So, why do employers need research?

I blogged recently about why I enjoy research. All very well, but an employer needs to commission that research before I can get involved, the charitable division of Monteath Consulting being otherwise engaged.

And I believe that employers are increasingly turning to research. It’s an investment, but when every budget is scrutinised, then there’s a need to invest wisely, to advise far larger programmes. It’s those programmes - around engagement, communication, leadership – that will decide the future success of your company. There’s simply no room to step into them without having a very clear picture of the environment you’re working in. And without understanding the most effective way of making the most effective change to that environment.

But can’t employers simply work this out for themselves? What did they do before people like me came along? They made assumptions based on their experience. Gut instinct often, which very often would work.

I think that’s a riskier approach today. Now, employees are less likely to be a simple link in a widget-making chain. They work in service and knowledge organisations and need to apply their judgement, and make decisions for themselves. That means the command-and-control approach to to management is outdated (see here and here). Employees are increasingly customers of their employer, not just a part of the machine.

So employers turn to the same techniques that they use to understand their paying customers. Rare it is that they can make customer decisions based on gut instincts. Apple fanboys will point to Steve Jobs – but he was the exception. And anyway, he made mistakes too…

You can't communicate enough

As I carry out my research, I talk to employees about how engaged they are with their employer. And there are two constant issues that I can predict will come out in every survey, interview and focus group:

1) How people are dealt with by their line manager 
2) The level and usefulness of the communication they receive
It won’t greatly surprise anyone to hear that most often employees are looking for improvement in both. There’s a big overlap between the two but it’s communication that I specifically want to talk about here. I usually see two chief problems, which I can describe as:

1) “Look, I’ve told them once, why do I need to tell them again?” 

Because they’ve got lots going in their jobs and the rest of their lives. Because you already understand and believe in what you’ve told them – they may need time to digest, accept and get on board with it. Because they need examples of how this works in practice. And lastly, because you’ve quite possibly told them stuff in the past that was quickly forgotten, prove this is here to stay.
2) “How can I tell them yet, when I don’t have all the facts?” 
Because it’s really quite unlikely that all the facts will ever align. Because you can trust them to deal with ambiguity. Because they will have some good ideas about how to arrive at the full facts. And lastly, because being perceived to “hide” things from people is unlikely to ever build respect or engagement.

The best examples of communication that I observe are where the communications are frequent, and two-way. They’re conversations. Which isn’t a rally to immediately use social media. That might be the solution, but it’s about being social, however that happens.

Here’s two good articles about how to communicate better as a leader, and as a business. What do you think? Let’s keep this conversation going…

Culture Alignment

It’s not often that I read something I like so much that I feel compelled to write about it straight away. But this paper, from RoundPegg is great: 

Why do I think it’s great?

For starters they make the case (with evidence) that culture is important to performance, and that there’s a strong link to engagement. They then carry on to clearly make the point that culture can be pretty simple – and that it should simple because it should be about a handful of core values.

So why do they say culture change initiatives fail?

Because:

a)     there isn’t enough communication 
b)    leaders aren’t visibly enough behind it 
c)     they are too short or one-hit exercises

I’ve seen and experienced that, but here’s more evidence. Initiatives also fail because without those things in place, people revert back to their previous behaviours.

So what do they suggest?

They don’t suggest a big, fundamental programme of change. Instead they suggest starting from the current culture and values of the employees and either:

a)     aligning process and systems to the values that already exist, or 
b)    if there is change required, add a small number of values, or interpretations of values to what’s already there.

It’s a research process, and you’ll always find me endorsing good research to make smart business decisions.

Then what?

Having described the values, you’re in a great place to:

a)     hire people that will fit 
b)    develop, manage, coach, encourage and engage your current staff in line with the values 
c)     measure the results, and use these to keep improving

It’s all about having everyone on the same page, so that they know what’s good for the business, and what’s good for them.

It’s the ultimate win-win.

A Six-Month Review

It’s now six months that I’ve been in business on my own. It’s been a great experience. I’ve learnt a lot, and I thought it was worth getting a few of those learnings down.

The phone doesn’t ring by itself
You may have a cold lead, a warm lead, a promise that a project is in the pipeline, an established client. Whatever the status, don’t expect them to call back. They’re busy people. You need to gently, friendlily (?), usefully keep front of mind. Almost all the work I’ve had has started with my client saying “I’m glad you got in touch…”

Coffee is very powerful
No, not for the all-night sessions to finish two projects on deadline – I’ve been lucky enough to not have many of those. But with a good introduction (or an existing relationship), the offer to come to them and buy them a coffee, is hard to turn down. And the face-to-face conversation you’ll have (note, NOT a presentation) is the best way to create a mutually-beneficial relationship.

There’s no such thing as a bad conversation
There may be conversations that don’t really go anywhere – so first of all prioritise who to talk to, and understand how you can help them. But every time you talk, you’re having another go at refining your pitch, understanding what people what to know more about and what they struggle to understand. Almost everyone is happy to give you some of their time if you’ve something interesting to say: it may be the next big partnership, it may not, but don’t waste that time. Or theirs!

Switch on/Switch off
I’ve learnt to classify my time in three ways now.
1) Paid work – my favourite kind, natch, but it doesn’t fill all my time
2) Business development, knowledge and connection building – calls, research, events, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging – this could fill all my time, and more besides
So, I switch this off this when I’m being paid. Otherwise I decide what is the most useful, core stuff, and what’s the long tail. And when I see the long tail I move into…
3) Switching off – I’m never out of contact, but neither am I sat at my desk. And I’m not fretting either!

The perks
There are things I miss about working in-house. A bit of banter and camaraderie, following through with a client, free biscuits. But I went into this for a variety of reasons, among them to be my own boss, to be able to specialise – but it’s the work-life balance that I’ve really enjoyed. As described above, it takes a bit of discipline. But during the week, I see my family about 10 times more than previously. What they think about that I don’t know, but it works for me.

So, thanks again to all that have supported me in the first six months. I’ll be calling you soon…