“Of course, no-one likes change” How often have you heard that? It is a statement that is so frequently made that you would think it is a universal truth. But is it?
For starters history tells us otherwise. There is no way we could have made the advances we have without a predilection for change. In my lifetime we have progressed from the first unmanned space flight to landing man on the moon and billion – possibly even trillion – mile space journeys and landing craft on comets. Not to mention sending images of all they find back to earth.
The fashion industry also says otherwise. Every season sees new styles and colour combinations that have us all eagerly parting with our hard-earned money to keep up. So you could just as easily make the opposite case.
The fact is change is an essential part of life. We would still be dwelling in caves rather than using satellite technology to underpin instant global communication. Thus change is inevitable.
We need to remember, however, that there are two types of change – change we like and change we don’t! It is this that ultimately determines our response; whether we embrace it or resist. (I can still remember my grandmother’s response when the first spacecraft was launched: “Absolutely ridiculous!”) Of course, the strength of our reaction is determined by our level of satisfaction with the status quo.
This may seem like “motherhood and apple-pie,” but it is the foundation for employee engagement.
According to Harvard Business Review, about 70% of change initiatives fail. And Fortune Magazine reputedly claimed that only 10% of strategies are effectively executed. These are linked, because effective strategy – especially in today’s fast-paced, rapidly changing global economy – depends on your ability to adapt; ergo to effect change. And change only happens when your people change – what they do, how they do it or both.
This makes change management an integral part of management and not a separate branch. Yet it also provides you with a huge challenge. This is because your immediate organisational success depends on engaged employees who are satisfied with the status quo to provide the customer experience that sustains your organisation. Yet your future success depends on employees who are open to change in order to ensure the ‘right’ customer experience in the future, and thus to maintain that sustainability. Ongoing, incessant change demands this. That is why:
- Change management is not a separate branch of management, but an integral part.
- You have to build a relationship with your employees that meets both these demands.
Employee engagement provides a convenient heading for describing what you need, and some solutions for what can help. But unless you provide a framework that addresses both employees’ immediate and future needs your efforts will be doomed, and you will experience the same lack of strategic success that Harvard and Fortune describe.
That is why I continue to make the case for employee ownership as a start, and my ownership model as a better means of meeting both these current and future needs.
Bay is the founder and director of Zealise, a company created to help larger small to large business organisations to properly value their people and thereby inspire them to optimise their self-worth and so engage them that they transform organisational performance and bottom-line results. Bay is also the author of several books, including “Lean Organisations Need FAT People” and “The 7 Deadly Toxins of Employee Engagement.”