Making Real Change Happen - Vol I by katapultpartners

MAKING REAL CHANGE HAPPEN CHANGE LEADERSHIP // CHANGE MANAGEMENT // ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE // DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION // TEAMWORK AND PRODUCTIVITY

7 WINNING TIPS

FOR STEERING YOUR TEAM THROUGH THE UNEXPECTED

more on Page 7

MASTER CHANGE LEADERSHIP NOT JUST CHANGE MANAGEMENT more on Page 23

8 WINNING TACTICS FOR GOLD MEDAL TEAMWORK more on Page 12

A magazine by Katapult Partners

The leading change and digital practice making real change happen M A K I N G R E A L C H A N G E H A P P E N M A G A Z I N E V O LU M E I

Ingvar Kamprad, legendary entreprenuer and farmer’s son from southern Sweden, died in January 2018 at age 91, set out to change the status quo that “(only the) affluent could afford beautiful furnishings.” ultimately building what became a veritable mecca of affordable design, named after a combination of his own initials and those of his home farm (Elmtaryd) and village (Agunnaryd): IKEA.

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- TRIBUTE

INGVAR KAMPRAD -

An icon of change The IKEA founder conquered the world with Swedish minimalistic design, low prices and a unique approach to furniture. Known for driving a two-decade old Volvo and flying economy, Kamprad started from his family farm in 1943 and is now considered one of Sweden’s - and the world’s - most successful entrepreneurs of all time. Along the way, he was guided by steadfast principles. In 2001, Ingvar Kamprad was a guest lecturer at Lund University in southern Sweden, and used the occastion to impart some of his learnings to the students by sharing a sheet of paper, which contained the following advice. 1. Compensate for your shortcomings, and know that you have many. Distrust the people who [think] they know everything. 2.

Always be on your way! A sense of satisfaction is an effective sleeping pill.

3. Be careful about experience. It prevents you from thinking differently. Why is a good word. 4.

Have your workplace close to the real world.

Work positively. The negative will just give you ulcers.

Acknowledge your fiascos and don’t try to explain them away.

Learn to discern between real and imagined needs.

See your problems as challenges and turn them into opportunities.

Make sure that maintenance follows you wherever you go (military metaphor) .

10. Discuss, motivate and sell, but know that when the decisions are done, only the execution counts. 11. “Care” about your colleagues and let everybody know they are an important part of the whole. Each and everyone has a right to feel their significance. Nobody can replace close contact on all levels. 12. Know that the time of “jungle capitalism” is over, and that a responsible capitalism is the future. To end: Remember that the future needs you! The great entrepreneur, a pioneer who changed the lives of many - and one of the richest people in the world - founded the multinational furniture and home accessories brand in 1943 aged 17. On 27 January 2018 he died peacefully at his home in Småland, Sweden. Thank you for everything, Ingvar.

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WHY

Katapult Partners? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

At Katapult Partners, we believe that real change only happens in business and digital transformation when organisations place as much focus on people and culture as they do technology. Katapult Partners help you to enable your people and transform your technology. We invite you to join our journey to achieving a collective digital change mindset; through rethinking culture, digital implementation and leadership, and leveraging powerful productivity technologies to drive positive change across a modern, diverse, multi-generational workforce. From immersing ourselves in digitally created tools to digitally enhancing our physical experience, micro-revolutions are changing the digital world every 12 to 18 months. Whilst getting the technology right for your workplace is paramount - it is only when human and machine come together than the magic really happens. Katapult Partners specialises in strategic and business change, as well as digital change to the Microsoft cloud - which often centres around Microsoft Office 365.

For one of our team: hello@katapultpartners.com To connect with our CEO directly: elisabet.hearn@katapultpartners.com Call us on: (+44) 208 123 4590 Follow us on Twitter: @katapulters

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K U N G S L E D E N , G Ä L L I VA R E , S W E D E N — Huskies are masters of navigation and teamwork.

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- COVER STORY -

7 WINNING TIPS

FOR STEERING YOUR TEAM THROUGH THE UNEXPECTED THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN CITY AM 10 JAN 2017

Smooth sailing is rare – we are always surrounded by some degree of change. But at times it’s more choppy than usual; more uncertain than the norm. Leading your team well in those circumstances is more important than ever. Team members may feel worried, angry or frustrated and not perform to their best.So what can you do when you find yourself in turbulent times? Here are some practical solutions:

Meet regularly Have regular quick check-ins – face-to-face, on video call or phone. Make people feel that they are not alone, that you support each other. Have fun together and make time for laughter and casual conversations. Find answers to questions Uncertainty and turbulence create questions. What will this mean for us? How will we resolve this? How will I be affected? Make sure you create frequent opportunities to talk as a team, so you understand concerns and hopes – and where possible, provide answers. Follow these four principles of dealing with questions transparently: 1) Try to answer the question. 2) If you don’t know an answer, say so. 3) If you cannot answer the question now, make a commitment for when you will and honour it. 4) If you know the answer but cannot say currently, say so and make a commitment to share information when you can. Focus on strengths Everyone in a team contributes in their unique way. Give each other feedback based on individual strengths and attributes. When people are able to use their strengths, they are energised, which is a vital resource when faced with uncertainty, as it can give a real boost of innovation and determination. Focus on your purpose Remind the team of their purpose and how important their role is within the organisation. Stay focused on that purpose and get on with the task at hand. It’s easy to slow down when faced with uncertainty. Keep the team moving forward. Adjust goals, plans and tasks if needed, making sure the team keeps progressing. Don’t waste time in the “uncertainty void.” Show that it’s okay to make mistakes. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn (from what went wrong). Use the disruption as a way for the team and its members to develop. What could go right? There is never just one way of looking at a situation. You probably know people who have expressed that some of

the best things that have happened to them have come as a result of (unwanted) change. Help your team to reframe a situation by exploring what it could bring from an optimistic standpoint. Ask team members to share the moments when they’ve experienced a good result during a time of uncertainty. Use a crisis to pull the team together. Balance bad with good news When things are turbulent, the news we encounter is typically not very positive, and endless exposure to bad news has an effect on people. It’s hard to stay optimistic when all you read and hear is on the negative side. There is always more good news than is immediately noticeable. Make a point of finding the good news and sharing it with your team – and encourage them to do the same. A company that banned bad news from the workplace during the recession found that it increased performance. People were of course allowed to read what they wanted to outside of work, but they decided that it wasn’t the focus they wanted people to have while at work. The results? Higher productivity, employee engagement and sales. Celebrate Success To celebrate successes is always important, but particularly so when facing turbulence. That’s when the pat on the back and sense of achievement can really make a difference. Celebrate the milestones and encourage continued effort. Be proud of your team – and show it.

Mandy Flint and Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, multi- award-winning authors of “The Team Formula: A Leadership Tale of a Team Who Found their Way” and “Leading Teams 10 Challenges and 10 Solutions”

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01 TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK AS A G R O U P S L A LO M D O W N A M O U N TA I N I N S W E D E N

02 A SKI LIFT CARRYING A DIVERSE TEAMS CO LO U R F U L S K I S

03 A S L A LO M S K I E R TA K E S A S H A R P T U R N ; S U CC E S S I S R A R E LY A S T R A I G H T L I N E

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A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN ACCOUNTING TECHNICIAN, 2 SEPTEMBER 2016 -

HOW TO LEAD THROUGH THE EMOTIONAL SLALOM OF MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS AND DEMERGERS Everyone who has experienced or seen a merger or acquisition up close knows that it is never, never straightforward or easy. And it’s worse than that, in fact around 90% of mergers & acquisitions (M&A) fail, they never give the return on investment shareholders had hoped for (source: Harvard Business Review and others). The main reasons they fail are these: CULTURE, PEOPLE, BEHAVIOURS. There it is. An M&A may look good on paper, may make sense for practical, productivity, market share and administrative reasons, but that does not necessarily take the human factor into account. How do you think it feels to be acquired? Well it depends on how you are perceived, treated and greeted by the acquirer’s people. How do you think it feels to merge? Well it depends on how you are perceived, treated and greeted by the people of the company you merge with. How do you think people feel in a demerger? Well it depends on how they are perceived, treated and greeted by the people who stay with them. There is always a “winner takes all expectation” but the successful mergers happen when there is a true win-win mindset. So be careful not to allow that winner/loser mentality take hold. Best practices are often talked about but not acted on, this is where the REAL value can be gained. But if you pursue the winner/loser approach best practices don’t get shared, hence synergies don’t happen.

shoes of others - what would that feel like if it was you? That usually changes the mindset. Take a change leadership approach - Act, followup, evaluate and reward Take into account the aspects of going through the change curve and link that to the plan. Act on the plan, follow up regularly and evaluate if the results are there. If not, adjustments may be needed. And when the results are there, when you can see that collaboration is happening, that people are pulling together and starting to deliver results – recognize and reward that result, to encourage more of it. Consider culture Both/all of the companies will have different cultures (=how we do things around here). Bring this out into the open. Explore the cultures; what behaviours and habits exist that are useful and we can build on? Take the best of both cultures and merge the cultures as well as the organisation. Decide on what the culture needs to be going forward and involve people from both/all sides to make it happen. Reward the behaviours agreed on and showcase how they make a difference. Don’t think that policies and procedures will bring people together Policies and procedures are important but they can

People make M&A’s work or fail. How we think, feel and behave makes all the difference to the results. So what can you do if you want to guide and support people and organisations through such changes? Here are some solutions: Anticipate and respect emotional responses - Plan carefully Create a plan that includes what to do in terms of bringing people together and THEN how to bring the business operations together. Involve people from both sides. Consider who the influencers and informal leaders are – make sure they have a role in this. Focus on both the “what” and the “how”. There is always an emotional reaction so don’t ignore it, plan for it. It won’t just go away. Put yourself in the

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only work with the desired principles of the work, never how people respond to it. You need to emotionally engage people to bring them together. You need to build trust, get people to know each other to begin to trust each other – help people see that they have a shared purpose. Don’t assume you know it best The acquirer may (often unintentionally) come across as having “the upper hand” – after all they acquired, right? Yes, but they must have acquired because they saw a value in what they were acquiring. So acquirers will do well to look at the other company with appreciation. Be curious This goes for everyone involved; look at the other company with curiosity and open-mindedness. Think “What do they bring? What do we bring? How can we make the most of BOTH/ALL companies? How will coming together make us stronger?” If it’s not immediately obvious, then keep looking – the answer is always there. Ask and be prepared to listen without thinking you have the best answer. Mergers should mean taking the best of both. Communicate like you’ve never communicated before Communicate, communicate, communicate. Communicate all the time. Listen to people, talk to people, ask questions. Involve people in conversation. Make everyone feel involved in (rather than mauled by) the M&A. Resistance to change is one of the key reasons why M&A’s fail. When people feel no one understands their frustrations, sense of inferiority etc – they will dig their heels in, not embracing the change. A real change management communication strategy, approach and plan is critical. It is simple and yet often left out! People worry about the “What’s in it for me?” - it is a natural human behaviour yet it can be missed during a merger. Focus on the behaviours needed through the time of change:- be open minded – be curious – listen – assume positive intent. During a recent acquisition, someone we worked with described they had feelings of betrayal. ”I felt betrayed I had been instrumental in building the business yet someone came along thinking they knew better and dismissed what I had created. I didnt even get a thank you or any acknowledgement. I certainly didnt feel engaged or keen to help with the change. All I wanted was an open conversation and some level of apprectaion for what I had done and how we could all make it better. It wasn’t much to ask, but I didn’t get it”. We started off saying that the main reasons M&A’s fail are culture, people and behaviours – well, the good news is that they are also the reason why they can succeed. Mandy Flint and Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, multi- award-winning authors of “The Team Formula: A Leadership Tale of a Team Who Found their Way” and “Leading Teams 10 Challenges and 10 Solutions”

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- FEATURE STORY -

8 WINNING TACTICS FOR GOLD MEDAL TEAMWORK A version of this article appeared in Training Zone 2016.

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang are now in our rear view mirror. This is a good time to review and learn from the teamwork that goes into making an Olympian successful. That kind of success doesn’t happen without teamwork. Teamwork is crucial not just to team success but also individual success. No one is an island: behind most successful individuals, stands a great team. An athlete will have a team of coaches, physiotherapists, dietitians and many more. Together they work towards a goal – the gold medal goal. And it’s exactly the same at work. Gold medal teams are what every organisation wants. And there’s a lot we can learn from sports when it comes to teamwork and performance. The first important step is that a team needs to know where they are going or what they are contributing to (vision) and why (purpose). This clarity provides a framework and “reason to be” that can rally a team to work together. Once the goal is set, here are eight proven tactics for creating gold-winning teams and individuals.

to the table. Effective teams fearlessly share regularly and generously for the benefit of everyone. This makes the capability of the whole team grow and gives the team more power. In Pyeongchang the teams involved had to constantly share information and insights, keep up to date and not keep anything from each other. Be transparent Without transparency, trust will suffer. Transparency is becoming the expected norm in business and expectations are growing. Knowledge is not power. Teams members all bring their unique set of skills, knowledge, experience and wisdom to the table. It starts at the top: the more senior you are and the more responsibility you have, the more you need to be a role model for this. Employees will follow the leader’s behaviours, good or bad. When done well this can have a positive cascade effect throughout the organisation. In sports teams it is crucial to be transparent, to let everyone know what is happening and how you are all feeling, as transparency (=knowing that there are no hidden agendas) makes people relax and be able to focus on their task. This in turn leads to even better results. Deal with conflict and tension Conflict, a difference of opinion, can be healthy and if carefully managed it can trigger useful debates.

Build trust If you are going for gold, then remember that trust is crucial to teamwork, and it starts with team members knowing each other. Team members need to know each other, both professionally and personally. To be willing to let others shine, like those in supporting functions do, comes from knowing that you are valuable yourself. Otherwise they won’t understand each other and they won’t want to engage because they haven’t made that human connection – and hence they won’t fully trust each other. When the going got tough in Pyeongchang, each member of the team really had to know each other to support each other.

Transparency - knowing that there are no hidden agendas - makes people relax and be able to focus on the task at hand.

Share information Knowledge is not power. Team members all bring their unique set of skills, knowledge, experience and wisdom

Stay engaged Team engagement is crucial to business success and indeed sports success too.

It can make people think differently, expanding knowledge and insight, and innovation can happen and results flourish. Different opinions are not a bad thing. It’s how we handle the conflict that makes a difference. In Rio, the pressure would at times have created much tension. When getting to that all-important moment that you have trained for years, the tension is high. The team needs to know how to handle that tension and be ready for it and not let it jeopardize the teamwork or the results.

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01 T E A M U S A AT T H E 2 0 0 2 S A LT L A K E C I T Y W I N T E R O LY M P I C S

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Team members who are engaged are interested in what they do and committed to the team mission are willing to going the extra mile. The key to engagement is involvement; by involving others you make it impossible to stay detached. They are there in body as well as mentally and emotionally. The key to engagement is involvement; by involving others you make it impossible to stay detached. The teams in Pyeongchang HAD to be engaged, not just then and there but more importantly in all the years of preparation, when things were tough and results not great. Engagement is easier when team members support each other all the way. Stay focused on the long-term Businesses have to get beyond day-to-day urgencies, be able to take a holistic view, see the big picture and how all the parts fit together. For a team this means being able to think beyond your own area, how you fit into the wider organization and how you impact the customer experience and value proposition. Imagine how great it would feel to be part of a team where everyone is thinking of the team and not just themselves. This is about business sustainability and long-term success. Everyone is busy but just being busy is not enough. Long-term success requires long-term thinking. To get to Rio, the teams had to stay focused on their long term goal. There would have been setbacks and different results along the way – long-term thinking (keeping the end goal in mind) helped them stay focused and make decisions and take actions that would aid both short- and long-term results. All for one and one for all A great team can – and should - be like the three musketeers – all for one and one for all. Honour your time and efforts by seeing yourself as a full time member of the team, not just an individual contributor. A great coach sees each person and is able to bring out the best in them, encouraging and helping them to want to do their best. Imagine how great it would feel to be part of a team where everyone is thinking of the team and not just themselves. In all the sports teams in Pyeongchang the team could not have even made it there if they had worked alone, doing their own thing. Teamwork is what makes the difference. And consider an individual athlete, who even if they are brilliant at their sport, would not have made it to where they are without the constant support of those around them. To be willing to let others shine, like those in supporting functions do, comes from knowing that you are valuable yourself, that your unique contribution makes the difference. That the athlete, although they may be the star, would not have made it without team. This is what all for one and one for all is all about. Follow up, give feedback and coach Coaching leadership is also of major importance and it happens at both an individual and a team level. A great coach sees each person and is able to bring out the best in them, encouraging and helping them to want to do their best, and keep getting better – helping to bring out self-leadership in each athlete. Feedback is the breakfast of champions. With the awareness of what someone does well and could do better, they can turn that into learning and do it even better. Remember that no one is best at everything. A sports gold medalist couldn’t be a winner in all sports at the same time – and it’s the same at work. Help employees to focus their efforts to become truly outstanding at what they do. Each team had a team or individual coach to help guide them in South Korea. Many said they could not have made it without the coach giving them guidance, direction and feedback. We can be a coach to our teammates too. If you want to create a great team, pay particular attention to behaviours. How we behave has an impact on others and affects how they behave. It’s when we change our behaviours that we can achieve transformational change. And finally, don’t give up! What all gold medal winners have in common is that they don’t give up. They don’t let setbacks stop them. They use the power and the feedback of the setback to find new strategies to move forward. They value the silvers and the bronzes too – and they use them to propel them onwards and upwards. So stay focused, go the distance, and never give up on that goal. Be a strong gold medal winning team.

Mandy Flint and Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, multi- award-winning authors of “The Team Formula: A Leadership Tale of a Team Who Found their Way” and “Leading Teams 10 Challenges and 10 Solutions”

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EXECUTIVE TEAMS: A SHORT STORY All seven members of the executive team were seated around the boardroom table for their monthly meeting. Liza, the CEO, was pleased to for once have them all in the room. Most of the time someone would be off on a work trip and not be able to be there, and Simon was of course located in Birmingham and Debbie in Edinburgh, so this was certainly a treat. So far so good. Liza was however frustrated about the fact that these meetings and their overall interaction never really delivered what she wanted them to. There was a tendency to just work through an agenda, often with an individual/departmental focus where updates were shared but she had a lingering feeling that they needed something different. They were not truly an executive team the way they were currently operating – they were just a group of competent, but disparate executives. When thinking about it she realized that she had to create a different dynamic to her team where greater value could be had out of their interactions, not just for themselves but more importantly for the organization as a whole. It was time to bring her team onboard with her thinking. “Good to see you all. Today, I want us to be really strategic in our focus, not just for the organization but for us as a team”. Liza looked around the table to gauge their reaction to this opening. All good, she had their undivided attention. “I realise that we are all busy, but we need to take the time to be more intentional about the way we work together. With the right approach and tools, I think we’ll get more done and get better results. Let me explain”. Liza continued to share how she had arranged for some discovery conversations, followed by a facilitated team session, working out operating guidelines as a team, as well as agreeing on what technical tools to use to communicate more effectively. The suggestion brought about some animated discussion on their strategic focus for the year and how this exec team intervention could contribute to that. This was followed by an agreement on how, when and where to engage as a team. They had made a start on something new and promising. A month later, Liza reflected on how much progress had been done in such a short period of time. Her team was already more streamlined in how they worked together. They had found a much more effective way to communicate, through Teams, and the renewed clarity in how they could support each other in their shared purpose had reduced previous overlaps and frustrations. There were still some practicalities to put in place, but the way they now worked together was miles ahead of where they’d been just a few weeks ago.

Want to discover more? Get in touch with Katapult Partners at hello@katapultpartners.com to understand how you can enable your executive team.

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HOW DO YOU RETOOL EXECUTIVES WITH A NEW DIGITAL PERSONA, WHILE HONOURING THE SUCCESSES OF THE PAST? Exclusive and Limited Magazine Offer Enabling your Executives with Microsoft Teams The fast-paced business environment of today means executives must constantly deal with a range of factors on a daily basis, from information overload and instant decision-making to time management and personal development. Moving away from email, Microsoft Teams helps you work smarter. In transformation, we believe that real change only happens when organisations place as much focus on people and culture as they do technology. And our people-first approach reflects this. Your Executive Enablement Package is a quickstart to success with Microsoft Teams, which will: • Educate and skill up your executive team on the Microsoft Teams platform; • Drive improved teamwork behaviours; • Draw more value from Office 365.

Executive Enablement Package 1) Skype for Business call with 2-3 Executives (30-minutes); 2) Face-to-face discovery workshop with full Executive team to understand collaboration landscape today (2-hours); 3) Custom Microsoft Teams platform produced; 4) Hands-on product training (2-hours); 5) Making lasting change workshop: driving a culture of social collaboration (2-hours). Balance bad with good news Your investment List pricing £7200 Exclusive Magazine Offer £5250 All prices exclude VAT and reasonable travel and expenditure will be applied.

You can really think of Microsoft Teams as a digital transformation of an open-office-space environment, one that fosters easy connection and conversation to help people build relationships, one that makes work visible, integrated and accessible across the team so that everyone can stay in the know. Kirk Koenigsbauer, Microsoft, CVP for Office

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- GUEST SHORT ARTICLE -

ONE SIMPLE WAY TO AVOID A COMMUNICATION

MELTDOWN The guest author for this article is Steve Sharpe, Director, Katapult Partners.

Ever received an email like this?

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED AND SO HAS THE WAY WE EMOTIONALLY RESPOND TO THE WRITTEN WORD

“Steve, Fine. Tony.” What goes through your head when you receive an email like that? Mostly, I guess, you assume that’s just how Tony writes. Do you ever have doubts? “Man, what’s up with Tony? Have I upset Tony? It’s probably just his style of writing. Is it?” How about: “Hey Steve, That’s great. See you Thursday. Tony” You feel more sure about Tony’s mood now, right? There’s less doubt? Some people, in some industries, are hardened to it. Bankers, Lawyers and IT guys probably don’t send three selfies, hashtag eight things and sign off with Drake lyrics every time they want the printing instructions. However, how do you feel when somebody at a party smiles at you whilst they’re speaking, compared to an emotionless man looking right past you? What about when a friend texts you “Okay mate” compared to “K”? What about on Tinder, Whatsapp or LinkedIn, a “Hey sounds great” compared to a “Yes.” So why do so many of us continue to apply different standards inside the workplace?the blow when you are offering critique, and help in forming emotional bonds with those around you.

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Often the reason people don’t use friendly-tone in work communication may be down to believing they are showing authority or fearing looking unprofessional. Well, the world has changed. Workplaces no longer have to be a place of fear - in fact, they shouldn’t be. Today, the art of friendly text is a skill we must all adapt to. Don’t confuse professionalism or leadership with bluntness, they are not the same thing. There are plenty of CEO’s in the world that do it with a smile, without invoking terror. A strong leader does not need to use fear, for he or she are inspiring enough on their merit, intellect and aura. Only a struggling leader need use fear as a weapon. Is this the impression you want your team to have? Adapting to today’s standards of how to write a text, email or DM could be the difference between a team that secretly resent you and a team that want to work with you.

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01 SWEDEN UPSET THE AZZURRI Sweden win 0-1 on aggreggate

After a display of grit and teamwork on the field, Sweden and Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof consoles legendary Italy and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon after Italy go crashing out of the World Cup qualifying stage in a shock result against Sweden. Sweden will now be going to Russia 2018 in summer.

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Sweden qualified for the World Cup after a goalless draw in Milan, with Italy failing to qualify for the finals for the first time since 1958. Such was their team spirit in a state of jubilation, the team went on to hilariously crash a TV set which was positioned at the side of the pitch.

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MASTERING CHANGE LEADERSHIP Not just Change Management

This article orginally appeared in Changeboard 11 Feb 2016. Mandy Flint and Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, multi- award-winning authors of “The Team Formula: A Leadership Tale of a Team Who Found their Way” and “Leading Teams 10 Challenges and 10 Solutions”

For years, managing change has been a key necessity for organisations across the globe. Managing change is largely a reactive response to changes that occur, in order to make those changes work. Being able to manage changes ensure your business can effectively handle the circumstances brought on by internal and external events. But simply managing change is not enough to make the most of opportunities on the horizon; we also need to be able to lead change.

need to be aware of? What are the signs that things might be changing or that they should change?’

So, should we add ‘change leadership’ to our vocabulary, alongside ’change management’? What does so called change leadership involve?

Involve your team Another key aspect of leading change in teams is to involve the team in it. It’s not just the role of the leader to lead change. All team members can actively scan the world around them to understand the bigger picture and make better decisions for the team. Here are some things you can do with your team specifically, to make this happen: • Discuss the questions above [in ‘Be proactive’] • Create a detailed strategy and communication plan

Be proactive To lead change is to be proactive. It’s thinking ahead: ‘What do we need to do next, how do we need to change to be able to meet customers’ / the world’s needs to be successful?’ It’s looking around you: ‘what’s going on in the market, the world and the society I’m in? What do I

Take control To lead change is to take control, which is a much better place to be in than feeling out of control. When you start to be proactive about change, you make it a very natural thing and potentially less threatening to your team members.

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for your upcoming change, and a goal to recognise what you will achieve and why it’s important. This will allow you to review your progress and to measure the success of the change. • Slow down. You need to slow down to speed up the change. Leaders can sometimes operate at such speed, they are too far ahead of the rest of the team. Stop and reflect to ensure you are prioritising the changes, doing the right thing at the right time. • Recognise that you are not at the same stage as others in relation to the change; sometimes as a leader you are one, two or three steps ahead of your team. Demonstrate empathy. Putting yourself into others shoes forces you to acknowledge where they are. • Positively reinforce strengths. When change occurs, people often focus on what is wrong, not what is right. Using strengths is a powerful way of getting yourself and others through the change. • Communicate the change curve and help people to understand the predictable stages of change. • Demonstrate emotional intelligence. Be emotionally aware of the impact of the change. Have your emotional radar on so you can be aware of the effect of what you say and do at each stage. • Communicate. It’s important to both listen and involve people. How people feel impacts how connected they are to the change and therefore if the change occurs. Remember that people are convinced in different waysand get the team involved in decision making. Behaviours Behaviours are the differentiating factor in change. They are the magic key to whether the change happens or not. To create change leadership, be proactive, reflective, positive, considerate and trustworthy. Show empathy, be sensible and demonstrate responsibility. Don’t be afraid to be courageous, brave, open minded and cooperative. Most importantly, stop and celebrate the success you’ve created. Sustainability Sustainability has become a popular word in business, but very few organisations do it well. Sustainability is taking the big picture view, to consider all the complexities of business, and to consider the impact of decisions, actions and behaviours – not just now, but also in the future. It’s to think about the impact on the financial, human and natural resources a business needs to succeed – hence, creating sustainable, long-term success is something all businesses should aim for.

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Amazon Reviews: “I loved the book, great food for thought while also entertaining.” “I have lost count of the number of -team building events I have attended and trite lack luster books I have read on the subject and was pleased to find The Team Formula takes an altogether different approach. By imparting pearls of wisdom through a storyline the journey it takes you on is far from arduous and is easy to relate o in terms of team dynamics. Very well thought through and insightful in execution.” “It took me 20+ years of leadership roles, many mistakes along the way and dozens of management/leadership books to finally find the best summary of what it takes to build a true team spirit - The Team Formula.” “I have offered it to my team mates to start working better together and this works, it kicked off the needed interest and motivation!” “This book can be a game changer for you and your team!”

Amazon Reviews: “Finally, an inspiring leadership book that gives straight talking solutions to team challenges. Every leader who wants to build successful teams should read it!” “Really helpful, practical book which I have returned to when facing different challenges with my team.” “At last, here’s a helpful guide that leaders can use to solve specific team challenges. Easy to read and well structured this book is packed with useful tools and techniques.” “Get a hold of your copy! This is not another management fad thing, it’s a handbook in how to deal with challenges that most leaders and teams face at some point in time!” “Using events that feel real, personalities we can relate to, and written in plain English - useful and thought provoking.”

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OVERLOOK CULTURE

at your peril THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN HR REVIEW 4 SEPTEMBER 2014.

to its own devices or it can be consciously created, adjusted, tweaked or changed. You get to decide. What is culture then? Culture is always present, it never stops. In a way culture is quite simple, it simply determines “how things get done around here”. It is usually implicit rather than explicit and can be hard to pinpoint. It is not the “what”, it is the “how” of business. It is how people react, behave and interact every minute of every day. It is not something complicated or fluffy, it is something quite simple. It is the glue that holds an organisation together. It is however not determined by a framed poster on the wall in reception, it is more complex than that. And this is the challenge with culture, the concept is simple but the implementation can be very complex and habits die hard, and to change behaviours takes time. The questions to ask, for an organisation that wants to embrace the power of culture, are these: Do we have a healthy culture that drives the organisation forward, that makes it easy to operate effectively and efficiently? Do people enjoy working there? With General Motor’s culture failings fresh in memory, it’s certainly relevant for everyone to take culture very seriously. As you may know, GM’s CEO was recently called in front of the US congress to answer questions following several deaths and accidents due to faulty car ignitions. The culture was identified as a root cause where people within the organization seem to have been aware of the issues but not done anything about them. After the financial bailout that GM received in 2009, the company had started a culture overhaul programme that does not yet seem to have achieved the desired outcomes. Cultural change does take time though and GM seems to be recognizing the importance of culture, but has not yet come far enough in its efforts. The thing is, and this is true for all organisations, there is always a culture. Wherever you work, there will be a culture (just like any society is guided by its cultural norms) and the culture can either be left

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Does the culture deliver results while creating a true picture of an organisation with integrity? Does it create trust and build confidence? Does it attract customers, employees and investors? These are relevant questions, because it should do all those things. Culture, as we’ve discussed, is “how things get done” and for that reason it should be on every board’s agenda as well as every executive team’s and every leader’s agenda. Leaders at all levels should be setting the tone for “how things get done”. Culture definitely starts at the top, and at the same time it can’t just be dictated from the top. It needs to resonate with people at all levels, it needs to feel right for people, as something they would “stand for” themselves. It gets propagated by role mod-

eling not just by words. For these reasons the ingredients of culture start with hiring. When new employees get hired and introduced into the organization, not only do they need to know WHAT to do (their tasks and responsibilities), they also need to know HOW to do it. For example:How do decisions get made around here? How much can I decide? How much am I empowered? Who can I go to for decision on this? Can I give my views honestly and openly? Who can I go to for advice on this? Is it OK to talk to senior leaders openly? What is acceptable here? Organisations need to make it easy for potential new employees to understand what the organisation is all about, what it stands for and therefore, what kind of culture there is – so that they can decide whether this is a culture that fits them or not. And once they are hired, new employees need to understand at greater depth what the culture is all about, “how things get done here”. The organization has a great opportunity here to get things right from the start by taking a proactive approach to this kind of onboarding of new hires. As mentioned earlier, the behavioural rules of an organisation can be either implicit or explicit. Implicit rules are made up of behaviours we observe or undertones that we can pick up on, whereas explicit rules are what we are told to do, guided by for example the corporate values. And implicit rules will trump explicit ones every single time! Let’s look at an example: Imagine a company that say it values and respects people’s work/ life balance. Leaders then reward and praise people who work long hours, sacrificing their personal lives! And as well intended as that may be, we can all agree that it is not a behaviour in support of work/life balance. Let’s get practical. An organisation that wants to work on their culture, should consider the “two trains” of culture; this is a metaphor of two parallel drivers that will support

one another and help shape the culture if done correctly. Both trains are important and can bring you forward, but sometimes organisations only focus on one and not the other, and as a result don’t get as far. The first “train” is all about behaviour (we’re back to “how things get done”), meaning that each employee, from the CEO to the workfloor, are role models and that their behaviours shape the work culture. This in turn means that everyone needs to be made aware of the fact that what they do matters and that how they do it matters even more. This leads to the creation of a culture where people are emotionally attached to the organisation at a much deeper level, as they realize how important they are. It creates an awareness of personal impact and they will want to do more, as they know they can influence more aspects of their job and the business. The second “train” is about systemic framework. This is made up by all the internal systems and procedures that organisations need to consistently deliver. It provides a mechanism for making the needed, healthy behaviours easier to do, such as job descriptions, work processes, handover procedures, performance appraisals and much more. Let us look at an example from the service function to illustrate this: The customer complaints process must empower team members in a way that is consistent with the desired culture. If the culture you want is that everyone is empowered to satisfy the customer, then don’t write a procedure that requires escalation on every minor issue, as this will achieve the opposite. Some people shy away from the word culture, which may be a reason why it often gets ignored. They don’t like the word, they find if fluffy or they think it’s another management fad. The thing is this though; it doesn’t matter what it’s called, it doesn’t matter if someone likes it or not – it is there just the same. There is always a culture! You can of course choose to call it something else (and you may need to, if there is a strong resistance to it within your organization) but you definitely need to heed it. Other phrases to describe the same thing could include: • •

Success system Success strategy

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• Working climate • Values in Practice • Operating guidelines • Transformation In the end it doesn’t matter what it’s called, what matters is that people get and adhere to “how things get done here”. It is all about what we do and not just what we say. So go ahead and share expectations; if you for example want to have a culture of sharing ideas then start sharing ideas yourself as well as putting it into people’s goals and that will help drive the behaviour of sharing. You are effectively using both “trains” of culture, you role model the behaviour AND you encourage the same behaviour in others through the goal system. In a clear, strong, healthy culture, people know EXACTLY how to operate and this helps them to act with integrity for the good of all constituents. This is the only way to long-term success. Think about the power of culture and remember that you can make it manageable and tangible, rather than soft and fluffy – because it’s not – it is the strongest driving force of an organisation. And it starts with each person, every day, every minute. You are all creating it through every interaction you have. Whether you are a leader, team member or part of many teams; every interaction you have is creating the culture. What culture are you creating today?

Mandy Flint and Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, multi- award-winning authors of “The Team Formula: A Leadership Tale of a Team Who Found their Way” and “Leading Teams 10 Challenges and 10 Solutions”

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OUR CLOSING MESSAGE AND CONTACT DETAILS FOR YOU At Katapult Partners, we believe that real change only happens in business and digital transformation when organisations place as much focus on people and culture as they do technology. Katapult Partners help you to enable your people and transform your technology. How do you foster a culture which enables truly impactful digital transformation? How do you retool an age-old corporate culture with a new digital persona, while honouring the successes of the past? How do you engage thousands of employees across diverse countries and different generations to embrace your evolution? Katapult Partners specialises in strategic and business change, as well as digital change to the Microsoft cloud - which often centres around Microsoft Office 365.

Thank you for reading Making Real Change Happen magazine Volume I. We would love to hear from you.

For one of our team: hello@katapultpartners.com To connect with our CEO directly: elisabet.hearn@katapultpartners.com Call us on: (+44) 208 123 4590 Follow us on Twitter: @katapulters

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Katapult Partners specialises in: • Enabling people and transforming technology in business and digital transformations • Creating world class collaboration • Maximising value from your Microsoft investments (specialising in Microsoft Office 365) • Building winning teams • Empowering strategic leadership. If you would like to get in touch with Katapult Partners about your business change or digital transformation initiatives (including Microsoft Office 365) get in touch at hello@katapultpartners.com. And, from all of the team at Katapult Partners, thank you for reading and see you soon!

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