|
Welcome
Welcome to the latest issue of
Bringing Work to Life. In recent issues (www.elsdon.com/newsletters.htm)
we explored the topics of:
o
A kinder, gentler place (April 2005)
o
Accelerating into your new position (March 2005)
o
Workforce leadership (February 2005)
o
Searching for success (January 2005)
o
Ethics and leadership (Year End 2004)
o
Linking workforce development to value creation (November December 2004)
o
How to decide if an organization will be a good fit for you (October
November 2004)
o
Confronting one of our fears as leaders - the fear of public speaking
(September October 2004)
o
Bringing meaning to our work lives (August September 2004)
o
Seven key aspects of the organizational and business drivers for
workforce development (July 2004)
This month we look at “Listening
to the Organization.”
Listening to the Organization
In last month’s newsletter we looked at the
different forms of relationship we can choose to foster in our
organizations. We acknowledged that cooperative relationships offer
substantial benefits and that listening is a central component. This
month we explore listening in more depth.
You may recognize your organization or your
experience in one of these quotes:
“If I had received one tenth of this attention
previously, that I have had since I told my boss I was leaving, I would
never have even thought about leaving.”
Key employee to HR Director – high tech.
Result for the organization: lost a key employee.
“I thought I just needed to be as good as I could
be in my technical area and that I didn’t need to spend time listening
to the people in my group.”
Manager: Financial services
Result for the organization: major departmental
upheaval and lost productivity.
“I just spend time with people when they first
come here learning about what is important, and then at least once a
week check in with them about their needs.”
Manager, Call Center.
Result for the organization: people stay
affiliated, turnover less than one fifth of the turnover in other units.
The final example shows the power of listening;
the first two examples show the consequences of failing to listen. On a
personal level Robert Benchley puts it this way “Drawing on my fine
command of language I said nothing” (quoted in People Skills by Robert
Bolton). And how difficult that is. In our culture there is a great
felt need to fill silences, to do but not to be. Being present for
others by listening strengthens both our personal relationships and our
organizations. Let’s explore the organizational context.
Organizations like crowds take on characteristics
of their own. When I was a youngster in England, my father would
sometimes take me to see a local football match, the kind with the round
ball. This was in the days when a seat for a spectator was a luxury.
We stood in a seething mass of people that moved and swayed with the
ebb and flow of the game. Some weeks it was a benign crowd, other times
aggressive and at other times sad. While the fortunes of the local team
had much to do with the mood of the crowd later in the game, at the
beginning the crowd took on a personality formed by the reaction of each
person to the world around them. On one occasion at the local football
stadium, I was standing in the car park with friends and about 10,000
other people waiting to begin an overnight walk to raise funds for local
charities. The driver of a car made the unfortunate decision to drive
through this crowd to a small exit gate. Those at the back, thinking
that the walk was beginning, began to press forward and many at the
front fell. It was a calamity with many people including myself
trapped. I was fortunate to survive this event. Four people perished
and many others were hurt. The memory of this is still with me, many
years later, along with the sense that I failed to help protect those
who perished. In the same night I came to see the great destructive
power of a crowd, and the redemptive role of individuals who went on to
struggle twenty-four miles for charitable causes. I can still recall
the pain of aching limbs after this walk but a greater pain is the
memory of my failure to listen to and understand the needs of those
around me. This is a mistake that we cannot afford to make in our
organizations.
By listening in our organizations we are able to
build understanding, diagnose problems, create solutions, build
consensus and provide a basis for action. A person who feels understood
is ready to engage. Building this understanding flows from listening to
the voices around us so that we know individual needs and the themes
that connect individuals. We can then address concerns and
opportunities. The history of many organizations is replete with
examples of missteps arising from a lack of listening. For example, one
organization moved its U.S. headquarters and, in the process, lost most
of the workforce from the original location. There was little focus on
employee needs and concerns. Another organization repeatedly increased
compensation to try and stem the tide of attrition only to find that
compensation was not central to employee concerns.
Just as in individual relationships, where
listening is central to creating trust, so in an organization listening
is central to building affiliation and establishing a foundation for
action. There are several aspects to organizational listening that we
can influence as follows:
 | Process—how listening occurs
 | Informal or structured |
|
| Emphasis—the orientation of the listening
| Analytical or emotional |
|
| Content—the analytical basis of the listening
| Thematic or anecdotal |
|
| Context—the setting in which listening occurs
| Individual or group |
|
Regarding the process, both informal and structured
approaches make important contributions. Informal listening is an
important means to identify issues at an early stage. These are issues
that may not have gathered momentum at an organizational level but are
beginning to surface. Informal listening is a safety valve that allows
people to express concerns and introduce new opportunities. It occurs
most effectively when it is spontaneous and there is a high degree of
trust among participants. It is imperative to set aside time for such
listening, even though the event itself is spontaneous. Structured
listening, on the other hand, occurs when a specific topic has been
identified and a mechanism established to gather feedback. Examples of
structured listening include employee or exit surveys or focus groups.
It is particularly effective when a topic is well defined and known in
advance. A hybrid of the two types of listening is a brainstorming
session, which provides for some informality in a structured format.
The second dimension is the emphasis of the
listening, whether analytical or emotional/affective. While these are
not mutually exclusive, there is often a tendency in an organizational
setting to focus only on the analytical at the expense of the
emotional/affective component. Both are important. Individual
preferences and the specific situation will determine the appropriate
balance of these aspects. A structured process is more likely to
address analytical aspects while an informal process more readily
surfaces emotional components.
The third dimension is that of content and the
extent to which it is anecdotal or thematic. Does it consist of stories
recounting individual experiences or does it consist of general themes
identified by gathering input from many people. Again, both have an
important role to play in the listening process. Anecdotal listening
gathers insights from the recounting of experiences. It usually carries
a strong emotional message that represents one person's reaction to
experiences and situations. Processing this type of listening is
primarily about accurately understanding individual observations and
feelings, as opposed to observing the entire organization accurately.
As the results of anecdotal listening carry a strong emotional
component they can lead readily to action, which is its strength and
weakness, since an individual's perspective may not represent an overall
organizational need. Organizational needs are identified through
thematic listening, a process of gathering and combining information
from individuals that allows conclusions of general relevance to be
identified. It is inherently a more analytical process. A combination
of the anecdotal and thematic listening approaches is particularly
powerful, as the results combine an emotional call to action with a
rational determination of key issues.
On a practical level listening can occur in an
individual or group context. The benefits of the former approach
include confidentiality, which greatly enhances the likelihood of open
disclosure, and an in-depth focus on the individual that enhances the
likelihood of gathering an informed perspective. The group approach, on
the other hand, is beneficial where idea building occurs from people
exploring together, such as in brainstorming.
What does it take to create an environment that
supports such listening? Here are some key characteristics:
| Openness |
| Confidentiality |
| Respect |
| Responsiveness and reinforcement |
| Active engagement |
| Inclusion |
Open listening occurs in a nonjudgmental setting
where there is a willingness to hear sometimes disquieting or unpleasant
feedback. It is easy to adopt a defensive posture when receiving
feedback. I have observed very different reactions in groups learning
about organizational issues. These reactions vary from a search for a
major flaw in the data (there isn't one), to denial, to acceptance of
the results and a search for solutions. The first two reactions will
perpetuate the problem and inhibit additional feedback; the last
reaction can lead to rapid, effective action.
Confidentiality is an absolute requirement where
sensitive personal issues are involved, as is often the case when
seeking to understand concerns in an organization. This is particularly
true when the concerns relate to management or leadership behaviors. It
is difficult to create an environment where individuals know that their
disclosures will be held in confidence, if the recipient of the
information is internal to the organization. Use of a third party to
gather information can be an effective means to guarantee
confidentiality.
In one organization a primary concern raised by
employees was lack of respect shown by management. This meant that
suggestions went unheeded, that statements from top management appeared
to demean segments of the workforce, and that there were few expressions
of value or recognition for employees. Respect means accepting the
validity of the opinions expressed, that they are given in good faith
with honorable intentions. It is analogous to the unconditional
positive regard of Carl Rogers for an effective therapeutic
relationship. Respect encourages further openness and expression.
Flowing directly from respect is responsiveness.
This means acting on the information generated by organizational
listening. It is interwoven with reinforcement, where feedback and
actions in response to listening demonstrate both an understanding of
the issues and a willingness to take action to address concerns or seize
opportunities. Responsiveness and reinforcement lead to further open
disclosure, which results in a growing cycle of actions that strengthen
the organization and the affiliation of employees.
The final characteristic of effective
organizational listening is inclusion. All employees in the
organization have a contribution to make. Listening needs to occur
broadly and deeply in an organization, not just in select groups or at
certain levels of management. Identification of concerns needs to occur
where the concerns are most strongly felt. Opportunities can be
surfaced at many levels in an organization.
Listening can extend beyond the boundaries of the
organization to other core groups such as customers, suppliers,
shareholders and the community. Our role will lead us naturally to
listening with one or more of these groups. In practicing and guiding
organizational listening we will help create a climate that enables each
of us to express who we are for the benefit of our organizations and our
communities.
(Some elements of this article were extracted from
“Affiliation in the Workplace: Value Creation in the New Organization”
by Ron Elsdon, Praeger, 2003.)
Exploding a Myth
"If a free society cannot help the many who are
poor, it cannot save the few who are rich" are the words of John F.
Kennedy. Let’s look at two very different responses to this. They are
from Costco and Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club. An article in the April 12, 2005
edition of Business Week illustrates the contrasts. The following chart
from this article compares the Costco approach to its employees with
that of Wal-Mart.
On every measure in the top section of the table,
wages, healthcare benefits, retirement Costco is substantially more
generous to its employees than Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club. Hourly wages for
example are 39% higher at Costco than at Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club. The
vast majority of Costco employees are covered by health plans, a
minority are covered at Sam’s Club. And so our rational business school
approach would suggest that Costco is in serious trouble. Pats on the
back for Wal-Mart’s managers and owners for extracting another pound of
flesh from their employees?
Not if we look at the reality as shown in the lower
half of the table. Costco’s committed workforce is turning over at less
than one third of the turnover rate at Sam’s Club. Given the high cost
of turnover (by some estimates 1.5 x annual compensation) such a
reduction is a huge productivity boost. And we see this reflected in
labor and overhead costs as a percentage of sales at Costco being less
than two thirds the costs at Wal-Mart. Efficiency extends beyond people
to the use of space where Costco’s sales per square foot are 54% higher
than Sam’s Club. All of this translates to a profit per employee 24%
higher at Costco than Sam’s Club and a higher rate of growth in
operating income.
Not only is Costco benefiting its employees and
shareholders, it is also benefiting its communities as employees are
able to give more back and draw less on community health services.
Costco is not unique; we see other examples such as Southwest Airlines,
which by adopting an employee friendly approach has created shareholder
value dwarfing that of other airlines.
In last month’s newsletter we looked at why a
kinder, gentler workplace strengthens affiliation and commitment. Here
we see the tangible business benefits from this, from treating people
with respect, and seeking not just to take but to give in equal or
greater measure. It falls to all of us as leaders, which we all are, to
reflect on what this means in our daily work. Let me offer these as
questions to ponder in looking forward:
| Look forward five years
| You have been working with your
organization invigorating the workplace for a number of years |
| Describe what this workplace is now like
 | How decisions are made |
| How people relate to each other |
| How organizational needs are met |
| How individual needs are met |
|
| How you know that you have been successful |
|
Wishing you well in this quest.
Quote
“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do
everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the
something I can do.”
Helen Keller
Upcoming Elsdon Organizational Renewal (EOR) Events and Recent
Mentions
Upcoming
Events
·
“Bringing Workforce Development
to the Bottom Line.” C.O.O. Connection. San Jose, Wednesday, May 11,
2005.
·
“Create a Business Case for
Workforce Development.” NCHRA workshop, San Francisco
o
NCHRA Meetings & Events : Event Registration
o
Thursday, May 26, 2005
·
California Career Development
Association First Annual Author’s Showcase. Pomona College, Claremont
o
Pomona College : CCDA Author Showcase
o
Friday, June 10, 2005
·
“Becoming Career Fit in
Turbulent Times” for PMI-ISSIG PDS’05 Symposium, San Francisco
o
http://www.pmi-issig.org/pds05/agenda.asp
o
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
·
“Building the Organizational
Bridge for Career Development” Professional Development Institute for
NCDA Global Conference, Orlando
o
NCDA: National Career Development Association
o
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Recent Mentions
·
HR West, February 2005 (Northern
California Human Resource Association)
o http://www.nchra.org/StaticContent/Download/EXT0205007.pdf
·
Reviews of “Affiliation in the
Workplace: Value Creation in the New Organization.”
o
Harvard
Business School
·
HBS Working Knowledge: Organizations
o
Global Diversity Institute
·
Global Diversity Institute - The Journal of Diversity Praxis
o
Journal of Asian Economics
·
ScienceDirect - Journal of Asian Economics : Ron Elsdon, Affiliation in
the Workplace: Value Creation in the New Organization, Praeger
Publishers, Westport, CT (2003) 280 pp. (hardcover), ISBN 1-56720-436-8,
$49.95.
·
The Alliance of Chief Executives
o
Alliance of CEOs - Ron Elsdon
·
Recent interview in the
education field “Affiliation as a Unifying Principle in Education”
o
The Bridge
§
http://community.bridges.com/content/resources/feature/aupe.html
·
Review of recent ICDC Global
Issues Forum
o
CCDA, January 2005
·
California Career Development Association - Articles
·
Recent mention in article on
cost of turnover
o
East
Bay Business Times,
April 2005
·
Turnover costs exceed employers' estimates - 2005-04-25
About EOR: Our Value Contribution
We enhance your workforce,
leadership and organization by:
·
Using proprietary approaches to
understand workforce and leadership challenges
·
Creating tailored action plans
and solutions to strengthen workforce and leadership practices
·
Building individual capabilities
and contributions
We enable you to focus on
external results and building value, confident that your organization
and leadership are operating at peak effectiveness.
Our Mission
To support your organization by
enhancing performance, productivity and effectiveness through
revitalized workforce relationships and leadership practices.
Our Approach and Values
We tailor our engagements to the needs of each organization with a
process designed to surface critical issues, identify root causes, build
effective solutions, monitor progress and implement.
With a scope that ranges from system and organizational interventions to
work with individuals, our focus is on the heart of the relationship
among the individual, the organization and the community. We believe
that organizational and community prosperity are built on enabling each
person to fulfill his or her potential.
Our Services
We work with individuals and
groups in your organization to drive performance and development for
both the short and long term. As a result people will choose to work in
your organization and will prosper there.
We bring solutions when you need
to:
·
Reverse declining revenues and
performance
·
Revitalize your workforce
·
Stem the loss of key talent
·
Redirect your organization to
new areas
·
Stop losing customers or market
share
·
Penetrate new markets
·
Combat aggressive competitors
·
Handle major change
·
Break down communication
barriers
·
Energize your leadership team
·
Successfully build on an
acquisition or merger
Our proprietary services
include:
·
State-of-the-art tools to take
the pulse of your organization and then move to action
o
Web enabled systems
o
Experts to gather and analyze information, moving your organization to
action
·
Individual leadership coaching
to give you world class leadership capabilities
o
Leaders who know themselves and their aspirations, build their
capabilities and become catalysts developing others
·
Workshops to build interpersonal
skills in your organization so that:
o
Communication is timely, concise, accurate and personal
o
People listen to each other
o
Negotiations are quick and effective
o
Differences create rather than destroy value
o
Teams move forward, get results and quickly commercialize new products
and services
o
People understand and link their motivations to your organizational
needs
o
Your teams understand what it takes to create a committed, energized
workforce
o
People use their time well
·
Systems that make it easy to
drive performance and build capabilities by:
o
Linking objectives throughout the organization
o
Strengthening key competencies
o
Making sure you have the bench strength where and when you need it
o
Giving people tools to take charge of their own careers and development
and have a major long term influence on your organization
·
Proprietary simulation and
modeling techniques that let you explore how to maximize the value of
your workforce
o
Move from guessing what might happen to looking in depth at the
financial impact of different approaches |
