To return to work or not to return to work, that is the question. Or at least, to work from the workplace, or work from home, or some combination? People and organizations around the world are grappling with policies and procedures for the hybrid organization.
On top of that, many are predicting a “turnover tsunami ,” citing “pandemic burnout” and “lack of engagement” as top root causes.
How can we make Change Intelligent® decisions about new work arrangements as well as foster a culture of engagement? Answer: design solutions together. Conversely, so often the approach is to make decisions in a vacuum, roll-out changes, and struggle to achieve reactive “buy-in.” Instead, we have the opportunity to foster proactive “build-in.”
I was recently contacted by a steel mill that I helped start-up over 30 years ago (the subject of a previous newsletter), which was just acquired by a new company. A key reason for the acquisition was the still-thriving work culture, which all key stakeholders – union, salaried, the US and Japanese joint management – collaborated together to design. The new company aspires to learn about the work culture and how to foster, implement, and sustain it across the enterprise, for competitive advantage.
People own what they help create. As Buckminster Fuller said, “we are called to be the architects of the future, not its victims.” Not only are we stronger together – we’re smarter together – more Change Intelligent®.
How can we architect
a new future together?
Here are some ideas to jump-start your thinking:
Investigate whole scale system change models and design theory for enterprise-wide transformational inspiration.
Check out the Change Intelligent® Analysis and Action Planning Tool, which you can download for free from our website, and is a powerful way to facilitate participative planning and design dialogue within your team, between groups, and across levels. The outcome is a common language and approach to lead the Heart (people, teams and culture), Head (purpose, strategy and metrics), and Hands (process, tactics and tools) towards new ways of working together.
Join me at the ACPM-Global Virtual Change Management Global Connect Conference from June 7-11, to obtain insights from change leaders across the globe spanning from theory to practice, to drive change-for-good during these challenging times. Change Catalysts is a sponsor, we’re conducting a pre-conference workshop on June 7, and I’ve recorded an on-depend presentation jointly with a client on how they built enterprise-wide change capability to lead through the crises of 2020 and beyond. The event promises to be enriching, both in terms of actionable content as well as energizing networking. I hope to see you there!
Please reach-out at any time to learn about our Change Intelligent®solutions to position yourself, your team, and your organization for success and sustainability, as we all invent new solutions together.