Everyone
is now clear on the intentions of the
coalition government in the UK
to take the tough decisions and reduce public sector costs. This will
be repeated in many parts of the private sector, where many
organisations are
facing lower profitability and the only route to survival is often seen
as being
through cuts.
In
this paper OsCar Systems explores how through coaching for
engagement, we can take a different approach than simply cutting jobs
or services. We also show how, even where these cuts are necessary, we
create an environment to achieve a positive,
rather than negative, outcome.
In
many cases this is inevitable and equally, there are many cases where
this course of action is sure to damage the organisation even more,
particularly where human capital is concerned.
Whether
you have to cut or determine to progress through improvements,
bringing about change is inevitable. There are two components of
change, starting and sustaining; the first is easy, the second is many
times
more difficult and starts and ends with your people.
For
organisations to thrive in this economic environment, an engagement
strategy is not only
fundamental to the way they do business, it is critical to their
business.
So
how do we achieve a return to strong results?
How
do you get people on board for change?
The
critical first step is achieving and communicating “clarity of
purpose”. Expressed differently, each person and team needs to be
aware of what is expected and what their contribution is to be. It is
particularly prevalent in the bureaucratic environment of the public
sector, for
employees to feel undervalued and disconnected from the strategic
policies of
their employer.
To
achieve the subsequent ‘buy in’ to this common purpose, employee
engagement is critical. Simply, it may be termed “involvement”: but it
is much more than that.
Managers
firstly need to recognise that employee engagement is not
capable of being applied or enforced. An organisation does not engage
its employees ………. Each individual must engage with the organisation
through deliberate choice.
Involvement
is specifically that each person knows what is expected, how
they can contribute and that they are to be kept informed. Most
importantly; they have an opportunity to be listened to when they have
new ideas to
improve the situation. While an employer can't bend to every request,
employees must feel that their input is considered and used when
appropriate.
What
comes out of this is the clear necessity
for leadership and communication in the form of feedback – the awareness
of recognition. Coaching is a prerequisite rather than a soft option or
a luxury at this time. People cannot be expected
to simply toe the line or accept management edicts; if success is
expected to
bloom, then coaching is necessary to find what inspires at an
individual
level and to develop the belief that they can truly make a
difference and it WILL be recognised.
To
achieve this recognition, the management messages and activity needs
to be positive and encouraging. If the management message is of doom
and gloom, then employees will believe it, possibly look to leave and
the messages
become self-fulfilling prophecies.
Involve, communicate clearly, coach, provide consistent feedback,
respect your people and they will
certainly do extraordinary things for you.
Parameters for establishing change
So
when we have clarity of purpose, an engaged
work force and an environment of open communication, what
next?
We
have found that our “intelligent change” practice combines the
essential elements of success during change. These necessary elements
are; coaching, the development of lean and systems thinking within
individuals and then training in their application.
There
are many ways to bring about change, when
the right environment for bringing this about has been created in your
organisation. However,
change for the better requires universal awareness of taking a
careful balance between twin needs for organisational dexterity and
buoyancy. It is important to communicate the need for change
but also to make clear the limitations so that GOOD change is
achieved.
There
are two broad definitions of dexterity
and buoyancy, in this context. Dexterity (or nimbleness, agility) is
the ability to consistently see
and grab opportunities for your organisation.
Buoyancy
is the organisation's ability to
absorb changes in the business environment, to survive and live to
fight another day.
This
can produce a trade-off, requiring considerable thought, between
efficiency and resilience. If we consider this as a balance between
dexterity and buoyancy, it will be recognised that both are good but
when working
in harmony they are excellent.
Dexterity
There
are distinct ways in which organisations can be dextrous:
Tactical
dexterity is very much the systems thinking
outcome we would expect and is the ability to consistently see and
develop opportunities to pursue growth and control costs.
Strategic
dexterity is the ability to spot “gold nuggets” that create
disproportionate value to the initial investment.
Optimisation
dexterity is the ability to take
resources out of stable business units and redeploy them to more
promising opportunities, as exemplified in the Jim Collins book ‘Good
to Great’. It is always perceived as a risk, moving people from where
they are excelling but they should be where they can
add the most future value.
Buoyancy
Operational buoyancy
requires an organisation to
efficiently monitor, react to and anticipate threats to the normal
operations. Vital to operational buoyancy is the right balance between
formal procedures
and personalisation.
Too
many strict formal procedures will detach the individual and leads
people to lose sight of the ‘common purpose’. Personalisation
and individual accountability, should result in actions taken up by
those employees closest to the ‘coal face’ and thus most competent
to deal with them.
It
is clear that bureaucracy, to some extent, is necessary
in large organisations, but is also fixed and introverted.
Organisational structures that encourage an individual to have
responsibility and
accountability for their own decisions will enable resources to be
reallocated more quickly and flexibly. The question
needs to be asked, ‘does this bureaucracy add value?’
Now,
how do we make it sustained change?
Throughout
or coaching projects, we have found that there are three essential
commandments to make
change sustainable.
Pleasure
not fear
As
we stated at the outset of this paper, many people, particularly in the
public sector are in fear
of losing their jobs. Through positive communication, this fear can be
allayed and with coaching, the factors which influence the pleasurable
conduct of
their work and life can be explored to find the right motivation for
going the
extra mile for their employer.
There
may have been a time when managing by bullying and faces having to fit
to progress but it is
certainly not now, yet this still prevails in many organisations. “When
I want your opinion, I will tell you it” remains prevalent today,
amazing as
it sounds.
An alternative is to encourage, reward (with attention and praise) and
make the idea of
improvement fun and interesting. This produces exceptional results……
every time!
Good
Ju Jitsu practice
No,
not throwing people around but using the same concept of using momentum
to make change
easier. By adjusting an existing practice rather
than creating a new one, change can be more effective without it
appearing onerous.
As
an example, a service has been introduced by a company with a huge
impact on individual savings;
by simply creating a personal savings account for someone this account
is
added to by rounding up every card transaction they make with the
‘loose
change’. Thus, the only change in behaviour that is required is to sign
up for it,
every time afterwards it is not a new decision.
Positive
impact of peer pressure
By
creating groups, working together with a common and simple goal each
individual works to the
benefit of the whole.
In
Lean Six Sigma, this translates as a ‘Kaizen event’ where a problem is
highlighted and the
sole purpose of the group is to work together to find a solution using
their
own knowledge of the function and the training we provide in gathering
and
analysing data. Through coaching we develop their analytical and
problem solving skills to bring about a positive outcome.
Summary
Change
is all about us and without it the organisation will not survive. We
have not heard of
anyone feeling that change for the worse is a desired outcome but
nevertheless, change is resisted. Imposed change rarely works
effectively and many planned changes are not sustained, a little like
New Year resolutions.
- Therefore
to make change work and be sustained many factors
need
to be introduced in harmony and in logical sequence.
- Communicate
the big picture clearly elucidating every individual’s
role within it and how they can contribute.
- Engage
each individual through two way communications,
rewarding each person with the respect of listening and providing
feedback.
- Provide
coaching to unlock barriers and discover motivational needs at an
individual level.
- Establish
the parameters to achieve the right balance
between dexterity and buoyancy for the organisation to thrive, ensuring
that where a proposal creates an imbalance, this is communicated back
to the
proposer.
- Utilise
pleasure and not fear as a tool for introducing and implementing
change.
- Seek out the adjustments to
practice not wholesale
change wherever possible.
- Develop and encourage groups as
teams not individuals
and ensure each individual is engaged with the group.
OsCar Systems have great experience in bringing about sustained change
across many organisations
and would welcome a conversation to explore how we can help your people
become evangelists of sustained change……for the better.
A
partnership with OsCar Systems enables your organisation to design,
implement and deliver an
employee engagement strategy. We can be contacted by phone on
02070431636 or by
email at
hr@oscar-pbx.com
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