Change Management

Coaching Matters: An HR Leader’s Journey Through Organizational Change [Part II]

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Last week, we began walking through three types of organizational culture change.  Following a culture of simultaneous growth and cost cutting, there are two additional areas of culture change.

Culture of company mergers

This is probably one of the biggest challenges I had in my HR career – helping to take three different company cultures and merging into one new organization.  These were companies that had existed independently for several decades and had developed their own cultural “stamp,” and employees had an allegiance to their specific culture.

As an HR leader and a coach, it was critical to work with the executives to ensure they were “sensitive” and respectful of each legacy company’s attachments to its cultural norms. Additionally, it was important to create a new organizational culture, with which the employees would develop a similar feeling of pride and commitment.

Coaching leaders to “go slow, to go fast” is a great challenge.  A coach has to help the leadership explore the benefits of this approach and the potential consequences of moving too fast through the change, preventing employees from taking part in creating and buying into the new vision.

This is most challenging for a coach when the executive team is comprised of leaders from all three companies.  Having the CEO’s ear, trust and openness are most important for the coach. The coach has to stay focused on what the CEO wants to accomplish with the combined company vision and continue to leverage the coaching process to achieve those goals. While the coach is still primarily a listener, the coach also becomes more of a sounding board for the “what if” scenarios explored by the executive team.

Culture of Employee Disengagement

When a leader has a low performing (disengaged) team, it is important for that leader to be open to the fact that she may be part of the problem…and most certainly has to be the key driver to the improvement.

In this environment, there could be numerous factors for low morale and performance, so the first step is for the coach to help the leader get to the root of the problems. This can be a challenge for the coach, as many times the leader unknowingly may be a contributor to the low morale – i.e.  lack of strategy, poor communications or communication style, unqualified for the role, lack of team development, insufficient performance management.

The leader will have to be vulnerable with the coach, so trust is a must. The coach has to ensure the leader knows that the coach has the leader’s best interest in mind, and that confidential discussions will not be shared.  Working with a leader in this situation requires a coach to really understand the leader – her strengths, fears, desires, pain points and development needs. It likely will require engagement with the leader’s team, via surveys, team sessions, one-on-ones or a combination of all. Peers and the leader’s manager may be part of the process as well.  Through it all, however, the coach must maintain the leader’s trust that all the inputs are to help the leader – and her team – to improve and succeed.

Throughout all of these types of change – and any others – the takeaway is that coaching matters.  During times of significant business change, a leader can rely on an experienced coach to be a sounding board, a trusted partner  and – most importantly – a catalyst to help the leader uncover solutions that create positive results.

What type of culture change have you encountered?

Want to learn more about Change Coaching and how it can work for you and your organization? Learn more here.

How Leaders Can Make Change Stick: 3 Phases of Transitional Success

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Leaders cannot be effective in their organizations without the understanding and tools to help make change stick.

Unfortunately, as has been touted by change experts for years – and blasted in media headlines – many significant business changes do NOT stick nor achieve the intended financial or market results.

As a human resources professional of 20+ years, I assisted with a variety of organizational changes – acquisitions, downsizings, spin-offs, mergers, integrations – and when the theories of change are appropriately applied, the change STICKS and provides the optimal results that led to the decision to make the change.

Most leaders are assessed and rewarded based on executing the change – i.e. incorporating new technology, integrating an acquisition, launching a new business model.  Change management plans are usually developed and focused on how quickly and adeptly the mechanics of the change can be accomplished.

One of my favorite authorities on change, William Bridges (Author) teaches that change is situational and externally focused; however, transition is personal and internally focused. Without the appropriate focus on culture and people transition, sustainable change is likely to fail.

So how do leaders get from simply change management to transitional success – and what can we do as coaches to guide them?

3 Phases of Transition

1. Ending: Go where the door is open

As a coach, this may now be my favorite mantra. The first step is assessing whether or not the leader is committed and able to make the change happen. This includes assessing the leader’s readiness as well as the organization’s. Like with any coaching assessment, this must be evaluated before a coach can attempt to be involved.

The other aspect of this phase is defining the end game plan – why the need for change, what needs to change, how to prepare for the effort required to get from current to future state. The use of effective coaching approaches can provide a framework for guiding a leader through this stage of acknowledgement, preparation and goal setting.

2. The Neutral Zone: Nowhere between two somewheres

According to Bridges, this is a dangerous time for organizations going through change, but it is also a time when innovation and experiments have a chance to succeed.

The Zone is where the coach can really make a difference. This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.  A coach is critical in assisting the leader in navigating the storms that s/he or the team will face. The experienced coach can provide effective tools to ensure leaders don’t get “stuck” or immobilized to the extent that the transition will not happen; therefore, the change will fail. First, the leader must help his/her team let go of the past. I have experienced too many times an organizational change where old policies, outdated forms and other remnants of the past culture were allowed to stay in the environment.  Leaders must help the team let go in order to move forward while being able to celebrate and bring forward the successes of the prior life.

Secondly, a great way to keep the past from creeping into the future is through the use of celebratory events.  Some may refer to these events as milestones or small wins for the team.  As the change journey moves through the Zone, it is important that there is acknowledgement of progressive steps leading to the new reality.  Again, this is where a coach can play a key role in working with the leader to help identify meaningful milestones along the journey and to develop a plan to gauge where the team/organization is at various points of the transition.

3. The New Beginning: Every act of creation is first an act of destruction  

Getting to the “new” will consist of starts and stops, uncertainties, ambivalence and anxiety. The key for the leader – with help from the coach is to — (a) anticipate that this will happen, (b) realize that this is normal and embrace it, (c) increase personal connection and communications with the team to develop trust throughout the transition. The key in this stage is to create a culture where people are learning, developing, feel valued and are rewarded for getting to and thriving in the new environment.

Ultimately, the role of a coach is to prepare the leader to successfully navigate his/her organization through the change. The best leaders understand that transition is personal to each person involved, can provide a safe space when employees get ‘stuck’ and create a collaborative culture that honors its history and celebrates successes along its change journey.

Ready to learn more about Change Management for Leaders? Learn more now.

6 Effective Ways to Rebrand HR

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Rebranding is the bridge from OLD to NEW.

As I introduced in an earlier blog, HR change agents with business backgrounds and the right experiences are critical to a company’s success — now more than ever. Even top business school programs have added organizational behavior, organizational strategy and/or organizational development (i.e. HR) to their core curriculum.

So, even with this recognized progress, why is the HR function still rated an overall performance grade of C or below by most business leaders?

The HR brand is in major need of a reboot.  Even the best brands in the marketplace have refreshed their brands from time to time (i.e. Apple, Target, Old Navy, J. Crew, McDonalds).

What if the HR function applied a company’s approach to reinvent its brand?  A simple model I stumbled upon in a business publication could provide a good starting point for how we might think about HR rebranding:

1. Use research to support brand changes.

Of course, before we make a change, we have to answer why the change is needed. Why now? What is the current perception of the brand?  Have we significantly improved the HR function in a way to support changing the brand? We can use quantitative and qualitative data to understand our client’s relationship with the current brand and can then make informed and impactful adjustments.

2. Create brand survey to share with customers.

The most important part of re-branding is to understand the clients — who they were, what they want, what is most important to them and what kinds of change they are willing to accept (and in some cases, provide resources for). Ensure we have the voice of the client in every aspect of the rebranding and that the brand is aligned with the client’s strategy and expectations.

3. Consider a name change.

Sometimes it takes a new name to rid an evolved product or service of old perceptions and beliefs. This can be true for an HR function. A name change can certainly be good for the clients to whom we want to express that change has occurred and invite them to think of HR differently. Additionally, a name change can be inspiring for those who represent the brand as well: ‘out with the old; in with the new’ sort of thing.

4. Ensure the brand update supports the original promise.

The most important part of a rebranding is to ensure the that brand represents what we are committing to.  A name change and a rebranding will not be effective unless the business (function) model has truly been improved.

5. Use storytelling to support a rebrand.

Make an event out of the new brand and tell the story as to why we are making the change. Once we understand and validate our clients’ needs and we are able to deliver on their expectations, we can use stories to demonstrate the characteristics and behaviors (and results) the new brand represents.

6. Don’t rush into the rebranding process.

We must take the time to build an effective communications plan. Set milestones to check in with clients to see how HR is doing against the promises of the new brand. Allow clients to build trust and confidence in the new brand. Most importantly, we make adjustments as needed.

The key thought is that a brand revitalization for HR is overdue.  In order to continue to attract upcoming generations of talent to the function and be lauded by company executives as a ‘must have’ business partner, we have to do more than periodic repositioning of the current brand.

As change experts, we should take the time to acknowledge and celebrate the history and progress of the HR function.  Then, let’s forge ahead to create a brand that clearly represents our new identity while also signaling that more transformation is on the horizon.

What are your thoughts on how HR can reinvent its brand? To learn more about The Change Engineers services and our thoughts on HR, click here.

Is HR – as a Brand – Dead?

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dead tree

About 10 years ago, I attended a global conference for HR professionals, and there was a huge buzz about an article that had just come out in Fast Company Magazine called “Why We Hate HR.”

Since I had not yet read the article, I assumed it was talking about why HR folks were weary of the profession.

Boy, was I wrong.

Actually, the focus was on why business leaders, other functional leaders and the non-HR community in general (i.e. our clients) found HR useless, uninspiring, and a “necessary evil” (Yikes! That one hurt!).

While this was hard to swallow, having worked in HR for several years at that moment in time, I understood that there was much work to be done to ensure HR leaders are making a difference for their clients. Sometimes, we look at our own reflection, and don’t like what we see.  I must admit, there are HR organizations that are still mired in too much paperwork, and many struggle to focus on business priorities and effectively demonstrate required competencies.

Changes have been made in HR…

Major changes have occurred in the function, however.  In an attempt to free up HR time for more “value-added” engagements, many companies have outsourced compensation and benefits, policies and practices, recruiting and employee training.  Other progressive companies have added employee self-service platforms, leveraged technology for routine activities and recruited those with non-traditional backgrounds to the HR team.

Yet, 10 years after the “Why I Hate HR” article was written, recent surveys of business leaders suggest that a much-too-high-percentage of them still believe that their HR teams are too tactical and don’t possess the right skills to create and execute an effective people strategy.

…but its brand has not.

Recently, I was in a session with a random group of senior executives (from different companies and industries – mid-size to large) and asked them how they would rate the effectiveness of their HR organizations today. Before they could give me a verbal response, many scrunched their noses and rolled their eyes as if they got a whiff of a very pungent smell. While I softly chuckled at the response,  I appreciated their honesty.  It reinforced my belief that HR as a brand is dead.

With due respect to those leaders, I believe that there actually has been quite an evolution of HR effectiveness in many companies across the globe. In the last decade, HR leaders, in partnership with progressive CEO’s, have demonstrated a stronger business acumen, have become a “strategic partner” and are more engaged in decision making as an equal partner at many executive tables. These new skills and a myriad of others designed to make HR leaders more impactful have been added to many HR competency models and HR development training curricula over the last few years.  While we can admit that there is always more work to do, there are also examples of the evolution that has occurred in the function.

Newer entrants to the HR profession have proven to be more globally-focused, technologically- savvy and results-driven. Today, there are more HR professionals with MBA’s or who have migrated from roles in finance, IT or marketing than ever before.  HR, in general, is no longer your grandfather’s (or father’s) personnel department, especially in this ever-changing business environment where a value differentiator will continue to be the acquisition, development and retention of the best talent.

What do you think?  How has the HR function evolved over the last few years? Is it time for HR to change its brand.

(Stay tuned in two weeks as we explore this further with “6 Effective Ways to Rebrand HR”!)