How to Empower your team to Lead the Change and Disrupt

Disruption in the world of work is here to stay. It will continually alter workplaces, workforces, workspaces, workflows and workloads.

Making change is a difficult thing to do where  70% of corporate change initiatives fail (Gallup).

Only leaders who respond to this new norm by disrupting their own philosophies and strategies about change can position the heart of their organisation  -- their people -- to continuously adapt and excel.

Gallup suggests we flip the script and enable employees to create and lead the change themselves.”

The difference between a manager and a leaders mindset on change 

A manager.                                     A leader 

Drives Change                               Inspires Change 

Focuses on 

Structural aspect     Behavioural and Cultural Aspects 

Informs                                            Empowers

To prepare their people to help lead change, leaders need a workplace culture that lives and breathes adaptability and have agility in its DNA. 

It needs a work environment that energizes people to get ahead of change and push the organization forward.

In our BBG Sydney Superforum last week, Tony Surtees identified a massive gap for consultants to help with managing change in Enterprises after “the great reset” - because one thing that we can be sure of - is that there will be massive change!

The leader  needs to understand human emotional dynamics -- including mindsets, behaviors and cultural norms 

Gallup in an article by MARA HOOGERHUIS AND JILLIAN ANDERSON identifies 4 ways of how to navigate a succesful programme of change and encourage its people to create and own the change

1. Involve, trust and empower your people. 

Develop employees into agents of change by consistently demonstrating that employees' ideas and contributions matter. Involve them in decision making, empower them to perform - and trust them. They may do things differently to you - but they will achieve the desired result their way

2. Prioritise manager development 

When managers serve as coaches, not bosses, they fuel engagement and inspire employees to move away from their routines and adopt new mindsets and behaviours

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Create a culture of learning and collaboration. Invest in ongoing manager development -- and most importantly, give managers the freedom to coach their team members.

Support managers with the right tools and kpis  to strengthen employee awareness, adoption and accountability.

3. Use analytics to get ahead of employees' perceptions and emotions.

Emotions primarily drive decision-making, not rational thinking. In fact, 70% of decision-making is based on emotion and 30% on rational thought.

Leaders should use multiple channels to understand employees' emotions and perspectives, including ongoing dialogue, employee analytics, feedback mechanisms, Conversations and BBG Forums 

With in-depth insights, leaders can adjust their strategies, grow employee buy-in and disseminate best practices.

Through conversations with key stakeholders, leaders can glean success strategies from early adopters and early resisters. 

With qualitative and quantitative data on their people's change readiness, leaders can discover ways to unify employees behind a change initiative. Leaders should involve managers in feedback collection and give them access to real-time employee analytics.

4. Create a culture of learning.

A disruption-ready organisation  never stops learning and growing. 

To lead change, employees must repeatedly adapt to new discoveries and shifting demands.

Leaders should create processes and cultural norms that propagate rapid experimentation, adaptation and collaboration. 

Leaders must ensure their people are aligned and working together to drive success.

There should be ongoing communication, learning, training and coaching between managers and their teams. This will keep employees "in the know," manage role expectations and inspire desired behaviours

For detailed article see 

https://www.gallup.com/workplace/268991/adapt-constant-change-create.aspx

It’s all about CX - having a great product at the right price just gets you a seat at the table

“Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Brilliant Customer Service wins the game.”

How you make customers feel when they interact with your business influences their loyalty.

Jeffrey Gitomer – It’s a Long-Term Process - Consistency

It’s all about relationships - and strong relationships take a significant investment of time and effort. 

The aim is to build klt - know like and trust”

“You don’t earn loyalty in a day. You earn loyalty day-by-day,” he says.

Customer loyalty comes as a result of meeting or exceeding a consistent standard.

Shep Hyken – how to wow

“What’s the difference between a satisfied customer and an advocate? “

A satisfied customer is one who received your service and got what they expected.

An advocate is one who sees that you go above and beyond whenever you provide your service. 

That’s a customer who’s going to come back for more

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Virgin founder Richard Branson agrees  “The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them — preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.”

It’s all about CX - show that you care

JC Penney – Be Your Customer’s Friend

“Friendly service creates a personal connection that encourages people to come back. Every great business is built on friendship,”.

It’s the personal experience that really counts. 

“Customers don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care “

“Give them what you want and you will get what you want! “

Personal service will be a key differentiator. People don’t want to have to talk to a machine! People like to talk with people!  

Picking up  the phone can be a great way to show customers that you care.

It’s all about CX - listen to your unhappy customers

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

The customer experience is key to retention.

Gates keeps it simple when he says: 

Listen to your customer - Your customers want you to recognise that they have a voice. Tney want you to take action when they tell you about something that they don’t like. 

It’s all about CX - exceed expectations

Jeff Bezos – Don’t Stagnate

”We treat our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

“Good enough is not good enough  - exceed expectations”

It’s all about improving the customer experience in any way that you can. 

If you don’t strive to improve, you become what Bezos refers to as a Day 2 company. This is a business that’s declining towards an eventual total failure.

We want to make money when people use our products - not buy our products .

It’s all about CX - listen to your customers

Ross Perot – Listen to Your Customers

“Spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. listen to your customers.”

Your  customers are the best source of information you have for finding out what’s wrong with your company. They’re the people who’ve used your products and services. As a result, they’re the people who are best placed to pass judgement on what you do.

Listen to what your customers have to say. Find out  what the customer wants. 

Which social media channels do they use? 

It’s all about CX - Have values and an aligned belief

Starbucks  founder Howard Schultz says: “If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.”

When customers share your company’s values, they connect to what you’re doing on a deep level.

Know what your customers want and align your business to meet those needs. 

It’s not just about  the product.... you need a great product just to get to the table - that is expected ....It’s about your values , your purpose and what your company stands for .