Engaging in Change
« the only asset that is unique to a
company – an asset that can’t be
replicated by rivals – is the quality of
their workforce: their ability to
innovate, their willingness to go the
extra mile, their creativity and the
‘relational capital’ that they build »
- robert b. reich
Change Management: Engagement
Engagement is:


The extent to which employees commit to something
or someone in their organization
How hard they work and long they stay as a result of
that commitment
Think of a time when you felt really engaged
 What drove that engagement?
 What impact did it have on your performance?
Source: Corporate Leadership Council.
Recruiting, training, measuring and
rewarding - all must be aligned to
drive new behaviors in support of the
company’s vision.
Change Management: Engagement
Improves
employee
performance
Why it
matters?
Increased
employee
retention
Increased
client
satisfaction
Change Management: Engagement
ongoing transformations (1)
business: ‘glocalisation’, complexity,
reactivity, flexibility, stakeholders
influence
control ?
ongoing transformations (2)
management: how to reduce
uncertainty, manage complexity?
legitimacy ?
ongoing transformations (3)
society: social regulations are questioned
contract ?
ongoing transformations (4)
people: better educated, trained,
empowered, new behaviors, ‘unfaithful
without guilt’
loyalty ?
in this new environment firms are
highly dependant on their employees’
willingness to meet their objectives
and to change…therefore,
 the engagement topic becomes
crucial
involvement
Satisfaction
Fulfillment
Extra mile
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information and may not be disclosed or reproduced without the prior written consent of Ipsos.
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alignment
Confidence
Understand strategy
Support change
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information and may not be disclosed or reproduced without the prior written consent of Ipsos.
13
loyalty
Feel part of the organization
Advocacy
Desire to stay
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information and may not be disclosed or reproduced without the prior written consent of Ipsos.
14
new approaches
companies must
be seen as a
‘neighborhood’,
a network of
communities to
be promoted &
developed
network
new approaches
flow
human capital must
be considered as a
flow of skills rather
than a stock
new approaches
influence
in an era of networking &
organizational complexity,
influence rather than decision is
the ultimate managerial
competency
new approaches
the relationship of the individual to
their company is of a transactional
nature: it implies choice, advice, cooperation, re-negotiation, and can be
difficult to understand and predict
transaction
leveraging people engagement
requires an in depth understanding of
them as individuals and their
experience at work in order to build a
mutually profitable relationship
Change Management: Engagement
Connect
 Know your employees, what’s important to them and their careers
 Engage with them on a meaningful level
What You Can Do as a Leader:
• Take action to close the gaps identified in discussions with your
employees / employee assessment
Clarity
 Simplify our message
 Link your teams’ jobs with your team/company success
 Empower teams to simplify work, to do what’s right for clients and
for the company
What You Can Do at a Leader:
• Answer your employees’ questions to the best of your ability /
knowledge
• Set up team meetings to discuss business strategy, the role of the
team, role of each individual, and your priorities for the year
Change Management: Engagement
Collaborate
 Leaders have to inspire trust and cooperation among team
members
 Create an environment of trust and collaboration within and among
other teams
What You Can Do as a Leader:
• Work on improving your active listening skills
• Look and listen for cues on where your employees are on the change curve
Coach
 Coach and provide feedback
 Provide on-going guidance to individuals and teams
What You Can Do as a Leader:
• Schedule regular feedback sessions with your team
• Identify criteria to differentiate performance and communicate it
Celebrate
 Recognize big and little things
 Capture and sustain momentum
 Celebrate the demonstration of company values
What You Can Do as a Leader:
• Look for small wins and say ‘thank you’
• Have a plan for recognition tools
The Transition Curve: How Attitudes & Feelings Change
“S/he really made the effort to help us
implement this change”
“This way is more effective”
Confidence
“I’m not sure I know
what’s going on”
“This could be a better way of doing it”
“I can handle this”
“Actually, things might get better”
“I feel overwhelmed”
“We can’t do this. It won’t work. We’re not allowed”
Time
Making Sense of the Journey
To change behaviour, employees need to see the link between:
The information they receive
Their work and how they do it
The context in which they do their work
The needs of the organisation
Choosing the Right : Communications Tools & Channels
Level of change
Ownership/
Engagement
Working sessions, 1-to-1
conversations, workshops,
coaching
Acceptance/
Alignment
Focus groups, working
parties, suggestions
schemes, consultative
presentations
Understanding
(and Action)
Awareness
Booklets, plenary
sessions, presentations,
videos, intranets
Newsletters,
emails, memos,
letters, notices
Tell
Sell
Consult
Join
Level of involvement
Ten Strategies for Employee Involvement
1.
Meet regularly with employees and openly discuss the organisational
changes and why they occurred
2.
Recognise that employees understand that you may not have the answers
to everything, but it’s important for them to feel the communications are
open and honest
3.
Constantly communicate clear goals and vision of the new situation
4.
Encourage people to discuss fears and concerns in teams
5.
Open ‘suggestion boxes’ for employees to raise questions in anonymity
6.
Set up weekly lunches or other informal meetings to discuss the progress
of the restructuring process
7.
Whenever possible, assign roles and responsibilities in line with peoples
interests
8.
Develop rituals and marker events that allow people to connect
9.
Involve employees affected by the changes in making decisions about
what’s best for them
10. Discuss realistic career options with employees and ensure training is
available for any new skills that are needed
Coaching Others in Building Employee Commitment
1.
Identify individuals or groups whose commitment is necessary to
the success of the change effort
2.
Create and follow a departmental plan to increase commitment of
all players
3.
Continually encourage and enable employee involvement
4.
Continually communicate the goals of the change process
5.
Turn covert resistance to overt resistance and then to commitment
6.
WALK THE TALK!
What People Pay Attention To:
1.
Leader attention, measurement, rewards and controls
2.
Leader reaction to critical incidents
3.
Leader role modelling, coaching
4.
Criteria for recruitment, promotion, retirement and
excommunication
5.
Formal and informal socialisation
6.
Recurring systems and procedures
7.
Organisation design and structure
8.
Design of physical space
9.
Stories and myths about key people and events
10. Formal statements, charters, creeds, codes of ethics etc
Between 80-90% of behavior is determined by
the first three points
Employee surveys: A tool for change
survey your people
to empower your managers
Employee surveys: A tool for change
• Many people feel that employee surveys are a waste of time and
money, and they are often justified. Consider these common
scenarios:
• A consulting firm provides a good questionnaire, and beautiful
reports, which are given to leaders with recommendations
 The reports are placed on a shelf and life moves on.
 Actions based on the findings take more than three months to
become clear, by which time most have forgotten about the
survey
• Leaders take action on a survey…
 …but fail to tell employees that their actions are based on the
survey findings, and the employees don’t see what happened
to their input
Source: Adapted from David Zatz, Ph.D. (Toolpack Consulting)
Employee surveys: A tool for change
• A survey is done internally, but many refuse to take it, or do not answer
honestly, because they fear retaliation
 After a survey, some managers take revenge on employees for
saying “bad” things
• The survey guides change at only one level or department, and the
actions taken by people at this level are not clear to others
Source: Adapted from David Zatz, Ph.D. (Toolpack Consulting)
Employee surveys: A tool for change
• One of the worst outcomes of a survey is having the results ignored,
or discussed but never used, and not communicated back to
employees
• This frustrates employees and gives them the impression their
input is not really wanted.
• Telling people what happened to that sheet of paper they filled out
shows respect for their time, cooperation, and feelings; this respect
will be repaid with carefully completed surveys the next time around
• Summarizing the results is better, but still not what people want
• Most employees want to know what real changes have been
made as a result of their time and effort
• More than that, they want a chance to use the findings to improve
the organization
Source: Adapted from David Zatz, Ph.D. (Toolpack Consulting)
Employee surveys: A tool for change
• Summarizing the data and providing recommendations is the standard
method, but it often lead to little action. Recommendations are too easily
forgotten in the day to day rush.
• A few methods for dissemination are often used:
• Small group sessions where results are presented and discussed
• The session should be genuinely open, and people should be able to
participate without fear of retribution or attack.
• Don’t make any promises you can’t keep!
• The manager must create a feeling that people can freely ask
questions, discuss issues, propose ideas, and take on new
responsibilities.
Source: Adapted from David Zatz, Ph.D. (Toolpack Consulting)
Employee surveys: A tool for change
• A few methods for dissemination are often used (cont.):
• Water falling (or cascading) the results from senior leaders to their
direct reports. This can be done in an “all hands on deck” webinar,
division meetings or by teams
• Done well, this process can ensure the information makes its
way throughout the organization, ensure it is understood and
the survey information can be acted upon
• The key is to follow these meetings with discussions on what
actions can be taken to address issues identified in the survey
Source: Adapted from David Zatz, Ph.D. (Toolpack Consulting)
Employee surveys: A tool for change
• Seek participants help in addressing the identified issues.
• Acknowledge that other people may be closer to the situation, or may
have more experience with different parts of it.
• People are also much more likely to accept and to actively support
solutions which they had a part in creating.
• If people at the meeting do not have the power to make decisions and
implement plans, be honest about these limitations and tell them that you
will be using their input to make these plans yourself, or to bring them up
to a higher level.
• However, if you (or the people at the higher level) are not really
serious about implementing the proposals, skip the action planning
session.
• It is better to have an open, honest feedback session without action
planning, than a session that raises expectations and then dashes
them.
Source: Adapted from David Zatz, Ph.D. (Toolpack Consulting)
Employee surveys: A tool for change
• In thinking about action planning and affecting change, don’t let
comments like, “We can’t change anything” or “We’ve tried that before
and it didn’t work” be a demotivating factor and stop the change process
before it evens starts.
• Prompt people to engage with open ended questions like asking “Well,
what can we do? What’s stopping us from doing that right now?” How
do you feel about doing this? Can you work together on it? What would
you suggest is the first step?”
• Often, people can find a way around problems and barriers if they really
believe in something and have a reason to invest their time and energy in
it.
• A great suggestion is to get a quick win under your belt.
• Seemingly trivial issues can be important, partly because of their
symbolic value, partly because they are a daily nuisance. If the
survey spotlights small problems that can easily be fixed,
immediately fix them, no matter how small. When you visibly and
immediately use a survey, you show respect for your employees, and
Source: Adapted from David Zatz, Ph.D. (Toolpack
increase energy and enthusiasm.
Consulting)
Employee surveys: A tool for change
• A great suggestion is to get a quick win under your belt.
• Seemingly trivial issues can be important, partly because of their
symbolic value, partly because they are a daily nuisance: the drip in
the faucet, the sign-off for acquiring new and low-cost technology,
etc.
• If the survey spotlights small problems that can easily be fixed,
immediately fix them, no matter how small. (Delegation helps.)
• When you visibly and immediately use a survey, you show respect for
your employees, and increase energy and enthusiasm.
• After a number of possible solutions have been created, they should be
prioritized and discussed.
• To maintain momentum, it is essential to follow through and keep people
updated on progress
• Actions already put into effect.
• Actions scheduled to be put into effect and timing
• Actions for which it needs approval
• Actions that need to be taken by other groups
Source: Adapted from David Zatz, Ph.D. (Toolpack
• Actions deferred
Consulting)
Change Management: Engagement
Keeping the whole team engaged:
Celebrating / Recognizing
Small & Big Wins
Onboarding & Assimilating
New Employees
Communicating Effectively
Leading Change Effectively
Change Management: Engagement
Primary Motivators
Information + Involvement to Build Commitment & Change
Stages of Individual
Behaviour Change
“This is the way we do things
here”
Internalisation
“OK, I’m ready to do it the
new way”
of new behaviour
Commitment
“I know how we need to
do our jobs differently”
to personal change
Translation
“I understand where we
need to go”
to the work setting
Significant
involvement
needed
Understanding
of change direction
“Yeah, I saw the memo”
Awareness
of desired change
Information with some
involvement sufficient here