Leading Organizational Change

A group of senior HR leaders recently met at The New York Times headquarters to discuss how the human resources function can positively and proactively impact organizational change. Rafe Harwood, SVP Global Human Resources at The Times hosted the meeting and shared best practices and models of organizational change. The group then discussed the positive impact HR can have through a well-constructed change leadership plan and process. It was a spirited and insightful discussion!

Let’s Change the Language

Change is inevitable. As societies and businesses become more complex, the pace of change often increases. It is systemic and psychological, and the effectiveness of change interventions impact the ability of sectors and organizations to attract, engage, and retain top talent. There are many drivers of change, such as M&A activity, new leadership, technological advances, generational preferences, social trends, environmental/sustainability issues, and legislation. One example discussed was the technology sector which recently experienced massive workforce reductions that negatively impacted large numbers of employees.

The discussion focused on change leadership, deliberately moving away from the more common phrase “change management,” which can imply a process that is imposed on people and an organization. On the other hand, change leadership encourages HR professionals and leaders to be at the helm of change and an active part in driving it. The group agreed with Rafe’s assertion that change leadership is all about influencing and enabling people to do things differently by engaging their minds, hearts, and hands.

Plan for Change

Within any organization, inevitable forces can lead to change resistance. These can include fear, lack of understanding of the changes, change fatigue and a perceived or real loss of power. While a company’s leadership is usually the driving force of change, they can sometimes forge ahead without fully understanding the potential impact on the organization or its employees. For this reason, creating buy-in across the organization for a change program requires careful planning and an obsessive approach to iterative communications. Aspects to consider include:

• The vision for the change
• The core change team
• The key audiences and stakeholders
• A communications philosophy and guidelines
• An end point – how will people know the change effort is completed
• Measures of success

Engage to Change

As leaders drill down into the detail of the change journey, it is essential to move the story from the “what” and “why” to the “how” without rushing. People will want to digest and understand the need for the proposed changes to avoid perceiving them as change for change’s sake.

This starts with the active participation and engagement of the core change team:

• Collaborate – build a core change team to partner with the business
• Be bold and let your voice be heard – be an active part of the process
• Be aware – monitor change, leverage metrics, help course correct based on feedback
• Reinforce – do not lose sight of the vision and reiterate it
• While looking to the future also be respectful of the past
• Celebrate short-term wins

It is important to create an environment that allows others to sign on to the vision of the future state and empowers them to embrace and act on that vision. Establishing a sense of urgency ensures that the transformation has a clear end goal. Opportunities for quick short-term wins will reinforce that the process is on track.

Patience is a Virtue

It is important for the organization to properly engage with their employees as the organization goes through the phases of change—unfreezing, transition, refreezing. Never underestimate the importance of communication. Also, a key point came out of the discussion: leaders involved in the change process are there from the very beginning. The rationale for change, the expected outcomes, and all aspects of the process are discussed and absorbed over a period, giving those leaders time to mull over ideas, and thoroughly understand the “why” and the “how.” By the time they are ready to communicate this to the rest of the organization, it is something that is familiar to them. However, it is important to remember that for the rest of the organization, they are often hearing this for the first time—do not expect immediate understanding and/or acceptance. Allow, and build into your communications plan, the opportunity for employees to go through the same process to get to a point of understanding that you did.

Communicate, Communicate… and then Communicate Some More!

Never underestimate the value of overcommunicating! Effective communication requires identifying various audiences and developing a robust multi-channel communication plan. Messaging should be clear about what the organization is doing and why. It is also important to remember that communication is a two-way street. While clearly communicating what is happening is important, there needs to be mechanisms in place that allow for feedback.

Leadership is clearly responsible for setting the vision, strategy and developing the overarching change plan. Realistically, no-one has all the answers, and it is important for those driving the agenda to be open to listening so that course corrections can be made as needed. Leadership certainly takes ownership of creating the vision, which is the North Star, and all actions need to link back to that North Star. However, the leadership and transformation team need to create a multi-faceted communications structure and foster a culture that allows for potentially negative feedback to identify necessary course corrections.

Make sure the messages are heard. Set up focus groups and online surveys to check the progress of change and to make sure leadership understands what employees are hearing from the communications - does this align to reality and that North Star? Also, while it may be necessary to manage the flow of information, make sure there are forums for people to express their opinions. While it may not be possible to share extra information, the feeling of being heard goes a long way!

An interesting aspect of the HR leader conversation was around whether generational differences are overrated and taking up too much time and attention. Or are the generational differences more about the “how” rather than the “what” of communications, since evidence does suggest that generations absorb information differently?

After an energetic dialogue, the group agreed it is key to be mindful of all audiences. It is important to consider sharing information in a variety of formats since evidence does suggest that employees do not always obtain, digest, and react to information in the same way. The group also touched on the timeliness of communication. For example, not everyone is office-based, with quick access to emails, or able to attend a town hall meeting. It is important all employees, whether in a headquarters or field-based, get all communications as quickly as everyone else.

HR at the Forefront of Change: Organizations Win When Employees Win

An organization’s core vision is its North Star, a guiding light towards a greater purpose. HR professionals play a critical role as change leaders, ensuring that this vision is achieved. Through effective communication, strategic planning, and employee engagement, HR can help guide organizations through change with confidence, keeping everyone focused on the end goal.

People inherently want to succeed. A system that enables change to be understood, embraced, and perceived positively, with all employees (from the CEO down) aligned in doing their part to reach the end goal is the best-case scenario because everyone wins. There is no better, more qualified group to lead the charge than human resources given its deep knowledge of and relationship with both the business strategy and its own employee base.