Transcript
Elsie - So a hybrid workforce definitely impacts the experiences, and the way people are collaborating and communicating. So, that brings up my next question actually, which is, how do you think a hybrid environment impact how changes are rolled out even if they're unrelated to hybrid topics, say mergers and acquisitions or some other initiative, does a hybrid workforce needs to be considered?
Alex Rippberger - Oh I love this because I think people don't remember this but people in the office are kind of in traditional change management, a captive audience, right. You're like, ‘hey I wanna do a roadshow, if I wanted something at lunch to make sure people can do a lunch and learn, can't really get away from me. I mean we're in their building every single day and I think we're realizing now that it's much easier to messages. So, if you go over and say like, I'm doing this big e-mail campaign to ignore this totally big change in your environment, all you have to do is delete an e-mail and you know that's a much easier thing to ignore than all of your friends and colleagues' kind of coming into the office in like hey we're going to lunch and where you have to learn this thing. So, we really have to tap the way where I think approaching people on average, it doesn't work in. We can't get away with cheating our way through the system anymore.
Alex Erickson - I feel like it you have to consider more pre-work now. You have to find that group of champions at a group of people that are the ones that want to adapt quickly what the new things and or just are on board with the project itself and have word of mouth as well. You almost have to like recruit people inside the company and inside the organization to be your mouthpiece as well.
Elsie - I think it's interesting. Since I come from more of a communications background and I know the term that we threw around almost jokingly but with some seriousness is like a ‘gorilla approach’ to change management. Like guerrilla marketing where you are really being strategic like Alex said you can't just be lazy, you can't just rely on people being held in a physical space to absorb your message. You need to really get scrappy with it. You need to work with the people who are going to connect with it and spread the word on a grassroots level. You need to think about a lot of different types of channels that people are going to have the information coming to them instead of them seeking it out. But also a blend of the different places that they are living and visiting every day virtually. So, I think that even though it does introduce a lot of challenges for change management, it also kind of forces us to be better at our jobs.
Alex Rippberger – Absolutely. I think it's also a bandwidth thing with people, you know, like I think we got away a lot with saying ‘what's in it for me’ and embedding it into the message and into all that if we did and now, I'm seeing people ask the beginning like there's that first communication that first year enough so they're like, telling ‘what's in for me instantly‘. And they only have bandwidth for so many changes right? What's that statistic like 150 large-scale changes at your typical enterprise Business Today. I mean that's a massive amount of change in a year and if you can't get that message to me quickly in something that's relevant to me, I think people are just willing to tune you out almost immediately. They just don't have the time to sit through a well crafted communications campaign until you get to the point right. So, I think people are asking for the things that we used to have to kind of sneak in there, now they're like no I'll just leave with that. That's what I care about the most.
Alex Erickson - Get your buy-in quickly. I think that's one of the first questions that I asked when I'm interviewing with people, like ‘what style of a leader are you?’ ‘Are you a skimmer?’ like are you just going to get to the bullet points. I think that is also how people are looking for, the ‘what's in it for me’ like just give it to me up front, so that I can figure out how I'm going to be using this and why we can move on.
Elsie - I think that hybrid has affected this. But the topics that both of you are bringing up also makes consider the impact of our general media news and information and even the entertainment landscape as a whole. You're always gonna have a need for people who need that detail especially when they are more directly involved in the chain. You do need that documentation. However, there's also an expectation that communications outreach and education will be quick, embedded, and even entertaining to a degree. Like people don't wanna waste their time and things like tik-tok, the way we consume news, it's all playing a part in that because we're not isolated from the rest of what's happening in the world.
Alex Erickson - I love that you said embedded because I think that is something that we have started really honing in and utilizing is, how can I get this in front of you within your daily workflow. So it's not something that you have to go search for, you have to look for, it it's right there where you would normally see other things. Same thing with entertainment. I feel like the research that we have done that backs up, you know, why we do videos, why we do screenshots and adding that element of pictures has really helped us bring more awareness around our projects because we've been able to have a little fun with it.
Alex Rippberger - I wanna talk about that embedded, you know, activities, training, information a little bit better. I mean, one thing I think a lot about with embedded workplace training is how we, you know, had this trend of just in time right? That it was always gonna be when you needed it and the assumption I think that no one ever said out loud was that it was always where you needed it, which was at your desk in the physical office, and now when we embed training, it's like what is my workspace like, I don't have room for things on my desk at home, that are not relevant to my day-to-day life, right? So, where do I put that in my virtual workspace and where do I store that information in teams or somewhere else, where I can see on regular day. So it's not just in time but at this point, it's embedded in my actual workflow and that's a big transition from what we used to do as well.
Valorem Reply specializes in not just finding the right technology for your unique needs and environment, but also integrating the people and process change needed to ensure success and maximum return on digital investments. If you are considering new solutions or processes for your frontline staff and want to learn more about what a change management journey might look like for you, email marketing@valorem.com to schedule a consultation with one of our change management experts.
