July 2010
July 2010 Newsletter – What’s Inside
• Align Nonprofit Leadership Institute
• Navigating Change, Part 2
• CEO’s perspective
• Consultant’s perspective
Align Nonprofit Leadership Institute
Earn a Nonprofit Management certificate with Align’s Nonprofit Leadership Institute, featuring a curriculum designed to build on your knowledge and take you to the next level of leadership. Experience hands-on, real-world classes facilitated by experienced instructors.
Classes begin in Cheyenne on September 10 and in Casper on September 24 and occur once a month. Or, attend the 3-day Intensive Training in Jackson September 30, October 1 and 2.
Grant funds for tuition may be available from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. Call 772-9100 or click the link below for more information.
Click here to learn more about the Nonprofit Leadership Institute.
Navigating Change, Part 2
In February of this year, we provided you two perspectives on the changes Align has been going through, including a reduction in force (RIF) in November 2009. We offer these articles because we want you to know that when we give advice on navigating change, we are speaking from our experience as well as from our education and training credentials.
We are providing this update from the same two perspectives – CEO Phil Van Horn and consultant Sue Frerich – because change is both constant and personal, making it important that you hear the same voices talk about the months since February.
In the subsequent seven months following our reduction in force, there were significant transitional issues and events. In no particular order of importance, we provide some advice and perspective for leaders of organizations that are going through traumatic change.
- 1. Recognize and admit there is trauma.
Each person is going through personal and professional trauma. Positive feedback through individual and collective coaching, and encouragement must be provided over and over. One speech won’t do it. There will be overt and covert animosity, even hostility. Square your shoulders and deal with it head on. At all times, do not allow yourself to succumb to being defensive or resentful. You have to set the tone and vision for more productive and positive days ahead. It will be a slow process, but stick with it.
- 2. Provide clear direction and adhere as closely as possible to the transition plan.
Several of Align’s remaining employees were assigned other job functions, tasks, and responsibilities. Literally, all of us had new and additional tasks and responsibilities. For several weeks following, many who were in new positions sought explicit and daily direction from their immediate supervisors. While management anticipated this, we certainly did not anticipate it to the magnitude we experienced. In hindsight, we should have, because each of us literally began our “first day on a new job” the day after the RIF and any one of us, when we take a new job, expects very clear direction and reasons why the work is important.
- 3. Get immersed in every aspect of your organization.
From HR issues to IT issues, provide constant opportunities and venues for employee brainstorming and problem solving. Set priorities and assign resources to accomplish the desired outcomes. Beef up your information channels.
- 4. Increase institutional transparency.
No matter how transparent you think you’ve been in the past, there is always more information to be provided. What you may take as mundane may be just the information others are craving. Paint the financial picture repeatedly and reinforce the goals. Let everyone else know what critical metrics you’re using to assess the strength and progress of the organization.
- 5. Follow up, follow up, follow up.
Attend to every employee’s concerns, no matter how detailed. If you perceive it to be trivial, you’re wrong. We retained a workforce that we expected and believed could literally put the legs on doing more with less. And all have exceeded our expectations. When you place that much trust and responsibility in people, you’d better pay attention to their ideas, concerns, suggestions, and, yes, complaints. Follow up individually and in groups to be sure they’ve been addressed.
- 6. Allow for anonymous feedback.
Instead of the iconic “suggestion box”, years ago, Align institutionalized our own “Barrel of Monkeys.” Without going into a long history, the Barrel of Monkeys permits anyone to drop ideas, complaints, suggestions and questions into the barrel and expect a written response. As they are anonymous, I address each by sending an e-mail to all employees, stating the comment/question verbatim followed by my written response. As one might expect, there were numerous comments in the weeks immediately following the RIF. As a leader, you must defend your position without being defensive. It’s not easy.
- 7. Expect additional attrition.
Attrition continued, as some sought and obtained jobs outside our organization. The hardest part of this is when your long-time employees and those in key positions elect to leave. It can likely include coworkers with whom you’ve shared much of your personal lives, including the trials of raising children and the joys of grandchildren. But you have to recognize that you’ve essentially reinvented the organization and, in some number of people’s minds and spirits, it is no longer a good fit. As painful as it may seem at the time, it is better for them, individually, and for the organization, when they decide that life presents new opportunities.
- 8. Find a confidant outside the organization.
It should not be your significant other, and maybe not even a friend. Find someone in a non-competitive position of equal or greater responsibility with whom you can be candid about the organization, including its strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, it should be someone with whom you can be candid about your own strengths and weaknesses and who will challenge you and give you honest advice. Among some sound advice I received at one point was “You look like the devil. If you don’t get away for a few days, you may not get to see Align turn the corner.”
We have turned the corner, seven months later. There is still another marathon ahead of us, but we are becoming a more cohesive, collaborative team. Engagement and commitment have strengthened immensely; and direction and goals have been defined, refined and embraced. Individual and team responsibility is incredible. There are still challenges ahead, some identified and certainly those we can’t possibly know in advance. And while there is a greater sense of trust than in the weeks following the RIF, I also recognize that management must earn trust and confidence every day.
Consultant’s perspective
Seven months after the RIF…
Recently my boss asked me, “Was (the RIF) a tempest in a teapot? Did it get worse before it got better?” And basically, “How are things going now?”
I guess for me, it all boiled down to getting used to change. I think my job changed more than most – people reported to different managers, took on additional responsibilities, said good-bye to some of their friends. I went through those things, too, but I had nothing familiar to cling to after the changes: all my old job responsibilities were shifted to others, I had a new set of co-workers who didn’t know or trust me, I was moved to a new location away from my friends, and I had a new job which was left to me to define. So I can only speak for myself, but here’s my “after the RIF” story.
I knew I had to make the decision to play by the new rules if I was going to succeed. I wish I could say it was easy. I think everyone had to make his or her own peace with the changes. For some people that meant leaving to different jobs. For others it was taking that deep breath, digging in, and getting it done. It’s possible that others still have not reconciled with the changes - I don’t know, because I’ve all but dropped out of the rumor mill. I chose the second option, sometimes known as “Fake It ‘til You Make It.” Since last November, I’ve learned to do things at work I never imagined I could do - I did a lot of faking! But I’ve gotten better, had some successes, and I’ve even been able to help others with what I’ve learned.
Was it a tempest in a teapot? I don’t think so. Everything has changed and change is just plain difficult. But the situation required that something be done, and we all knew that everyone would not be pleased. I’m glad I didn’t have to make those decisions. My decision to accept the new order was much easier.
Did it get worse before it got better? It was pretty bad, but I don’t know if it got worse or how much so. Dropping out of the rumor mill was one of the best things that I did. It has allowed me to focus on the positive.
How are things going now? Better - because I made the choice. Now I get to contribute to the new company and see the rewards of our efforts. Is it still hard? Yes. Every day brings new challenges and more changes. But I’ve come to trust that I can continue to stretch and grow. I’m happy that someone saw in me the potential to fit into this new organization, and I am pleased to be able to play a part in its future success.