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

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