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Inside magazine issue 12 | Part 03 - From a corporate perspective
the role they will play in achieving it.
However, before sharing their vision
with their employees, leaders need to
understand and believe in the importance
of the future shift themselves; people can
spot “fake” messages from miles away and
this only gives them one more reason to
resist change.
To make people
willing to change,
organizations
need to create a
sense of urgency
with regard to
specific changes.
Creating a sense of urgency—
everything starts from the top
Managing change is about promoting a
future in which employees will be able to
fulfil their personal aspirations. People
usually resist change because of the
potential losses/disadvantages the change
might bring to them on a personal level.
Our first reaction to major changes is
always: what does it mean for ME?
To make people willing to change,
organizations need to create a sense of
urgency with regard to specific changes.
This sense of urgency is rooted in a
common understanding that change is
necessary to survive or thrive in a given
situation. As such, a sense of urgency
must be driven from the top, with strong
leadership alignment on a shared message
and a vision of the future transmitted to
the overall population. The leadership team
can create a meaningful first impression
with the vision it is sharing. When a
meaningful vision is communicated well,
people buy into the idea and understand
Understanding the “Why?”
The same phenomenon occurs in
the context of operating in a global
environment. The key to a successful
transformation is understanding the why of
the change. Leaders will have to adapt their
statements and the vision they transmit
depending on the reasoning behind the
change. Even though globalization itself
might be a driver of change, the objectives
behind particular changes might differ.
For example, in the context of creating
a shared service center, where the
objective is to cut costs, the statements
and vision of the future promoted by the
leadership team will fundamentally diverge
from those associated with a change
occurring in the context of the creation
of a new global entity for the purposes of
increasing international exposure. In the
first case people might fear losing their
jobs; in the second, people might hope for
international mobility.
In light of this, leaders are obliged to
create a vision and ensure it is clearly
communicated to foster a sense of urgency
based on the drivers of change.
In any case rather than simply encouraging
people to be willing to change, leaders
need to enable people to implement
change.
Enabling change at talent and HR level
Once the organization has created a vision
and ensured it is understood by all, it must
provide people with the necessary means
to “survive” such a change. In the context
of a globalized working environment, many
things may have changed: from ways of
working, to the skills and competencies
employers look for when hiring new staff
or training existing employees. As such, it
is the organization’s role to enable existing
employees to adapt to new requirements.
The trouble is that companies with global
exposure need to become more and more
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