Look at today's corporate environment. It seems that everyone is thinking about how to transform their business, or have already figured out how to do it. Transformation is driven by the creation of new industrial platforms, geopolitical shifts, increased competition, and changing consumer demands. In turn, the transformation itself affects stock quotes, tests the strength and commitment of company leaders, and gives rise to new business models that change entire sectors of the economy. But we rarely remember the people who go through these often very painful changes and help to promote them.
Can a global company change without the active participation of all its 30,000 employees? Hardly. The human factor plays a major role, but is often forgotten during restructuring.
Managers who inspire employees by their example, initiate innovation themselves, know how to “humanize” change programs, have every chance of success. Sometimes the leader of the group needs to become, in the words of the sociologist Richard Wilson, an "anti-hero." That is, instead of excessive confidence in yourself and your actions, demonstrate empathy, delicacy, flexibility and the ability to recognize uncertainty. Below we look at the main actions that business leaders need to take to “humanize” the transformation process.
1. Listen and respond in new ways
When the boss listens, shows interest, when he is a source of emotional inspiration for his subordinates, employees feel the freedom of self-expression. Dan Cable, professor of organizational behavior at the London Business School, calls this “emotional projection.” In such a situation, he writes, the focus is on the ability to adapt and learn as opposed to "hard" measures, such as increasing productivity.
This approach is central to Cable's theory that space for experimentation gives employees the opportunity to perform at their best. Such freedom activates the "search engine" in a person - the ability to explore and comprehend - and makes him understand that he is evaluated not only by results, but also by creativity and initiative.
“The point is to create enough opportunities for learning, not procedures to follow,” says Cable.
2. Identify influencers
Managers must always be in sight, but at the same time they must seek and find among the employees those who will act as agents of change. My colleague John Katzenbach calls such people "authentic opinion leaders": they have both developed emotional intuition and social connections, as well as influence on other employees.
Can a global company change without the active participation of all its 30,000 employees? Hardly. The human factor plays a major role, but is often forgotten during restructuring.
Managers who inspire employees by their example, initiate innovation themselves, know how to “humanize” change programs, have every chance of success. Sometimes the leader of the group needs to become, in the words of the sociologist Richard Wilson, an "anti-hero." That is, instead of excessive confidence in yourself and your actions, demonstrate empathy, delicacy, flexibility and the ability to recognize uncertainty. Below we look at the main actions that business leaders need to take to “humanize” the transformation process.
1. Listen and respond in new ways
When the boss listens, shows interest, when he is a source of emotional inspiration for his subordinates, employees feel the freedom of self-expression. Dan Cable, professor of organizational behavior at the London Business School, calls this “emotional projection.” In such a situation, he writes, the focus is on the ability to adapt and learn as opposed to "hard" measures, such as increasing productivity.
This approach is central to Cable's theory that space for experimentation gives employees the opportunity to perform at their best. Such freedom activates the "search engine" in a person - the ability to explore and comprehend - and makes him understand that he is evaluated not only by results, but also by creativity and initiative.
“The point is to create enough opportunities for learning, not procedures to follow,” says Cable.
2. Identify influencers
Managers must always be in sight, but at the same time they must seek and find among the employees those who will act as agents of change. My colleague John Katzenbach calls such people "authentic opinion leaders": they have both developed emotional intuition and social connections, as well as influence on other employees.
A true informal leader may be a union representative or a manager of one of the regional divisions who has earned himself universal respect. Or, according to the former chief executive of the Royal Mail Postal and Courier Service Moya Greene, it may just be an "old shot" that has already seen a lot of changes in its lifetime.
“You need to figure out who can become the so-called ambassador of efficiency and help you,” Moya Green noted. According to her, opinion leaders played an important role in the transformation program implemented under her leadership. Green led the Kingdom's postal service from 2010 to 2018, during this period the company was privatized for the first time in 500 years of existence. Top management needed to form a new model of relations with 139 thousand postal employees, which would be difficult without such informal leaders.
3. Encourage personal involvement
In any organization (especially a large one), your vision for change will inevitably run into skepticism, inner fatigue, and even outright resistance. The best way to avoid this turn of events is to get employees to personally contribute to the change. Talk to them about them, not about business or tasks, empathy works wonders.
This approach helped British media manager Tim Davey, who now heads BBC Studios. “As long as your top managers are not personally involved in the matter, and not only professionally, and do not associate their self-realization with what you want to do in the future from three to five years, I am afraid you are in big trouble,” he notes.
It is not enough to simply set clear transformation goals. It is important to truly believe in it. This is what a good leader should strive for. Demonstrate personal commitment to change. This can be done by conveying a clear understanding of the goal, showing involvement, expressing one's beliefs and motivation, organizing an open dialogue with all employees.
The greatest success will be achieved by those leaders who are able to "humanize" the transformation process, not only showing their subordinates the direction of movement in the face of change, but also establishing mutual understanding with them. As Claire Enders, founder of research firm Enders Analysis, says, a true business leader wants to breathe life into the world around them by influencing everyone they meet along the way. In fact, good leaders truly care about their subordinates. And employees, if they feel this way, will become your most valuable resource in the work of implementing change.
“You need to figure out who can become the so-called ambassador of efficiency and help you,” Moya Green noted. According to her, opinion leaders played an important role in the transformation program implemented under her leadership. Green led the Kingdom's postal service from 2010 to 2018, during this period the company was privatized for the first time in 500 years of existence. Top management needed to form a new model of relations with 139 thousand postal employees, which would be difficult without such informal leaders.
3. Encourage personal involvement
In any organization (especially a large one), your vision for change will inevitably run into skepticism, inner fatigue, and even outright resistance. The best way to avoid this turn of events is to get employees to personally contribute to the change. Talk to them about them, not about business or tasks, empathy works wonders.
This approach helped British media manager Tim Davey, who now heads BBC Studios. “As long as your top managers are not personally involved in the matter, and not only professionally, and do not associate their self-realization with what you want to do in the future from three to five years, I am afraid you are in big trouble,” he notes.
It is not enough to simply set clear transformation goals. It is important to truly believe in it. This is what a good leader should strive for. Demonstrate personal commitment to change. This can be done by conveying a clear understanding of the goal, showing involvement, expressing one's beliefs and motivation, organizing an open dialogue with all employees.
The greatest success will be achieved by those leaders who are able to "humanize" the transformation process, not only showing their subordinates the direction of movement in the face of change, but also establishing mutual understanding with them. As Claire Enders, founder of research firm Enders Analysis, says, a true business leader wants to breathe life into the world around them by influencing everyone they meet along the way. In fact, good leaders truly care about their subordinates. And employees, if they feel this way, will become your most valuable resource in the work of implementing change.