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Employee engagement key to business change

Set organizational transformation up for success by securing stakeholders' commitment
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
By Mark Wilcox and Mark Jenkins

There is a wealth of evidence that shows securing the engagement and commitment of employees is critical to the success of any business change. Why, then, despite overwhelming proof, do organizations continue to pay scant attention to the people dimension of change or consider it far too late in the transformation journey?

Organizations have a propensity to concentrate on the things that are relatively simple to understand and adjust (e.g. the organization’s structure, processes or systems). Complex things like people, their values and beliefs typically get labelled too difficult and left to the end of the program or are even completely ignored. The situation is invariably exacerbated by the need for change leaders to demonstrate the capability of the program to deliver quick wins. Changing the way people think, act and behave is never going to be a quick win.

The competence of the senior leadership determines how difficult or lengthy an organization’s change journey will be; the greater their knowledge and experience of applying change tools and techniques, the shorter and easier the journey is likely to be. The authors believe strongly that what really determines the success or failure of large-scale organizational change is effective and enduring engagement.

One’s ability to engage with two key groups of stakeholders is directly proportional to the odds of being able to execute and deliver successful change. The first group, typically the individuals and organizational entities that control or own resources, is able to directly influence the outcome of the transformation endeavour. The second group is those who will be affected by the change (i.e. the external and internal stakeholders whose personal and/or professional life will be changed by the outcome). Failing to engage with both of these communities significantly diminishes the probability of success.

How, then, does one build this engagement? There are two things that are absolutely fundamental: involvement and communication.

Involving people in shaping the change strategy, and then keeping them engaged throughout the endeavour, is critical to success. Their involvement hinges on a change leader’s ability to identify and engage with the critical few (i.e. those individuals whose opinions are valued and trusted). They are not necessarily members of the senior leadership team; they are more commonly individuals who have developed strong, informal networks within the organization. Involve the critical few in shaping and driving the change and not only does the change leader secure their commitment but also reaches and influences their networks. In so doing, one creates the critical mass needed for change to happen.

It’s easier for those who will be affected by change to be optimistic about the future if they’re actually involved in shaping it. It follows that the more people are involved in determining the future and the change process to get there, the greater the probability of success.

Even with the best of intentions, it’s impossible to involve everybody in all aspects of the undertaking. What one can do, however, is make sure that everyone is kept informed of what’s going on, why it’s happening and how it will affect them. Keeping everyone informed involves communication; this is about identifying, understanding and addressing the concerns and worries of those affected.

A key component of communication must be the recipient’s unswerving belief in the honesty, transparency and consistency of the message being received. To create this belief, all leaders and managers in the organization must always ‘tell it as it is’. Attempts to disguise, conceal or complicate the message will be found out. This diminishes a change leader’s credibility, causing trust to evaporate and change to fail.

Above all, provide the answer to the question that each and everyone in the organization will ask when change is afoot: “What’s in it for me?” If a change leader fails to provide a satisfactory answer (i.e. one that clearly articulates the change envisaged, why it’s needed and how it will affect the individual and his or her unit/group/department), his or her chances of mobilizing support is slim.

Follow the simple guidelines of ‘involve’ and ‘communicate’ to increase the probability of engaging with and securing the commitment of the people who will determine whether a business change initiative succeeds or fails.

Mark Wilcox, MBA, MSc, BSc, FCIPD, MBPsS, is the driving force behind the niche business that is Change Capability Consulting Ltd. Mark Jenkins, MBE, MSc, MA(Ed), FIET, IEng, MCIPD, MCIPS, MCMI, established Capability Management Consulting Ltd in 2010. Jenkins and Wilcox recently co-authored Engaging Change, a people centred approach to business transformation, published by Kogan Page.  

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