Change. Just six letters but in reality a word that people in companies throughout the world react to with all human emotions that can be thought of.
Change is one topic of this week's newsletter. But there's so much more - the working from home debate is taking new heights, a great case study from the Scottish distillery Glenmorangie - part of LVMH, how Microsoft addresses burnout and the latest CSR trends as well as the one thing that Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work?, thinks of when is giving advice to leaders.
The Emotional Rollercoaster of Change
?If you′ve ever been involved in a change project, you know what a marathon feels like. But you also know that you need to allow for the necessary time for people to adjust and find their way into whatever the new approach is supposed to be. Strategy and Leadership consultant Jeroen Kraaijenbrink has visualized what this means in a very compelling way: The graphic below identifies the emotional states of mind that people go through during the process. The most important point is the text in the middle: there are no short-cuts. And though it often feels painful, the time is worth investing as the outcome will be sustainable and much stronger.
As Jeroen puts it: “The problem is that we tend to approach change as a rational decision or design problem: we’re at A today, we want to be at C tomorrow, and all we need to do is B.?What we overlook when doing so is that change means loss. And people need time to process loss. Change affects personal relationships, positions, and power. And change creates uncertainty, anxiety, and numerous other emotions. While we may want to ignore those emotions and short cut them, we can’t. We simply have to go through the emotional roller coaster.”
I could not agree more – change takes time and leaders need to be careful when they approach it in the way that is often verbalized this way: “If you want to change people, you have to?change?people.” Often, it is not about letting people go – often, the better way is to allow for some more patience and keep the experience inside the firm.
WFH or RTO – These Acronyms Describe The Challenges To A Thriving Culture At The Workplace
?
In a few years from now, academia will look at the impact of Covid-19 as one of the largest social experiments in history. When it comes to the workplace, the “aha” moment of “people actually can work from home” is now turned into the question “but what does it do to productivity and culture?”. It′s good to see those two connected as closely – because in previous times, they were looked at in isolation too often.
“Culture” has become the key reason why CEOs ask their staff to return to the office (RTO). Amazon CEO Andy Jassy for instance: “It’s easier to “model, practice, and strengthen” culture in person”. David Solomon from Goldman Sachs puts it this way: “I want employees back to the office to retain the company’s “cultural foundation.” Adam Grant warned: “Return-to-office requirements, even if done in the name of culture, are meaningless if they decimate morale. What matters is the value people create, not the place they inhabit.”
That′s very true – because asking people to come to the office to spend hours in zoom meetings is not positive for the culture as well. I guess that the answer lies in the middle: offering people the opportunity to work from home, but agree for every team there′s certain days in a week where everybody is supposed to be at the office to allow for that moment of joint creativity that only happens when people get into these unplanned conversations where one thing leads to another and finally the solution that everybody has been searching is lying in front of the team. The magic of a thriving culture.
Stanford’s Nick Bloom recently was quoted by 麦肯锡 : “For hybrid to be most effective, “everyone comes in on the same days & everyone stays home on the same days. Face-to-face activities such as meetings, training sessions, & social events (human connection) should be the focus of on-site days. Home days should be devoted to quiet work that doesn’t require in-person collaboration.”
Bloom continued, “even fully remote workplaces benefit by meeting in person occasionally. Normally, what they’ll do is meet up for, let’s say, a week every other month to try & build some connection.”?Read the full story here.
How The Glenmorangie Company distilled a learning culture for a new-age workforce
The world-renowned Scottish whisky distillery Glenmorangie Company has made a promise to its people to ensure they feel valued and fulfilled throughout their tenure with the company. Its business strategy is made up of four main components:
There are so many initiatives in those four pillars – one key theme: empowerment.
In response to innumerate hugely impactful disruptions such as Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a special module has been trialed. It′s called ‘Let’s Talk Change’. It looks at the methodology behind the change, but more importantly, that change isn’t a project that happens then is complete. There′s so much more to this great approach.?A great case study - find all the details here.
Microsoft's Analysis On Addressing Burnout – What Can Be Done?
There′s hardly a Building Corporate Soul newsletter that does not look at the great initiatives 微软 is undertaking to improve the culture of the workplace. A recent article in the MIT Sloan Management Review looks not only at the importance of measuring true burnout highlighting the three primary symptoms, but also look at why dealing with it in a professional way is not only important for the individual, but also beneficial for the company: “People experiencing all three dimensions of burnout are four times more likely to leave the company compared to an employee experiencing none.” The authors also provide guidance on what leaders, managers, and employees can do to mitigate the negative effects of burnout.?Here′s the link to the full article.
Study Identifies Four Shifts Required In?Leadership
Heather E. McGowan , author of “The Empathy Advantage” shared the four shifts required in leadership in a recent episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast.
Obviously, this is preaching to the converted readers of this newsletter but I am happy to share her key statement anyway: “Empathy ultimately drives performance.?It's not about lesser performances or about greater performances, it's also about greater balance.” Well said.?Watch it here.
领英推荐
Onboarding – One Of The Most Overlooked Building Blocks For A Thriving Culture
In a recent conversation with David O'Hanlon , he mentioned a lesson for life at one of the agencies where he worked throughout his career: “For the first four weeks, I was not allowed to talk to any clients. I was meeting everyone at the agency to actually understand how they operate and what they do and what they don′t do to ensure the clients got a seamless experience throughout. It was very impressive and lead to a very coherent perception and quality of work.”
I′ve been thinking of this conversation when I saw a recent post on a 30-60-90 day plan for any new joiner in any firm.
This is essential when you want to make sure your culture remains one of your strongest assets. The AIHR is providing great templates to download to make sure your plan is as good as can be:?Here′s the link to all the templates.
Why Listening Is So Important
Michael C. Bush , CEO of Great Place To Work US , recently summarized his conversations with many leaders who always ask him one question: How can I be a better leader?
His standard response: Listening.
The way he puts it: “Listening is the most important thing any leader can do. I can’t think of a better way to let someone know you respect them and you care about them. If you can’t listen well, you can’t lead well.”
All of these nine are key ingredients to build a company with soul, a company that is recognized by mutual trust. He continues to say, “Listening isn’t simply talking less. Listening isn’t making sure you accurately heard the words coming out of someone’s mouth. Listening isn’t waiting for someone to stop talking so you can speak. It is choosing to empty your mind and set aside your opinions while someone else is talking. It is asking spontaneous questions driven by your curiosity. True listening requires humility, vulnerability, empathy, and ACTION.”
He suggests that everybody can become a better listener through practicing and learning. Now there′s so much more detail from Michael –?you can find it here.
Purpose and Polarization Are Going Head-to-Head
Benevity ′s latest CSR survey shows five key trends that leaders need to be aware of. We are going to look at each one of those five trends in the newsletters to come. Today, we are looking at purpose and polarization are going head-to-head. It′s one of those tensions that all leaders feel. Here′s what the report suggests:
“Business remains the most trusted institution globally, according to the 2023 爱德曼 Trust Barometer. With this trust comes increased expectations to do the right thing on key societal issues. Companies who embrace this responsibility are a source of hope for driving positive change on the most challenging issues we face — whether that’s racial inequity and injustice or an intensifying climate crisis.?
The good news is that as the world expected and demanded more from businesses in the past few years, many readily answered the call. When stakeholders explicitly told them they needed to step up, be vocal and take a stand, they used their power and platform for good. From supporting frontline workers, vulnerable populations and low-income countries that lacked vaccine access in the face of COVID-19, to making public commitments and acting to further racial justice and equity for Black, Indigenous and Asian people who were impacted by devastating events of racial hate, corporations proved they could be counted on in times of crisis. And those who meaningfully showed up were met with great accolades and allegiances, but also — in some cases — backlash, embroiling business in yet another threat to progress: polarization.
In this economically turbulent period, it’s become more difficult to decouple today’s societal issues from political undercurrents. In a time, rife with rollbacks around access to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare for women and LGBTQ people and an ongoing war in Ukraine, many companies are now finding themselves in a double bind: Avoid action and risk impeding much-needed progress and alienating a socially driven population. Or veer too deep into issues deemed political, tip into polarization and face negativity.
Regardless of where businesses stand on when, how or even if they will show up publicly on divisive yet important societal issues, employees remain invested in the idea that a company’s role is to help their people grow and evolve through consciousness raising, continuous learning and opportunities to make a positive impact.?
As corporate purpose programs mature and increase in importance, companies are recognizing their role is not only bettering the communities in which they operate but supporting their people in becoming better humans. What better actually looks like will vary from company to company.
In 2023, companies are left contemplating how they will straddle the seemingly impossible expectation to make progress on major issues, better their people and act as a unifying force for society in the face of politicization — all while the pressure of profits looms. It’s unsurprising that tension prevails among CSR leaders: As companies consider balancing competing corporate and societal needs without adding to further division, every business will need to reflect on what better looks like for them and then use it as a North Star to guide them through the next period of uncertainty. The question remains: How do you do this in a practical way that meaningfully represents your company’s mission and the values of your stakeholders?”
The 2023 KinDNAmic Summit in London Is Just Around The Corner
I am so much looking forward to speak at the?KINDNAMIC ?Summit in London on July 26! “Every company has its culture – only few have soul” is the title of my keynote.
Companies with soul outperform their peers – but how do companies build soul? How do they create a thriving culture that enables leaders to easily gain commitment from their teams to excel at every task? My keynote identifies the key aspects how high-performance cultures are created and sustained. This is critical for the C-suite of any company in any industry since the principles of the Soul System ? are applicable at corporations of any size and category. The key take-aways include reflection points across the daily decisions any leader has to take and applicable solutions to improve or reinforce corporate culture at all levels.
If you are in charge of transformation and corporate culture, this is the place to be at the?The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) School of Economics in July. Get tickets here: https://lnkd.in/edxcKSpa
The next edition of the Building Corporate Soul newsletter will be in your mailbox on July 23. In the meantime let's make soulless companies a thing of the past...