19 tips to change the story in your organisation

Change to circumstances, adapting to new roles, new responsibilities, new operations require a shift in the internal stories that are told within an organisation.  It is the stories that both define and measure corporate engagement and not the new policy manual.  

Following are 19 ideas you might like to think about in considering transition, change and internal communication that will ( possibly) generate a new set of stories.

1. Don't always question.

I know it is what most of us do, and what the Gurus told us do in the 'old days' of last years management fad.  They implored us to 'Question everything. Challenge every assumption'. You can still do that, just don't get obsessed with it. 

Instead, revitalise the casual conversations and information sharing as a normal business practice and devote as much as half of your time to developing that dialogue. You can't expect to learn a lot just by challenging your staff. They will, more often than not, give you the answer they think you want, especially if they have to give answers off the cuff. Welcome, without qualification, another's thoughts and opinions and give them time to respond.

2. Establish a nil tolerance for Mediocre Practice but don't polarise the process and focus too much effort on establishing Best Practice.

Instead focus on ways to eliminate worse practice. When is best good enough anyway? A 'best practice' will invariably come out in the end anyway if you are initiating the other 19 ( or so) principles. Well a few of them anyway. Incrementally it is a much quicker fix, for both you and the customer. In any case the question you should be asking is 'Are you benchmarking yourself against the mediocre, the safe, and the obsolete? Is it just a 'me too' action. Do you want to give a karaoke performance of Britney Spears or Ella Fiztgerald. For a lot of people Britney is good enough. But for some....

3. Actions SHOUT.

I'd like to introduce you to the CASER principle, with apologies to Gordon Gould, the first man to use the word, laser, whose acronym I have blatantly hijacked. (Laser actually stands for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation for all you pub quizzers out there, which is why you shouldn't really spell it with a 'z'.)
I have made up my own version. CASER which stands for Creativity Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Results.

If you can vividly show the effect, good or bad (It turns out that it doesn't matter which actually) that results from the implementation of their ideas you reinforce the feed back of the original signal. Show them that you take their ideas seriously, and they will trust you more seriously to share their ideas.

3. Actively Look Out.

Scan the distance, not just through the myopia of market analysis or forums or the telescope of your marketing or sales department. That is an awfully narrow field of view. Have regard not just for at the usual suspects, the competitors in your field or your own market, but from other sectors, other agencies or business models. How do they do it?

Most of the good ideas don't come from your own staff (Or you for that matter). You are not the stewards of all things 'magnificent'. Humbleness is truly attractive and inspiring. Acknowledgement of others contribution wins friends and accomplices.

4. Experiment Persistently.

Assume absolutely nothing. Enlightened trial and error outperforms any planning of human intellect no matter how flawless their rationale may appear. You can, and must, plan ahead to know where you want to go, and what steps you will have to make to get there.  But then put the plan aside and focus on the first steps. But regularly stop to look at the outcomes of the action and then wash, rinse and repeat the process.

5. Let go of the need to be right. It's OK to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.

Your mistakes are your experience. Pass it on to everyone. If you malign failure, you destroy entrepreneurship, snuff out innovation and in the end you harm the company. On the other hand if you "forgive and forget" because you want to be that great boss you always wanted to work for, that same mistake will be repeated twice or a dozen times. Failure is normal, accept it, move on but demand that lessons be learned and communicated through the entire organisation.

Expect no less from everyone in your organisation.

6. Empower but support

It is absolutely all right, positively, to give assignments to people who have never done that particular task before. The rider is that, if you do, then it is your absolute responsibility to provide them with a network of advisors whom you trust. Legitimacy lies in competence as much as what position they may hold in the organisation chart. Position without competence results in disaster. Competence without position results in frustration.

7. Don't refer to the 'Internal organisation'.

Talk about specific people. Referring to other organisations of the company as "them" is laying the ground for future excuses about the lack of results for everyone and blame deflection.

Organisations are almost inevitably impersonal, complex, and change every 24 months anyway. People and communities however are far more stable, resilient and trustworthy.

8. Kill off internal client-supplier relationships.

The internal market approach is the very worst possible form of internal collaboration. It damages the social network and value of the organisation and paralyses its ability to solve problems for the customer. If you want to reinforce the silo mentality that is the next best way of doing it and kill of any hint of client supplier relationships.

9. Before deciding on a plan, always ask with whom the plan was discussed.

The raison d'etre of the corporate manager is not to come up with the bright ideas, but with ideas shared with other stakeholders. It is a brave and serious  woman, or man, who can reject all proposals and action plans bearing only the signatures of your staff. But 'Brave'  actually works. Stick with it.

10. Involve people collectively in your thinking.

If you merely want compliance (at best) rather than real commitment then use managerial authority to deploy programs and plans from the top-down. Then find somewhere comfy to sit back and watch it all unravel. If you want people to adopt your views and act accordingly, you must engage in meaningful conversations with them, and not rely on "cascade down" or "communicate messages". If you have a teenager then you will l know exactly what I mean.

Think about the power of stories. No-one is ever really won over by a PowerPoint presentation, a chart, other peoples mission statements, or an Excel spread sheet. Well they shouldn't be. Nor will they ever adopt for themselves another's goals. In theory, in the short term it may possibly work - short term in this case being the five minutes after the 'Ra-Ra' speech until the next problem hits them as they get back to their desk. For medium or long-term participation you need to connect emotionally (How to do that? Well that is the tricky part and the reason why 99.999% of all managers, including you and me are not Steve Jobs)

11. Management is not so much about delegating to individuals than about organising and empowering groups.

Effective action ("execution") in any organisation is all about coordination and synchronisation. Speed of execution is best achieved by competent people who understand and trust each other and then self-synchronise, while you get the hell out of the way. The first job of a manager is to detect who these people are and make sure they work together in the right setting. Or isolate them if they are in a dysfunctional group. Ouch!

12. It's not about giving objectives.

It's about making sure they understand your intent. If they really understand your goals and if it makes sense to them, they will figure out what to do by themselves. It is by far more difficult to articulate a clear intent than to give objectives. Those that figure out that particular trick are the true leaders. Remember the power of the story.

13. Never give targets without negotiating them first.
Giving measurable quantitative targets without negotiating them with those responsible for making it happen is just bad, bad management. But negotiate hard and if you do shift their comfort zone, give them the support to deliver. Not an excuse to fail.

14. Don't Squirrel knowledge (or the coffee)
Don't think that you always know what information is 'good' for your staff. Let them know what you know, give them access to every document you have, unless it is explicitly confidential or for a damn good reason. Don't work on a "need to know" basis. No one ever said 'Oh, that Barry bloke, he communicated way too much'. Let them sort out the information overload. There are plenty of tools and tricks to help them. Even if you do cocoon them they will always find out or jump to conclusions but via half-truths, conjecture, second-guessing, the water cooler whispers and arrive completely at the wrong picture. Paranoia is a part of almost every human activity so don't give it more oxygen. It is far easier to manage any fallout than motivate the disenchanted.

15. History is good - Look back.

Encourage the promotion of the myths and legends. You need to balance market studies, action plans, specifications etc. with case studies, lessons learned, good practices and document the cock ups Spend some time reflecting on past experiences. And embed all new employees and stakeholders with the story. Commitment to the past reaffirms the company's culture and the brand.

16. Don't promote people that sound smart, but those who make sure that smart things happen.

 
The company's promotion process is the primary driver of employees' emotional positivity. It isn't money, or perks or glory. It can build or destroy confidence or simply reinforce the CGAS attitude.

17. Don't expect dedication from someone who fears for his job.

All efforts are retarded by the fear of job loss. If you need to fire or move people, do it at warp speed, and make sure it appears to all as an exceptional event.

18. Never manipulate your staff. You actually can't!

Employees are hypersensitive to inconsistencies and incoherence across an organisation. They immediately detect every ripple of manipulation when they hear conflicting messages. Largely, because they are looking for them and we come circling right back to the paranoia thing again. Establish trusted relations with your peers first. Trust is the bandwidth of communication

19. Get yourself a knowledge technology coach.

 
Communication and collaboration technologies are dramatically changing. E-mail for collaboration is becoming extinct. You need to up your game.

Want to drop in any more??? Make it up to 20??