Lessons in Change from Jamie Oliver     by Anthony Greenfield

Anyone who has tried to persuade a child to eat something that they do not want to eat knows what a tough job it can be. Imagine then trying to change the eating habits of thousands of school children in America; persuading them to give up sugar-filled chocolate milk in favour of good old plain milk or burger and chips in favour of pasta salad. That is the task the TV Chef Jamie Oliver set himself the TV series Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (on Channel 4).

Change is at the heart of any initiative to improve organisational performance. If you want to learn some crucial lessons about how to make change happen just watch Jamie at work in Huntington ‘America’s Fattest Town’. Here are just four examples of what he did.

Giving people control over change is vital if they are going to take ownership and therefore make it happen. Jamie does this by teaching people to cook. When people learn to cook healthy meals they can take control over their diet and feel like they are in command of change.

Old habits die hard. The Edwards family cook everything they eat in their trusty deep fat fryer. It tastes great and it’s killing them. Jamie helps them consign the fryer to history by getting them to bury it in the backyard, complete with burial prayer.

Jamie approach is brimming with a sense of purpose; something that is often missing from change causing it to get knocked off course. Jamie is a man with a mission and engages parents and kids with his cause – saving people’s lives.

Even after change has supposedly ‘gone live’ people can still opt out. When Jamie revisits the elementary school that had removed high-calorie favoured milk he found that it was back again. The lesson he learns is to keep plugging away at change even after ‘go live’ to ensure it becomes deeply engrained. Happy watching!

Anthony Greenfield is the author of ‘The 5 Forces of Change’ – see www.5forcesofchange.com

People Management Magazine [18^th September 2008]

The 5 Forces of Change

In the business world it seems that major organisational change is becoming ever more frequent. But human nature remains much the same – people don’t like change. In light of the complex management and human resource issues that arise at such times, the author Anthony Greenfield reveals his blueprint for leading successful change.

Major organisational change sucks up time, energy and emotion. It threatens morale and all too often fails to deliver promised benefits. However, the world of work is shifting at such a mind-boggling rate that we have little choice but to continually change or risk being left behind. Information Technology continues to shrink the world and revolutionise the way organisations operate. In January 2008, there were 875 million internet shoppers worldwide; in 1993 there were none. Success is no longer a matter of being the fastest or the fittest, but rather is about being the most adaptable. Any enterprise that can introduce new ideas and new approaches frequently and effortlessly has a huge advantage. It is the role of a modern leader to make this possible.

Whereas organisations may have little choice but to change, people do. Large-scale change requires people to invest a great deal of energy and emotion in getting to grips with new methods and in living with extended periods of uncertainty.

 

At the heart of the matter is the way we experience and respond to change. We are reluctant to let go of familiar things in favour of novel and unproven ideas. We want to know where we are going and how we are going to get there, and when the ground begins to shift under our feet we lose confidence and find it hard to remain effective.

 

On the flip-side, we are capable of amazing things. We love to rise to a challenge and derive enormous satisfaction from succeeding against the odds. We enjoy exploring new avenues, coming up with better ways of doing things and learning new skills. So our response to a given change varies dramatically depending on how we experience it and how we are led through it.

 

The key to success is to work with the grain of human nature rather than against it. Like a master of martial arts, you must turn opposing forces to your advantage instead of meeting them head on. To do this, you need to understand and address the 5 Forces of Change – forces that drive human behaviour and which come under threat during major organisational change:

 

 

1. Certainty. An immediate consequence of change is uncertainty. At worst, people fear for their jobs and at the very least they can become unclear about what the future holds and their role within it. This causes anxiety and a drop in performance. The antidote to uncertainty is trust, and the key ingredient of trust is communication. Openness about what is going on and why it’s going on builds trust, so too does treating people with the respect they deserve. Don’t hide things from them, least of all bad news; rather engage with them about why the change is vital so they can reach the same conclusions as you have. Remember also that the change begins with you – nothing will kill a new initiative faster than a leader who lacks confidence in it.

 

 

 

2. Purpose. As an organisation changes course, things can become foggy. People’s sense of direction is diminished and they become less confident about what they aredoing.  In turbulent times we look for leaders with a clear and unequivocal sense of purpose. Great leaders spell out an inspiring vision and remain steadfast in the face of adversity. At M&S, Sir Stuart Rose has set a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2010. Whilst this is an enormous challenge, it is unambiguous and appeals to values that transcend day to day work, giving people a crystal clear purpose and a reason to persevere despite inevitable difficulties.
3. Control.Change can lead to strong feelings of unease as people sense that they have lost power over their working lives and become victims to outside forces. This can cause people to rebel against change or to quietly opt out of it. One such rebellion took place in September 2006 when mothers at a school in Rotherham fought back against the introduction of healthy meals (inspired by Jamie Oliver’s TV series “Jamie’s School Dinners”) by passing burger and chips to their kids through the school railings. In stark contrast to this, Jamie had been masterly at getting children on board at one school he worked with. He took a small group who steadfastly refused even to try healthy food and taught them to prepare healthy dishes with their own hands – a crucial move in winning them over. No one complains about a meal they have cooked themselves.
4. Connection. We all form strong attachments to people and things. We identify ourselves with the job we do and the way we do it. We value our relationships with colleagues, customers and suppliers. We become attached to our organisation, our team, or even our desk. When things change, we need to break these connections and form new ones. Merely exhorting people to join you in the new world is not enough. You need to celebrate the past – its successes and failures – and mourn its passing before people can let go of old practices and travel happily into the future. When two banks recently merged they threw a huge party to celebrate the demise of two old organisations and the birth of a new one.
5. Success. Anyone who has introduced change at work knows that performance often gets worse before it gets better. Just ask people who travelled through Terminal 5 at Heathrow when it opened! In uncertain times, when people already feel vulnerable, they find themselves grappling with new ways of working. No wonder there is a strong temptation to revert back to tried and trusted methods. To combat this problem, leaders must nurture success. They must spell out expectations and train people to succeed. But that’s not the end of it. Crucially, they must support people as they put new methods into practice, especially those who find their performance gets worse before it gets better. Finally, it about celebrating each triumph and building up support to tip the balance in favour of change.

By harnessing the 5 Forces of Change you can become one of those rare leaders who are able to bring about lasting organisational change with a minimum of fuss.

 

Anthony Greenfield is the author of The 5 Forces of Change – available from www.amazon.com or www.5forcesofchange.com . Anthony can be contacted at anthony.greenfield@5forcesofchange.com .

 

Leading M&A in a Recession, by Anthony Greenfield

HR Director Magazine, June 2009

One consequence of the current recession is an increase in mergers and acquisitions as struggling businesses are swallowed up by their more successful competitors, not least in the ailing financial services sector. For many strong organisations, this is a period of opportunity when they can capture large swathes of market share. However, businesses can easily be seduced by bargain basement prices and should remain wary about what they are getting themselves into. Even at such attractive prices M&A remains a tricky affair often ending unhappily. It takes a concerted effort of leadership to ensure that imagined business benefits are turned into reality.

In calm economic times, it is not often the case that a merger or acquisition fails due to lack of due diligence. Usually, the acquiring company carries out a forensic examination of finances, operational capabilities and order books. Generally, there is also a careful evaluation of the executives and senior managers to assess the capacity of the leadership team run the ship and to identify key players to be kept on board post merger. In the current economic climate, even due diligence may be set aside. You only need look at the disastrous takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB to see what can happen as a result.

One of the hardest tasks in M&A, and one that is therefore is more likely to be neglected in the headlong rush to merge organisational structures and operations, is the bringing together of two groups of people with two cultures into a single unified organisation with a single clear purpose and set of values. Ignore it, and a merger will be slow and painful. At best, there will be long periods of dysfunctional behaviour leading to poor business performance and at worst a break-up of the organisation.

When it comes to getting people all pulling in the same direction, organisations embarking on a merger or acquisition need to be guided by some of the central lessons of effective leadership.

Great leaders have a strong sense of what they stand for and a clear vision of the future. Think of Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. Without an unshakable set of beliefs and strong sense of destiny they could not begin to lead others in turbulent and uncertain times. Not only that, and perhaps just as important, they had the capacity to communicate this in a way that inspired others to follow.

In a the same way, an organisation buying or merging with another organisation needs to have a strong sense of its own vision and values and to communicate them in a compelling way if they are going bring people with them. Take the example of a Dutch bank that acquired a UK financial services company. Whilst their culture was strong it was only really understood by those who had worked in the bank for many years. As a result, the vision and values of the organisation were not communicated to the employees of the acquired company who were left to their own devices to guess what was required under the new regime. As is typically the case in a takeover, people were highly sceptical about the intentions of their new bosses and so every attempt to change structures, operations and IT systems was seem as an attempt to do away with their culture or to threaten their jobs. Despite the fact that the takeover meant greater career opportunities for employees and a similar culture based on integrity, expertise and personalised customer relationships  the Dutch leadership team faced a pitched battle with managers and staff to introduce the systems required to integrate the new acquisition into their organisation. Years later, some people have still to make the mental transition to their new company. So leaders must relentless communicate a clear vision and set of values for the new combined company before they can being to get everyone working together to move the organisation forward.

Another important consideration is cultural fit. As with any marriage compatibility is vital to long term success. Assessing the similarities and differences between the ethos and approach of the two organisations involved will tell you how much effort will be required to bring the two organisations together and where to focus your energy. It may even persuade you to abandon the idea before you start.

Desk research on company culture is problematic as, for instance, espoused values may well differ greatly from those actually practised. Statements such as ‘People are our greatest asset’ or ‘Customers come first’ may well prove to be fictional accounts of how an organisation really treats its employees and customers. Fortunately, there are a number of effective tools now available to help you to get a good fix on the culture of an organisation, normally based on questionnaires completed by a cross-section of people in the company. It may not be practical to conduct surveys of staff ahead of time, especially in the case of a hostile takeover, but former employees, customers and suppliers can provide a wealth of information. Once a merger or acquisition has been given the go ahead then diagnosis of cultural similarities and differences is a must.

Some essential areas to assess when gauging culture include leadership style, relationships with customers and suppliers, openness of communication, drive for results, risk-taking, decision-making, performance management, level of affiliation, attitude to learning, ethics and work-life balance.

Take the example of a high street retailer taken over by a private equity firm. A central strategy of the acquiring organisation was to empower store managers to operate as autonomously as possible within an ‘entrepreneurial culture’. Historically, the retailer had been run on a command-and-control basis with store managers given clear direction on what to stock and how to display it, as well as how the store staff should be managed. Giving store managers the freedom to stock items according to local conditions and operate as entrepreneurs led to long periods of confusion amongst managers and staff alike and a damaging drop in performance.

Different national cultures also present a major challenge to companies looking to integrate new acquisitions. One major consulting firm, for instance, struggled to its integrate existing country office into a new structure that required their people serving similar clients in France, Germany, and UK to work as a single cross-border business unit rather than operating according to geographical location. Even the way people from different countries prepared for and ran meetings were found to be substantially different and a barrier to working together as a single unified team.  Left unattended these sorts of differences will hamstring organisations for months or even years, so an initial investment of time and resources to identify and reconcile differences will pay major dividends in improved organisational performance.

Another critical issue identified by many M&A experts and practitioners is the danger of ‘politeness’. In other words, the temptation not to tell people the truth for fear of upsetting them. The important insight here, backed up by clinical research, is that people find uncertainty distressing and would rather know a difficult truth than be left in limbo. In point of fact, if you are not communicating what is going on then someone less informed will be communicating messages and rumours that will only have to be unravelled later when the damage will have already been done. As with any change, there is necessarily a period of transition when people are unsure about what will change and what will not and people find themselves straddling two ways of working – the old and the new. The job of leaders is to minimise the length and strength of this confusing period, sometimes known as ‘crazy time’, reducing the drop in performance that normally accompanies it.

In the case of a takeover, for instance, people will be fearful about their jobs, causing them to focus on themselves (rather than on their customers) often doing the minimum to get by at work. If jobs are to be cut it is still far better to be upfront about the situation. If people know who may be made redundant and when the decision will be taken they can get on with the job in hand rather than focusing on the latest gossip.  As with any change, the sooner people can get clarity on what will change and what will remain the same the sooner they can move on and focus their energy on delivering results.

One of the most effective tools for providing clarity for people is formal training. People may need to be inducted into their new organisation not only in terms of new tasks and new structures but in terms of attitudes and behaviours. Simply telling people that they are empowered to be entrepreneurial, as in the retail example above, is not going to deliver the goods. People need the opportunity to learn what this means through questioning, dialogue and experimentation if they are going to put it into practice in a way that will reap the anticipated benefits.

Next, there is the challenge of helping people to break with the past and take up a new a different future. In many merged organisations people remain stuck in the past, identifying themselves with their old organisation rather than their new one. In the absence of any support in making the transition, many people in one particular privatised public transport organisation continued to identify with the old values of a nationalised industry whilst ignoring the new commercial realities they faced. This led to a long period of in-fighting and the loss of many experienced people as staff battled to establish a new order. This kind of schizophrenic behaviour where people are being pulled in different directions by culture and circumstances is clearly a recipe for disaster.

An excellent way of helping people loosen their affinity to their current organisation is based on what it known as the Janus Effect. This states that to be able to envisage a new and different future you need a clear picture of where you have come from. In practice, what it involves is getting people to work through the history of their organisation and examine the major changes they have encountered in the past. For each change they examine the reasons for the change, the emotions they encountered, their expectations at the time and the outcome achieved in reality. Through this process people gain a perspective of change as a regular occurrence provoking many difficult emotions, but ultimately leading to new norms of behaviour as well as to progress. This helps people gain confidence in their ability to work through forthcoming changes and live with a period of uncertainty.

The process also involves examining the conditions that led up to the merger or acquisition, such as a change in market conditions making it harder for smaller organisations to compete. This helps people understand the reasons behind a takeover or merger and to see it as an explainable event rather than feeling victim to some random catastrophe.

It is also important for people to work out what they will gain and what they will lose from merger or acquisition in terms of relationships with people (colleagues, customers and suppliers) and things they hold dear, like status symbols or habitual ways of working. As important is to recognise what will remain the same as this often receives little attention and it is those things that remain unchanged (usually most things) that help reduce people sense that their whole world has been turned upside down.

Finally, people need to be given a formal opportunity lay the past rest. This cannot be done by simply mandating that they consign their old organisation to history. What people need is an opportunity to acknowledge the past before they can set it aside and move on. This allows them to escape from the feeling that getting on board with a new company is a tantamount to dismissing past efforts out of hand. It is only once past triumphs and disasters are acknowledged that people can look to the future without feeling like they have somehow betrayed their past.

This transitioning process is best achieved, through ritual and ceremony. Leaders that understand this principle mark times of great change through ceremonially events in which people come together to acknowledge historic triumphs and disasters before setting them aside. In the case of a merger or acquisition such an event may include the ceremonial disposal of the symbols of the past such as old company logos and handbooks. Leaders then turn everyone’s attention to a clear and compelling shared vision of the future and the building of a new unified team.

 

Anthony Greenfield is the author of ‘The 5 Forces of Change: a blueprint for leading successful change’ published by Management Books 2000 – available from www.amazon.co.uk or www.mb2000.com . For more information see www.5forcesofchange.com or email Anthony.greenfield@5forcesofchange.com .

 

Ladies and Gentlemen we are Experiencing Some Turbulence

–          The Principles of Leading in Turbulent Times

When you are bouncing around in an aircraft on top of a tropical storm you value the calm voice of the pilot explaining that there is some heavy weather ahead and that they plan to climb a few thousand feet to avoid the worst of it. You would not be happy to hear them say that actually the problem is a bit of a mystery and they are not sure what to do. Worse, perhaps, would be total silence from the cockpit whilst anxious-looking cabin staff rushed to and fro. This sort of behaviour would undermine confidence and could lead people to panic.

Confidence is a crucial factor in surviving turbulent times in the workplace, such as an economic downturn. During periods of instability, the volume is turned up on problems-solving, decision making, planning, and crisis management. There is more to do and perhaps fewer people to do it with. The last thing you need is a nervous and distracted crew. When your organisation is getting tossed around by events, all your readouts are glowing red and you are wondering if you are going to make it to your destination, asking people to remain calm is unfortunately not enough.

When circumstances are assailing people from every side it is tough to keep up morale and to get people to be effective in spite of the distractions. People become fearful and frustrated, leading to ‘flight’ or ‘fight’ responses in which people either go into ‘avoidance mode’ keeping their heads down, doing the bear minimum and hoping that the storm will pass, or they can go into ‘attack mode’ looking for people to blame for the difficulties they find themselves in. Both responses serve to make them feel better in the short term but are not much help in managing your way out of a crisis. The starting point is getting to grips with the underlying forces at play causing people be react badly.

To have the best chance of prospering in difficult times, you need to concentrate on five areas; Certainty, Purpose, Control, Connection and Success. In short, if you can make people feel more certain, more purposeful, more in control of their circumstances, more connected to their organisation and their work, and more successful then you have the best chance of emerging stronger once the storm has dissipated.

“Leaders are dealers in hope”, said Napoleon Bonaparte.  In time of danger or confusion, we look for leaders who are optimistic, self confident, have a clear sense of purpose, and remain resolute. It is in times of war and revolution that such leaders emerge on a world stage. Great change leaders do not make light of the dangers but challenge us to rise above short-term difficulties to achieve things beyond normal expectations. They also create trust through their words and deeds. At a time when they may feel undermined by events, leader must find inner strength – nothing will kill confidence faster than a nervous leader.

Great change leaders communicate constantly. They never allow a vacuum in information to be created as they know that gossip and misinformation will always fill the void. Better to tell people the bad news yourself that have others spin it out of proportion. They do what they ask others to do, displaying integrity between their words and deeds. They persuade people through a positive vision of the future and have a clear and simple plan of action. In short, out of chaos and confusion they create certainty.

When you are caught in a storm a compass is an invaluable possession. It helps guide you when visibility is poor and you cannot rely on the familiar landmarks to help you find your way. When organisations face tumultuous times, they need a steadying influence; something solid they can rely on to guide them. This compass or guiding star comes in the form of an unchanging purpose – an organisation’s vision and values.  In stable times, these can seem like ‘nice to haves’, but, like the training of a professional pilot, they come into their own when things get rough. In times of crisis, leaders need to re-iterate the long-term vision of the organisation, reminding people of the larger goal that they are working towards. They need to promote the organisation’s values, like looking after their customers and working in partnership with their suppliers; both easy to do in the good times and more testing in the bad. It is these values that will help see you through and keep your customers and suppliers loyal to you after the storm has passed.

When outside forces, such as an economic downturn, conspire to put an organisation and its employees in difficulties people can feel like helpless victims. It can lead to introspection and in-fighting and is damaging for morale and for performance. Add to this a paternalistic leadership team that believes in hording information and making all the big decisions behind closed doors and people will feel even more helpless.

Tough times call for trust. People need to be involved and included. They need more information, not less. They need a chance to understand the situation, warts and all, and the decisions that need to be taken. If people understand the current circumstances they will understand the need to take drastic action, like slashing expenditure or reducing headcount, in order for the organisation to survive. By treating people like adults you can engage their ingenuity in finding the best way out of difficulties. People might, for instance, decide that they would sooner take a pay cut than have people let go, something they are far less likely to do if redundancies are announced out of the blue. Leaders that help people feel in control of their circumstances gain the trust and cooperation they need to see them through hard times.

People have a strong connection to work. It often forms a big part of their identity and purpose in life. That’s why retirement or redundancy can come as a big psychological blow. We form strong attachments to the people we work with, to particular ways of doing things, to status symbols, and even our personal space such as a desk. Turbulent times call for change and can threaten our very identity. Where change cannot be avoided, people need help in understanding and accepting the difficult emotions associated with letting go of the past. It helps people if they know that it is acceptable to feel bad and that difficult emotions will pass eventually. It helps also to know that past practices were not somehow ‘wrong’ (and by implication the people using them where not misguided), but that circumstances have changed requiring new approaches.  Laying old ways to rest and building new connections, for example, through training and team building events allows people to renew their sense of identity and self-respect.

A crucial motivating factor at work is success. But in challenging times, good news can be in short supply.  How can people remain motivated to give of their best if all they hear at team meetings is a stream of poor results? On the other hand, people cannot be motivated by a false show of optimism any more than wallowing in self-doubt and gloom. You need to be honest about your situation, but have a clear plan for turning things around. Focus on the future and the action that is required to steady the ship, recover your position and then to surge ahead. Actively seek out successes and to praise people who are doing what’s required to turn things around even if it is not yet delivering the results. Nurture success wherever you find it.

Finally, don’t forget that all your competitors are going through the same turmoil, so whoever navigates the storm most skilfully will come out ahead.

Anthony Greenfield’s book The 5 Forces of Change – A blueprint for leading successful change is out now published by Management Books 2000. See www.5forcesofchange.com for details or contact Anthony on anthony.greenfield@5forcesofchange.com.

 

Lessons from President Obama on Leading Change

By Anthony Greenfield, HR Director Magazine, February 2009

 

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was based on a promise of change. Whilst his inauguration address made little direct reference this, it was nevertheless a master class in preparing a nation for change. So what can business leaders learn from the most powerful leader in the world?

 

 

 

Careful study of President Obama’s inauguration address reveals his masterly approach to inspiring people to pursue change rather than remain comfortably in the status quo. He clearly understands how people struggle to put old ways behind them and to face a new and less certain future. His speech is packed with ideas and phrases designed to win people’s heart and minds and to prepare them for the road ahead. He does this using five specific strategies; reducing uncertainty, increasing people’s sense of purpose, giving people a sense control over their destiny, ensuring people connect strongly with each other and their country and increasing people’s feelings of success.

Any leader tasked with instigating major change in their organisation will vastly increase their chances of success by following the example of President Obama.

How did President Obama increase Certainty?

By reminding people that great hardships have been overcome in the past (and so can be overcome once again). For instance, in the following phrases:

“Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man…” and [quoting George Washington] “Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive … that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.”

Through honesty about the situation and a personal certainty and hope for the future:

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met… for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our  spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”

How did President Obama increase people’s sense of Purpose?

By creating dissatisfaction with the past:

“Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many…”

By appealing to shared values and setting out an inspiring vision of the future:

“With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”

How did President Obama increase people’s sense of Control?

By reminding people it is they who are responsible for America’s greatness and will be again in the future:

“Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction…At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.”

How did President Obama increase people’s sense of Connection?

He reminded them of a shared history:

“That noble idea, passed on from generation to generation…Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine…earlier generations faced down fascism and communism.”

He talked about what we are now doing together:

“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”

He described what we will do together in the immediate future:

“We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.”

And appealed to a common sense of duty:

“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”

How does he increase people’s feelings of Success?

He reminded them of their strength:

“We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished.”

He reminded them of recent and current successes (including a oblique reference to 9/11):

“It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the fire-fighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.”

He reminded them that they have the tools to do the job:

“Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.”

“Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America!”

Any organisation that wants to bring about real and lasting improvement must change the mood and behaviour of their people. They could do worse than follow in the footsteps of Barack Obama.

Anthony Greenfield is the author of The 5 Forces of Change published by Management Books 2000 – available from www.amazon.co.uk or www.mb2000.com – and a Partner at Resolve (anthony.greenfield@rgr.uk.com).

 

People Management Magazine – article 18^th September 2008

The 5 Forces of Change

In the business world it seems that major organisational change is becoming ever more frequent. But human nature remains much the same – people don’t like change. In light of the complex management and human resource issues that arise at such times, the author Anthony Greenfield reveals his blueprint for leading successful change.

Major organisational change sucks up time, energy and emotion. It threatens morale and all too often fails to deliver promised benefits. However, the world of work is shifting at such a mind-boggling rate that we have little choice but to continually change or risk being left behind. Information Technology continues to shrink the world and revolutionise the way organisations operate. In January 2008, there were 875 million internet shoppers worldwide; in 1993 there were none. Success is no longer a matter of being the fastest or the fittest, but rather is about being the most adaptable. Any enterprise that can introduce new ideas and new approaches frequently and effortlessly has a huge advantage. It is the role of a modern leader to make this possible.

Whereas organisations may have little choice but to change, people do. Large-scale change requires people to invest a great deal of energy and emotion in getting to grips with new methods and in living with extended periods of uncertainty.

 

At the heart of the matter is the way we experience and respond to change. We are reluctant to let go of familiar things in favour of novel and unproven ideas. We want to know where we are going and how we are going to get there, and when the ground begins to shift under our feet we lose confidence and find it hard to remain effective.

 

On the flip-side, we are capable of amazing things. We love to rise to a challenge and derive enormous satisfaction from succeeding against the odds. We enjoy exploring new avenues, coming up with better ways of doing things and learning new skills. So our response to a given change varies dramatically depending on how we experience it and how we are led through it.

 

The key to success is to work with the grain of human nature rather than against it. Like a master of martial arts, you must turn opposing forces to your advantage instead of meeting them head on. To do this, you need to understand and address the 5 Forces of Change – forces that drive human behaviour and which come under threat during major organisational change:

 

1. Certainty. An immediate consequence of change is uncertainty. At worst, people fear for their jobs and at the very least they can become unclear about what the future holds and their role within it. This causes anxiety and a drop in performance. The antidote to uncertainty is trust, and the key ingredient of trust is communication. Openness about what is going on and why it’s going on builds trust, so too does treating people with the respect they deserve. Don’t hide things from them, least of all bad news; rather engage with them about why the change is vital so they can reach the same conclusions as you have. Remember also that the change beginswith you – nothing will kill a new initiative faster than a leader who lacks confidence in it.

 

2. Purpose. As an organisation changes course, things can become foggy. People’s sense of direction is diminished and they become less confident about what they are doing.  In turbulent times we look for leaders with a clear and unequivocal sense of purpose. Great leaders spell out an inspiring vision and remain steadfast in the face of adversity. At M&S, Sir Stuart Rose has set a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2010. Whilst this is an enormous challenge, it is unambiguous and appeals to values that transcend day to day work, giving people a crystal clear purpose and a reason to persevere despite inevitable difficulties.
3. Control.Change can lead to strong feelings of unease as people sense that they have lost power over their working lives and become victims to outside forces. This can cause people to rebel against change or to quietly opt out of it. One such rebellion took place in September 2006 when mothers at a school in Rotherham fought back against the introduction of healthy meals (inspired by Jamie Oliver’s TV series “Jamie’s School Dinners”) by passing burger and chips to their kids through the school railings. In stark contrast to this, Jamie had been masterly at getting children on board at one school he worked with. He took a small group who steadfastly refused even to try healthy food and taught them to prepare healthy dishes with their own hands – a crucial move in winning them over. No one complains about a meal they have cooked themselves.
4. Connection. We all form strong attachments to people and things. We identify ourselves with the job we do and the way we do it. We value our relationships with colleagues, customers and suppliers. We become attached to our organisation, our team, or even our desk. When things change, we need to break these connections and form new ones. Merely exhorting people to join you in the new world is not enough. You need to celebrate the past – its successes and failures – and mourn its passing before people can let go of old practices and travel happily into the future. When two banks recently merged they threw a huge party to celebrate the demise of two old organisations and the birth of a new one.
5. Success. Anyone who has introduced change at work knows that performance often gets worse before it gets better. Just ask people who travelled through Terminal 5 at Heathrow when it opened! In uncertain times, when people already feel vulnerable, they find themselves grappling with new ways of working. No wonder there is a strong temptation to revert back to tried and trusted methods. To combat this problem, leaders must nurture success. They must spell out expectations and train people to succeed. But that’s not the end of it. Crucially, they must support people as they put new methods into practice, especially those who find their performance gets worse before it gets better. Finally, it about celebrating each triumph and building up support to tip the balance in favour of change.

By harnessing the 5 Forces of Change you can become one of those rare leaders who are able to bring about lasting organisational change with a minimum of fuss.

 

Anthony Greenfield is the author of The 5 Forces of Change published by Management Books 2000 – available from www.amazon.co.uk or www.mb2000.com – and a Partner at Resolve (anthony.greenfield@rgr.uk.com).

 

How to manage change at work effectively

 

Companies that are undergoing a programme of transition potentially face a series of problems and pitfalls

Fay Schopen

Be ready

1 Change is a constant part of life, so prepare for it. Michael Jarrett, the author of Changeability: Why Some Companies Are Ready For Change and Others Aren’t, argues that people who are prepared to embrace change have “changeability”, a key predictor of success. Build changeability into your company by cultivating strong leadership, talents and processes that match the requirements of the marketplace.

Have a purpose

2 “Ask as many people as you can why change is planned and if they hesitate or say ‘because everyone else is doing it’, alarm bells should ring,” Richard Crouch, the head of HR and organisational development at Somerset County Council and a board member of The Public Sector People Managers’ Association, said. He recommends that managers “acid test” reasons for change: good ones could be better service delivery or modernisation.

Act holistically

3 Managing change is akin to performing several different medical procedures at the same time, Jeanie Daniel Duck, a senior partner and managing director at The Boston Consulting Group, writes in the essay Managing Change: The Art of Balancing. “Each operation is a success, but the patient dies of shock.”

“You cannot do something in one part of the organisation without changing all parts of the organisation,” Nick James, an organisational development specialist, said. Even things that seem small, such as changing the way in which employees log their time, can affect the whole company.

Think long-term

4 “The whole process of integration could take several years, or some aspects of it may never happen,” Margaret Denton, a change management specialist who worked with ExxonMobil after their merger in 1999, said. “When people introduced themselves to others in the organisation, they always identified where they were from, Exxon or Mobil. They never said ExxonMobil.”

Look within

5 “In today’s economic climate, you can’t simply throw money at the problem or hire lots of people to effect change for you. It’s like Manchester City Football Club: They want to buy loads of footballers, but they’re hoping they’re just going to turn up,” Steve Bicknell, the co-founder of Crelos, a business psychology consultancy, said, “[but] you’ve usually got a lot of people in-house that know the answers.”

Listen

6 “Don’t just push information at people, encourage them. Involve them, ask what they’re concerned about – and follow up,” Ms Denton said.

“The quality of communication is probably the most significant factor in whether or not change will succeed,” Miles Teasdale, the director of YSC, a business psychology consultancy, said.

Cultivate urgency

7 There is too much complacency in the workplace, according to the change management expert and author of A Sense of Urgency, John P. Kotter. He urges managers to fight this with action. “Demonstrate urgency. I know a manager who is brilliant at this. He will end a meeting by saying ‘This is what I’m going to do in the next seven days as a result of this meeting’, then asks what other people are going to do.”

Expect emotion

8 Change can be a “fraught process”, Mr James said. He pointed out that many models used to predict how people will react to change are the same as those used to help people who are grieving. For many people, change will feel like a loss and they may react angrily before they can accept new processes and situations.

One size does not fit all

9 There are different types of change, Dr Jarrett said. One style he dubs “turnaround” and is seen when a new leader arrives and implements large organisational changes, such as the recent appointment of Edward Liddy, chief executive of AIG. Another model is to make lots and lots of smaller, incremental changes.

Help staff take control

10 Anthony Greenfield, author of The 5 Forces of Change, points to the television series Jamie’s School Dinners as an example of buy-in. On the programme, children who refused to try healthy food were given cooking lessons. “They really got their hands on the issue. It’s the same for everyone in any organisation – if you involve people, they will buy into it more,” Mr Greenfield said.

The five stages of grief

Although originally written by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross to describe bereavement, this cycle is used to describe emotional reactions to all types of change or trauma

1 Denial: refusal of the facts or reality of the situation

2 Anger: this can be with themselves or others close to them

3 Bargaining: people seek to negotiate a compromise

4 Depression: sadness, fear and uncertainty as change is accepted

 

Sustainable Change – Creating an Agile Organisation

By Dr Anthony Greenfield

How many big initiatives, launched with great zeal and optimism, come to a sticky end? As governments and businesses try to keep pace with a fast-changing world they have little choice but to instigate change (especially in current times of economic and political uncertainty). But how often do we read dire headlines such as:

 

‘HEATHROW TERMINAL 5 CHAOS’ – BBC

‘70% OF COMPANY CHANGE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES DID NOT DELIVER THE EXPECTED RESULTS’ – Bain & Company Survey

‘CABIN CREW REJECT BA FINAL OFFER’ – ITN

‘HOW JAMIE AND SCHOOL MEAL FASCISTS TURN KIDS INTO JUNK FOOD ADDICTS’ – The London Evening Standard

The difference between success and failure lies in our ability to handle the effects of change on people by working with the grain human nature rather than against it. Organisations that do this adapt fast and improve performance. Those that don’t, make the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

We all have our own stories of attempted changes that have gone badly wrong. Tracing the causes of these disasters invariably leads us back to the one great variable in all human endeavours – human beings themselves. There is a clash between the pace of change in the world, often driven by technology, and our natural capacity to absorb it. We need to be students of human nature to diffuse the situation and achieve long-lasting, effective change.

Evolution designed us for stability. Humans would have been wiped out long ago if we had welcomed with open arms every hare-brained scheme dreamt up by anyone with an over-active imagination. So we come equipped with a million ways to avoid and prevent change, summed up in phrases like ‘Not invented here’, ‘Not in my backyard’ and ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’.

On the other hand, throughout history, great leaders have always found a way to bring about significant change. Leaders in business and politics who understand the psychological factors that drive people to reject change can anticipate them and harness them in favour of change rather than rather than against it. If, at the same time, people affected by change can take control of the emotions triggered by change and reject the temptation of negative knee-jerk reactions you have the ingredients for success.

If an organisation is to thrive through the ups and down inevitably encountered over the years and decades of its existence it needs to handle change in a sustainable way. It must become agile enough bend and flex in response to changes in its environment driven by new technological, social, political and economic conditions. Change must not be viewed as a one-off crisis to be suffered from time to time. Instead, an organisation should develop an in-built capacity to repeatedly shift the way it works and how it serves its customers, manoeuvring like a speed boat rather than a giant petrol tanker. This is sustainable change.

Young organisations, like young people, tend to have little trouble bending and adapting. They are in the ‘entrepreneurial phase’ of their existence when people have a clear shared sense of purpose and the need for flexibility is taken for granted. But as organisations grow and age ‘corporate arthritis’ often sets in. People become settled in their ways and change becomes a battleground between managers and employees.

The first step in eliminating corporate arthritis and promoting corporate agility is to help people appreciate why it is that humans and organisations might find it hard to change.

At the heart of the matter is the effect change has on people’s motivation at work. Many of the things that motivate us to go the extra mile and to excel in our roles are threatened or undermined by change. It’s no wonder then that people avoid or oppose change.

These negative effects are focused in five key areas of motivation – The 5 Forces of Change (see Figure 1). When change comes along there is a real danger that we feel uncertain, lack a clear sense of purpose, lose our feeling of control over our working lives, suffer a sense of loss as we have to abandon old ways of working and old relationships, and finally there is the fear of failure as we struggle to get to grips with new ways of working.

 

Figure 1: The 5 Forces of Change

 

To give an example, two universities, with very distinct characters, merged in order to capitalise on their combined strengths. Years after the merger, one academic explained, “Mentally, we are still two separate organisations.” People clung to old connections (the 4^th of the 5 Forces of Change) and many of the benefits of change were lost.

Once we have developed a deep appreciation of why people are so often driven to avoid or oppose change, causing it to fail, we can move on the next stage which is to do something about it.

The second step in creating an agile organisation is to equip people with the knowledge and skills they require to work constructively with change. For leaders, this means learning how to address each of the 5 Forces of Change; promoting certainty in uncertain times, fostering a clear sense of purpose, increasing people’s sense of control,  helping people to break old attachments and create new ones, and nurturing success through the period of transition.

A good example of a leader increasing people’s sense of control over change (the 3^rd of the 5 Forces of Change) was TV chef Jamie Oliver’s approach to introducing healthy meals in schools. When a small, but vociferous, group of students at one school steadfastly refused to eat the new meals he took them into the kitchen and taught them how to cook healthy food. By putting them in charge of the situation he converted his strongest critics to the cause.

But it’s not all down to leadership. The people affected by change have a role to play. If they can learn to work positively and constructively with change then leaders will find themselves pushing at an open door. This does not mean that people should ‘grin and bear it’ or whoop with enthusiasm at the mention of change. What it does entail is people actively engaging with change rather than being passive ‘victims’. In practice, this involves people coming to appreciate that they have a choice about how they respond to the emotions triggered by each of the 5 Forces of Change. They can learn how to react constructively, rather than destructively, to the situation based on and understanding that this will benefit them in the long run as well as their organisation.

A good example of the choice people make in taking on new behaviours and new ways of working was encountered by a clothing retailer that wanted it’s store staff to become more sales focused rather than merely finding the right sizes for people or standing guard over the changing rooms. People were fearful that they would fail to make the grade (the 5^th of the 5 Forces of Change). They were worried, for instance, about how customers would react when they suggested a blouse to match a skirt the customer had chosen. As a consequence, there was a real danger that people would stick to tried and trusted approach undermining the new strategy. However, people were encouraged to resist the temptation of backtracking and invited to nurture success for themselves. Store staff worked in ‘buddy groups’ to provide each other with the support and encouragement they needed as they struggled, and occasionally failed, to get to grips with the new approach and to finally win through. As result, they were able to take on new skills that made them more effective and to boost sales revenue.

Sustainable change requires two complimentary and interlinking capabilities to be in place, leaders at all levels who engage others positively with change and employees who have the skill and will to engage constructively with change. The motivation to make it work comes from a strong appreciation of why people respond to change in the way that they do and an understanding of the benefits to individuals and the organisation of making a choice to engage constructively with change.

There are also a range of tools and techniques to support people at a practical level. One simple but powerful tool is the Lose-Keep-Gain Grid (see Figure 2). People going through change complete this grid by listing all the things (‘connections’) that they will lose as a result of the change, such as familiar work habits. They also list the things that they will keep and things they will gain. Often, people are surprised to find out just how much will remain the same following a change so the process of identifying things they will keep is helpful in keeping the magnitude of the change in perspective. People also tend to focus on the disadvantages of change, so identifying what they will gain through change help shift this focus. But, perhaps most importantly, The Lose-Keep-Gain grid surfaces the issues associated with loss of connection to the past (the 5^th of the 5 Forces of Change). By getting them out in the open it allows issues to be addressed objectively and helps people keep things in perspective (putting issues on paper often reduces their perceived severity). Failing to deal with concerns head-on leaves then rumbling on below the surface, encouraging people, such as the academic in the two merged universities mentioned earlier, to stick to the past undermining change.

Figure 2: Lose-Keep-Gain Grid

 

When you combine great change leadership with constructively engaged employees the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. With everyone pulling in the same direction and sharing a common language of change the barriers to change fall away and organisations can unleash the benefits of change.

Anthony Greenfield is founder of The 5 Forces of Change training company and author of a book of the same name – see www.5forcesofchange.com or www.amazon.co.ukto purchase the book.