Case Example – Think Change & Effective Teams
Case Background & Situation Analysis
- The client is a global MNC in the publishing & business information industry.
- A few rounds of restructuring had taken place over the years as part of the organization’s efforts to remain competitive and to align with its global business directions. The Singapore office underwent a transition from that of a regional HQ function to that of a local function.
- Staff satisfaction surveys and focus group sessions also revealed certain concerns; one of which was that staff felt the changes in recent years were too fast and that they hardly had time to recover from the impact of a certain change (decision) only to have yet another major change (decision) occurring.
- Coupled with the job redundancies, staff members are starting to equate change with that of job redundancies. The changes contributed to the negative impact of the overall morale, productivity and acceptance of change by the employees in the Singapore office.
- While staff do understand the need for restructuring to remain competitive, the rapid succession of changes left many wondering “what’s next and who’s next?”
Needs Analysis
Given the volatility of the situation, there is a need for the management to:
- Re-affirm the vision & commitment to shareholders, customers and each other.
- Early intervention to help reduce the incidence of immediate reactive actions and help improve the prospects of longer-term acceptance of the changes and co-operation with new practices and systems.
- Reinforce the message that it is “business as unusual” and to forge ahead confidently and energetically to carry out the organization’s mission and business goals.
- Assist employees in understanding, coping/managing and even advocate (positive) change.
Recommendations
To conduct a “Rebuilding – Think Change!” initiative including a team workshop to provide the following:
- Provide an avenue for employees to come together to rebuild morale and faith in themselves and in the organization after the recent outplacement initiatives.
- Provide the employees with the tools to how best use this organizational change opportunity that has taken place to make things better in the organization.
- Create opportunities for employees to interact informally outside of the workplace and promote team spirit
A “Rebuilding – Think Change!” team workshop was conducted to achieve the following:
Benefits
- Improved commitment, morale and productivity.
- Greater acceptance of the changes.
- More flexibility, innovation and risk taking, and
- Lower turnover and absenteeism.
Post-Intervention Highlights
The “Rebuilding – Think Change!” initiatives resulted in concrete positives for the client organisation’s team members including:
- Shift mindsets and embrace change: Recognise that change is a constant and necessary for continued survival and growth of the organisation. To adapt to changes inside the organisation and the external business environment; playing an active role in organisational growth.
- Take ownership to drive change: Transit from comfort zone and recognise that the past has ceased to exist. To leverage on organisational changes and identify new opportunities including leveraging on ideas & experience of new team members; ultimately take charge and to drive change starting from oneself.
- Driving team performance: Working towards common goals & objectives via increased intra and inter-department communication and collaboration. Adopt open and collaborative mindset to draw on new ideas, proactive interaction for intra & inter-departmental support.
- Change as catalyst to drive innovation: Leverage on changes to drive in-depth analysis of current product/service offerings and close collaboration with various departments to drive innovation and new product development.