No going back…managing employee working in 2022.

By Lynne Williams – Lecturer, Dept of Justice, Security & Sustainability.

Lockdowns, restrictions and working from home have it seems become the norm after nearly two years. The initial struggle of mastering Zoom meetings was soon replaced with a taste of an improved work-life balance for many and it seems they want more of it. With increased flexibility, where work is about what you do, not where you do it, employees found time and space to deliver and manage their personal lives with better effect.

Research tells us that traditional office working is unproductive, that open plan offices drain creativity, and the average commute of an hour increases instances of depression … and yet it seems the mantra of “back to the office” for more productive “watercooler gossip” is once again hailed as the way from the “new normal” to old normal!

Thankfully, many are recognising the opportunity and forward-thinking employers are seen to offer greater flexibility, smart use of technology and promote cultures of collaboration and accountability. With increasing focus on skills shortages and the “great resignation” seeing record levels of vacancies with few applicants, it seems that employees are voting with their feet. Fighting the battle for talent with wage rises maybe feasible for some in 2022 but widening recruitment and retention strategies to provide job quality and increased flexibility is strategic and cultural step which all employers can take.

Culture by Design

Company culture is no longer the domain of theorists and academics, intentional culture should be at the top of every strategy and is certainly within the sphere of influence for CEOs and Senior Leaders alike. As your organisation puts out the welcome mat; creating a positive employee focused culture will be critical in defining purpose as well as profit in order to attract and retain at a time when employees have spent many months evaluating how and where they spend their lives.

The Employee Experience

Often thought as of the HR function, the employee experience which has been long discussed and often overlooked is now at the forefront with issues such as workplace design, wellbeing and resilience now on the agenda. The focus is on finding solutions which build engagement, make employees more productive and happier. This is an opportunity for HR and Leaders to become increasingly employee-centric, consultative and innovative in their approaches and solutions

Further reading and sources.

https://hbr.org/2019/11/the-truth-about-open-offices

https://patient.info/news-and-features/is-your-commute-bad-for-your-health

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettonputter/2019/05/23/purpose-beyond-profit-what-culture-driven-leaders-know-that-everyone-else-is-missing/?sh=7a1ef48f24ee

https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/insights/employee-experience

Managing Change in Business

Written by Jane Pallister – Entrepreneur in Residence, Part time lecturer & Programme Facilitator.

One of the most difficult balancing acts when major change is required, is keeping people on side, up to date and engaged. It helps things succeed and the biggest change failures are caused by not addressing people’s concerns and handling these during transition. To help with people management during transition, you could consider following Kotter’s Eight Step Change model (Kotter, 1995) .

Step One – Create Urgency

The business case for change must be investigated thoroughly and must be strongly presented and well evidenced to show the need for change. If the business case looks weak it will be difficult to secure support and engagement within your organisation. A sense of urgency needs to be instilled and the change must move at a reasonable speed and not drag on, as this would contradict the sense of urgency and start to sew seeds of doubt within the workforce.

Step Two – Form a powerful coalition

Create a strong leadership and project team to execute the changes and harness the support of those who are in favour of change, who could help engage and persuade others. Don’t restrict this to management, it is important to have support from all levels within the business.

Step Three – Create a vision for change

Share a clear, concise, and compelling vision of what things will look like after transition. How this will help strength and growth and the future of the business.

Step Four – Communicate the Vision

Make sure this is communicated and discussed regularly, so this becomes embedded into daily working life. Create involvement and have some input from all levels as this maintains good engagement. If a culture change is required ‘walk the talk’: demonstrate the behaviours you want. Management must lead the change in behaviours and approaches. This is key!

Step Five – Remove obstacles

Make sure that there is the information, structure and processes to allow this change to take place. Anything that might restrict change must be addressed. Take on board the human side of things, make sure concerns are genuinely heard – identify and resistors and get to the bottom of their concerns and behaviours – respond, communicate, reassure, and get their support. And show recognition to those who help make change happen.

Step Six – Create Short term wins

People need to see early success to be reassured that their ‘pain’ in having to do things differently is worth it. It needs to be personal-level success and operational, market success. Clear evidence that the transition is bringing about the benefits and positives intended. This helps maintain buy-in and will start to help convert the most hardened opposers. Within all this demonstrate the management are listening and responding.

Step Seven – Build on the change

Don’t sound the victory charge too early. Real change takes longer and runs deeper within the culture and processed. Quick wins are just a taster of what is to come. Use the quick wins to promote the future and each success gives management and employees an opportunity to build on what went right and what can be improved upon yet further.

Step Eight – Anchor the changes in corporate culture

To make the change stick, these have to be clearly embedded and evidenced in daily processes and operations. The improvements must be regularly communicated to show progress being made and this, in itself, helps to reassure and reaffirm. Publicly recognise those who have helped make things happen and be patient and forgiving while employees make the transition, and show support when things go wrong.

Source: Kotter, J. P. (1995) Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, March–April, 1–8

Helping SMEs to Grow Sustainably

Written by Prof, Jon Fairburn – Professor of Sustainable Development & Programme Director

COVID 19 has forced changes on many business practices with disruption in supply chains, remote working of staff or the development of e-commerce. All three of these examples link to the concept of business sustainability.  

Business sustainability is much broader than just recycling your waste –  it encompasses working practices which could allow you to draw on a wider pool of employees, it can include the development of new products either targeted at the green market or made sustainable by new techniques whilst also saving you money. 

Professor of Sustainable Development & Director of Help To Grow – Management at Staffordshire University.

Business sustainability is one of the cross-cutting themes of the Help to Grow project launched by Government and delivered by Business Schools to support businesses to become more productive and to grow. The course is 90% subsidised by government, largely delivered online and includes one to one mentor support as well as workshops.  

So, what else can businesses consider in terms of sustainability? 

Staff well-being, resilience and recruitment is a good place to start – widespread remote working during the pandemic demonstrates a profound cultural shift in business. It has become essential in many businesses allowing a greater flexibility but still needs to be managed. At Staffordshire University we know several businesses that have downsized offices and now only require staff in 2-3 days a week. Other businesses have given up their offices entirely. Manging these issues is covered extensively in the course. 

Branding and marketing – is sustainability one of your business values? Do your customers and suppliers know this? How do you communicate these values to your staff? Again all of these issues are covered on the Help to Grow course.  

Innovating new services or products – have you thought about how you could target new markets? The Sustainable Development Goals have ambitious targets that will require new products and services especially around the areas of carbon reduction, grants and support are available in many areas to support businesses develop these. 

At Staffordshire University we will be using a range of staff to deliver the programme – academics, Entrepreneurs in Residence and business mentors. You will also benefit from some peer mentor sessions discussing your issues with fellow businesses. We will also be running an alumni network after the programme so that you can stay in touch and get further support if you need it. 

Throughout the pandemic this team at Staffordshire University has delivered a range of programmes (Leading to Grow, Survive and Thrive, Small Business Leadership Programme) so we have plenty of experience in delivering blended learning to businesses. From those programmes we also have a lot of local and regional examples we can draw on to illustrate good business practice.  

So sign up now on the links – we are onboarding in December and main delivery starts in January 

Emily Whitehead, Entrepreneur in Residence, Assessor for EQM.org.uk and part of the Help To Grow delivery team.

Pandemic perspectives on digital adoption by small businesses

By Jonathan Westlake, Entrepreneur in Residence and Help To Grow Team member.

Whether we are Post pandemic or still in the pandemic is academic, it is clear from recent research outputs that the pandemic has been a watershed for businesses in general, a forced catalyst for change. In the mix of all that change is Digital. 

Much is written about “digital” some of it evangelical, some of it useful, some of it repetitious, regurgitating of bandwagon headlines, do this! do that! you need to be doing this! Over the early part of October 2021, we have seen numerous events/directions emerge in the news, the current UK’s drive towards a digitally skilled (BCS 2021), high wage economy, the fragilities of social medium platforms, the continuing debate about the digital divide within the UK firms and workforce and don’t mention Gas! 

It is well documented (ERC 2021) that over the last 18 months of the pandemic business landscape, firms who embraced digital change or initiated digital change insulated themselves somewhat from the ravages of the circumstances. Digital technology can be seen a disruptor if employed with thought and can provoke the chance to do a so called “pivot”.  The rise of click and collect, the role of eCommerce and a growing reliance of internet enabled systems are evidence of adapted business models. 

Help To Grow Staffs

Digital adoption is not new, the computerisation, automation of business processes, communication via remote means has existed from 50+ years. What is unprecedented with the Covid 19 pandemic has been the scale, the response needed to survive, and justifying savings, whilst helping a business grow.  

Refreshing the drive towards digital readiness for small firms is important and there is help available. Answers to questions regarding:  What low cost and “doable” digital adoption opportunities are out there? And how do we go about it?  

A non-ad Hoc plan is recommended to examine areas of a business that may benefit from digitisation. With an awareness of what the “as is” areas of the business are, it is worthwhile reviewing how digital technology can create a “to be” over a period. Building a digital adoption plan can help map out change. On the Help to Grow programme (SBC 2021) this digital adoption investigation and strategy forms part of the programme. 

Opportunities for digital adoption include a myriad of normal business functions ranging from marketing to operations. Research has also shown that senior management support, and the involvement of other stakeholders is vital to avoid disappointment. Challenging the existing digital presence with a firm can be highly beneficial and informative for the digital adoption plan: what impact does the existing website have; is anyone responding to the social media channels; has electronic documentation quickened the flow of data within the organisation? 

The digital adoption opportunities available to a small business will of course depend on the context. The small business that finds the time to address digital adoption will find reward. To mitigate the time, join the Help to Grow programme (SBC 2021), network with other businesses in a matter-of-fact way and plan a digital way forward. 

Ready to learn more with Help To Grow in Staffordshire? Book your place today.

References: 

British Computer Society (BCS) 

Small Business Charter (SBC) – Help to Grow Management

Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) 

If you would like to contact Jonathan, please email htg@staffs.ac.uk today.


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Help To Grow is officially announced

Staffordshire University has officially announced the start of the Help To Grow in the county. Here’s a highlight of their Press Release and read in full here.

Business leaders throughout Staffordshire are being invited to take part in a new training programme designed to boost business growth.

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Help to Grow is 90 per cent funded by government

Available through Staffordshire University, the Help To Grow Management programme is 90 per cent funded by government and will support senior managers of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) to boost their business performance, resilience and long-term growth.

Emily Whitehead, Entrepreneur in Residence at Staffordshire University, is a business coach and founder of Simply Great Britain, who is delivering on the 12-week programme in the New Year.

She said: “We’re delighted to be able to offer two courses, both of which are starting in January and will be delivered both online and through face-to-face workshops. The programme is accredited by the Small Business Charter and we will be supporting our business leaders to build their skills in leadership, innovation, employee engagement, marketing and financial management.

“We know from experience of delivering leadership programmes that businesses learn from each other but one of the benefits of this new programme is the one-to-one support from a mentor who will be working with business leaders to develop their growth plans.”

Professor Jon Fairburn said: “Throughout the pandemic we helped more than 80 businesses through the government-funded Small Business Leadership Programme and the overwhelming feedback was that they felt better equipped to deal with the challenges they face.”

Grace Shiel, Sales Director of Minuteman Press in Trentham was just one of the businesses to benefit from the support offered through Staffordshire University. She said: “The Small Business Leadership programme has really helped my business by giving us the tools to think differently in what has become a very challenging environment. We were given access to knowledge and information in a supported environment which has enabled us to consider what is working, what needs to change and how we can improve.”

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