Business transformations including restructures, divestitures, and acquisitions are happening all the time.  These types of changes are delicate and need to be managed appropriately to minimize the impact to people, as well as the company’s brand and reputation.  But what happens when something leaks, things move too quickly, or the news gets out before you can manage it with your people?  These circumstances are rare, but we’ve seen it happen before. A recent example of this is with WeWork, an American commercial real estate company that provides shared workspaces for companies across North America.  It is a great story of growth and innovation, but also of one that grew far too quickly.  If you’re anything like me and follow the news, you will have heard of the financial troubles they were in.  Luckily, they were able to receive a bailout from SoftBank but unfortunately for WeWork, it has also resulted in negative press.  Here are some of the recent headlines: ‘WeWork has reportedly delayed thousands of layoffs because it’s too broke to pay workers’ – Business Insiders ‘What businesses can learn from WeWork’s value decline’ – Forbes ‘WeWork takeover includes $1.7 billion payout for former CEO’ – CNN When you see headlines like these, how does it make you feel? Would you look to rent space from WeWork? Would you want to work there? Is Adam Neumann, WeWork co-founder, a leader you would stand by? Now think about how you would feel if you were an employee of WeWork. Probably not great.  So, what can businesses do to manage the change, prevent rumours and distrust, and get ahead of the press? Given the magnitude of this deal, both WeWork and SoftBank will certainly have a cohesive plan of action but I’ve also included my top three tips on how to navigate the press when your business is undergoing a significant change below. 1. Treat your people with respect and as adults. The worst thing to do during times of significant change is to withhold information (when it’s available). Instead, you should trust your people to let them know the truth about the events taking place and what this will mean to them.  It is critical to share this news in a timely manner, especially if it will result in negative impacts like layoffs.  Give people the time to prepare, offer them resources to help them get back onto their feet, and be sensible about the packages you will be providing so that you don’t receive any media backlash (think of Sears and the pension cuts).  Many organizations also look at opportunities to provide early retirement packages or similar agreements with employees who will voluntarily leave where possible. Unfortunately, such changes will always result in anger, resentment and sadness.  This is part of the natural cycle of change and while it cannot be avoided, there are ways to help relieve this including relying on your leadership team to support their people through the change. 2. Ensure you have a solid plan which includes communications. Communications is a critical. In these cases, it’s important for to ensure that you are providing employees with timely updates and addressing their questions and concerns as they arise. This can be done through several avenues including messages from leadership (C-Suite and People Managers), town halls where you can speak to and address the press coverage, regular Q&A’s and more.  Your leaders will be the number one source of information and you must support them by empowering them to lead the change, keeping them informed and by providing them with key messaging. It is also important to promote your media and social media policies which will speak to who can speak to media and what people should be mindful of posting on their personal social media networks. Change Management, Human Resources and Operations, will also often be at the table and it is important for all functions to work together and to develop a plan that covers all the key areas and impacts of the change. 3. Have a strong spokesperson and media relations strategy. A strong spokesperson (not the communications expert) are the individuals who are making the decisions.  They will likely be a part of the C-Suite and must be media trained.  This will ensure they are not only comfortable speaking to the press, but are also able to express empathy and show sincerity. Once you have identified a spokesperson, I would strongly advise to begin coordinating media interviews right away.  Being proactive in these circumstances can go a long way, and demonstrate to the public and your people that you are not being deceitful.  Doing this will also prevent journalists and the media outlets from seeking information about the change from individuals who are not approved spokespeople. In these cases, you won’t have control over the messaging which can be detrimental. It’s important to point out that you must also respect the journalist, meaning you’ll have to let them do what they do best and write the story.  You won’t likely have the chance to review or edit a piece before it’s gone out. This will be scary to some, but if you have the right spokesperson, strong relationships with the press, and consistent messaging, you’ll have a greater chance in managing the media frenzy that can often erupt when there are significant business transformations like the one WeWork is experiencing. The press is an incredibly powerful tool, that can influence how your people and the public perceive your business.  Your brand reputation can make or break you and is not something that should be taken lightly.  In recent years we have even seen movements like #MeToo drive significant change within the world. Change happens fast, people are emotional, and news is available at your fingertips thanks to our mobile phones.   Don’t sit back and wait for it all to crash!   Act quickly and leverage the steps outlined above to get ahead and manage the transformation so that you don’t have to pick up all the pieces and work backwards. Do what you can to tame the media frenzy so that your business can be sustainable for the long-term and so your people can feel supported during such changes. Author Siri Maldonado Director Marketing & Communications Toronto Email | LinkedIn

We’ve said it before, Change Management is Dead – Long Live Change Enablement and we mean it.  Change Management has had it’s time, but we must acknowledge the shift in responsibility when it comes to business transformations.   Today more than ever, it’s important for employees at all levels to be empowered to contribute and continuously develop.  In fact, we’re constantly hearing stories of individuals making significant impacts and driving change who aren’t in leadership positions. A great example of this is the plastic water bottle ban at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). It’s rumoured that an employee was responsible for driving this change, which will not only divert more than 10,000 plastic water bottles daily, or nearly 4 million each year, but will also limit people travelling through SFO from digesting microscopic pieces of plastic – yuck!  The impact of this change is astronomical and would not have been possible if SFO didn’t have a culture where their people were enabled to lead change. Change comes in many forms and does not have to always be as large-scale as the SFO example. Regardless of the size of the change, it’s important for businesses to focus on creating an environment where their people are enabled to lead and make decisions, while also being provided with opportunities to upskill. Having the right leaders are key in fostering such an environment.  Leaders here play an important role in motivating their people; they’re not competitive and focused on letting their people shine, are strong communicators and overall just great people managers.   More importantly, leaders delegate and encourage their people to lead while they provide support as needed. Finding and developing leaders that do this takes effort and much support from the business.  To begin with, companies need to have strong leadership development programs that match their people to the right roles, strong recruitment practices, ongoing development on soft and hard leadership skills and constant feedback and coaching.  These activities should be reflected at all levels of the organization and helps to provide managers with guidance on how they should lead their people. The next step is for managers to be able to identify and cultivate informal leaders.  Informal leaders are change champions who have the power to influence their peers often without formal authority, and are individuals who truly believe in the change themselves.   These people will vary from project to project, and have strong social networks within the company.  They’re able to get insights and share details about the changes with their colleagues with minimal direction.  They’re not afraid to express their point of view, share ideas or engage in conflict.   They also possess a great understanding of the change and the impact it will have on them as individuals.  Finally, they exhibit a willingness to learn and grow. This is important as many of the changes we are seeing today involve technology and require some form of upskilling. Having the right leadership in place and a culture of enablement is not easy. In fact, it’s said to take from two to three years to change a company culture.  To start with, it’s important for leaders to be visible.  Their desire for the culture change needs to be seen and heard for it to resonate for employees.  Leaders should embody what the company stands for at all times and they also need to be able to clearly articulate the reasons behind the culture change and what it will mean for them and their people. So, what are the reasons for the change and what will it mean for them and their people?  Understanding this is perhaps one of the most challenging steps in establishing a new culture. We recommend completing a change readiness survey or asking some questions of the questions included below to help get the juices flowing: What do you like about the current culture? What’s not working with the current culture? Why is there a desire for a change in culture? What do we aspire our culture to be like? Why is culture important to you? Once you’ve collectively worked on these questions, don’t hesitate to bring in some experts to help develop your culture.  From this point, it will take a lot of testing with focus groups, surveys and other activities to gauge if you’re moving in the right direction.  It’s also critical to have timely and transparent communication throughout the process.  Communications is foundational to all changes and if not done right, it could result in failure of the change.   Finally, the last step involves taking a close look at your people.  Based on your new culture, do you have the right leadership team in place?  Do you have the right roles? Do you have to amend your hiring practices?  This last step is often the hardest, but is necessary to get that culture work right. Businesses are entering an exciting time as changes are happening rapidly and the roles within the businesses continue to evolve with them.  It’s definite, change management has had its time.  It’s now time for change enablement to come to the forefront, and for businesses to act so that they don’t get left behind. Author Krista Schaber-Chan Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn

When you first hear the word conflict what comes to mind?  I naturally think back to my upbringing where I was discouraged from any form of conflict.  I was instructed to always do what I was told.   I must admit, this mindset has stayed with me and it took many years and coaching from colleagues and leaders for me to change. So when I heard Dr. Liane Davey speak about conflict at The Art of Leadership conference earlier this month, it got me thinking about conflict and how it can drive change within the workplace.  What I’ve learned throughout my career is that avoiding conflict solves nothing.  Instead, it inhibits innovation, collaboration and progress.  It provides a greater risk of having group think, avoids the real issues and makes even the smallest decisions hard.  Culturally, it can foster an environment with minimal diversity, where everyone is a carbon copy of one another.  This is not what you want and in fact research has told us that companies with: diverse management teams have 19% higher revenue are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their market leads to better decision making outperform industry norms by 35% In a world where change has become a part of the everyday and is happening more rapidly then ever, how do we overcome our fears of conflict at work? The first step is making sure it is embedded within the culture.  A culture that is not only agile, but encourages a safe environment where employees feel empowered to share their thoughts and engage in open dialogue are able to try new things.  Conflict isn’t about arguing, it’s about having those crucial and constructive conversations, investigating all the options on the table and developing the ability to work through roadblocks.   Start-ups are great examples of the benefits that can be seen from having an agile culture. The second step is that it must be managed appropriately for it to be an effective tool.  This means that leaders must be able to facilitate or mediate conflict within their teams – by remaining objective, listening, and not being reactive.  It’s also important for leaders to understand the diversity within their teams so that they can adapt their management style accordingly. I’ve been fortunate enough to have leaders that have encouraged me to think outside the box and have worked in team environments where conflict is welcome.  The outcome often resulted in significant wins for the team and the business. The third step is to help your people understand how to disagree.  As leaders we have a responsibility to engage and develop our people.   One of the ways to do this is by creating a team environment where they know how to productively disagree with one another.   This can be done through structured team meetings, leveraging collaboration tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams so that things can be addressed in real-time, and with conflict resolution training.  There are many resources and tools available to train individuals on how to manage conflict. The fourth step is to know when to pick your battles.  It’s ok to disagree, but it’s also ok to let things go.   Not everything has to be a conflict and sometimes it just makes more sense to proceed with the status quo.  What matters here is knowing what to prioritize and when to engage in conflict.   While these circumstances are not easy to identify, a great trick is to think about how much it may contribute to the overall business strategy or results, or how it may impact your team. The final and fifth step is to ensure everyone understands how to move forward once decisions have been made.   Now that you have fostered an environment where conflict is encouraged, it’s important to also be able to take the next step and come up with a plan of action on how to proceed.  Once a decision has been made, everyone must be on board and possess a clear understanding of the next steps.  Moving forward will be challenging if you’re not able to manage the nay-sayers.   Finally, it’s especially important for leaders to show a united front, and use the same messaging and activities to get their people on the same board. Today it’s impossible to avoid conflict at work.  Businesses and leaders have a responsibility to lead their people through disagreements so that innovation and long-term success can occur.  What’s more is that businesses don’t have the option to sit still. If you don’t believe me, take a closer look at how some of the most successful companies leverage conflict as a catalyst for success today. Author Siri Maldonado Director of Marketing & Communications Toronto Email | LinkedIn

In today’s workplace, employee engagement is significantly growing in importance. It involves fostering an employee’s sense of loyalty and investment in their organization’s success and nourishing a company’s most valuable assets, their people. Engagement continues to be a difficult achievement to attain for organizations of any size because of changing priorities, competing commitments and countless other obstacles leaders tend to focus on first. To better understand why employee engagement should be a strategic priority for organizations, here are some facts on its potential impact: Companies with highly engaged workforces are 21% more profitable High-performing company culture leads to four times larger revenue growth. Disengaged employees cost companies $450-500 billion each year According to a 2017 study, 71 percent of employees are willing to leave their job and accept pay deductions in exchange for strong company culture, strong leadership, open communication and career development opportunities. Today’s workforce puts extra emphasis on factors such as work-life balance, career development, training opportunities and more. Given this renewed importance on valuable investment in employees, which factors do business leaders view as the most critical to success? As more studies conclude that high levels of employee engagement and strong leadership contribute to success and the bottom line, this puts employee engagement as a top priority for organizations. Employers are starting to put more time and effort into understanding what their employees want, how they are feeling and what they need to succeed. Collecting accurate employee data as a starting point for developing successful employee engagement initiatives is a crucial step that could impact an organization’s growth, and drive the outcomes they’re seeking in the marketplace. Current processes of collecting employee engagement information are inefficient and provide inaccurate insights. Although annual reviews and performance assessment activities can give leaders insight into the pulse of their organizations, these results are not specific enough to specifically pinpoint what various employees are lacking from their job. The traditional one-size-fits-all approach for analyzing employee data doesn’t provide enough actionable insights and limits investigation. With the explosion of machine learning, growing IoT applications, big data and learning analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is finding greater purpose in all aspects of business. The application of AI tools in organizations enables leaders to modernize their practices and improve how they interact with their employees, manage performance, deliver training and much more. AI serves as a productive tool for leaders to truly humanize the function of data collection and predict employee changes for the future. Some current AI applications that organization’s use to better understand and deploy successful employee engagement initiatives include: 1. Behaviour Mapping Learning & Development is a critical factor in attracting and retaining talent, professional change and career growth enable employee engagement. AI is being used to deliver digital learning by augmenting existing content into readable and fresh formats, without valuable design and development time. AI can extract important and relevant information specific to users, develop personalized training materials and adjust them to every employee’s learning styles. Using training information collected by AI, leaders can better understand employee behaviour and predict any issues that may arise, before they happen. 2. Chatbots and Real-time Feedback Communication is an essential aspect of employee engagement, Chatbots interact with employees through informal conversation. They can offer targeted communications and quick responses to questions. Chatbots can become training assistants or onboarding leads by offering virtual tutorials at an employee’s convenience. Personalization at scale and employee-specific learning recommendations (i.e. tips, reminders etc.) motivate employees to progress smoothly. 3. Collaboration Machine learning accumulates employee data that can be leveraged by leaders to easily determine when, how, or which employees work best together, thus driving group engagement. AI applications can manage meetings for employees or delegate process-oriented tasks, this simple automation frees up time for employees to engage in meaningful interaction and productive work. Using AI tools for performance management, data collection and improving learning processes enables employee engagement and identifies the critical issues that cause barriers to engagement. As AI continues to develop it will provide more opportunities for training leaders to better understand employee behaviour, resulting in accurate and actionable insights for the long-term. Understanding the pulse of your organization is important but knowing why or where it comes from is crucial. AI has the power to reveal an abundance of valuable information about employees and can make engagement less ambiguous, and more achievable. Organizations are constantly on the lookout for new technologies that can keep them relevant in today’s environment. AI acts as a complementary tool that can modernize current practices and ultimately lead to a better understanding of broader existing concepts like employee engagement. Companies of any size should consider how AI fits into their business model or how it can be used as a potential steppingstone to improve efficiency, service offerings, operations, and the development of their people. Author Rachelle Su Marketing & Communications Coordinator / Associate Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #AI #EmployeeEngagement #Chatbots #Collaboration #LeadLearnChange

Like everything else, change management continues to evolve. In its’ early days, it was used predominantly within technology projects but over the years it has become an essential piece and common component of everyday projects. As a change practitioner, I’m thrilled about the fact it has become common practice. Despite this progression, I am often taken aback when executives, or sponsors say “I need you to change us”. Changing people or other organizational components is not what we do. No change consultant has a magic wand that we wield to miraculously change people or organizations. What we do is provide the consulting and coaching, and often support the planning of the change. Yes, sometimes we even help the organization execute the plan, but ultimately managing the change that is desired is only successful when there is: Optimism and desire for the change – enough that people will move through all the stages despite the ups and downs. A strong case for change – a vision, a goal, a “what’s in it for me/us” – that the people and organization can relate or align to. Leaders driving the change – these include senior organizational leaders and also leaders without titles – the people whom others follow because they have influence, and respect of their peers. What DO we do? We will assess and diagnose problems that are holding your people or organization back. We will create a strategy and plan that includes all the change components such as communications, training and learning, sponsor and stakeholder engagement, and metrics and reporting. We will work with you and guide as necessary with insight and support as your people and organization move through the change journey. We will hold you accountable for what was promised to be delivered, constantly query, absorb and synthesize data to provide ideas and recommendations that will keep you on the right path, or that will help you know when to pivot. We will teach you how to do things differently and provide examples and best practice where it makes sense, or help you carve your new path. But we cannot change you. Only you can change you. So how do you do that? Here are four things that you need to ensure are in place for change to happen properly. 1. Own it – take responsibility for the change you are trying to achieve. All too often it is decided and agreed that “change management” is important, but key people in the organization are not ready or refuse to change. Sometimes this is because they don’t see their role or their impact in the success of the change. But more often it is because they don’t feel the change is for them, only for everyone else. 2. Change is hard and sometimes dirty but you are equipped to lead your people through it. The current world we live in is in a constant state of change that is often uncomfortable and disruptive, making change difficult to accept. In fact, there is no change without discomfort and disruption, even if minor. This is where communications come in. While change is hard, effective communications, usually from leaders, is an important tool that should be used to explain the change. To engage people along the change journey, the messages are best delivered by you. Consultants should not deliver the messages for you but we will certainly help you plan and craft the messages. When the message comes from you it brings credibility to the messaging and provides employees with a consistent source of information 3. Be present, available and VISIBLE. Basically, show up! For lasting change to truly take hold, your people and the organization need to see that everyone, especially those leading the organization, have bought-in and are on the same journey. This means, people managers, VPs and the c-suite all need to be involved and have to show their support, even if they are not the sponsor or directly impacted. 4. Don’t take short-cuts and always keep culture top of mind. Two other factors that can affect a successful change is not taking short-cuts, and always keeping culture in mind. Short-cuts seem like a good idea but should always be approached with caution. The “low hanging fruit”, trying to fast track change, or simply not investing enough time or money into the change are all recipes for failure. Before taking the easy road, think about the long-term benefits. Will these quick wins last or are they just band-aid solutions that will have be dealt later? Will this have a positive contribution by helping the business move forward and reach its long-term goals or are you just trying to get it over the line? There are absolutely benefits from quick wins, but these are only truly wins when the rest of the change is executed, planned and funded appropriately. Culture is key. Really. But what does that mean? There is a lot of buzz these days about building culture or changing culture, but the reality is culture, just like change, is a journey and takes time. Things to consider with culture is what is the current culture and what are the aspects of this culture that you want to see continue or change? Finally, how does culture fit into the bigger picture and support your change management initiatives? Is it important for you to embed a culture that fails and learns quickly, is agile and has resiliency? Knowing how you want to see the organizational culture grow or shift will inform how you communicate, how you train, and how you lead. The good news is that even though change is hard, it is possible to work through it and be successful! Leaders have the ability to drive change, and the best part is that you’re not alone in this journey. We’re here to help. Author Krista Schaber-Chan Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn #changemanagement #culture #organizationalchange #change #strategy #leadership

Change champions are individuals who have the power to influence their peers often without formal authority and are also the people who truly believe in the change itself. They can vouch for the change from within their own networks and move progress along much faster, despite having no formal obligation to do so. It’s important to identify and explore informal change leaders because they can have a very significant impact on the success of your change and the ultimate result of whether your initiative will stick around for the long term. Identifying your informal change leaders is only half the battle, its important to understand how to empower them to guide your team in the right direction, towards the desired result. The most obvious choices for change leaders are usually the employees in senior positions, your managers, team leads or executives. However, there are plenty of other strategic resources companies can use informally. Leaders and effective influencers exist within teams, departments, and business units all around us regardless of their formal position in the company hierarchy. Informal change leaders are typically employees who are well respected amongst their peers, they are proactive and often encourage a cohesive company culture. They have enough experience within their role or department to have already taken some responsibility helping others, guiding them through problems or issues, and engaging with their team personally. Informal change leaders have a variety of different traits that have crafted them into unofficial authoritative figures. Traits such as trustworthiness and approachability help build their credibility amongst their coworkers. They are also good at their job, they have trusting relationships with those above and below them, and other employees feel confident asking for guidance from them. These individuals are coachable and can truly make a difference when leveraged to help reduce resistance to change. When identifying your informal change leaders, it is also important to analyze the social network and construct of your employees. Gaining inside knowledge on how people are connected and how they share information can reveal a common individual that may be very valuable for communicating and supporting change. When you map out the social connection between your employees you will see that it will form a web of contact and interaction rather than a formal organizational structure. This will help you understand how to effectively communicate change throughout the right social channels and how to target specific people within the chain. An informal leader who is well connected to a variety of people in the network acts not only as a vessel for communicating information, but they can also reveal crucial information about real issues employees are concerned about. Informal change leaders enable you to adjust your strategy to better support areas of challenge for your employees and collect feedback on the change as the initiative progresses. So how do you empower your informal change leaders to steer them in the right direction? Sometimes they need to be persuaded and encouraged to become a change leader by first helping them understand the cause. If they are going to help inspire others to believe in the change, they need to believe in it too. To do this, it’s important to listen to their concerns and advice about the change initiative. Often, you’ll receive some important feedback that you can make before implementation. These change leaders will be more inclined to take on a leadership role if their opinions and suggestions are considered or integrated into the strategy, thus providing a sense of ownership. Just as informal leaders cultivate strong relationships with their peers, doing the same between you and them builds trust and understanding. Interacting with informal leaders consistently keeps them in the loop, builds trust in what you say and makes them more likely to spread the word because of their relationship with you. Without constant involvement, they may not hear the right message or might not be equipped with the right tools for change. They also want to know that their contribution matters; you’ve recruited them to be informal leaders so let them flourish in this role by building the relationship and empowering them to communicate and lead. Another important factor to consider is that not all influencers make effective change leaders. Just because an employee has pull in the network, does not mean they are suitable or responsible enough to help you lead your change initiative in the right direction. Some influencers may not desire the extra responsibility or have the willingness to do the extra work, others may have too much on their plate at the time of change. Lastly, your informal leaders must understand the benefits of the change and its impact on their roles and peers. Although there are plenty of attributes to look out for when trying to identify your informal leaders, there is no formula or unique leadership style that pinpoints the most successful leader. Each informal leader will have their own strategy based on their personal style and skill set. They understand their peers best and which communication styles work for them, so giving them the autonomy to guide their peers as they would normally do in their role is essential. Let’s look at some common examples of informal leadership styles here: Influencers help their colleagues see “what’s in it for them” as a result of a successful change program, they help reduce skepticism and clear rumours about the change before it gets off the ground with clear benefits and advantages. Informal leaders build a consensus, they inspire others by explaining what, why and how the change is going to happen. They communicate how the change initiative will affect the long-term success of the company as a result. They encourage their colleagues to share concerns and challenges they see with the change. They foster a community of open feedback and discussion which ultimately shapes the change strategy and provides ownership to employees. Informal leaders use enthusiasm and commitment to success to simply convey their dedication to the change. They are well respected and leverage this to broaden the level of devotion among their colleagues to the program. Overall, change is constantly evolving and while higher-level employees are able to articulate a clear and compelling vision for change, this isn’t always sufficient enough for the program’s success. Identifying, recruiting and empowering informal change leaders in support of the vision can significantly increase its likelihood of success. Informal leaders are an invaluable asset in their own community and network as their voice and impact has the power to define your change and implementation strategy. Author Gregory Roth Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn

With the rise of the gig economy, and use of mobile phones (by 2020, nearly half of the world is projected to have a smart phone) it’s only natural for learning to have a stronger presence here as well. As a trainer and instructional designer, it’s been interesting to see the evolution of using such devices to learn. In fact, 97 per cent of elementary schools and 100 per cent of secondary schools have reported to have at least some teachers use technology to communicate with their students. You’re also very likely to find young children or toddlers frequently using such devices on a regular basis to watch videos or play games. It’s quite impressive to see them navigating these devices so easily and I’ll be interested in seeing how this new way of learning impacts this generation in the long-term. So, what makes learning via mobile so popular? Well there are several reasons including flexibility. Flexibility in today’s world is key. As I mentioned above, the gig economy is thriving. More people are taking on temporary positions or contract work because of the opportunities that mobile has provided us with. Work can now be done from just about anywhere, and learning is the same. Many of our clients today have roles that require them to be on the move, or to work remotely and it’s important for us to take all these factors into consideration when we design and develop training. While we will always recommend a blended training approach (in-person, online modules etc.), we need to make sure that we are developing training that is accessible and incorporates new channels like mobile to be relevant and effective. Another reason for the rising popularity in mobile learning is the ability to engage and collaborate digitally. There are numerous tools available today, including Slack and Yammer. Both are great supplemental tools to use alongside online training courses and help to encourage interaction between people. The best learning experiences are ones that involve two-way communication, and allow you to learn from your peers and trainer. I’m always amazed at the new things I learn during my in-person sessions from attendees. Mobile learning has also been noted to have higher engagement. If you’re anything like me, getting notifications and adding tasks to my calendar are incredibly helpful in ensuring I get stuff done. It’s also normal for most people to push training activities on the back burner so that they can focus on other high priority work, making notifications and reminders an important piece to ensuring people complete their training. It also allows us to track completion. What’s more is expectations are changing. There are literally millions of people using phones for just about anything, so it’s not surprising to find that they want everything that is available on a computer, to be available on their phones. People today are regularly using them to learn; our team particularly enjoys Ted Talks and Good Reads. There are also many of us who frequently use Google or YouTube to figure out how to do something. Podcasts have also grown in popularity and are often used for training purposes. As you can see, there are several reasons why I predict that mobile learning will continue to grow however it’s important to note that there is still a long way to go for this to become the norm. Even though almost half of the world possesses a phone, you cannot forget about the other half and must take their accessibility into consideration. Author Colin Carmon-Murphy Sr. Financial Analyst / Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #future #engagement #foresight #change #mobile #learning #accesible #leadlearnchange

The Impact of Storytelling in Change Management It’s likely you’ve experienced some change in the workplace during your career that’s left you wondering “why?”, consequently leading to other questions like “ how does this change apply to me?” or “what do I get out of this?”. There’s been plenty of times where organizations decide to make a change and end up leaving employees feeling left outside the loop. They also try to convince these same employees to be the driving force of the change, an even harder result to achieve. Sometimes, the new change just isn’t compelling enough for those outside of decision making for it to fully reach its’ potential. So how do leaders overcome these challenges and get employees to trust and support their organization during the change process Storytelling, one of the most influential tools used by change leaders, communications professionals and other leaders to help employees visualize the forthcoming change and understand their role within it. Storytelling can change an employees’ entire perspective on the change initiative by simply helping them visualize it, answer questions about its purpose and most importantly, find out what it means to them. Employees want to know what challenges they can expect and how to minimize turbulence, a well-developed change story can provide this understanding. People are more likely to get on board with the change and reduce their resistance during implementation when they have a story they can believe in and reference. Just as brands leverage powerful stories to attract consumers, the same concept applies to change initiatives. Storytelling can be used to paint a picture of a specific person, using a real example or highlighting personal experiences within the narrative also gives employees more reason to listen and relate. Similar experiences can unite employees across different functions and enable a stronger relationship between storyteller (change leaders) and the audience. So why doesn’t just telling your employees about your new plan for change work more effectively? Employees beyond the boardroom need more concise information and less jargon, providing them with a business case for change instead of a well-rounded picture of how they are going to be involved, doesn’t provide enough transparency. Change narratives are often used by communications professionals because they’re the ones who transfer the change message and introduce the initiative to everyone down the line. An honest narrative with an authentic tone can go a long way in communications. One of the details communications practitioners focus on is the extent to which they can create a captivating or persuasive message without sacrificing its straightforwardness, the same idea is represented in storytelling. Communications professionals always put their audience first, narratives connect with the audience and build trust which are key elements in reducing resistance during the change process. Components of an Effective Change Story Using personal experiences from trusted employees or highlighting them in the plot of your change story can turn them into “informal leaders”, this shapes the employee as a role model or focal point of the story for others to relate to. It’s likely that other employees have experienced a similar situation and may attempt to strive for similar results, using the underlying change initiative as a key element in solving the problem. Using a “protagonist” for the story showcases the initiative’s benefits, how the change was originally born and how it could be useful in other situations. Stories are an effective testimonial for communicating to your employees that this will work for them too. Stories can also be co-created; this ensures you’re getting the right perspective. Take your story beyond the boardroom and do your research to find out how end-users are getting things done, in addition to what works well and what doesn’t. Ask them how they would improve the system or inform them of the possible outcomes if things persist as they are. The most important information to listen to is what they think the best way to implement the change would be, once they’ve understood why it’s needed. These elements will help you build your case and story, and might even save you from executing the wrong change before it’s too late. Co-creating stories bridges the gap between the idea and the people, it amplifies their voice and gives them a chance to play an actual role in leading the change. In closing, give context and use real experiences when communicating change to employees; storytelling is much more effective than overwhelming people with features of your new change plan. People want to know why and how it’s important to them in order to fully believe in it. As change progresses, you can continue to add onto your story or highlight new employees to grow a network of inspiration. Author Rachelle Su Marketing & Communications Coordinator / Associate Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #changeleaders #changemanagement #narratives #storytelling #leadership

Harbinger Leader Insights discusses various decision-making subjects that can result in a failure or success of a transformation or change project. Siri Maldonado, Director Marketing & Communications, highlights the importance of letting go of perfection in leadership positions to drive efficiencies and lead their teams to drive change. It’s no secret that change initiatives take a long time, and within this time frame many unforeseen changes also take place like changes to leadership or project sponsors. Changes in leadership for a business transformation can happen for many reasons – the individual may have decided to move on to a new opportunity externally, they may be needed for other internal projects, the project requirements may have changed, and the list goes on. In a perfect world, the leadership change would have a minimal impact on the progress of the transformation. Unfortunately, this often isn’t the case and while there are various factors contributing to this, an important piece does involve how the new leader manages and guides the team. In my opinion, the best way to do this is to ‘let go of perfection’. How does one do this do you ask? You can start by acknowledging the pain of the past. The people that have been living it want and will appreciate your candor. Giving them anything less will only cause distrust which will be hard to turnaround. They know exactly what’s been happening and want you to be genuine and transparent in what you share with them. This will also help to build trust which is critical during times of change. What’s more, confront the skepticism. This is a natural part of the change curve for people, especially if a project has been drawn out or there have been several changes in project leadership. Use this as an opportunity to work collaboratively with the team to address the issues head on by finding solutions or revisiting the project scope. Once this is completed, it’s important to regularly ask for feedback and complete a pulse check to ensure you are progressing well against the plan. It’s also important to be visible. Start with town halls or huddle tours by introducing yourself and hearing from the people on the ground. This is a great way to develop relationships and gain that trust. Another great way to embed yourself within the business is to do job shadows where you’ll get firsthand look into what it’s like for other members of the team. This will demonstrate your commitment to gaining a stronger understanding of the ins and outs of the new project you are leading, helping you make sound decisions when needed. It also helps to combat the “they have no idea what my job entails” comments which we’ve heard time and time again. Employees also appreciate leaders that are human. Contrary to popular belief…ahem Krista…we are not all robots! Humans make mistakes, have lives outside of work and are flawed. Share your past experiences from companies or teams you have worked with to demonstrate that mistakes are acceptable, however it’s important to find ways to move forward. When working with leaders, I have always advised to let people have a peek into your personal life – don’t be afraid to share what you’ve done over the weekend or stories about your pets. Let people understand your path to success hasn’t always been perfect and explain how you have learned from your past experiences to get where you are today. Allowing others into your life beyond work lets people know that you are more than just their leader and can go incredibly far in driving engagement. I would however caution that there must be a fine balance here. Leaders should not overshare and be conscious of the fact that they are there to manage people through the change and to do this there needs to be a level of authority and respect. Additionally, we know as a leader it can also be hard to accept help. I know this isn’t easy, but the most successful leaders are able to delegate and achieve success through collaboration. Leverage the skillset of the members on your team to give yourself the space to make the tough calls and decisions to move the project forward.  What’s more is that accepting help is especially important given the size and pace that change happens today. And if you add the influence of technology which has resulted in the need for decisions to be made faster, leaders simply don’t have the capacity or the time to be in the weeds. Finally, many business transformations today involve technology. These projects are typically the most costly and are incredibly technical. The good news is that being a strong leader doesn’t require you to be an expert on the system or change. The focus instead should be placed on how you can engage people. Let the experts and tech-savvy individuals do what they do best without interference, make sure you have the right people in the right roles and most importantly keep them inspired. Being a leader today isn’t what it used to be. People want to be able to connect with their leader, and I truly feel that letting go of perfection helps to establish stronger relationships between employees and leaders. It’s funny how much things have evolved. Perfection is not seen in the same light anymore, in fact diversity and failures are now celebrated. Many of the most successful companies and leaders have embraced this shift. It’s now time for others to follow suit. Author Siri Maldonado Director of Marketing & Communications Toronto Email | LinkedIn #ThoughtLeadership #changemanagement #collaboration #human #relationships #learning #leadership

Rachelle Su, Marketing & Communications Coordinator recently sat down with Krista Schaber-Chan, Managing Partner, to discuss the future of work. New workplace trends are constantly being introduced and the way businesses respond to these changes are important. Krista gives us her insights on how to prepare for tomorrow’s workplace, in addition to some key tips on ensuring a smooth transition and effective change strategy in the long-term. What are the key workplace trends businesses should be paying the most attention to? The movement towards a flexible work environment is one of the more prevalent trends I’ve seen in the past couple of years. Employers are providing more opportunities for employees to telecommute, develop flexible schedules, and collaborate differently. The main driver of why flexible work environments has become so popular is because of the cost savings. We can look at real estate as one of the most expensive costs a company can endure; if businesses change the need for employees to physically come into the office or take away their designated working spaces, they’re essentially eliminating a huge portion of their expenses. Providing a flexible environment where employees can work from home or making open layout spaces available in the office really downsizes their spending. They remove the need to allocate space for every employee. Another key trend to prepare for is the presence of artificial intelligence (AI). AI’s presence in today’s workforce is becoming increasingly important. Not only will it change the way we sell our products and services, but it will also play a role in shaping our human resources. AI can be applied to robots or systems that can make processes such as training employees more efficient, and it will quickly automate processes and refine data to enable better decision making. If a business chooses to ignore AI, they’re going to fall behind amongst their competition. It’s going to be a huge part of how businesses operate in the future. As a change management consultant, it’s important for my colleagues and I to know what changes to anticipate and invest in for the long term. AI is definitely one of those things. Managing expenses for any size of business is crucial, are the workplace trends we’re seeing today being driven solely for the sake of cost savings? There are many other reasons flexible workplaces have been up and rising beyond the concern for the bottom line.  While expenses play a huge factor, organizations are making these changes to attract younger talent and a different generation in the workforce, such as Generation Z. Start up cultures and innovation hubs tend to have different business practices. These organizations focus on flexibility through cross-functional roles, promoting work-life balance, working from home or even volunteering during work hours. All these practices are assumed to be tailored best towards Generation Z and Millennials, assuming this is what they’re looking for in the workplace. At the end of the day, we’re still figuring out how important this trend is to our new generation of employees; is innovating the way we work what they’re really looking for? Organizations are making assumptions and changing their workplaces based on those assumptions, hoping to attract younger talent and keeping themselves from falling behind and seeming outdated. Are these trends more prevalent in some industries than others? If so, what industries have you seen the most development in? Areas such as traditional manufacturing, transportation or even banking are less likely to feel the impact of these trends and changes. In these industries, companies have to maintain certain security and safety standards and where automation and AI may come in handy here, they also require intensely secure software. Without protected software in industries such as banking, this can pose a huge amount of risk for firms even though processes have the opportunity to be more efficient. For companies that produce and manufacture goods, we have seen more developments in automation and machinery. But, many of these procedures still require human interference in order to maintain safety and quality standards. There are no particular industries where workforce changes are working better than others. It’s rather more important to look at if these trends are conducive to your specific business, instead of making changes because your industry is too. For example, in creative industries it makes more sense for your business to have open and collaborate work environments or for your employees to telecommute when a significant amount of the work can be done online. Once a business has recognized that they need to make a workplace change, when is the right time to make that change? Well, there really is no right or wrong time to make a change. Of course, it is important to have gathered enough data or information from your employees to ensure you’re not pushing out a decision too fast but, you don’t want to wait too long as well. It’s important to note that it’s never too late to make a change, as long as you’re aware of the pulse of your organization and what your people really want, you can start taking action. You can always try the new change and adjust accordingly based on the reaction or feedback you get from it, just don’t let your business dictate when you make a change. There’s never a good time to make the change, just be prepared to help people adjust when it happens. While there are always going to be certain people who are very resistant to new changes, there are ways to minimize this turbulence during a transition. One of these ways is to really ensure people understand the personal benefit of the change, before making any moves. I would also consider paying the cost of the transition forward. These workplace changes are often saving you money in the long term and so, providing employees with small rewards or tokens of appreciation during the change, can go a long way in making the transition smoother. How has the movement towards these workplace changes impacted the way you operate your own business? One of the goals I hope to achieve for the future of my business is building our own AI infrastructure to better serve our clients. I would like to see AI as a part of our service offerings, where we can help make change and reinforcement of change easier for our clients. By having a bot that can answer questions immediately or walk employees through problems without human interference can provide full 360 support for our clients and will really add value to how we get the job done. Another fun idea would be having a robot attendant in the office! Our robot could help us with processes such as onboarding and training. This could really speed up the process of helping new employees become familiar with the business and helping to answer any questions they may have as well. Interested in learning more about the future of work? Check out our case study with RSA Insurance Canada where Harbinger supported the transition from a traditional office environment, to a new, flexible workplace here. Authors Krista Schaber-Chan Managing Partner Toronto Email | LinkedIn Rachelle Su Marketing & Communications Coordinator / Associate Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #future #tomorrowsworkplace #automation #work #change #flexibility #AI #trending

Siriphone Maldonado, Director of Marketing & Communications, recently sat down with our newest Harbinger, Rachelle Su, Marketing & Communications Coordinator, to learn more about her background and interests. Rachelle will be focusing much of her time on marketing activities including writing and developing various online materials for Harbinger’s website and social media channels. She will also be working closely with Siri on several internal engagement initiatives and will be supporting other members of the team as needed. Tell us more about your role at Harbinger. My role at Harbinger as a Marketing and Communications Coordinator assists in developing the overall marketing strategy of the brand, while supporting other creative and design functions in the company. Ensuring marketing materials are both attractive and meaningful are within the scope of my responsibility, along with increasing Harbinger’s online presence. As the company continues to grow, it’s important for the brand to grow with it. This means engaging with our audience, developing our voice, and portraying an accurate and consistent image of who the company is and what it represents. I help express the Harbinger story and shed light on our values to encourage a strong, trustworthy and impactful brand. What was the last book you read? The last book I read was Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew book. I don’t usually enjoy scary novels but I thought I’d give it a chance, I would recommend it because it’s a super creative and well written book. It’s not as scary as it seems if you’re afraid of anything remotely horror themed like me! What are you happiest doing when you’re not working? When I’m not working, I’m happiest spending time outdoors swimming or doing water sports up north. I love going camping with my friends and being by the water whenever I can. What do you enjoy doing the most as a communications and marketing practitioner? I enjoy the creative liberty marketing and communications enables, I get the opportunity to transform information into concise, attractive, and creative components of a brand. For example, I like doing anything related to visual design. This means everything from rebranding logos, creating visual content, designing infographics, to creating a website! Although I can be very visual, I also enjoy focussing on marketing strategies and looking at the big picture and hard facts before creating content that makes the vision come to life. What are some of the values that drive you? Some of the values that drive me are curiosity, compassion and responsibility. I am a curious person, who enjoys learning and asking questions. I try to figure out how different pieces of a bigger image fit together or why something does what it does. My role with Harbinger is my first job out of university and the environment allows me to be a sponge and take in as much as I can as a young professional. In addition, having responsibility and accountability is something that drives me because I like to personally feel I can make meaningful contributions to my community through hard work. Lastly, compassion is one of my core values because it complements other important principles such as respect, inclusivity, kindness and more, which are all important to practice everyday. Being compassionate to others helps build my personal and professional relationships to be stronger and more meaningful. How will you leverage your past school and work experience at Harbinger? I will leverage my past school and work experience at Harbinger by using some of the marketing tools I became familiar with throughout my university career. Through the varied internships I’ve completed that either focussed on sales or a design-based role, I’ve learned some valuable skills that are transferrable to this role. Some of which are my technical abilities, research aptitude, problem-solving skills and initiative. My experience has prepared me to be successful in both creatively supporting the Harbinger brand, but also in contributing to the more strategic aspect of the company’s goals. Do you have a special talent? My special talent is that I can draw and paint quite well. This artistic ability has always been an asset to my role in marketing positions because strategy and design in communications goes hand in hand. How do you like to learn? I like to learn by doing. I find that by doing something independently I am able to learn from my mistakes or challenge myself to solve a problem on my own. Define change. Change is trying something new, challenging the status quo or the regular routine of doing things. Sometimes change can be something small but other times, it pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to learn or take a new perspective. Change encourages you to discover your potential. What makes you most excited to be a Harbinger? I am most excited about the opportunity to learn with Harbinger. Being surrounded by experienced professionals at this company will allow me to learn more about thriving industries and best practices in the workplace. Harbinger has a valuable network of people that I have the opportunity to connect with and learn from which is definitely an asset in developing my own career, especially in these early stages. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? If I could visit anywhere in the world it would be Indonesia. The hot weather and crystal blue waters seem like an awesome time! Authors Siri Maldonado Director of Marketing & Communications Toronto Email | LinkedIn Rachelle Su Marketing & Communications Coordinator / Associate Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #changemanagement #graduate #internship #creative #communications #marketing #international

Peter Babiak is a senior instructional designer who has been working with Harbinger for just over three years. While Peter’s work is currently focused on instructional design activities, he also has extensive change management consulting experience. Prior to working with Harbinger as a contractor, Peter was an independent consultant for about 18 years. What is your favourite part about being a consultant? My favourite part is the people. For example, Harbinger has done a really good job at building teams that work well together, support each other effectively, and also have extensive and broad-ranging industry experience. In the current case, many of the consultants on the team have known and worked with each other in some capacity over the years so there’s an automatic advantage in place before the work even begins. It’s great to be able to work with such a well-rounded team where everyone shares the same values when it comes to serving the clients best interests. What aspects of change management or instructional design do you find most fascinating? I like the challenge of figuring out what the actual change is—it’s like a puzzle. From the instructional design side, it’s looking at what the system is, how it works, how it’s been customized, how the end-to-end processes works, and how those factors in combination impact the end users. Then you have the change management side. Once you’ve figured out what the changes are, how do you best prepare the end users for the coming changes in order to mitigate fear, resistance, and all the other things that come with any large change? Solving those puzzles, coming up with an effective, strategic solution and effectively implementing it is what I find most fascinating. Were you working in another fields before you got into change management and instructional design? Do you see any connections between your past and current fields? I kind of have a varied path with a bunch of different jobs. With a lot of them, if you had asked me at the time how they would prepare me for my future career, I would have said they wouldn’t. But as time went on, I realized that a lot of my past jobs and experiences did in fact provide me with a broader understanding of how different types of businesses operated. This has enabled me to better understand the people I work with and train. For example, when I worked as an inside sales rep, we underwent an implementation of changing from one system to another. I went through the training as an end-user, so I have a better understanding of the challenges people go through when they’re learning a new system, going from something they’re comfortable with, to something new and (seemingly) more complicated. I’ve also had many summer jobs working in warehouses and factories, which has served me will in a couple of ways. For example, my understanding of warehousing, logistics and plant maintenance has directly helped me when developing training materials for those functional areas, which in turn made them more relevant and relatable to the end users. In addition, some of the people I’ve trained work in these environments, have limited to no computer experience and are required to then learn a complex system like SAP. Having had similar experiences help me to better see the implementation from their perspective and to modify my training delivery approach accordingly. What would you say are the main values you hope to bring to your consulting approach? The biggest values for me are empathy and honesty. Change is scary for people, especially when they are comfortable doing the same thing for years, and then suddenly their work world is getting flipped upside down. So it’s valuable if I’m able to put myself in their shoes. With these big implementations, end users are expected to dedicate a lot of time to the project while still managing their day job. Knowing how taxed these people are, respecting their time, and being empathetic to their situation is important to me. Also, I’ve found people really appreciate honesty, whether about the time commitment, the complexity of the system, the progress being made, etc. For example, sometimes what was a 2-step task in the legacy system is now a 5-step task in the new system. It’s worth taking the time to listen to peoples’ concerns and if possible, explain the reasons behind the change, e.g., giving the client better data mining and reporting capabilities. It’s also worth having the difficult conversations with project leadership when things aren’t going well, helping them navigate through and mitigate the inevitable challenges that arise on any implementation or re-org. Do you have any advice for consultants starting out? Be a sponge; take in as much information from as many different people as you can, both from a business/industry knowledge perspective and from a working/managing perspective. The knowledge you gain from working in different industries not only builds your overall business acumen, but can often be used across industries. When it comes to figuring out your own working style, you’ll find that while you use some of what you learn, don’t be afraid to discard things that don’t work for you. For example, when I first became a project lead, I initially tried to emulate the behaviors and leadership styles of previous project leads. However, I found that while some aspects of how they managed worked for me, some didn’t and so I had to discard those and modify how I managed, to the betterment of both me and my team. I think for most consultants, while figuring out your particular working style, it’ll end up being a blend of what you’ve learned from others and what you bring to the table yourself organically. Is there anything that surprised you about what it’s like to be a consultant? I kind of knew I wanted to be a consultant when I got out of school so that’s the avenue I pursued. I liked the idea of seeing a project through from start to finish and the definable sense of accomplishment it provides. As a consultant I think it took a few projects for me to realize that while you might be working on the same software, the challenges are different from client to client and that even within particular project, you’re constantly running into new challenges and opportunities for growth. On a personal front, what surprised me most was the friendships you make and how you can bond with the people who are going through the same experiences as you. The hours you put in can be kind of crazy, especially during crunch times. But, when you have those shared experiences, they sometimes strengthen existing friendships, forge new ones, and make for an even better project team. Authors Rachelle Su Marketing & Communications Coordinator / Associate Consultant Toronto Email | LinkedIn #changemanagement #teams #job #experience #instructionaldesign #Consultant #leadership