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Managers Letter
How to Develop a Change-Adept Workforce
by Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.
Over the last decade, change has become the way of
doing business as usual. Energizing employees in a
fundamentally unstable business environment is
today's workplace challenge. A crucial step in meeting this
challenge is developing a "change-adept" workforce with
the aptitudes and abilities necessary to thrive in constantly
changing circumstances.
Factor #1 - Confidence
The personality trait most responsible for an individual's
ability to deal well with change is self-confidence.
Confident people are self-motivated, have high self-esteem
and are willing to take risks: they know how good they are.
But even the most confident employee may suffer
a crisis of self-doubt in times of change, and it is here
that leadership awareness and assistance become critical
strategy issues.
Play to People's Strengths: Competence, strangely enough,
bears little relationship to confidence. The fact that people
on your staff do their jobs very well does not, in itself,
insure that they are also confident of their abilities. It is
only when people are aware of their competence that they
are confident.
Managers tend to notice and comment on employees'
weaknesses and mistakes more than they comment on their
talents and strengths. Focusing solely on what is lacking
leads to an unbalanced evaluation of employees' worth and
potential. It is no wonder, then, that most workers have
problems taking risks and confronting uncertain situations.
Todd Mansfield, the Executive Vice President of Disney
Development Company, found that, "When we'd sit down
to evaluate associates, we'd spend 20 percent of our time
talking about the things they did well and 80 percent
on what needed to be improved. That is just not effective.
We ought to spend our energy helping people determine
what their gifts are and aligning their responsibilities with
those capabilities."
Factor #2 - Challenge
With any change, dangers coexist with incredible
opportunities for personal and professional success. When
change-adept people are asked for verbal images they
associate with change, they acknowledge the stress,
uncertainty, pressure and disruption, but they also emphasize
the benefits - the opportunity, growth, adventure,
excitement and challenge.
A critical element in developing a change-adept workforce
is knowing how to encourage optimism throughout
the workforce.
Trust People With the Truth: Because leaders perceive
today's workforce as being more cynical and less optimistic
than that of a decade ago, they tend to present factual
information about the organization with a too-positive
"spin" - commenting on only the most positive aspects to
wary employees. Not only is this misguided communication
strategy out of step with the reality that employees
experience, it further widens the trust gap between leaders
and workers.
A diet of all good news does not motivate employees to
be more positive and upbeat. The lack of full disclosure
encourages the rumor mill to fill in the missing communication,
often by inventing or distorting information in ways
that exacerbate workforce apprehension. A more effective
communication strategy is to level with employees about
the current problems and challenges the company is facing
so they will have a complete picture of the situation.
Weyerhauser Corporation was the subject of a negative
story in a local newspaper regarding the company's
environmental policies. After meeting with senior
management, it was decided to rerun the news story in their
inhouse magazine, and print the company's point of
view alongside the negative article. By doing this, the company
treated its employees as adults rather than sheltering
them like children; they were given both sides of the story
and trusted to draw their own conclusions.
Factor #3 - Coping
In my management programs I tell audiences that what
they know about their industry is worth less right now than
when I started speaking to them a few seconds before.
Customer needs have changed, technological progress has
raced ahead, and competitors have advanced their plans.
Now and for the future, their value to the company increasingly
depends less on what they know, and more on how
quickly they can learn and how flexible they are in
responding to changing conditions.
To be successful in chaotic times, the trick is not to brace
yourself for change, but to loosen up and learn how to roll
with it.
Lighten Up: The playful side of our adult nature always
takes a back seat to the exercise of rational thought. In
organizational settings, we have been conditioned to
suppress our playful minds and to be serious about
business. But lately, leaders are finding that a sense of
humor and fun are requisites for a change-adept workplace.
When it comes to projecting an image of fun verging on
lunacy - and making that image pay off in loyal and highly
productive workers - there is no better example than
Southwest Airlines. An example of corporate silliness at its
zenith is the 1992 "Malice in Dallas" tournament between
Herb Kelleher, the CEO of Southwest and Kurt Herwald,
the chairman of Stevens Aviation. In the Dallas
Sportatorium, before a crowd of employees and the media,
Kelleher and Herwald arm wrestled to decide the user
rights to a particular slogan. Rather than engage in a
drawn-out, costly legal battle, the executives had chosen to
decide the issue with the best two out of three matches.
Factor #4 - Counterbalance
Change-adept individuals compensate for the demands and
pressures of business by developing counterbalancing activities
in other areas of their lives. They cultivate
interests outside of business - sports, hobbies, art, music,
etc. - which are personally fulfilling, and they have
sources of emotional support. Workers with counterbalance
in their lives handle stress better and are more
effective on the job.
Encourage Counterbalance for the Brain: A young man once
asked management expert Peter Drucker how to
become a better manager. "Learn to play the violin,"
Drucker replied. Managers who encourage employees to
develop "right-brain talents" - playing a musical instrument,
painting pictures, or ballroom dancing - find there
are unexpected business benefits. CalTex in Kuala Lumpur
pays for any kind of educational course that employees
want to take. The most popular course is singing lessons;
not totally unexpected since Malaysian employees regularly
frequent karaoke bars after work. What wasn't anticipated,
however, was the degree to which employees who took
singing lessons improved their ability in giving business-related
presentations. In fact, the only complaint from the
president of CalTex was, "Now they think they can sing!"
Factor #5 - Creativity
You can easily spot creative people in organizations. These
innovative employees solicit diverse opinions
that generate new thoughts, and they value any business
experience that exposes them to new knowledge and skills.
One project manager summed it up when he said, "If this
venture fails, it will still be worth all the time and effort I've
put into it for the past 18 months. Just look at everything
I've learned!"
Nurture Creative Potential in All Employees: There was a
time when popular opinion held that only a few departments
in an organization housed creative people - usually
corporate communications, public relations, research and
development and marketing. Such a limited view not only
placed an enormous burden on the "creative few" to come
up with all the answers, it also restricted the contributions
of workers most knowledgeable about the problem situation.
Unleashing the innovative potential in a workforce
comes only when leadership recognizes that creativity exists
in everyone.
Rita Wilson, Senior Vice President at Allstate Insurance,
spoke with me about the kind of environment needed
to encourage creative input: "Management must create
an environment of trust where people feel safe and
supported - where people also understand the
business challenges, goals and strategies and how their
efforts contribute."
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. speaks frequently at international
and corporate conferences. She can be reached at 1-925-943-7850 or at
cgoman@CKG.com. This article is excerpted from her latest book, This
Isn't the Company I Joined.
The
Managers Letter
is published throughout the year by Olsten Corporation. For editorial inquiries, write Olsten Corporation, Marketing Communications Department, 175 Broad Hollow Road, Melville, NY 11747.
Material from the
Managers Letter
may be quoted or reproduced, provided appropriate credit is given to indicate that the material was taken from the
Managers Letter,
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