Communications as Ikor

Change Management (Transformation Communications)2  < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

오늘은 두번째 시간입니다.

 

Change Management의 핵심은 어떤 분야가 되겠습니까?

Employee Communications입니다. Change의 핵심이 인간이기 때문이지요.

Structure를 바꾸는 이유는 그 Structure자체가 경쟁력을 생성하는게 아니라 그 Structure에서 일하는 사람들(Employee)을 더욱 경쟁력 있게 일할수 있게 분위기를 만들어 주는 겁니다. 조직이 Downsizing을 겪어 기름기를 뺀 Slim한 조직으로 다시 태어낳다면, 그 조직속에 남아있는 생존자들에게는 더욱 잘 일할수 있는 환경을 만들어 주어야 합니다. 그러나 실제로는 생존자들에게도 더욱 더 허리띠를 졸라매라는 식의 다운사이징 형태가 많지요.

 

이런방식은 성공키 힘듭니다. 생존자들의 충성심을 이끌어 내기위해서는 이상적인 업무 환경과 더욱 폭넓은 Empowerment와 나아진 봉급을 제공해야 합니다. 그래야 그들에게서 이전 보다 향상된 생산성과 업무의 효율성을 거둘수 있습니다.(중소기업 사장님들 명심하시죠.. 구조조정이 사람을 짜르고, 남아있는 봉급자들의 봉급을 줄이는 것 만은 아닙니다.)

 

많은 구조조정의 노력이 실패를 하는데, 그 원인을 분석해 보면 많은 퍼센테이지가 변화의 시기에 Employee들과의 커뮤니케이션 실패에 그 원인이 있었습니다. 구조조정을 윗사람들이 칼을 휘두르는것으로 이해하던 시대는 지났습니다. 구조조정은 조직의 발전을 위한 미래지향적, 발전지향적인 조직 변화활동입니다. 그리고 이는 단편적이거나, 일회적 활동이 아닙니다. 끊임없이 연속되어야 하는 조직의 운명같은 겁니다.(흔히들 구조조정이 완결됬다는 말을 쓰는데, IR을 하면서 투자자 및 주주들에게 투자에 대한 확신을 주기위한 달콤한 말은 될찌라도, 진정한 의미에서는 거짓말입니다.) 보십시오, 앞으로도 우리나라의 기업들은 외국기업들과 경쟁하며, 더욱 많은 사람들을 다운사이징(구조조정적 의미내에서) 할겁니다. 그들의 조직구조 자체도 계속 개편 또 개편될거구요. 그래야 삽니다.

 

이렇게 변화하는 조직속에 가장 중요한 Employee들은 충분한 커뮤니케이션적 지원을 받아야, 그 해당 변화를 성공적으로 이루어 낼 수 있습니다. 그들이 불필요한 인식과 두려움을 갖는다면 이 변화의 결과는 뻔한거지요.

구조조정에 있어서 Employee들이 가지는 감정으로는,

해직에 대한 불안감

미래에 대한 두려움

회사에 대한 충성심 저하

생산성 저하

업무 효율성 저하

회사에 대한 화(Angry)등이 있습니다.

 

이러한 Employee들의 반 변화의 감정은 정직하고(Honest), 시의적절하고(Timely), 정확(명확)한(Clear) 커뮤니케이션적 노력을 통해 통제(감소) 해야 한다는 게 일반적인 이론입니다.

 

이러한 기본적 커뮤니케이션적 자세는 강력한 비젼을 향해 있는 “조직 발전지향적 기업문화(Corporate Culture)”를 바탕으로 전개 될때 그 효과의 극치에 도달할수 있습니다.

 

강력한 비젼이 사원들에게 공유되어 있고, 업무 하나 하나를 통해 기업의 Value를 구현하며, 그들의 마음속에 공통적인 Mission이 존재할때 그 조직은 불멸한다고나 할까요..

 

이러한 기업문화적 요소들이 조직발전적인 방향으로 정렬되어 있으면, 구조조정이라는 것은 너무나 쉽고 효과적인 조직 변화 행동이 될겁니다.그래서 평소에 바람직한 기업문화를 창조해야 하는 이유가 바로 여기에 있습니다. 변화에 쉽게 적응할수 있는 기업 문화, 그러나 변화에 걸림돌로 작용하는 기업문화가 매우 많은게 현실입니다.

 

이글을 읽으시는 인하우스 홍보인 여러분은 한번 Corporate Culture Audit을 해보세요. 과연 우리회사의 기업문화는 변화친화적인가, 얼마나 변화시에 적응을 잘 할수있게 디자인 되어있는가를 살펴보십시요.

앞으로 더 큰 변화를 대비해야 하니까요.

 

구조조정의 단계별로 Employee Communications은 다음과 같은 역할을 합니다.

 

구조조정 이전: 불필요한 Employee들의 감정 통제(Honest, Clear,Timely), 변화에 대한 교육, 비젼에 대한 정렬작업, 기업문화 분석,변환,강화작업

 

구조조정 중 : 불필요한 Employee들의 감정 통제(Honest, Clear,Timely). 변화에 대한 적절한 정보 전달, 생존자들에 대한 적극적인 감정 통제

 

구조조정 이후:  불필요한 Employee들의 감정 통제(Honest, Clear,Timely). 생존자들에 대한 Special Care(생산성 향상, 회사에 대한 충성심 고취)

 

*** 그러나 가장 중요한 구조조정 이후의 Employee Communications의 역할은 Survivor들에게 어떤 형태의 업무방식, 사원 자질, 지적 수준등을 조직에서 필요로 한다는 암시 및 교육을 하는 것일겁니다. 이는 하나의 큰자극으로서 Survivor들에게 조직을 발전시키는 추진력 그자체가 되게 하는 방법이지요.

 

그러나 이러한 통제 및 관리적 시각만 있는건 아닙니다.

Survivor들에게는 또한 환상적인 업무 환경을 제공하고, 각자의 업무에 대한 강력한 Empowerment를 보장하여, 자율적인 생산성 및 업무의 효율성을 고취시켜야 합니다.

 

해마다 Fortune잡지에서 미국에서 가장 일하기 좋은 회가 100개를 뽑는데, 그들 기업들이 꼭 높은 봉급만을 제공하는 회사들의 랭킹은 아닙니다. 봉급은 그저 그래도 업무 환경에 있어서 환상적인 곳이 더 많습니다. 환경이 곧 생산성과 직결 된다는 것을 경영층이 알기 때문이지요. 그리고 그 기업들 중에는 재미있고, 의미있는 기업문화를 가진 기업들이 참 많습니다. 생각해 볼 일입니다.

 

미국에는 심각한 구조조정의 물결을 넘어 이제는 변화가 생활이 된 조직의 행태 속에서 직원들이 구조조정의 물결속으로 가라앉기를 거부하고, 그 물결위에서 서핑을 즐기고 있다고 할 수 있습니다. 다이어몬드 서핑보드와 골드 칼라로 무장한 신 변화의 직업인들이 바로 그들입니다. 이는 조직의 구조조정이 인력 자체의 구조조정이라는 훌륭한 연계 효과를 이끌어 냈다는 의미가 되겠습니다. 인간은 언제나 변화에 재빠르게 적응하게 되어있다는 얘기도 되겠지요.

 

오늘의 글은 Change Management의 핵심인 Employee Communications에 대한 Sandwick USA의 사장과 부사장의 글입니다. 약간 무게(?)가 있고, 이전 글들과는 다른 형태이지만 배울게 있습니다(Electronic Communications와도 연계하여 설명을 하였습니다.) 즐겨보시죠.

 

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NEW RULES FOR EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS

 

In the wake of a wave of restructurings, and the emergence of new communications technologies, the ways in which American corporations communicate with their employees need to change. Richard Kline and Betsy Buckley of Shandwick USA have some suggests.

 

The times are changing. The people we need to communicate with today are different from those we were responsible for communicating with even three years ago, let alone ten years ago. The computer, the fax, the Internet, other forms of electronic communications have forever changed the tools of communications. And the changes in the structure, the missions, and the systems of today’s workplace have definitely changed the messages we are conveying.

 

Major companies in America today are facing confusion and difficulties in communicating with their workforce in a meaningful way, according to a survey of Fortune 500 companies conducted by Shandwick USA to evaluate the use and value of employee communications methodology and to explore executives’ expectations for future communications programs. The findings reveal that corporate executives today are concerned about the changing times and the changing makeup of the workforce, and that they recognize the need for enhanced communications systems.

 

So, how can corporations do this? In order to make change work for us, not against us, as we communicate to the workforce of the future, we’ll need to explore four areas:

 

the real causes of all this change;

today’s “best practice” tools;

the message we need to deliver;

the lessons learned from looking at this new model.

 

The context we are all living in – and trying to communicate in – is very, very different. What causes those differences?

 

Many of us come from organizations that were organized vertically. There was a relatively traditional hierarchy, and it was through that hierarchy that communications flowed. The CEO communicated with his (yes, he was male) senior management reports; they communicated with theirs, and so on down the line. Several people describe the new approach as “cascading communications.” The difference is that now the cascade flows like a raging river, in terms of timing. Communications is scheduled on the hour, replacing the more deliberate and methodical systems of the past.

 

Many of today’s organizations still retain parts of the hierarchical model but have added some horizontal relationships. This often requires simultaneous communications at both the corporate level and the operating company/division/business unit level. Timing may be parallel, and key messages may be similar, but tone, pacing and details need to be very different.

 

A new “wrinkle” in organizational structures, as we have moved into global communications, involves “the regions.” Some companies now have this third group as a diagonal line, and when trying to communicate simultaneously with them, we run directly into the 24 -hour-day phenomenon.

 

Even our sense of “internal” communications has changed. Our workforce definition may no longer include just our 40-hour workers. Many companies are using contract employees as partners; others are outsourcing whole staff functions to various service- providing entities. Accessing these people through traditional workforce communications procedures may not work.

And finally, where are the employees? We used to be able to link strategic business units to specific locations. It was easy to convey one set of messages to one place. In the changed environment, these people could be many places, and if some of them don’t have a mail stop, they aren’t going to be able to receive your four-page employee newsletter, especially if they aren’t yet hooked up to e-mail.

 

There are also demographic factors creating change. Our workforce is more female, and as we turn the millennium it will be more Asian American, more Native American, more African American, more employees of different cultures, different backgrounds. These demographic changes are matched by psychographic changes: lifestyles so fast that they dictate soundbites and long-distance commutes that offer opportunities to digest information which may be best received through suggest audio-tapes for one group, print materials for another, and discs or CD-ROMs to be read on the laptop for a third.

 

A newsletter that used to take three weeks will now become old news in three days. The fax, the cell phone, and the pager have all contributed to speedy communications and speedy expectations. The workforce of today expects their information now, and that means change for us.

 

Electronic communications – e-mail and voice-mail, for example – are terribly useful tools, but only when people are taught to use them. In our survey, only 15% responded that they had any communications training for use of either of those tools.

 

Think of the promise, the opportunity – and the challenge – of communicating via the internet. Yes, fire walls can be created. Yes, intranet communication is here for some companies. Thirty-seven of the companies we interviewed had a web site, and 17 had some form of employee communications to the site, but only seven specifically said they had Intranet operations. These tools work, but they, too, take training, especially for segments of the workforce who haven’t quite arrived at the digital age.

 

Whether it’s new tools like the Internet or old tools like a newsletter, it’s so clear that the changing workforce requires a “less is more” mindset. Sixteen-page, text heavy documents are a thing of the past. Visual communication through graphs, charts, interesting and engaging graphics is critical if we are to reach today’s workforce in a meaningful way.

 

And the good news? There’s an employee communications audit that can review all existing print and video materials, analyzing how well the pieces convey key messages and at what cost per employee. One of the companies we surveyed reported doing this type of analysis, and reduced the number of newsletters from 83 to ten, at a savings of $1.5m.

 

And, the audits that drove these changes showed over and over again the employees desire for more face-to-face time with their direct managers, as in 360 degree reviews and executive lunch briefings, which were mentioned in 16 of our interviews as a tool, with four offering them via video-conferences at multiple sites.

 

Repeating information is critical. While many of us learned the rule of seven – “it takes seven repetitions before something is “heard” – one company president reported his rule of 22… that it takes 22 times before someone both hears something and will act on it.

 

Probably most critical, however, is that we no longer can function totally using “mass” approaches to communications. It’s niche&#8212;not mass. While we cannot&#8212;nor, in most cases, would we want to&#8212; change the message, we do need to be thoughtful about the translation of that message and, most importantly, we may need to reach different segments in different ways, using different tools, and with differing amounts of repetition and integration.

 

From the 42 interviews and Shandwick USA’s experience, we have found four lessons to be learned:

&#8226; Strategic focus. In order to communicate with the workforce of the future, we must be very clear about channels that will work for them. We must be strategic about how we create our tools. We must, we absolutely must, analyze what we have and streamline it… both to ensure better “reach” of our audience segments, and to identify cost savings in current tools that may be needed as we move into the digital age. Solid, action-focused, outcomes-based plans are clearly required if we are to effectively reach the workforce of the future.

&#8226; Role of the CEO: The antidote for too much change is more stability. And, in most organizations, the perception is that stability can be provided by a strong CEO. But, for strong CEO’s to be effective communicators, effective “senders” of the message, they must work at it. Hard. One of our CEO interviews (and this is typical of many of the clients we work with) said: “I spend 15-20% of my time on communications. It is the most important work that I do. And, it is the one place where I must – and do – continually refine my skills.”

&#8226; Communications training: Just as few employees are born knowing how to design a strategic plan or how to develop an effective cash management system, most employees are not born with strong communications skills. As we move to more real time, more abbreviated communications, as we get into heavier use of charts and graphs, as we intensify the pace of our communications, we must train both senders and receivers….and this absolutely must become part of the required supervisory and management training programs inside our organizations.

&#8226; Feedback: In enhancing the ways we give out information, we must also ensure that there are ways to give back responses to that information. 360-degree reviews need to be broadened into 360-degree feedback for all communications.

 

Times are changing, the workforce is changing. Our communications systems, styles and approaches must also change. And that means we ourselves must change.

 

As Bob Dylan said….

 

“There’s a battle outside and it’s ragin’. It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, for the times, they are a changin’.”