Practitioners have called this: “building a memorable, conceptual framework,” and “creating a theoretical framework to underpin the change.”

Provide answers to questions only if you know the answer. Leaders destroy their credibility when they provide incorrect information or appear to stumble or back-peddle, when providing an answer. It is much better to say you don’t know, and that you will try to find out.

Leaders need to listen. Avoid defensiveness, excuse-making, and answers that are given too quickly. Act with thoughtfulness.

Make leaders and change sponsors available, daily when possible, to mingle with others in the workplace.

Hold interactive workshops and forums in which all employees can explore the changes together, while learning more. Use training as a form of interactive communication and as an opportunity for people to safely explore new behaviors and ideas about change and change management. All levels of the organization must participate in the same sessions.

Communication should be proactive. If the rumor mill is already in action, the organization has waited too long to communicate.

Provide opportunities for people to network with each other, both formally and informally, to share ideas about change and change management.

Publicly review the measurements that are in place to chart progress in the change management and change efforts.

Publicize rewards and recognition for positive approaches and accomplishments in the changes and change management. Celebrate each small win publicly.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons2.htm

How Stories Strengthen Your Work Culture - or Not

You Can Ensure That Your Work Stories Are Inspiring

By Susan M. Heathfield

Have you ever listened – really listened – to the stories that your employees tell in your workplace? Are they inspiring stories about the time the team worked hard and saved the customer? Are they inspiring stories about coworkers that created glory for the group? Do they talk about a constant conversation with customers that inspires the direction of product development, marketing, and the customer engagement teams?

Or, are your work stories more about complaining? The indeterminate they didn’t like my idea. They expected too much from me and failed to provide the tools and resources I needed to

succeed. And, the perennially disempowering story about, “they wouldn’t let me,” whether the story is true or not, puts the kibosh to many employee dreams of autonomy and adding value.

Do your employees’ stories about work reinforce your desired work culture and tout the characteristics of your best employees? Or do the work stories present a picture of a work culture that you know will undermine both your organization’s success and your employees’ success.

Working with a client a few years ago, the employee stories were strikingly different from what the organization wanted to hear. Rather than talking about their work mission of charitable contributions, after a near bankruptcy, the employees talked about bad hiring decisions, poor spending practices, and the organization’s failure to prosecute employees who were stealing.

The stories grew worse when bankruptcy was averted and the manager promised that by the next year, everyone would be driving a red convertible. This was his way of saying that the company was doing much better. He thought his words would reassure jittery employees. The story had the opposite effect. The employees became fearful about the future of any organization he was leading. They thought he was delusional. The power of that one story undermined any of the concurrent employee stories about their financial recovery, their mission of service, and their constant community volunteering.

How Work Stories Shape Culture

The tone and the content of your work stories are powerful forces in shaping and strengthening your work culture. What your employees share with each other and talk about frequently becomes imprinted on the organizational mind. Just like the little voice in your head talks to you all day long, so the stories shared in the workplace form a substantial core of the employee experience.

And, inspiring work stories are even more significant for new employees. New employees listen to the work stories to learn about your culture and the work environment you provide for employees. New employees use work stories to cultivate and create expectations around their relationship with their new manager. What other employees tell you to expect and experience powerfully frames your own experience.

New employees, especially, find their thinking imperceptibly influenced by the work stories. Without awareness, they develop patterns of behavior and respond based on the expectations formulated by the stories, oftentimes not by the reality.

So, given that employees tell stories; work stories affect and shape workplace culture, often imperceptibly; and new employees are most influenced from day one by work stories that are inspiring – or not, what’s an employer to do? Can you stem the tide of employee negativity and reinforce the inspiring components of the work stories your employees tell?

Ensure That Your Work Stories Support Your Desired Work Environment

You can. Here is what you can do to ensure that your employee workplace stories are inspiring, enabling, and reinforce your desired work culture.

Discover what kind of work stories are rampant in your workplace. Listen carefully and ask employees what kinds of stories they hear and tell. This step is revealing as you will develop a picture of how work stories are currently shaping your culture. These are additional ways to assess the state of your current culture.

If you are unhappy about your workplace stories, make a plan with a cross-sectional team of your employees to change the stories. These are my recommended steps to change your corporate culture. In forming the team and paying attention to the stories, you have taken the first steps in changing your workplace stories. You have a team of people who are listening and aware of the power of stories in your culture. Following the steps recommended to change your workplace culture will take you to the goal of inspiring work stories. There are additional steps that are effective, too.

Tell stories. Make sure that you are telling positive, inspiring stories at any management and employee meetings that are regularly held in your company. Make a commitment as a management team to walk your talk and reinforce the culture with positive work stories.

Tie employee rewards and recognition to a powerfully positive story about the contribution. Write the story down and share it with the employee receiving recognition. Recognize the employee publicly by telling the story about his or her positive contribution. There is always a story when a manager wants to recognize an employee with a gift card or check. Make sure the story is told, written, and publicized. (On the plus side, other employees want to know what is necessary to gain recognition. Stories help illuminate the path.)

Weave stories of employee heroes and heroism into the company history in your handbook and new employee orientation and relive the moments at company events. Talk about the founding of the company and all of the milestone events along the way.

Make sure that managers and any employee who is mentoring new employees know about the importance of stories in influencing the career of a new employee. Make sure that these

influencers tell stories about work that reinforce the qualities of the culture you want to create. Make work and employee stories a significant component in new employee orientation.

Concentrate on the power of work stories to inspire, enable, and reinforce your desired work culture. A change in the stories or building a culture that supports story telling will help your organization experience success. Your employee stories are part of the recruiting and retaining message that every employer of choice needs to cherish.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/how-stories-strengthen-work-culture.htm