Transcript Slide 1

There’s Change. . . .
and Then There’s BIG CHANGE
Implications of the BOB Era and How Public Relations
Professionals Can Lead Organizational Transformation
Kathy Lewton, Steve Seekins, Ken Trester
APRs & Fellows
Lewton, Seekins & Trester
Public Relations Society of America International Conference
October 28, 2008
Change
“You know it don’t come easy”
• The forces demanding change have been like a
tidal wave . . . . .
• But in a post-BOB economy, when everything is
moving at warp speed, the forces will be
overwhelming and will overwhelm our
organizations unless . . . . . we can manage
change
• And create a culture where change is the norm
 Change becomes a core survival strategy
Full ppt deck available at
www.LSTLLC.com
The forces demanding change
are ever more powerful
•
•
In an economic downturn, nothing stays the
same, change is inevitable
When consumers or businesses spend for
anything, they will expect and demand both
quality AND service
–
–
•
Focus on “quality” now has a life and momentum of
its own -- customers will expect the very best – no
tolerance for errors or mistakes
Unhappy consumers know how to dial 1-800LOCAL TV REPORTER
And a highly visible group of companies doing
it right and getting the headlines makes it
harder for the rest of the pack
And yet, our organizations
and our people . . . . .
• Are by nature resistant to change
• Are built on policies, procedures, process
– “We’ve always done it/never done it
THAT way”
• And now – when people are fearful, angry,
unsure – they are even less likely to be
able to hear, let alone listen and act
It’s not the best of times
to push for change
• Employees – those who aren’t fleeing – are
tired, frustrated, cynical
• Managers can be apathetic, or downright
antagonistic
 Powerful leadership and communications are
absolutely essential
When simple change is not enough,
and transformation becomes the norm. . .
Always remember:
Culture eats strategy for lunch!
Enter the hero(ine)
The CPRO/CCO transformed into:
Chief Culture Warrior
CEO Can’t Do It Alone
• CPROs are in ideal position to help:
– Environmental scanning: Trend spotters -- hear
the drumbeat, collect and “own” data, sense
danger that failure to change can bring
– Have tools for telling and selling – defining and
describing the new vision, and persuading
• And can adapt them for a situation where the audience
is nervous, afraid, in a panic
– Work effectively with management peers who
are the critical forces in transformation
– We can partner with the CEO to calm the waters
and lead transformation
To begin our transformation,
we need to figure out:
How transformation works
(and doesn’t)
 What’s going on in our organization
(and with our CEO)
 Where we fit in all of this
(and how to claim our seat at the table)
And the survey says:
McKinsey global survey found:
• Organizations need to change constantly,
but achieving a true step change in
performance is rare
• In recent survey, only a third say that their
organizations succeeded in making it
happen
What McKinsey found
• New McKinsey global survey on organizational
transformation found that most organizations
seek transformation in order to move from good
performance to great. Those that succeed:
• Have well defined financial and operational goals AND a
genuine NEW LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE
• Had HIGHLY VISIBILE CEO
• Had large-scale COLLABORATION across biz units
• Had COMMUNICATIONS THAT HAD BALANCED FOCUS
– building on successes while also addressing problems
• ENGAGED employees at all levels
And the failures (2/3 of companies
surveyed) . . . . .
• Ill defined goals, and goals that were not a
“stretch” – but lack of clarity was the
biggest problem
• AND (surprise) ineffective communications
– Low visibility CEO
– Messages skewed – either too much focus on
problems, or only focusing on the good things
and the future, and ignoring the problems
– Communications programs used one or two
tactics, didn’t push messaging to front lines
Then we drilled down in an industry*
where change is the norm for survival
Surveyed CEOs and senior PR/marketing
leaders about culture change and where
PR/Communications fit
*Hint: ER, MRI, IV, CT, MI, $$, HMO . . .
First, PR & Communications Pro’s
• Surveyed more than 60 very senior
practitioners
• Most at VP/SVP level and 20+year
veterans
• We reported some of these findings in the
June issue of PRSA’s Tactics
Culture change critical to
strategy, less so for survival
60
50
40
Respondent
CEO
Sr. Team
30
20
10
0
Vital to
survival
Critical to
Strategy
CPRO’s most commited to change
80
70
60
50
Respondent
CEO
Sr. Mgmnt
Physicians
40
30
20
10
0
Total
Partial
Negative
None
Culture is managed in many ways –
no magic bullet
Formal activity with
dedicated resources
Happens on its own
Part of EE training &
development
Managers held
accountable
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Culture is managed in many ways –
no magic bullet
Have strategic plan
Culture is in plan
Culture is managed
Culture just
happens
CEO defines and
manages culture
0
20
40
60
80
100
Top management fully committed –
it goes downhill from there
Top mgrs
Mid mgrs
Nursing
Employees
Physicians
Board
Planning
Marketing
PR/Comm
Internal Comm
HR
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
CPRO’s on culture change team,
but not as leaders (yet)
Leader
Key team
member
Contributer
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Why NOT leaders?
Definitely want to be
Someone else leads
Asked but denied
Lack expertise
Burned out trying
Overworked
Organizational apathy
0
20
40
60
80
100
Then we looked at culture change
from the CEO POV
• CEOs – not scientifically selected, but very
representative of hospital types
– Couple of huge academic medical centers,
multi-state system, urban non-teaching, urban
“community hospital,” several suburban
hospitals
• Range in size and geography from NYC to
N.California – and Utah, Michigan, Ohio
and others in between
Q1: What do they want to change?
Many say it’s customer service
• We want our employees to FOCUS on
delivering good customer service
• “We need to become more driven by
needs of the customers”
Some say it’s all about employees
• ” I believe that happy employees will
make for more customer satisfaction . . .
• BUT I do not really have any data to
prove that, nor do we have a plan to
make it happen.”
 Calling the CPRO!
Others say quality is job #1
• Well it’s quality – I mean that’s all there is.
”Anyone who says do something else without
the grounding in quality is just wasting time,
trying to dance around the edges. You do
quality, everything else falls out from it – you get
better service, you get growth, you get bottom
line benefits.
“Skip quality and all you’re doing is marking time
till you don’t have a choice.”
Some wanted to change more
fundamental values
• Every place I’ve worked I’ve focused on
the need for a positive culture – it’s about
people, helping them reach full potential.
“It’s about being open, transparent . . .
how leaders behave, communication, no
blaming, treating people with respect.
 When times are hard, we need to
communicate more.”
Especially true in BOB era:
• National W/S survey two weeks ago: More than half of
U.S. employees have not heard from their companies’
leaders about the impact of the financial crisis.
• 71 percent felt their company’s leadership should be
communicating more about the economic crisis.
– 70% feel that their company will be negatively affected by the
crisis -- 26% expect layoffs, 62% say employer will have trouble
meeting goals.
• At companies where leaders have communicated with
employees, 86 percent said that senior executives or
management who have discussed the crisis were seen
as “believable” and “trustworthy” sources.
And some want to change it all
• “We started with a good culture, but it was
disconnected from patient service, so now
we’re integrating it all including service,
quality, staff development and growth, with
bottom line impact.
”It’s a BIG BITE – we are changing the
entire way we operate.”
Key insights:
• CEOs at high performing organizations
realize that achieving a common vision
(what should we BE) is critical to achieving
the desired result – and CPROs can and
should be involved in both.
• Some clearly ID employee satisfaction as
foundation for any change and recognize
communications as a core competency.
Q2: How do you manage change?
Some aren’t sure.
• “We don’t have a formal change management
process – but we need one.
“I’m not sure where this will be managed –needs
to be close to me, Community affairs? Maybe
marketing??”
• “Our marketing staff and quality team are the
leaders of this initiative.
”It has been interesting to see them working
together since that is not necessarily a regular fit
here.”
Most say “the buck starts here”
• “I manage the process. Me. Hands-on.
If you’re going to ask every employee to
change the way they think and act, the
CEO has to do the same, be the person at
the lead in every meeting.
“It can’t be a speech and then introduce
someone else who is responsible.”
Some say engage senior leadership
• Top and middle management have to
drive it – but they don’t get that yet.
• “It’s Baldridge – senior management team
are the leaders. It starts with us. We have
the scorecard and track our resources.
Communication is essential!”
Some bring in outside experts
• I’m using a consulting firm to help make it
happen, using their standard approach.
And I got the two unions to participate.
• We were starting from ground zero, so we
brought in an acknowledged leader and
said tell us what to do.
“It’s a science and your garden variety
executive or manager doesn’t know the
science.”
Many created formal structure
• “We created an entire infrastructure headed by
one of the leading experts on quality, with a fully
formed team. They report to me and it’s Job 1.”
• “Using Root Learning approach, we reach every
one of our 15,000 employees.”
• “We use a Plan for Excellence and it’s the basis
for how we plan, how we communicate. Its
values lay the foundation for goals– corporate,
unit, individual performance.”
Communication is critical
• “We work hard at communications. SVP
PR/Mktng is on senior management team
and reports to me. I meet with the
communications team monthly so they
know what I’m thinking.”
• Early and prompt feedback is critical, as is
holding people accountable.
Leadership is the bottom line
• You don’t “manage” culture – you create it.
“You have to live it, model it, set
examples, lead by example. Breath
optimism into the story.”
• “We have to be seen as engaged. It’s how
we model the behavior.”
Key Insights:
• Most get that it starts at the top – no if’s, and’s or
but’s – it’s the CEO responsibility
• After that, there’s less uniformity
– Some use the “add on” method – give it to
someone as a new part of their existing job (so it’s not
Job #1, but Job #43)
– Some hire consultants (so it’s the consultant’s
program, and then they eventually go away)
– The ones that seem most successful pony up –
hire staff, create a fully embedded quality team. They
dedicate substantial, if not massive, resources.
Key Insights
• CPROs not often mentioned unaided as
part of the team making the whole thing
happen . . . . but when probed, most (not
all) get that the function should involve the
CPRO as a leader
• And the presence of some CPROs at the
CEO’s right hand, as lead change agent,
shows that we can play this role.
Q3: What are the barriers to change?
#1 is middle management
• “Middle management feels disenfranchised by change,
so you have to drag them along. “
• “Managers are neither hired nor trained to be LEADERS.
We had to teach and train and require and motivate and
reward. But they CAN ALL do it.”
• People don’t like to change what they’re doing,
especially when they think things are going pretty well.
“But since I fired three directors, that may change the
dynamics.”
Then there’s the challenge of
sustaining momentum
• Keeping going. “This is not a one-month thing –
it’s FOREVER. So if you can’t do it, then get out
now.”
• “It’s hard to sustain momentum among the staff..
You can change ops and systems, but its people
who impact the customer.”
• Taking a short-term view. “You have to say this
is long-term and stay the course, but it’s hard to
keep the workforce engaged through a longterm process.”
The “this too shall pass” mentality
• “I inherited a place in shell shock from the
“initiative of the month.” They had so
many of these short-term, gimmicky
programs – customer service training (a
45-minute video), MBO, gainsharing – the
employees now look at any new initiative
with great cynicism.
“They figure they’ll wait it out, keep doing
what they’re doing, and it will go away.”
Key Insights:
• Changing attitudes of middlemen and
middle management is a key task – and as
we all know, extremely difficult
– Have to cast change as a win/win in realistic
terms and involve them in leading the process
Key Insights:
• Every team member must have culture
change as part of their performance
accountabilities, which means a massive
communications effort that never quits –
just keeps on going
• Chief communicators can help articulate a
vision that enhances motivation.
Q4: Where do PR/communications fit
in the quest for transformation?
Center stage . . .
• “Their leadership has been a critical success
factor. We had to create from the ground up an
entire communications system, dozens of
facilities in several states – and it had to be
based on first-line supervisors as the
communicators.
“WOW! Our PR team created the system, the
training, DID the training, for months. Now they
manage the info flow. It is the rock of our
success.”
From delivering messages . . .
• “PR creates and delivers the messages.
Marketing identifies the key markers and keeps
the scoreboard.”
. . . . . To managing process:
• Each of our strategies has an oversight team
that the communications people manage. They
document the plan and make sure it feeds back
to the board and medical staff.”
At the heart of . . . communications
• “Communications is essential – we do
round the clock town halls. Used to be
10% participation, now we’re up to 34%.
Plus newsletters and blast emails and
videos of patient stories and banners. We
are trying to reconnect our employees to
our purpose.”
At the heart of . . . communications
• “We need robust communications. We actually
created a new internal communications
department because it’s so important.”
• “Communicators give the organization clarity.
They need to stick to the message and the plan
and most of all, support management with
optimism.”
• “I expect that my communications team will have
the pulse of this very decentralized organization.
They bring valuable insights and info to the
table.”
And some put us on the fringes
• “Well, sort of peripherally, I think. In a
support way. I mean, they manage the
channels the quality team needs to use to
disseminate info. And they do take our
success story out to the media. But I don’t
think of them as integral to the process
beyond what they already do.”
Waiting in the wings . . .
• “We give them direction to be more
strategic and more challenging – but we
have to give them a climate that allows
them to do that. We are failing to tell them
this is our expectation.”
• “I need them to be creative and strategic –
right now, they’re more likely to be
tactical.”
Waiting in the wings . . . .with high
expectations
• “Now that I think about it, this is where culture
change really belongs. But our people do not
seem to be strategy focused – I need to change
that and see if they can respond. They have
done nothing to date, but I haven’t asked them.”
– “I expect them to be skilled strategists,
to disagree with me and come up with new ideas not
just in culture, but in marketing.”
– “I need strategic thinking, creativity and judgment.”
Key Insights:
• Marketing and communications people are
owning important parts of the process at some
places, barely remembered at others
• Some CEOs say they haven’t yet told their
CPRO that they expect strategic counsel
– BUT should they have to ask or tell?
• We must find the strategies for driving culture
change, working with the CEO and senior
management team.
Key Insights:
• High performer CEOs clearly understand
the value of internal communications,
rating it above external PR.
– BUT CPROs often relegate internal
communications to a newsletter editor and
concentrate on marketing communications,
advertising and media relations
Key Insights:
• High performing CEOs understand the real
value of creativity – can’t get results with
old methods.
– Creativity should be our sweet spot
• CPRO’s key skills – analyze the market,
develop strategies and manage
communications – are central to
transformation. So we should be central to
the process.
The BIG Take Aways:
Lessons Learned from the Research
BIG Take Away #1
• Every CEO gets it. Not one said
“Change?? Why?””
• They clearly have moved beyond denial
(FINALLY) but are at various stages of
“What now?”
– We should be the answer people
• And for us, that means no more waiting to
be asked or called – the change train has
left the station
BIG Take Away #2
• Culture change is never “over”
– You can’t plant a flag and say “We’re done”
– The messages and desired behaviors have to
be sent and reinforced FOREVER
– So make culture change the primary focus of
your role and your team’s work
BIG Take Away #3
• There’s some dissonance in here
somewhere
– CEOs said culture is being carefully managed
– Last year half of CPROs said “culture just
happens”
– Either the CEO is kidding him/herself, OR . . .
– The CPRO is out of touch or out of the loop
BIG Take Away #4
• There is a clear role for marketing and
communications teams
– Some CEOs clearly get it – learn from what
they have their CPROs doing
– If you work for someone like those who don’t
seem to get it, don’t wait to be asked.
– Even if they don’t see YOU in the role, figure
out how you can get there. Start with the
barriers that exist -- speak out, step up,
present your plan.
BIG Take Away #5
• It’s all about working with YOUR CEO
– No silver bullet or magic formula.
– Can’t ask this on PRSA ListServ
– YOU have to dig down and understand your
organization, your CEO and the strategies
that will work
 Take a closer look!
Step 1: Get inside the CEO’s head
• Some CEOs are process oriented and care
about systems, metrics.
– SO you have to talk Baldridge
• Some are people oriented and care about
attitudes and behaviors
– So you have to help with visioning
• Some are political and care about relationships
and power bases
– So you have to help them by creating a planning
process that’s inclusive and gets all the right people
involved (friends and enemies)
Getting Inside the CEO’s head
• Three typical archetypes
– The innovator, already out in front – wants
you on board with him/her and probably sees
a specific role for you
– Resigned but willing – wants you to help
figure out how to do it, you can design your
own role
– Resistant – needs you to convince him/her
(then make it his/her idea and work it behind
the scenes)
With CEO, use right ammunition to
take your best shots
• Bring data so CEO can identify issues and
answers
• Bring new tools
• Trot out outside experts
• Bring outside models that work to the table
• Partner with colleagues in middle
management - mobilize them
Step 2: Be a strategist
Strategist: Know where your
organization is NOW (post-BOB)
• We often try to move people toward a new
vision with no clear sense of where the
people are in terms of attitudes, opinions,
morale, commitment.
• Use comprehensive internal research on
the variables most likely to affect ability to
change.
– Assess attitudes, needs, concerns and commitment of
key players such as middle managers and first line
supervisor
Strategist: Strategic priorities =
foundation for transformation
• Culture needs a foundation – must match
strategic priorities & desired market positioning
– Customer service strategy means focusing on the
behaviors and skill sets that will deliver customer
satisfaction.
– Quality positioning requires addressing organizational
effectiveness.
– Low-cost position means focusing on efficiency
• No one can afford to focus on just one strategic
priority and totally ignore others -- BUT one
driving imperative makes transformation easier
because there’s a clear vision that supports the
need for change.
Step 3: Bring it all together
• The CPRO/CCO transformed into Chief Culture
Warrior can lead transformation :
– With a clear vision of strategic imperatives
– With deep and broad understanding of the
organization and its people as they are now
– With effective marketing and communications
strategies and tools to change attitudes and
behaviors
– And by partnering with operations execs who will lead
the effort to re-tool policies, procedures and
processes.
STEP 4: About Face!
• Culture is determined by what we DO. It is
memorialized by what we SAY.
• Both are important, but one must precede
the other.
• To be the change agent, the Chief Culture
Warrior, instead of communicator:
First be the doer, then the sayer.