How do you manage your boss?

As a manager, a huge part of your role is to be able to manage your team effectively, take responsibility for their development and wellbeing and get them onside to working towards a common goal. This of course starts with managing yourself. Effective leaders are, first of all, effective in managing themselves, their time, their focus and their emotions. But have you considered that you may also be responsible for managing your boss?

Manage your manager with confidence

How To Change Your Company Culture

Barclay’s recent job cuts announcement includes a vow to ‘change the corporate culture’ of the organisation.  How realistic is that as an aim?

Organisational Change

New CEO Anthony Jenkins is wise to say that it will take ‘five to 10 years’ to embed genuine change. Culture is the very essence of an organisation.  There is a debate about whether culture is something an organisation “has” – a characteristic which can be changed in the same way as new equipment can be bought or processes introduced, or whether it is something an organisation “is” – so fundamental to the DNA of the organisation that it permeates all elements of organisational life.

Cultural models reflect this complexity. The well-known cultural web developed by Johnson and Scholes provides one illustration. The web is made up of a number of elements:

• The events and stories that people talk about
• The rituals and routines that show what is important and what‘sanctioned’ behaviour is
• The symbols, from the organisation’s brand and buildings to the language that people use
• Who has real power – to keep the status quo or make improvements
• What controls are in place – both measurement and reward systems
• The formal organisational structure – showing both who and what is important

At the centre of these six elements is what Johnson and Scholes call the ‘paradigm’: those deep unstated assumptions about the organisation that are so taken for granted, people don’t even know they have them.
To make it worse, few organisations have a single culture.   Subcultures proliferate – forming for reasons as varied as the requirement for an R&D division to work in a particular way to make its contribution, to the different basic assumptions that contribute to the world view of people from varying national cultures in a multi-national organisation.

So is change possible?  Yes, but it is important to recognise the limitations and risks.  As well as multifaceted, culture is multi-layered.  Ed Schein, father of organisational cultural theory, paints a picture of the levels of culture: Artifacts– things that can be seen, heard and touched as soon as you walk through an organisation’s doors.  Espoused values and beliefs - what people say is important. And finally – the basic, underlying assumptions that form the beating heart of the organisation. These assumptions build up over an organisation’s lifetime as a result of people finding a way of being that ‘works’ and works repeatedly when tackling challenges. That level of ‘taken for grantedness’ is tough to permeate – which helps explain the anxiety and resistance that can scupper the most well-meaning change efforts.  Though it also means that there are times where it is obvious that ‘the world is shifting’ when cultural change is the most likely – as it becomes increasingly clear that the old ways of being simply just won’t cut it for the future.

Changing culture means being in it for the long haul, taking a holistic approach – and recognising that intended changes often end up having unexpected consequences. No blog post could do justice to the complexity of what is required. A few pointers, in particular from a communication perspective include:

• Clarity. Populate the cultural web to understand where your culture is now, and where you need it to be
• Help people to ‘unlearn’:  use communication to help show why the current way of being just won’t work for the future. Better still, find ways people can find this out for themselves (e.g.: ask groups to conduct their own market research) 
• Support leaders in being tangible and explicit about what is changing (and what isn’t).  Highlight role models to help people ‘reframe’ their thinking.   Engage – providing structured opportunities for people to make their own informed decisions about solutions.
• Provide a safe environment.  Fear of failure or looking stupid is a big stumbling block.  Listen to understand concerns, then communicate the support that is being put in place.
• Recognise the power of the peer group – especially in the digital age.  Nurture and support ‘informal’ leaders
• Publicise and reinforce successes – and encourage people to do the same through internal social media platforms.

Liz Cochrane

Course Director, Masters in Internal Communication Management

Effective Internal Communication: But How?

Communication is a word we know all too well. But what does it really mean? Communication is: “the act or process of transmitting information (as about ideas, attitudes, emotions, or objective behaviour)”, Merriam-Webster.com, 2012 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Communication is a two way street - not only talking - but listening as well. Communication is a dialogue, not a monologue.

Internal Communication in the office refers to communication between employees and employers, employers and employees and between employees and employees.

But why is it important to communicate successfully internally in an organisation? 

Internal Communication is a critical success factor in any organisation and should feature on each company’s list of priorities. Over the years organisations have learned that employees will discuss work, projects and the culture in the office on a regular basis. It’s far better to set agendas and discussion points than to have uninformed employees discuss topics they know very little about.

Open communication between employers and employees leads to greater engagement on both sides and employees feeling valued and involved in the organisation’s future.  It can lead to increased staff morale and as previously mentioned staff engagement. Internal Communication also affects staff performance and thus the organisation’s ROI, reputation and brand. When staff understand what is required of them on a daily basis staff morale is high and this increases the organisation’s success. Happy employees lead to happy customers.

Internal Communication is also at the forefront when any changes occur in the organisation. Internal changes within the company will only be successful if the staff are involved and consulted during the change process.  Employees need to have a firm understanding of why change is necessary. 

In order to be effective Internal Communication needs to:

1. Communicate business objectives in a clear and precise manner
2. Should be written in easily understandable language
3. The communication’s results should be easily measured
4. Is delivered in a medium and at a time the receiver is happy with 

Benefits of Effective Internal Communication:

1. Greater staff morale, engagement and motivation
2. Better and more effective management
3. Successful external communication as internal communication complements external communication
4. Employees communicate and live the brand’s key priorities and vision, take Apple for example 
5. Staff will feel involved in any changes taking place in the organisation, thus are less likely to leave once these changes occur 
6. Happy and satisfied staff will lead to happy and satisfied customers 
7. Informed decision making

View our Postgraduate Diploma In Internal Communication Management. Or for more details please contact us on 0800 022 3410 or email us with your query: enquiries@capita-ld.co.uk

How To Successfully Lead A Team Through The Difficult Process Of Change

Managing and leading employees through any form of change in an organisation can be a challenging, difficult and even unpleasant task. What change entails might even be misunderstood, as the video clip below shows, but leading a team through the process of change can be mastered…

In our globalised and interconnected economy, organisations deal with continually shifting market conditions, customer demands, technologies, input costs and competition. Organisations must continually adapt and ask questions such as: ‘How can we improve our strategy, tactics and business plan? And what can be improved upon in order to reach our long terms business goals?’ 

The biggest problem relating to initiating change in organisations, whether it be changes to the organisation, employees moving to different departments or taking on different roles, new systems being introduced or just a different way of doing things, is people don’t like change. People have been used to doing things in a specific way for a certain period of time. People are in general adverse to change and don’t like being told you now have to do things differently to what you have been doing up until now.

But surely change can be managed successfully? As the leader who has to manage the change, you have a difficult task ahead, but ensure the following and it will ease the process and lead to the change being implemented successfully faster:

1. Communicate why the change is necessary. Talk to your team and make sure they have a very clear understanding of why things need to change, how they need to change and how the change will be implemented and followed through. 
2. Give your team the opportunity to contribute, make suggestions and allow them to get involved in the decision making process. 
3. Facilitate and encourage questions to eliminate any uncertainty which will in turn reinstate confidence in their work and in themselves. 
4. Celebrate any successes and goals accomplished during the change process. Employees need to feel valued and should be thanked for the work they’ve done and their willingness to adapt to the change. 
5. Reiterate why the change is necessary and how it will benefit the company. Always have an open and clear communication channel, when there is a communication vacuum employees wonder what is going on and will feel left out. They might even think their manager is plotting something. 
6. Be as transparent as possible. 

Remember: Change is less scary when you are leading the change, making the decisions and monitoring the progress. When you are in the driver’s seat you are in control. But always consider your passengers and try and make their journey as pleasant as possible.

The Growing Strategic Function Of Human Resources In Businesses & Organisations.

The role of Human Resources is transforming within organisations and businesses around world. Traditionally HR has been viewed as a support function concerned with recruitment and selection processes and learning and development.

However, HR is increasingly being seen as more of a strategic function that should consider employee engagement, organisational and cultural change and performance management. There are several areas in which the HR function is developing a more strategic approach and with additional important points to consider.

The growing trend is that organisations and businesses are considering HR as a Business Partner and not just a support function. This transition requires some thought, planning and development. HR professionals in this transition must understand the difference between this and other HR roles and how to build stakeholder relationships within the business or organisation.

The strategic HR function is gaining support from the greater organisation in its role within performance management. This support is necessary for the development and implementation of organisational competencies and competency frameworks. These both lead to greater efficiencies in individual and organisational performance and talent management, areas which have traditionally been associated with line management responsibilities.

Organisations must embrace change as it happens. Change is a people business, which inevitably requires the attention and involvement of the HR function. With the recent cultural changes resulting from these tough economic times, there will inevitably have been a direct impact on how overall change is accepted. It is, therefore, essential that the Strategic HR Function understands cultural value systems and how they directly influence the way change is accepted or not.

Watch this video featuring management author and expert Dave Ulrich who talks briefly about the transformation of Human Resources and it's growing participation setting business strategy.

Please also post your comments and experiences relating to this post.