The feeling of belonging is the glue that promotes retention, enables engagement, and enhances productivity.
A sense of belonging is what we aspire for from childhood, and the same applies in the organizational context. This feeling of belonging is the glue that promotes retention, enables engagement, and enhances productivity. Achieving this sense of belonging and connection becomes even more critical during a phase of organizational transformation.
A transformation exercise requires an organization to pivot, disrupting the accepted norms of doing things and challenging the status quo like never before. This transformation is facilitated by the combination of new and innovative technology, modified processes, a reorganization of people structures, and physical and virtual workspace shifts. All these initiatives are to facilitate people within the organization to live and breathe a new way of working and interacting, a new way of engaging with managers, co-workers, and other stakeholders.
“Was my opinion considered?” “What’s in it for me?” And “is this the future that I want to be a part of?” These are key questions that linger in every team members ‘s mind during the transformation phase. Addressing them at the outset enables a smoother adoption of all the new changes brought into the organization and a more impactful shift to the new normal. Building the transformation blueprint ground up by listening to the people’s perspective enables buy-in like no other.
A transformation by the people, for the people!
Listening deeply to the voice of the system is inevitably step one of the defining phases of any transformation journey. Tools such as Hofstede, Vital Signs, and OCAI provide channels to capture the opinions, voice, and feedback of the organization on various elements such as how they respond to change, how they work with the external environment, and how they perceive the organizational culture. It also provides the opportunity to express their aspirations for the future of the organization.
Our experience points to a 60%+ participation in capturing the voice of the organization as ideal, and that allows for a well-represented and relevant data set to guide the creation of a Culture Canvas. When leaders are equipped with this voice of the system, they can superimpose the Culture Canvas with elements required to achieve the strategic objectives and direction that they envision for the organization. The transformation blueprint that emerges from an in-depth consulting exercise with the leaders now resonates with the voice and feelings of the organization. The blueprint also includes relevant skills to be enhanced and initiatives to be embedded, all developed fully cognizant of perspectives across all levels, geographies, and functions.
When the blueprint is cascaded across the organization, it connects to people who now see their opinions as reflected in the different messages and initiatives. The outcome is: more participation in workshops; a stronger connection to roadshows; higher engagement on digital platforms; greater recognition; and enhanced engagement with clients.
Through the numerous engagement initiatives, more inputs are gathered and processed, and existing processes are enhanced. Creating mechanisms to listen continuously to the valuable inputs and make adjustments to the journey, which further builds a sense of connection.
If some do not resonate with the blueprint, then it is with the clear understanding that their voice was heard and their views are divergent from where the organization aims to go. Some realize that they are on the wrong seat while others deal with the truth that they are on the wrong bus – an invaluable clarity.
Our recent experience of working on a transformation journey with a leading financial organization across 14 geographies showed the following statistics:
- 65% of employees took part in the initial ‘voice of the system’ exercise
- 82% participation in multiple engagement initiatives, across locations
- 90% of employees had active accounts on the culture platform with over 30 % returning each month
The business metrics showed a 6% shift in engagement scores over the journey; from 76 % to 81 % and an improvement in the customer experience measures. The effort to elicit the voice of the system and embedded it into the DNA of the transformation journey truly made it ”by the people for the people”, resulting in employee engagement across.
Many a leadership team has fallen prey to the belief that their voice is fully representative of the rest of the organization. Transformation initiatives are single sightedly built based on the inputs of a select few and then cascaded pan organization. This approach is non-inclusive and has a much lower chance of success.
The shifts needed by individuals during a transformation are uncomfortable and outside of their comfort zones. The probability of achieving these shifts during the transformational journey is unparalleled when the voice of the system is embodied in the transformation pillars. Employees feel the relevance and connect voluntarily to the various initiatives required to enable the transformation increasing the chance of a successful implementation.