Change Versus Good Intentions
Has your company attempted organizational change efforts? Did the change “stick” or did you revert back to doing business as usual? If your results were less than stellar, you’re not alone. Change is difficult and takes time, even with the best of intentions.
Having helped our clients with a number of different change efforts such as downsizing, reorganizing, strategic realignment, and team building, I’ve learned a few lessons:
1) Managing an organizational change effort is a full time job. You can’t add it to your to-do list
(with 20 others items) and expect to be successful. Because change is hard, it will always go
to the bottom of the list. Weeks and months will slip by without any real progress. Assign
someone the job of monitoring action items, rewarding new behaviors, and keeping the new
goals in the forefront of your employees’ minds.
2) Behavior that is rewarded will be adopted. It’s just that simple. Recognize and reward the
new behaviors you want and provide negative consequences for maintaining the status quo.
3) Management must model the new behaviors. Until they legitimize the new way of doing
business, employees will not trust that the rules have really changed.
To hear more about these and other powerful lessons we've learned about change efforts and the other organizational development services we offer, contact Kammy Haynes.
Current Projects: Does Employee Development Work?
You might think that’s an odd question given how much time and money companies spend on it. However, they rarely go back and examine whether or not performance improved or what they can do to ensure that it does next time. We had an employee development project with a client where we were able to measure the results. First, we measured performance and assessed key skills. Then the group received training based on overall results and individuals received training based on their individual needs. After eight months time we went back and measured performance (see below).
What did we find? There were some areas of performance where there was significant group improvement. In other areas there were not (there wasn’t a decrease in performance in any area). However, we now know which areas are still trouble spots for the team and which ones are not. Therefore, training dollars and time can be spent in areas where they are needed.
Evaluating the effectiveness of employee development isn’t easy, but it can and should be done. To learn more about how to do it, or this particular project, contact Warren Bobrow.
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