Overcoming Change Fatigue Through Focused Employee Engagement

Transcription

1 The right balance of Use of Self, client relationship and intervention design can actively engage employees and enable them to overcome change fatigue. Change fatigue needs to be identified early and an engagement methodology designed to mitigate the cynicism that would otherwise undermine the best efforts. Overcoming Change Fatigue Through Focused Employee Engagement By Wendy Ace and Sharon Parker A balance of conscious Use of Self, a strong client relationship and an intervention design based on possibilities engaged employees and enabled them to overcome change fatigue. This case study illustrates how the Authors shifted the scope and approach of a request for workshops to communicate change to one that would allow for engagement with a wide audience, a deep diagnosis of the current state, and a demonstrated commitment from the leadership team. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) engaged the services of the Strategic Change Group (SCG) of the Canada School of Public Service. The focus of the work was to provide advice and support in the design and roll-out of an engagement process on the issue of Public Service Renewal for the Agency. The objective of the initiative was to build a common awareness and understanding of Excellence in People Management and develop an Action Plan to enhance CIDA s people management capacity. The Action Plan is one element of the long-term goal of cultural change within the Agency where excellent people management is evidenced at all levels. Within a six-month timeframe over three hundred executives and employees representing all Branches, in Headquarters and in the Field were engaged to develop an Excellence in People Management Action Plan. The success of this project is already being referenced across the federal government as a smart practice for engaging employees as witnessed by a 50% increase in requests for speaking engagements and several inquiries from other federal departments. Background The Canada School of Public Service meets the needs of both public servants and the government by providing one-stop access to learning, training, leadership, and professional development. CIDA is the federal agency that delivers Canada s international aid agenda. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, the Agency is comprised of 2000 French- and English-speaking employees, including 130 Executives. More than 300 employees are based in developing countries with varying access to technology. The scientists, economists, and experts in international development and policy share a common focus of delivering aid to developing countries; have varying backgrounds and priorities; and have varying levels of capacity and tolerance for change. Thirty percent of CIDA employees have worked for the Agency for more than 10 years suggesting a strong commitment to the organization s mandate. The Agency was suffering from change fatigue. There existed a sense of malaise, frustration, distrust, and cynicism that any change effort was destined to fail as indicated by representatives of CIDA s Centre for Workplace Effectiveness and Well-being (CWEWB). The Agency had undergone fundamental changes to both its structure and programming for a considerable period of time. The most recent organizational change occurred in June Overcoming Change Fatigue Through Focused Employee Engagement 21

2 2008, and was immediately followed by the departure of the President. A number of lingering transformative activities such as decentralization had been announced and not implemented, leaving many employees confused and cynical. The new President, Mrs. Margaret Biggs, was appointed in July Her first priority was to implement the Government s changes to the International Development Assistance Agenda an initiative that significantly changed the Agency s aid delivery mechanisms and impacted a broad base of local and international stakeholders. The Clerk of the Privy Council, the top public servant in the Canadian federal government, identified Renewing the Public Service of Canada as a top priority for the government. CIDA s President and Management Board, comprised of the Agency s twenty senior executives, committed to strengthening Excellence in People Management as the Agency s response to the Clerk s Public Service Renewal (PSR) initiative. To achieve this objective, the President formed a PSR Advisory Group. The Group consisted of a selection of thirteen executives representing all Branches, including Communications and Human Resources. The Chair reported directly to the Management Board. The Authors worked in close partnership with the President, the PSR Advisory Group Chair, and CWEWB to support the change effort at all stages and to build capacity within the Agency to ensure sustainability of the initiative. Approach The Authors applied the Canada School s Planned Change Model throughout the project (see Figure 1). The Model was developed by the Canada School in partnership with the Queen s University Industrial Relations Centre and is based on the work of Beckhard and Harris (1987), and Linda Ackerman-Anderson and Dean Anderson (2001). A multi-phased approach was adopted for this initiative. Phase 1 focused on preparing the ground. Phase 2 focused on planning and implementing the Engagement Strategy to develop an Action Plan. Phase 3 is the embedding and monitoring of the Action Plan. During Phase 1, the drivers for the initiative were identified (the Why); overall direction was provided by the President (the What); the members of the Advisory Group were identified (the Who/How); and the initial Change Goal was clarified. A strong focus on communication was maintained throughout the process, ensuring that all employees were kept up-to-date on every aspect of the initiative. Leadership was exhibited by the President through her involvement in the Figure 1: Canada School s Planned Change Model Prepare the Ground 1. Identify the drivers for the change. Why 2. Identify the overall direction of the change. What 3. Create transition structure. Who/How Embed & Monitor 1. Reward progress; celebrate milestones. Who/When/How 2. Review policies, systems and structures to align with the change. What/How/Who 3. Continue to monitor, evaluate and modify. Who/What/When/How Plan & Implement 1. Create a sense of urgency. Why/When 2. Confirm roles & responsibilities. Who/How 3. Develop and communicate vision and strategy. What/How 4. Create implementation plan. How/When 22 OD PRACTITIONER Vol. 42 No

3 design of the Strategy and her participation at Advisory Group meetings. Leadership was also demonstrated by several executives who proactively began to implement early-identified actions, thus creating momentum for the initiative. To provide a diagnosis of the current state, confidential interviews were conducted with each member of the Management Board, each member of the PSR Advisory Group and representatives of the key unions. The interview questions included the following: What does Excellence in People Management mean to you? Where does Excellence in People Management fit into your day-to-day work? What are your expected outcomes? How would you define success? How do you think people should be engaged in this process? A number of individuals used the opportunity of the safe space created during the interviews to express their frustrations, concerns and hopes. The data gathered from the interviews was collected and presented to Management Board in an anonymous manner. The findings were met with surprise since what came to light during the interviews had not previously been expressed to the President. A closeddoor Management Board meeting was held to reiterate the President s expectations, address the interview findings, and begin to define Excellence in People Management. Given the diagnosis and the existing climate of change fatigue and its implications, the workshop design was based on Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider, Srivasta, and Associates, 1990). This allowed par ticipants the opportunity to Discover, Dream and Design by reflecting on examples of excellent people management and acknowledging areas for improvement without having downward spiral conversations. In order to create a positive mood and focus on possibilities, Benjamin Zander s DVD Leadership: An Art of Possibility was presented and discussed at every workshop (Zander, & Stone Zander, 2006). The employee workshop design mirrored that of the executive workshops in order to address their change fatigue and allow them to dream about possibilities. The Authors proposal of one-day executive workshops was initially met with resistance. While acknowledging the dayto-day business pressures of the Agency, the Authors cautioned of the possible perception of allocating only a half-day for executives to reflect and consider such an important topic. There had also been discussion of using the employee workshops to present the outputs from the executive workshops. The Authors advised that the outputs of employee workshops were of equal value. After consideration, the President recognized that full-day sessions were critical for executives to address the issues in a considered manner and would demonstrate her commitment to excellence in people management. She agreed that employee workshops would follow the same design as executive workshops, condensed to half-day sessions. The President also committed to a No Blackberry rule during the workshops. Executives were invited to attend one of three full-day bilingual workshops, or one on-line bilingual workshop for those located in offices in developing countries. All employees were invited to attend one of five half-day sessions (two French, two English and one bilingual) or one on-line session for those working outside Canada. The workshops were structured with the following agenda: Introduction by the President or a member of her Management Board. Viewing and debrief of the Zander DVD Leadership: An Art of Possibility Discovery: Experience of Excellent People Management Review and comments on Excellence in People Management definition Dream: Completing the sentence CIDA is the best place to work because. Design: Action Steps to achieve Excellence in People Management The Discovery portion of the workshops involved storytelling both at tables and A number of individuals used the opportunity of the safe space created during the interviews to express their frustrations, concerns and hopes. The data gathered from the interviews was collected and presented to Management Board in an anonymous manner. The findings were met with surprise since what came to light during the interviews had not previously been expressed to the President. A closed-door Management Board meeting was held to reiterate the President s expectations, address the interview findings, and begin to define Excellence in People Management. in plenary. Review and comments on the definition for Excellence in People Management was an agenda item for the executive workshops and was conducted in plenary with a constructive focus. The Design methodology of the workshops included brainstorming, consolidating, and categorizing actions into Self, Branch, or Agency accountability. Each table presented their top three priority actions, by category, in plenary. Overall, the outcome of the workshops was a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to the Agency and the initiative. Many comments were made about the remarkable energy in the room, the appreciation at having the time to discuss the issue and provide input, and the novelty of using a new and positive approach. Outputs included commentary on the draft definition and hundreds of action items to be addressed by the Agency, by the Branch Overcoming Change Fatigue Through Focused Employee Engagement 23

4 and by Self. Surprising to many participants was the similarity between action items developed by executives and employees. Workshop Evaluations indicated the following: Strong appreciation by all participants executives and employees of Management Board s involvement; and 98% of participants felt inspired by the Zander video many suggesting that all CIDA employees should experience it. The results of a public service employee survey were released during the conduct of the workshops. Many of the actions identified in the Agency s proposed response to the survey were in line with the action items developed in the workshops. To ensure a linkage between the survey response and the Action Plan, the 100 Agency action items collected from the workshops were clustered using the survey categories of Leadership, Performance Management, Employee Engagement, Employee Development, and Workload. This process reduced the number of action items to 60. A further analysis conducted with the PSR Advisory Group refined the list to 24 action items. Early in the engagement process, the President announced that a new and innovative Leadership Council would be held in June The aim of the Leadership Council was to firmly establish and sustain the leadership community as an essential component for the continuity of effort and commitment required to implement change. The inaugural meeting of the Leadership Council was attended by 95% of the executive cadre, including those based in developing countries. The Authors presented the 24 action items for consideration at the Leadership Council. Following table discussions and a plenary session, the set of action items was amended to include two new actions. The amended list was mapped according to participants cursory analysis of level of impact on the Agency and the level of effort required to implement the action. An e-voting process identified the top 10 actions. Leadership Council participants then further analyzed each of the top 10 actions Early in the engagement process, the President announced that a new and innovative Leadership Council would be held in June The aim of the Leadership Council was to firmly establish and sustain the leadership community as an essential component for the continuity of effort and commitment required to implement change. The inaugural meeting of the Leadership Council was attended by 95% of the executive cadre, including those based in developing countries. by answering the following questions: Why is this action important? What will success look like? Who needs to be involved; in what role? How will success be accomplished? The process for this work followed the format of a World Café and Marketplace, allowing three rounds of analysis and time for everyone to review each of the action analyses. Through a second e-voting process, the Top 3 Action Items were identified. The resulting 3-point Action Plan will be initiated in the immediate future with acknowledgement that the remaining seven items will by revisited by senior management. Many executives commented that they recognized the President s commitment to the initiative by the dedication of half of the two-day Leadership Council Agenda to the Excellence in People Management initiative. Several executives noted that they were leaving with a real mandate and a strong sense of purpose. The outcomes of the Leadership Council and the 3-point Action Plan were communicated to all staff by the President immediately following the meeting by means of the Agency s internal website. Outcomes Having workshop participants categorize action items as the responsibility of the Agency, the Branch or Self, enabled executives and employees to recognize that each person is a significant part of the collective solution. The President is holding each senior executive accountable for contributing to Excellence in People Management by including this item in their Performance Management Agreements. Smart practices for excellent employee engagement within a public service context were established. These include: holding separate conversations with executives and employees in the early stages; allowing people to dream of possibilities; involving all stakeholders in defining success; and clearly demonstrating senior management involvement and commitment. Quarterly meetings of the Leadership Council are being held to carry the initiative forward and to monitor performance against commitments. The PSR Advisory Group has become the Leadership Council Steering Committee. It has been re-purposed with terms of reference supported by the President and a Management Board Champion. The focus is on strengthening the leadership community, continuing an active dialogue, and delivering on the Excellence in People Management commitments. The President has launched a 360 feedback project for members of her Management Board. A Group Profile will be generated to enable the Management Board to address its collective strengths and areas for development. 24 OD PRACTITIONER Vol. 42 No

5 Key OD Learnings The right balance of Use of Self, client relationship and intervention design can actively engage employees and enable them to overcome change fatigue. Change fatigue needs to be identified early and an engagement methodology designed to mitigate the cynicism that would otherwise undermine the best efforts. Engagement of stakeholder groups early in the project is critical to ensure buy-in and save time in the long run. Change can be effected in large, multidisciplinary, multi-site organizations with the right leader setting the right tone, and consistently reinforcing the right message. The Canada School s Planned Change Model enabled the client to discover that they possess the solutions. The Authors helped unlock those solutions. Open and honest communication is critical. Everybody needs to understand the Why and the How of the changes that are taking place. Even in a bureaucratic public sector environment, change can be defined and delivered in a short timeframe. References Ackerman-Anderson, L., & Anderson, D. (2001). The change leader s roadmap: How to navigate your organization s transformation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/ Pfeiffer. Beckhard, R., & Harris, R. (1987). Organizational transitions: Managing complex change (2nd ed.). Don Mills, ON: Addison-Wesley. Cooperrider, D., Srivastva, S., & Associates. (Eds.). (1990). Appreciative management and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. Zander, B., & Stone Zander, R. (2006). Leadership: An art of possibility. [DVD]. Chicago, IL: Groh Productions. Wendy Ace has managed significant government change initiatives including electronic procurement and Canada s Government On-Line Program for the past 25 years. Internationally, Wendy was responsible for capacity building change projects within the governments of China, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan, the Bahamas and over 30 African countries. Combining an educational and professional background in communications and international project management, Wendy earned her certification in Organization Development from the NTL Institute for Applied Behav ioral Science. She can be reached at Wendy.Ace@csps-efpc.gc.ca. Sharon Parker is a Senior OD Advisor with the Strategic Change Group at the Canada School of Public Service. She has 20 years experience in change leadership and organization development consulting in both the public and private sectors. Sharon received her Honors BA (Psychology) and Master of Business Administration from Queen s University, EQ-i certification, Coaching Apprenticeship from Integral Coaching Canada, and certification in Organization Development from the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science. She can be reached at Sharon.Parker@csps-efpc.gc.ca. Overcoming Change Fatigue Through Focused Employee Engagement 25

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