Vanessa Cowan

Company X Business on Call Contact Centre: Commercial Banking Change management case study Culture alignment and improved people morale Approval State Approved by Prepared by Reviewed by Path name Vanessa Cowan Document Change Control Version 1.0 Date 16-07-07 Authors Vanessa Cowan Summary of Changes Document Sign-Off Name (Position) Signature Date Prepared by Path Name Associated Documents Name Case Study Template Page 2 Contents Page 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................- 2 PROBLEM STATEMENT .................................................................................................................... 4 WHAT COMPANY Y DID ............................................................................................................... 4 OUTCOMES OF THE PROJECT .......................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ..........................................................................................- 3 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 4 THE CLIENT: BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................ 6 OVERVIEW OF PROJECT HISTORY .................................................................................................... 6 CHALLENGES AND/OR RISKS ......................................................................................................- PROBLEM STATEMENT / INITIAL CHALLENGE(S) ................................................................................. 7 HURDLES ENCOUNTERED DURING THE PROJECT ................................................................................ 8 ANTICIPATED CHALLENGES ............................................................................................................. 8 4 APPROACH ...................................................................................................................................... 9 5 VALUE PROPOSITION ..................................................................................................................... 9 5.1 WHY THE CLIENT CHOSE COMPANY Y ......................................................................................... 10 5.2 OUR CONTRIBUTION .................................................................................................................... 10 5.2.1 Change Management – Understanding the context and preparation for change ...... 11 5.2.2 Change Management – Develop and implement the Change Management Strategy 14 5.2.3 Change Management – Review and Measure ............................................................... 17 5.2.4 Career mapping and development of a career plan for the contact centre. ............... 19 6 NEXT STEPS / FUTURE PLANS .................................................................................................... 19 6.1 STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFIED ......................................................................................... 20 7 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS.................................................................................................... 20 8 RESULTS, VALUE AND BENEFITS............................................................................................... 20 8.1 8.2 9 QUANTITATIVE RESULTS / VALUE / BENEFITS .................................................................................. 20 QUALITATIVE RESULTS / VALUE / BENEFITS .................................................................................... 21 LESSONS LEARNT ........................................................................................................................ 21 9.1 10 KEY LEARNINGS ........................................................................................................................... 21 TABLE OF TEAM ROLE PLAYERS ........................................................................................... 21 Case Study Template Page 3 1 Executive Summary 1.1 Problem statement The COMPANY X Commercial Centre of Expertise contact centre was faced with high staff turnover, absenteeism and generally low people morale in early 2007. The exact cause of this staff unhappiness was not clear. Further, a business decision to move the contact centre from Randburg to Jhb city centre had been taken. It was important for COMPANY X to ensure that this move was smoothly orchestrated, with the least impact on contact centre performance levels and on people. 1.2 What was done by Company Y A structured change management intervention was put forward to look into and address the people related problems and to effectively manage the relocation of staff to their new location. The change intervention was further supported by the development of a career development plan and map for contact centre staff. The bigger focus of the change intervention was to address culture alignment. 1.3 Outcomes of the project The change intervention ensured the smooth relocation of staff to their new premises and sufficiently prepared and enabled people for behavioural changes needed to accompany the move to Bank City. Most significantly, culture change was successfully initiated in the form of alignment to the COMPANY X performance based culture. The COMPANY X people pillar survey and the change management readiness assessment survey were used as baseline measures for tracking future progress. A review of both these surveys, four months down the line, indicated positive progress made, particularly across the areas of alignment to COMPANY X values, most notably accountability and respect. 2 Introduction and Background 2.1 Introduction At initiation of the project in February 2007, the COMPANY X Centre of Expertise (COE) contact centre was experiencing a number of people problems. These were manifested by a high staff turnover and a downturn in the scores measured by the most recent COMPANY X people pillar survey (Dec ’06), a survey tool used to track progress on softer, people and leadership dimensions. The exact nature of the people problems was not clear at the outset and the client requested that the cause of such problems be both investigated and remedied. COMPANY X identified the urgency to initiate a formal change management intervention to address such problems. COMPANY X Commercial Banking had recently also identified the need for the Centre of Expertise to become a more integral part of the wider Commercial Banking strategy, implying the need for closer alignment and integration with COMPANY X Commercial. A business decision had been taken to move the Centre of Expertise back to the city centre, where it had previously been located when it first formed as “Service at Kairos”. Part of the project scope was therefore also to ensure a smooth transition to Bank City, from the centre’s existing Randburg location. Case Study Template Page 4 Having done some initial investigation into the context, unCompany Yue client environment and business requirements, COMPANY Y recommended a structured change management intervention that would entail reviewing and changing ways of working, the business environment and identified incorrect staff behaviours, to align with the vision for the Centre of Expertise to become a full service and support centre across all channels, creating and sustaining enduring, rewarding relationships. In meeting this vision the Centre of Expertise and all current staff were to be relocated to Sage building in Bank City, with the least possible impact on the business and its people. There was, in addition, an urgent need to retain staff and increase people performance through career development, offering COE staff a “career in banking”. Career mapping and the development of a Career plan was therefore a further integral part of the change project. The three critical project objectives were: 1. To ensure the smooth relocation of all COE staff to the Sage building in Bank City 2. To initiate a culture shift in support of and aligned to the wider Commercial Banking business strategy 3. To do Career Development mapping for staff of the COE, and develop a Career Development Strategy to give all staff the opportunity of a “career in banking”. While an identified business need was to provide staff with the necessary support in terms of environment, training, resources and improved processes and systems, this project scope was restricted to the change intervention alone. This was, however, highlighted as a risk during the course of the project, in that change management should always support changes taking place within the organisation, for example organisational (structure and roles) changes, systems changes, process changes or technology changes. In this instance, COMPANY Y had recommended a number of critical process changes, before the onset of the change programme, however the client wished to restrict their focus to the people component initially. As the change project progressed it was highlighted on numerous occasions that process changes not being implemented in conjunction with the change project was a major potential impediment to success as the behavioural changes needed would be constrained by the lack of process change support. The consulting company was nonetheless successful in meetings its primary project objectives. The move to Sage building in Bank City ran smoothly, from a people perspective, with the majority of people expressing that they were well prepared for and informed of all details relating to the move. One or two technical problems were experienced in the first few days and building renovations were not fully completed, but these issues (beyond the control of the consulting project) were smoothed over and any people risks were mitigated as effectively and timely as possible. The initiation of a culture shift in support of the wider COMPANY X culture and Commercial strategy was seen to be evident by the end of the project, with people Case Study Template Page 5 dressing and behaving more professionally and a handful of people starting to take greater ownership and pride in their work (this is in line with expectations at this early stage of change i.e. just three months since the onset of the project). The COMPANY X people pillar survey results (reviewed in June 2007) improved from a score of 6.3 to 6.6 demonstrating gradual desired change (again in line with expectations at this early stage of a culture alignment process). The Career development plan was successfully completed and launched at the end of June, along with a new name change for the contact centre. The move from “Centre of Expertise” to “COMPANY X Business on Call”, was considered to be more reflective of the vision of the contact centre and more appropriate, in view of its roles and functionalities. 2.2 The Client: Background The Centre of Expertise is a small contact centre comprised of approximately 61 people (at the time of project inception), whose function it is to service the Commercial customer, in the revenue bracket of 0-300m per annum. This includes Commercial bank clients in the Small, Mid-Corporate and Agriculture sectors. The contact centre functions as the telephony delivery channel for COMPANY X Commercial. The centre was formed just over two years ago, as Service at Kairos, where the original focus was very much on back office processes and admin, with little attention paid to customer service. The contact centre moved from Bank City, in Jhb city centre, to Randburg almost a year following its inception. The focus was then moved towards being a contact centre. By February 2007, there was a stronger focus on service/query resolution and areas of both internal and external customer relationship management were evident. New leadership of the centre has been in place for just under a year. The focus of the new strategic head is on query resolution and quality service, ultimately moving the contact centre from operating as a cost centre to operating as a profit centre and increasing the profile of the COE in the greater Commercial area. The vision is to be a differentiated full service and support centre to all its Commercial customers, across all delivery channels ensuring that people, technology and processes all converge to deliver one voice or experience to customers at each and every interaction. . Within the Commercial banking environment, financial compliance and regulatory issues are of primary importance. As a contact centre, the metric of service levels is considered most critical in terms of measuring performance improvement. 2.3 Overview of project history The project was initially scoped to run over a three month period but was extended to four months as the client sought COMPANY Y’s assistance in facilitating the smooth implementation of a number of critical initiatives. Further support was provided beyond this time period, in the form of follow up for one day a week by the change manager, for an agreed period. 3 Challenges and/or Risks Case Study Template Page 6 3.1 Problem Statement / Initial Challenge(s) At the start of the project, the client drew COMPANY Y’s attention to a number of their key business challenges. These included: • • • • The need to address the risk of high staff turnover in the COE The need to address high levels of staff dissatisfaction and incorrect behaviours as evidenced in their most recent People Pillar Survey (Dec ’06) The need to ensure that the relocation of staff to Bank City in town would run as smoothly as possible, with minimal impact to the business The urgent requirement for career growth and development within the COE Having gained a greater understanding of the context of the intervention and type of change required, COMPANY Y identified a number of further, related business imperatives. These included: • • • • The need to address culture alignment, to link the COE more closely to the COMPANY X Commercial strategy and ensure greater synergies and team based performance The need to ensure that behavioural change is long term and sustainable, ensuring that people adapt to the change and commit to a new way of working The need to create a compelling picture of the future, and thereby set the COE up for future success in meeting this vision The need to ensure that the people and behavioural change intervention was supported by systems, process, technology and/or organisational changes, where required. Identified business benefits included: • • • • • • Enhanced people performance through building a strong performance based culture Cost and time savings through employee retention and satisfaction Increased customer satisfaction as well as employee satisfaction Enhanced profile of the COE within the Commercial Banking unit Attractive and differentiated Career Development programme to attract the right people to the COE and the Commercial Banking Business (COMPANY X Commercial to be positioned as the bank of choice for job applicants through an appealing and totally unCompany Yue “Career in Banking” offering) Increased customer profitability through improved staff morale and performance One risk of the project, identified upfront, was the short term duration of the intervention, particularly since it pertained to culture change. Culture change can typically take up to 18 months to become fully entrenched in an organisation or business unit. This risk was mitigated by managing client expectations throughout Case Study Template Page 7 and by restricting the scope of the project to the initiation of a culture change, the entrenchment of which was to be carried forward by the client. 3.2 Hurdles encountered during the project One of the biggest challenges of the project was the stand-alone nature of the change intervention. As mentioned in the introductory section of this paper, the client was reluctant to engage COMPANY Y in scoping and addressing any process inefficiencies/ineffectiveness or the lack of sufficient processes. While a two-week high-level scoping exercise was undertaken to gain a broad understanding of the current context and potential for improvement, the client preferred to prioritise and a decision was made to address only the people problems, via the change intervention, as a matter of urgency. However, the assumption that you can fix people problems, without also providing the support mechanisms for change is fundamentally flawed. The four levers of change in any organisation include technology, processes, organisation and people. All these levers are inter-related; therefore change in any one of the four levers may impact significantly on one or more of the remaining three. While people changes, in the form of changed attitudes, motivation, beliefs or competencies, may be required to enhance performance and reduce dissatisfaction, it follows that such behavioural changes will need support from one or more of the other levers of change. The support needed will be dependent on the context of the project and type of change intervention. In the case of the COMPANY X contact centre, behavioural change was needed to drive culture alignment to the COMPANY X performance based culture. While culture change may certainly be driven inside out, beginning with changing people’s core attitudes and beliefs, this is the most difficult form of change, as such attitudes and beliefs are deeply rooted and further reinforced in the messages that go out to an organisation’s people on a daily basis, thereby perpetuating the already dominant culture. It is therefore advisable to tackle culture change from both an “inside out” and “outside-in” approach, meaning that changes to the visible aspects of the organisation, such as processes, procedures, structures, systems, technologies etc, are needed to support the bigger culture shift. Work done on changing people’s attitudes is therefore aided through the process of validation – once people start to experience small changes on a visible level, benefits are felt and it is easier to challenge and change prevailing attitudes and deeply rooted beliefs. 3.3 Anticipated challenges The hurdle highlighted above, if not sufficiently addressed or initiated within a reasonable timeframe, may prove to be the biggest future challenge, in terms of ongoing sustainability of changes introduced. Further challenges anticipated include a lack of sufficient ongoing commitment to the role of integrating changes effectively into all ways of working and the need to continuously monitor and review the effectiveness of changes introduced and adjust where necessary (or evaluate the relevance of new changes requested, to first ensure “fit”). Although this function was identified as falling under the responsibility of the HR manager, during the handover phase of the project, there was concern that Case Study Template Page 8 insufficient time and energy will be dedicated to this. The risk of inadequate HR support was raised throughout the project. This was and will continue to be mitigated by continuous follow up by COMPANY Y over the course of the next few months. 4 Approach The approach taken, from the client’s perspective, was to deploy the use of a change specialist, better equipped to tackle the problems through the application of a structured change management programme. The client confessed to a lack of understanding as to the causes of unhappiness amongst staff, as numerous efforts had been made, in the past, to meet the perceived needs of staff. These included making improvements to the work environment, changing leadership, seeking the input of staff in designing an outcomes-based incentive and more. At the time of project initiation, the client expressed fears that, with the then high rate of turnover, the contact centre faced the prospect of losing the majority of its staff. The approach taken by COMPANY Y to was conduct the project within a framework of change management, with the structured change management intervention forming the backbone of the entire project intervention (at this early stage in the project it was anticipated that process work would follow, providing additional support for needed behavioural change). The mapping and development of a career plan was however seen as an essential component of support, in facilitating the necessary changes. It played a primary role in demonstrating a more tangible and real benefit of the broader change intervention. 5 Value Proposition The value of change is never easy to quantify and demonstrate, particularly immediately following the intervention. People typically go through a rollercoaster of emotions and must move through a number of natural stages before they understand the need for change and start to see the benefits themselves. Different people go through these stages at different times and some take longer than others to get past the “valley of despair”. This is why it takes time to really see the deeper and longer term benefits of change, as all people need to work their way through the change cycle. It is only when everyone starts working together, management and staff alike, each taking ownership for driving some element of change, that the momentum really kicks in and real change is effected. The challenge then is to ensure that the change is sustainable; every effort much be taken to align, integrate, and reinforce those changes until they become part of the organisation’s identity or “way of doing things.” The value of change, throughout the process, is nonetheless demonstrated through gradual shifts and small wins, noticeable to the people that have bought into change, but often not shared by those still resisting the change. A review of the change readiness assessment, a baseline change measurement tool deployed at the beginning of any project, is the best indicator of progress made, however small these changes may be, at first. The value proposition that may be built out of this change intervention undertaken is a structured approach to managing change and, more specifically culture alignment. Case Study Template Page 9 The change model used and designed to meet the unCompany Yue needs of COMPANY Y, is shown below. Details of the full change and culture alignment process are captured in section 5.2 below. 5.1 Why the client chose COMPANY Y COMPANY Y had an existing strong relationship with the COMPANY X Commercial Head of Delivery and Channels, through prior work undertaken for this client. COMPANY Y utilised the skills of an experienced change manager in meeting the expectations of the client. 5.2 Our Contribution The project mandate was initially, broadly speaking, to fix the people problems. However, upon greater investigation and contextualisation, the project was fully scoped to include all change management steps and activities essential for meeting the three major deliverables. These deliverables were: • • To ensure staff buy-in and support of the relocation as well as a successful transition to a new way of working. To demonstrate behavioural changes in line with COMPANY X Commercial banking business strategy and the COE vision Case Study Template Page 10 • Career mapping to address staff growth and development as well as staff retention The scope of the change intervention was defined across four broad areas: 1. Change Management – Understanding the context and preparation for change 2. Change Management – Develop and implement the Change Management Strategy 3. Change Management – Review and Measure 4. Running in parallel to the change activities, was the career mapping and development of a career plan for the contact centre. A summary of specific change management activities and interventions across these four areas is outlined below. 5.2.1 Change Management – Understanding the context and preparation for change This crucial first step in the change programme involved carefully reviewing the current context through research, leadership, management and staff interaction and general fact finding. Information gathering included getting a high level sense of the then prevalent culture and climate of the contact centre. At the start of the project, some 61 staff, including contact centre agents and management of the Centre of Expertise, operated from small premises located in Surrey Street, Randburg. There was generally perceived to be a lack of community at the contact centre, and there were clear indications of a “silo-ed” approach to working and interacting with others. The lack of multi-skilling or job rotation across teams, as well as the build up of a number of other deeply entrenched attitudes and beliefs, was such that teams each worked for the team only; there was generally a selfish attitude and lack of willingness to help other teams, or individuals in times of pressure. People morale at the centre was extremely low, absenteeism and turnover of staff was high and most people confessed to being demotivated, commenting that they “came to work only to earn a salary”; that “work was no more than a job”. There was further a feeling that work was not generally taken seriously, with “people doing only as much as they want or feel like doing.” Most significantly staff and management alike felt that there was a strong lack of respect amongst both staff themselves and between staff and management. The culture was found to be highly individualistic, even within teams themselves, and a general sense of apathy and indifference to work prevailed. In this early stage of the project, it was important to identify the type of change intervention required to address prevailing people problems. Although a more thorough investigation of the root causes of people problems had not yet been undertaken, in the form of the change readiness assessment, it was evident that the contact centre needed to align more closely and assume a higher profile within COMPANY X Commercial. This entailed culture alignment and therefore indicated change of both a modular transformative nature, since the realignment affected just one division of COMPANY X but involved shifting the mindsets, attitudes and behaviour of staff and transitional change, focused on fixing a problem. Case Study Template Page 11 It was also critical to develop a case for change. The case for change or burning need for change involves assessing “where we currently are,” “where we want to be” and the strategy we need to deploy to cross the gap and reach our future desirable state. A vision statement was discussed and created and the objectives for reaching this were defined as milestones for the project, and the bigger change journey, with clear timelines defined. This case for change was then used to inform the project positioning going forward as well as key messages to be relayed and reinforced throughout the change initiative. Clarifying the case for change and project messaging upfront is an important first step to building awareness and understanding of the project, through providing a strong rationale for change and compelling people with a picture of a more desirable future. Thutuka is born Staff were invited to come up with suggestions for a project name in line with communicated project positioning. As a result, the Thutuka change project was born. Thutuka, a Zulu word literally meaning “moving on up” was found to be most relevant in terms of the desirable future direction of the centre and it best matched stipulated criteria for selection. Thutuka also had the associated connotation of growth, progress, becoming important and influential, all deemed to be an integral part of the project, which was ultimately about staff becoming more professional, changing the way the contact centre was seen by Commercial, gaining the respect of others and becoming a more influential and important player for COMPANY X. In addition to building and providing a rationale for the need for change, the preparation stage of the project involved developing and conducting a change readiness assessment. The change readiness assessment is a process that assesses the organisation’s readiness for change, focusing on understanding how change was managed in the past, how much change capacity the organisation and its people have, how conducive the processes and structure of the organisation are for change and what the current perceptions are of leadership, communication and other significant culture and climate indicators. A two-prong approach was used in this project, whereby both a change readiness survey and change readiness focus groups were conducted. The change readiness survey provided important input for the focus group discussions and allowed for more in depth investigation of areas highlighted as problematic. The focus group discussion were also used to begin preparing people for the changes to come through communicating the purpose and intention of the Thutuka project, the vision of the contact centre and milestones for reaching this as well as indicating the changes to come. It was further used to discuss and record staff expectations of the project, so that these could be effectively managed throughout the project and expectations aligned to those of management. Finally the focus groups also provided some important qualitative input into the current culture of the contact centre as well as the desirable future culture. The decision to run focus groups as a support to the change readiness survey was a critical success factor for the project. Case Study Template Page 12 The benefits were twofold: focus groups allowed COMPANY Y to ascertain the validity of survey findings and, most importantly, created inclusiveness, giving people a chance to share their past experiences and frustrations with others and be heard. Although there was a generally negative or indifferent mood at most of these sessions, many people nonetheless indicated that the sessions gave them some hope that things would change and acknowledged that it was an important first step in preparing them for the change to come. Results coming out of the change readiness assessment built a far greater understanding and clarification of problems identified upfront in the contextualise phase. Findings broadly indicated that people were generally comfortable with change and expected the move to Bank City to be a success. Areas highlighted as needing urgent attention included communication, particularly face-to-face communication which came out as the preferred means of communicating, career development and growth, living out the COMPANY X values and management transparency and honesty. The lack of respect for one another, amongst both staff and management emerged as a top priority and pointed to the greater need to align the contact centre culture to the COMPANY X performance based culture, where the COMPANY X values of respect, innovation, ubuntu, pride and accountability are lived out in everyday behaviour and decisions taken. The change readiness assessment then formed the most important input into the change management strategy and detailed change plan of action. A further important aspect of preparation for change involved identifying key stakeholders and doing a stakeholder analysis, the foundation for ongoing stakeholder management throughout the project. Stakeholder management assists in managing stakeholder support throughout the project by assessing impact levels, commitment to change and specific concerns of stakeholders potentially affected. It also takes into account the potential impact (positive or negative) on the project of stakeholders with high influence. Ongoing stakeholder management ensures continual stakeholder relationship building and the promotion of end user and organisational buy-in to the objectives of the project. It builds commitment and capacity for change, the critical enablers for a successful transition to the desired future state. An important function of stakeholder management at the establishment phase of change management, the phase immediately following contextualisation and setting the tone for the preparation phase (refer to the change model in section 5 above), is to ensure that project team members and key stakeholders understand their respective roles and responsibilities in the project, that expectations between all parties are clearly established and documented and that behavioural standards for conduct throughout the project are discussed and committed to. Paying sufficient attention to the appropriate establishment of the project team is an important critical success factor for ongoing good stakeholder relations. Case Study Template Page 13 5.2.2 Change Management – Develop and implement the Change Management Strategy This execution stage of the change programme is crucial in that it involves actual execution of actions intended to address problems revealed by the change readiness assessment and as identified through various other mediums or channels. In short, execution of the change management strategy is intended to help move the organisation from the current state, identified in the preparation stage, to the future desirable state, as expressed in the case for change. The function of change management is to ensure that changes implemented are done so with the least possible impact on the business, on people and performance and to reduce the time it takes for people to move through the transition period, adjust to new changes and commit to a new way of working and behaving. The implementation of change at the COMPANY X contact centre was informed by the results of the change readiness assessment survey and detailed supporting findings coming out of the focus group sessions held. Further, the change strategy was built around the business needs therefore it was critical to address culture alignment to the bigger COMPANY X vision and values and COMPANY X Commercial’s strategic direction. The high level change management strategy, put together in the preparation stage of change, was used to inform the development of a more detailed change management action plan. This outlined the plan for stakeholder management across identified key stakeholder groupings, communication across these different stakeholder groupings and with the broader staff base as well as the plan for mobilising key stakeholders and all staff. The three functions of stakeholder management, communication and mobilisation are core to any change programme and are initiated upfront as soon as the project begins but they must be constantly reviewed and updated, as the change programme moves along. They are most significantly informed by the change readiness assessment and therefore new or additional approaches to each must be built into the detailed change management plan. The change plan developed for the contact centre further outlined a structured plan detailing how to tackle the needed culture alignment. An important support to the strategy and plan for change was the development of an appropriate and attractive career development plan, intended to both attract and retain staff to a “career in banking.” Work on the career development mapping and plan was initiated upfront in the project and ran in parallel to the broader change management activities. Tackling culture change Before a culture shift could be initiated, it was necessary to first do a more through analysis of the current culture of the contact centre. The focus groups undertaken in the preparation stage were used to elicit further information on the current culture. This information was gathered using two tools: 1. A culture exercise, also serving as an icebreaker to the focus group sessions and 2. A culture continuum. Case Study Template Page 14 In the culture exercise participants were asked to show visually, through a drawing, what the contact centre would look like if it were depicted as an animal, both currently and as it would look in the desirable future. Much qualitative information about the existing and desirable culture was gathered through this exercise. Using the culture continuum, participants were asked to assess, for each of a number of culture dimensions, on which side of two contrasting poles the organisation currently lay, or to reflect if it lay somewhere between the two poles. To gather more detail on the current culture, following focus groups, a number of qualitative, semi-structured culture interviews were undertaken, with a representative, random sample of contact centre agents. These culture interviews gathered information across various dimensions of culture, including perceptions of the existing culture, elements of culture, heroes, subcultures, policies, procedures and rules and culture creation. The analysis of interviews conducted indicated that the current culture was largely mixed. It could not be classified as any one definable culture as there was not enough evidence of the strong characteristics/defining attributes of a single culture or mix of two cultures. Some elements of a role based culture were however evident. The characteristics of the role culture most prevalent in the centre included a focus on the achievement of maximum efficiency and a strong focus on formal procedures and regulations concerning the way in which work is to be conducted. In a role culture the organisation also sees itself as a collection of roles to be undertaken rather than as a collection of people or personalities. Crossing the chasm Since the culture of COMPANY X itself is a performance based culture, the task ahead involved aligning this mixed and non-uniform culture to a performance based culture, in which individuals, teams and the business are expected to deliver what they agree to. The performance culture is a culture where people are empowered to take ownership but with this comes accountability. If people take initiative, go the extra mile, live out the values of the organisation and deliver superb performance, it is strongly recognised and rewarded but if they do not deliver they are held to account for poor performance. A bottom-up, inclusive process was followed in effecting the move from the current culture state to the desirable future culture state. This process involved workshopping the behaviours needed to support the COMPANY X values, in other words defining those behaviours each person needed to display, in all interactions with fellow staff, management and customers, to really reflect the COMPANY X values. Due to time and business constraints, as well as the nature of the contact centre environment, it was not possible to involve all staff in the behavioural workshops. Instead, staff were asked to nominate representatives, across each team area, to participate in the behavioural workshops. The purpose of the workshops was to collectively create a behavioural blueprint for the contact centre, to drive the living out of COMPANY X values. Case Study Template Page 15 The workshops were successful in the participative approach taken; both staff and management together defined what they felt to be the most relevant and definitive behaviours behind each of the COMPANY X values. The process gained buy-in through involvement and further provided people the opportunity to work across teams – something sorely lacking in the then individualistic culture. The input gathered from different workshops was then clustered and captured in the form of a behavioural blueprint. Before final sign off of the blueprint, it was validated with both management and staff representatives for accuracy and inclusiveness. The behaviours defined by both staff and management working together were closely matched to the behaviours needed to drive a performance culture. This match emerged naturally, indicating that such a culture was equally as desirable to staff as it was to management. What lesson did we learn? Trusting and believing in the people of the business invariably produces the best end result. In using a collaborative bottom up approach, not only were employees fully engaged and included, but management expectations were surpassed as results generated came out fully in support of the requirements of the business. This collaborative approach to culture change is a critical success factor in the long run as it creates the right platform for driving the desired changes in behaviour. To ensure that the new behaviours were both celebrated and effectively communicated down to all staff, they were officially launched at a staff function, where a ventriloquist successfully used puppet characters to reinforce the correct messages and to display how the new behaviours should manifest in all new ways of working and interacting. The behavioural blueprint and a signed pledge by staff to commit to these behaviours were further visually displayed, in the form of posters, around the centre. Mobilising support and driving ownership Mobilisation of change typically gathers momentum during the implementation phase of change, as a greater number of people start to buy into the change when the benefits become apparent and there is evidence of some small wins. However, the people that buy-in are usually limited to those closer to the change programme and involved in some way or another, for example the network of change agents. The mobilisation of change begins at earlier stages in the change intervention with the identification and appointment of the network of change agents. Change agents for the COMPANY X contact centre were identified during the preparation stage of change, when the focus group sessions were held. Change agents were chosen based on a number of factors such as attitude to change, degree of influence amongst staff, level of outspokenness and general willingness to get involved and provide input. This network of change agents were engaged throughout the project but were required to play a more significant role in the implementation phase, when the drive for good and effective communication, enablement and ownership at all levels of the organisation is strongest. Aside from engaging the support of change agents, other crucial mobilisation activities included the initiation of a monthly employee forum, giving staff the chance to voice any issues or concerns or generally provide their input, the implementation of activities designed to reinforce the desired culture, for example monthly product talks and motivational movie screenings and the celebration of successes for Case Study Template Page 16 example the launch of the new name for the contact centre and the career development plan and the launch of the new behaviours. Effective, consistent and regular communication was further used as an ongoing mobilisation tool, reinforcing the rationale for change, preparing people for new changes to come, encouraging accountability and ownership for change and creating excitement and a stronger sense of community within the contact centre. A new performance assessment process and the introduction of new behaviours further supported the initiation of a performance driven culture, where the COMPANY X values of accountability, innovation, respect, pride and ubuntu are lived out. Further change interventions Following the change readiness assessment, numerous additional change requirements were identified, in particular the need to address performance management. Staff were particularly unhappy about an outcomes based incentive programme, then in place. When introduced, the intention of this outcomes based incentive was to motivate individuals to perform better in meeting required contact centre metric targets. The incentive was, however, found to be having the adverse effect of demotivating staff, largely because of the way in which it was being implemented. It became apparent that the success of the change intervention was also contingent upon addressing performance management. The project was extended by a further month, as COMPANY Y was requested to facilitate in reviewing the problems with the current performance assessment and to further help implement new solutions developed as well as to ensure the smooth implementation of the career development plan. The means, metrics and approach taken in assessing performance was evaluated and a revised, more holistic, process for measuring performance was put forward. This performance measurement approach was aligned to the new approach being taken by COMPANY X Commercial. Whereas contact centre agents were previously assessed solely on outputs in terms of meeting defined contact centre metric targets, such as service levels and schedule adherence, the proposed approach to performance management involved assessing performance from a results, competency and contribution perspective. The performance assessment process was formalised, with a planning session and quarterly reviews built into it. Career development planning and discussions were further aligned to the performance assessment process. The behaviours defined in the new contact centre behavioural blueprint were also built into the new performance contract as one aspect of employee contribution towards the bigger COMPANY X Commercial objectives and the COMPANY X vision. COMPANY Y was also responsible for ensuring that team leaders and staff were trained on the new performance assessment process and the career development plan, and played a facilitating role in ensuring that the first performance and career planning discussions were appropriately handled by team leaders. 5.2.3 Change Management – Review and Measure The final stage of the change intervention involved measuring progress made by the changes introduced, and setting the cornerstones in place for continuous monitoring and review of changes implemented, as well as any new changes proposed. Case Study Template Page 17 A review of the change readiness assessment survey, as carried out at the beginning of the project, was used to measure the progress made. One of the functions of the change readiness assessment is to serve as a baseline point of measurement against which to measure progress made further down the line. It was recommended that this review tool be used every three months, throughout the change journey timeframe, until all new changes are firmly embedded in the organisation. The first change readiness review for the contact centre already indicated progress made in aligning the centre to the COMPANY X performance based culture and addressed other high priority areas. Integration and alignment of changes introduced to all “ways of working” was an equally important change function, at this final stage in the change project. Together, ongoing monitoring and review, and consistent alignment and integration form the building blocks for sustainable and therefore successful change. Integration, alignment and sustainability of culture change Having signed off the behavioural blueprint, the next critical step in terms of culture alignment was to integrate the defined behaviours into all relevant HR policies and procedures, performance assessments, development plans, and any practices and programmes within the business unit which deviated from the COMPANY X performance culture. In short, behaviours needed to be reinforced through being aligned to all ‘ways of working.’ Due to the short-term nature of this project, ownership for the integration of behaviours to relevant policies and procedures and recruitment processes was assigned to the HR manager for the contact centre, however COMPANY Y took responsibility for the alignment of behaviours into the performance assessment process and into the new career development plan (detail of this was provided in the section above titled “Further Change interventions”). The change handover plan further detailed clear client roles and responsibilities for ongoing change functions such as alignment. The shift in culture change desired is created by reinforcing and driving the identified, correct behaviours. Ultimately the creation of a strong culture that supports the business strategy is successful in driving high performance, bringing benefits to the business, to shareholders, to customers and to employees. This process of integration and alignment is still underway at COMPANY X and will be up for constant review in the future, ensuring that the necessary “checks and balances” are in place for driving culture change in support of the organisational strategy. In order to start effectively making the move from old habits and behaviours to new ones, it is equally important to drive the reinforcement of correct behaviours through both recognising and rewarding the display of desirable behaviours while discouraging incorrect behaviours. This is best done through the development of a programme of activities to drive the desirable behaviours and therefore culture. At COMPANY X a comprehensive culture activity plan was put together with defined timelines for the initiation of the various activities. Culture activities initiated immediately included the introduction of a recognition and reward programme for the living out of the new behaviours, as well as a top performer’s award programme. At this point of culture change it is critical that activities initiated are effectively carried through into the future. Starting an initiative only to stop it after one Case Study Template Page 18 occurrence is tantamount to failure and will put the project at enormous risk. The effort to change culture must remain focused, with much persistence required. It is always easy for people to fall back on old habits, which is why making the change really stick is of enormous importance. This will require ongoing reinforcement of behaviours through all communication messaging, through leadership interactions with staff, through performance evaluation, through reward and recognition, through consistency and alignment to policies and procedures as well as any new initiatives introduced. Example of a culture alignment plan Clarify strategy and Vision • Define client strategic ambition • Create compelling vision • Create roadmap of milestones for reaching Vision Align client shared values to strategy, vision and client brand identity • Create consistency in messaging • Reinforce values through communications Create shared understanding of what values mean in behavioural terms Develop behavioural blueprint & align to internal policies Initiate culture change programme Reinforce, measure and monitor desirable behaviours • Behavioural workshops: – Staff & Mgt • Agree on specific measurable behaviours for each value • Consolidate workshop outputs • Create behavioural blueprint (shared understanding of behaviours behind values) • Integrate behaviours into policies / procedures / PA process / recruitment practices etc. • Communicate behaviours behind values • Create specific activity schedule of ways in which to demonstrate and reward behaviours • Indicate measurables behind each activity • Allocate timelines and responsibilities to initiate • Review progress of activities integrated against measurables • Refine, where necessary • Initiate new actions where needed Vision Workshop Top Mgt Behavioural workshops- Staff representatives and mgt Culture change programme Ongoing Staff & Mgt date Start date 5.2.4 End date Start date Career mapping and development of a career plan for the contact centre. As outlined in the case study above, the career mapping and plan was developed in parallel with the change process. Since the deliverable of this was tangible, it provided important validation of the benefits of change. Since one of the key triggers for change was the lack of sufficient growth and development of staff within the centre, it was important that a career development plan be put in place for staff to both attract and retain people to a “career in banking.” The implementation of the career development plan co-incided with the implementation of the new process for performance management, providing sufficient proof of the benefits of change at this critical execution period in the change process. While some people may buy into change in its early stages, the majority of people generally refer to adopt a “wait and see” attitude, which requires that the benefits of change first be demonstrated. 6 Next Steps / Future Plans To counter risks of the change not being fully sustainable due to the short nature of the project, particularly so for change of this nature, it was agreed that the change manager would stay on for 1 day a week for a period, to continually review and monitor the effectiveness of ongoing culture activities and to ensure that changes introduced are effectively reinforced and embedded into the organisational way of life. Case Study Template Page 19 6.1 Strategic Opportunities identified A direct result of this project was the initiation of a broader scale project for COMPANY X Commercial, involving the development of career plans for the whole of Commercial, which spans eight functional areas, each with a set of sub areas. The value of the change function was widely recognised and acknowledged by the client, and this role has now been integrated into the career mapping project as an essential support function. . 7 Critical Success Factors Critical success factors identified before the onset of implementation of change included: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Identifying a plan of action for addressing urgent process, systems and technology changes Ensuring that critical information was effectively filtered down to all staff and that there was ample knowledge sharing Good and effective communication throughout Expectations alignment between management and staff Shared understanding of the rationale for change and the benefits Management visibility and support Management group committed to the change and champions taking ownership for making it happen Ongoing communication of COE vision and strategy for reaching this Involvement of staff throughout and follow up on their input/suggestions/concerns Addressing inconsistent ways of working Management transparency and honesty COMPANY X Commercial understanding of current capabilities of COE and future vision Identification, mobilisation and involvement of key stakeholders Sustainability of change through management and staff ownership These were monitored throughout to ensure success of the change intervention. The first critical success factor listed, “Identifying a plan of action for addressing urgent process, systems and technology changes,” was related to the project hurdle described in section 3.2 above. By ensuring that leadership took accountability for addressing the most urgent process, systems and technology changes, through a well communicated and time-driven action plan, the risk of the change intervention not being supported by process and systems change was mitigated, as far as possible. 8 Results, Value and Benefits 8.1 Quantitative Results / Value / Benefits Progress made was measured quantitatively, using a Change Readiness Assessment Survey Review as well as the COMPANY X People Pillar Survey. The Case Study Template Page 20 change readiness comparative results are included as Appendix 1. The COMPANY X People Pillar scores have not been included as these may be of a confidential nature. 8.2 Qualitative Results / Value / Benefits Qualitative progress has been observed by project team members and Commercial management alike, in the form of the more professional conduct and dress of staff, increased ownership for delivery, greater participation in events, a greater display of respect, more two-way interaction and engagement between staff and mgt, more effective and professional team functioning and a marked change of attitude of a number of staff, now seen to be actively seeking opportunities for development and improvement. 9 Lessons Learnt 9.1 • • • • Key learnings Never underestimate the importance of face-to-face communication. Even when faced with challenges in terms of meeting this requirement, due to the nature of the environment e.g. a contact centre environment, it is important to secure time to interact with people on a personal basis as it builds trust and wins buy-in at early stages in the project. Involving people in the process of defining the behaviours behind organisational values is critical for a number of reasons: it creates ownership for the behaviours generated, it brings people from across different areas of the business unit or organisation together in defining the behaviours that should be consistent across all areas, it creates far greater buy-in to the change and mobilises people to want to change, as they are felt to be important players in the process. Trusting and believing in the people of the business invariably produces the best end result. In using a collaborative bottom up approach to culture change, management expectations are often surpassed as results generated came out fully in support of the requirements of the business. It is always important to secure the involvement of at least 1 or a number of client resources in the project team, from the onset. Client resources should not be restricted to project sponsor and project champion roles but should include staff as actual change team members, to help implement the required change, but most significantly in order to ensure that there is adequate skills transfer taking place throughout the project. This is not always a requirement for COMPANY Y, when general process work is undertaken, but should particularly be taken into consideration when change management accompanies process work. 10 Table of team Role Players Team Member Kim Tomlinson Vanessa Cowan Rowan van Tonder Case Study Template Role Delivery Manager Change Manager Business Associate Page 21