Archive for the ‘transforming the organization’ Category

When you have an entire organization paralysed with fear, when there are budget cuts all around, negative media speculation, no one is secure.  And the only person who really knows what is being planned is the CEO.  Is it any wonder, when you give a script for managers and supervisors to communicate to staff, their teams ask what’s going to happen with our jobs and the manager or supervisor in the spirit of trust and honesty says, “I don’t know, I don’t even know what is going happen to me.”  So this is why you need to take a different approach to face to face communication during these times.

So here is an example of how managers and supervisors can still have accountability for specific messages and at the same time utilize your CEO as a key communicator during times of change . 

 During another “bad” economic time, during which the organization had 9 new competitors during one year the following strategy was implemented. 

 1.            Firstly it was arranged that the CEO would meet with each of the state managers of the business divisions in each state individually. The win for the CEO was to hear first hand how business was in each business division in each state and to meet with key clients at the same time.

 2.            He explained honestly to each State Manager the reality of the situation with the business and why he had to rely on them. 

 3.            He gave them specific actions of what he wanted from them and they in return delivered and stepped up and managed in some instances the total closure of state offices in true leadership style. 

 4.            We then held “Business Reality” workshops for one day in each state which all managers and supervisors attended.  The CEO was present at each and shared with them real business data and the issues facing the organization and asked for their input in coming up with options and innovative ideas to grow the business.

 5.            These ideas were then considered by the Executive team and the best were implemented in each business division and state.

 6.            The supervisors and managers now had something to share with their teams – specific action plans for their division.  And more importantly the key issues that the CEO had asked them to focus on.

The outcome was that despite going through extensive downsizing, restructures and everyone having to reapply for new roles, the business grew by 25% in that year.  Obviously the strategy was much more detailed than outlined above, but the purpose of this article is share why I think managers and supervisors are not the best face to face communicators during times of change and why the CEO has to take an active role in transforming the organization.