This blog is about the relationship between organizations and the people who work for them. And, it’s dedicated to the millions of people around the world who go to work every day wanting to do a great job.
Change Management
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From words to action
Sustainability is on my mind. I’m literally trying to get an urban farming project off the ground – it’s a roof top garden – here in Montreal. I’m attending talks and workshops on urban farming and spending an increasing amount of time hanging out with food security, food systems, social business types and environmentalists. I’m learning about their passion and energy and the power of their grass roots orientation.
But in the past month, I’ve been increasingly struck by how the rhetoric hasn’t changed since the 70s when I was getting my first degree in Biology [e.g. big corporations are bad, our economic and financial systems are at the root of our environmental problems, we need more direct control over our food sources and quality, think local, there are “limits to growth”, climate change is a real and growing issue, “small is beautiful”] And, I’ve been wondering what we can learn from the past 40 plus years.
It’s not that advocates and activists have not been making a compelling case. Here in Canada, David Suzuki has been speaking out since the late 60s. Over the decades he’s had important and influential platforms from which to preach and enlighten – hosting weekly radio and tv shows, writing bestselling books, and doing cross country speaking tours more times that I can count. Al Gore’s case was so compelling that the movie won Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and for Best Original Song in 2006 and he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work on raising awareness on climate change.
It’s not that our behaviour hasn’t changed at all. A second or third season episode of Mad Men is a good reminder of how far we’ve come. It’s the sixties. Don Draper, an advertising exec in New York, buys a Cadillac convertible. The family takes it for a spin and a picnic. Once they’ve had their lunch, they stand up. Betty, his wife picks up the picnic basket. He bends down lifts the picnic blanket up. Shakes it. And they all turn and walk to the car leaving the refuse and garbage from their meal in the field. Our reaction in the west is visceral. We can’t believe we’d every have lived like that. And we know we did.
But the unfortunate reality is that though we may be changing, we’re not changing fast enough to make a significant difference. Somewhere between our hearing the message and real and significant action something happens. We hold back as individuals, families, communities, provinces and nations?
Some friends recently suggested the issue needs “The most colossal mother of all change programs ever“.
From a communications point of view I’m fascinated. What will it take to bring this message, this conversation to life in a meaningful and sustainable way [Inconvenient Truth, let's face it is so yesterday in people's minds]? What will it take to radically change our behaviour? What will it take to make sure the next 40 years sees the change we need – environmentally, socially, economically? And how can we as communicators be part of the answer?
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It’s about the system. It’s about balance.
Today’s inspiration comes from C-Notes. The question posed was [and I’m paraphrasing]: As you design the customer experience do you think about it from a system point of view? Do you think about the balance?
I don’t think we do. And, we do even less of this kind of thinking when we start talking about the employee experience. We don’t seem to have/or take the time to really understand these relationships, the kind of experience we want them to have and the implications that would have on what and how we do things.
It’s the kind of process that takes up front thinking. It takes time. And it can challenge all kinds of preconceived notions and assumptions. This kind of thoughtful and intentional orientation to organizational change is much more like walking a labyrinth – all be it one on steroids – than any linear change model would ever suggest.
And in my experience, very few organizations have the will to really think it through; to back up and understand what they are trying to do and the implications that has on their organization and the communities around them. But when they do what happens next is amazing. Teams gain deeper understanding. Decisions that were written in stone are reversed or adjusted. Opportunities open up that had never existed or been explored. Barriers disappear. Things change for the better; for employees, for customers and for investors.
Has your organization got what it takes for this kind of conversation?
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Great idea # 3: Building pride – The Hudson Bay Company story
An occasional post on a really great idea for employee communications
– simple and high impact.
For those of you who don’t know, The Bay was incorporated “…by British royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay” making it “… the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world.” [source] I grew up knowing it as The Hudson Bay Company. Somewhere along the line it became HBC and The Bay.
And somewhere along the line the adventure was over. The Bay had become a tired and dowdy department store owned by venture capitalists. You couldn’t even find a Hudson Bay Company Point Blanket anywhere in the store.
And somewhere along the line over 70,000 employees and millions of customers had lost the spirit. Products were uninteresting. And the service was nonexistent or surly.
Enter Bonnie Brooks, Chief Adventurer (aka President and CEO), The Bay, Hudson’s Bay Company. The store, here in Montreal, looks the same from the outside. But inside there’s a lot going on and it’s all good.
In the two years since she was named, Bonnie Brooks has managed to transform this dying department store. And she’s done it by going back to basics: Building pride in the founding spirit of adventure and discovery. The things that connect the business to this incredible 400 year history that had been lost. And, she’s managed to take mostly hourly minimum-wage employees with her by building their pride – in the institution, in leadership and in the work they do for customers every day. Genius.
She’s “invited employees on a mission”. A mission to engage with the business and their customers. And they are. Their pride in the company and what they are doing is palpable.
She’s managed in a very short time to reignite pride in the institution and the heritage and tradition of the past. She’s changed the employee experience. And in doing so she’s changed the customer experience.
A simple idea. Incredibly well executed. Good for employees. Good for customers. And good for The Bay.
Congratulations Bonnie!
PS: The iconic blanket stripes are now trademark protected and you can now find the Hudson Bay Company Point blankets, pillows and other gift items that reflect the traditional bay colours and spirit in their in-store boutiques.
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Places worth caring about
“The emersive ugliness of our everyday environments… is entropy made visible. We can’t overestimate the despair we are creating…”
James Howard Kunstler
Wow! ”Entropy made visible.” ”Despair we are creating.”
Nowhere is that more true than in our places of work. These are mostly soulless places. Nothing that would build hope or confidence. Nothing of the brand experience we talk about and expect our employees to be so proud of and to deliver to our customers daily. Not even a hint of the business you’re in unless the corporate identity on the wall behind the reception desk gives a clue.
And, reception areas where the receptionist is missing. They lost their job two rightsizings ago.
Long characterless hallways. Rows of cubicles [no personal items please]. ‘Art’ that isn’t or motivational posters or nothing. Overly sterile washrooms. Kitchens where everything that matters – cups and cutlery are locked up. [You have to pay for your coffee as a cost control measure - my God you’re working 60+ hours a week at wages that were designed when people in your position worked 38.5].
Common areas that aren’t. No one wants to hang out there.
Boardrooms filled with chairs and designed for PowerPoint presentations not for people or work we really do or the collaboration and innovation virtually every organization today is aspiring for.
By the way, this description is focused on white collar environments. But I have to say that I’ve been in smelters that were more human and more appropriate than most office spaces I’ve been in.
We say we want to engage employees. What is there about the place you work in that is engaging? We say that the employee experience of the brand is a key element of culture. How does the design bring your brand to life for employees? If it’s not, then isn’t it time to get this on the Corporate agenda? How?
__________
Thanks to Mitch Joel for reminding me about James Howard Kunstler’s inspiring and funny TED talk.
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Asking the right questions
I got a note from someone who’d just read the IBM Global Human Resource Officer Study for 2010: “Working without borders”. He was disturbed to discover that Chief HR Officers are positioning themselves to “leverage collaboration”. His question: “How can Organizational Development lead the design of Organization 2.0?”
It’s the kind of question I hear regularly. How can function X own [insert your choice – innovation, employee communications, the brand, etc.]? How can function Y think they can lead [insert your choice again]?
But, are these the questions we should be asking? Instead, what if we asked:
- What is the collaboration for?
- How will collaboration support the business strategy?
- What impact will it have? Do we expect the impact to change over time?
- Does the level of collaboration need to be the same across the whole business – from function to function, from exec level to front line? Or is it needed only in certain pockets [product development and customer service, marketing and sales, etc.]? Will this change over time?
The conversation changes and depending on the answers, “ownership” [function, level] should be obvious. Is your organization asking the right questions? Are you asking the right questions?
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“Be honest”
When people say ‘be honest’ in an organizational setting I think they really mean ‘tell the truth’. As an individual telling the ‘truth’ is easy.
You know what you know. You know what you don’t know.
You know how you feel. You know how you don’t feel.
You know what you’re going to do. You know what you’re not going to do.
Institutionally, it’s a lot harder. As an institution you may or may not know. I’m not saying impossible to know. I’m saying it’s harder.
Understanding and being mindful of the difference is key to great institutional communications.
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“Buckle down. Get on with it.”
Today’s post is inspired by the girls at Underworld’s on Coronation Street [yes, I watch them all]. Things are going badly for the business. Carla has just come back to save the day after two ‘bad’ characters have apparently left the business in shambles. No Christmas for the girls at Underworld’s. As one character points out ‘Just because the owners have done a bad job why won’t we get our Christmas party?” Why are they being punished because of the failings of the owners? Well life [and certainly work life] is not fair.
Just buckle down and get on with it.
The CEO and his team want you to be “engaged” in a ‘big change’…
- But, by the time they tell you about it it’s either wrapped with a big bow or it’s still so conceptual you can’t make head nor tail of it. You just buckle down and get on with it.
- But, in order for the change to happen you will need to take on new projects. Your performance objectives haven’t changed. Your ‘day job’ priorities haven’t changed. Your client needs are still the same. The length of your day is still 24 hours [I actually heard an exec tell another senior manager that]. So, you layer on this new work onto your current work. You just buckle down and get on with it.
When “change” came every now and then it was manageable. But today we’re asking employees [and I admit it may be even worse the more senior you are] to do back-to-back sprints instead of marathons.
Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture? What’s really changing?
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“Enthusing, encouraging and enabling”
Gary Hamel has started a movement over the summer designed to rethink management.
The other day, he and Veneet Nayar, CEO at HCL spoke about a cultural transformation that has been going on at HCL over the past 5 years. It was very thought provoking. [for more including a link to the webinar]
HCL began their journey with one assumption – “Employees first. Customers second.” And, that got my attention.
His logic is that the value in the business is created at the interface between employees and customers. And, according to Nayar the main way to maximize organizational value is to “enthuse, encourage and enable employees”. And what they realized very early on was that they had delegated that role to the Human Resources function.
For management to add value they were going to have to change their focus on control to a focus on actively supporting employees. Of course, there would still need to be control. But, whereas in the past it focused one way, the accountability would now be shared between management and employees.
Now this is where it gets really interesting. They didn’t just invert their hierarchy and redraw their organization chart. They didn’t just say the words and leave it to the organization to figure out what it meant. They started experimenting with different ways to build a culture focused on employees first.
It has not been an easy or short journey. According to Nayar they’ve made “some big mistakes”. But over the past 5 years they’ve achieved significant growth, seen double digit improvement in employee and customer satisfaction and learned how to better support and engage employees.
As I mentioned in my last post, I think Hamel and Nayar explore many of the themes that have been preoccupying us and bring something new.
Much to learn and think about here. What do you think?
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Something’s in the air
There’s something in the air and it’s not just that crisp smell of a Canadian fall. I’m noticing more than the usual reflection on what’s not working in organizations and how to fix it. And, there’s not just more reflection, it seems deeper and maybe even profound.
Many of the themes are very familiar for those of you who follow this blog and/or my friends at CommScrum:
- Think and act from the inside-out.
- Take a system rather than a functional or professional view
- Stop thinking that communications is about crafting and pushing messages
- Get out of your cubicle, off the executive floor and learn from employees and others outside your function/profession
- Empathize. Bring a deep human understanding to your profession.
Have I missed any?
Today I followed a talk that brings many of these ideas together and takes us someplace new. Standby.
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Recent Posts
- Grey zones are costing your organization big time
- Saying goodbye to jargon
- Don’t leave them laughing
- A master class with Ed Sullivan
- Innovation & collaboration: Strategic priorities or not?
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- Connecting for big business benefits
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Recent posts
- Grey zones are costing your organization big time
- Saying goodbye to jargon
- Don’t leave them laughing
- A master class with Ed Sullivan
- Innovation & collaboration: Strategic priorities or not?
- The truth about the number 1 fear
- Want to know the secret to writing a great speech?
- Connecting for big business benefits
- Staying in touch with reality
- “Just hire a Dalek”
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