This blog post was originally written by Liz Barrett for our sister program, CEB Communications.
How much are you asking of your employees?
As organizations continue to transform in response to market, technology, and competitive shifts, employees are increasingly expected to be agile, nimble, and adaptive – able to respond quickly to change in general as well as each specific change that may impact them. And from what we’ve been hearing, those expectations are eventually met with employee fatigue – even cynicism – as changes pile up around them, with engagement and performance suffering as a result.
Early data from our current research into sustaining employee performance through change indicates that while it’s helpful for employees to want to adapt, know why to adapt, and have a strong network in place, the biggest driver of performance through change is employees’ practical capability to change.
In light of this, we’ve mapped out the key capabilities that employees need during a change. It’s more than just agility! These are things that employees need to do their jobs – and things that are often disrupted during changes.
- Role understanding – employee understanding of what they should and should not be doing
Change can disrupt:
- Understanding of role expectations and day-to-day priorities
- Understanding of team’s day-to-day priorities
- Knowledge – employee understanding of how to get their jobs done
Change can disrupt:
- Mastery of core skills and tasks
- Understanding of informal network structures and dynamics
- Beliefs – employee expectations about the future
Change can disrupt:
- Line of sight between role, team, or network and company goals
- Expectations about the outcomes of decisions made in the course of their work
- Agility – the ability to adjust to new conditions
Change can disrupt:
- Ability to learn new skills
- Ability to manage personal stress and work-life balance
- Organizational connectivity – the connections and people needed to achieve goals
Change can disrupt:
- Familiarity with team members’ expertise, goals, and priorities
- Knowing who to reach out to for help
We’d love to hear from you – have you done anything to help employees re-build these kinds of resources, knowledge, and skills?
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