ways to engage employees in workplaces

Research has shown that organisations look regularly for new and better ways to work after introducing a change, in order to increase chances of successfully sustaining improvements.

According to a report by Mckinsey and Company, communication, contributes the most to a transformation’s success.

In its research, it notes that managers in companies where senior staff communicate openly and across the organisation about the transformation’s progress, report a successful transformation eight times more than those who report lack of communication.

ADVERTISEMENT

The report titled, “How to beat the transformation odds”, says good communication has an even greater effect at enterprise-wide transformations, where company-wide change efforts are 12.4 times more likely to be successful when senior managers communicate continually.

In other to carry out the changes that would involve the participation of the employees, the report have suggested the following.

Lead, don’t manage

The research shows that leadership matters as much during a transformation as it does in the company’s day-to-day work.

According to the report, leadership cannot be delegated to a project-management office or central team while executives carry on with business as usual.

It affirms that when senior leaders show exemplary behaviour with regard to the changes they are asking employees to make, transformations are 5.3 times more likely to be successful.

“Success is twice as likely when senior leaders and the leaders of initiatives spend more than half of their time on the transformation. In practice, though, only 43 per cent of these leaders say they invested that much working time in the transformation’s initiatives,” the report adds.

Choose the right people and empower them

Executives report that for transformations to truly succeed, companies must think about the role that employees play as well as their needs across the organisation.

It notes that the largest share of executives say they would move faster to keep people resistant to changes out of leadership or influencer roles, if the transformation happened again.

Reports note that it is important to define clear roles so employees at all levels are prepared to meet the post-transformation goals—a factor that makes companies 3.8 times more likely to success.

Mckinsey and Company reports says, “Also key to an effective people strategy is allocating enough employees and the right ones—that is, the high performers and active supporters—to work on the transformation. One effective way to hold these people accountable, according to the results, is using transformation-related metrics.

“Executives who say their initiatives’ leaders were held accountable for their transformation works in annual evaluations are 3.9 times more likely than others to report a successful transformation.”

Prepare for continuous improvement

It states that several specific practices help companies connect strategy to daily work, deliver value more efficiently to customers, enable people to contribute to their best ability, and discover new ways of working.

All these, according to the report are linked to an organisation’s long-term health—and can keep companies from backsliding on performance gains and support continuous improvements after transformation.

For example, it adds that organisations where people understand how their individual work supports the company’s broader vision, executives are 5.5 times likelier than others to say the transformation has been successful.

It says, “To achieve long-term success, that link must also be reinforced with a company-wide commitment to identifying opportunities for improvement—a practice that more than quadruples the likelihood of success.”

Focus on people, not the project

Transformations are about the people in the organisation as much as they’re about the initiatives, the report says.

It notes that the long-term sustainability of a transformation requires companies to engage enthusiastic high-potential employees, equip them with skills, and hold them accountable for—as well as celebrate—their contributions to the effort.

“Companies should, in our experience, take the same steps toward developing people throughout the organisation. To build broad ownership, leaders should encourage all employees to experiment with new ideas: starting small, taking risks, and adapting quickly in their work. Doing so can create far-reaching and positive support for change, which is essential to a transformation’s success,” it says.

Communicate continually

The report advises executives not to underestimate the power of communication and role modelling when embarking on a transformation.

It adds, “The results suggest that continually telling an engaging, tailored story about the changes that are under way—and being transparent about the transformation’s implications—has substantially more impact on an effort’s outcome than more programmatic elements, such as performance management or capability building. But the communication doesn’t end once the change story has been told.”

It says that leaders must continually highlight progress and success to make sure the transformation is top of mind across the organisation—and to reduce the gap between what employees believe is happening and what they see.

Take more action

Transformation is hard work, and the changes made during the transformation process must be sustained for the organisation to keep improving, Mckinsey and Company says.

It adds that while some factors have more impact than others on a transformation’s outcome, the real magic happens when these actions are pursued together