Category Company Culture

5 Leadership Skills to Drive Empathetic Organizational Change

To create organizational change while still maintaining trust and empathy, leaders must have a deep understanding of their organization and its people. This article highlights five essential leadership skills that will help you drive empathetic organizational change: self-awareness, problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and emotional intelligence to drive lasting organizational transformation.

#1: Self-Awareness

The first essential skill for driving empathetic organizational change is self-awareness. Self-awareness involves understanding your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as having an understanding of the people around you. Being self-aware will help you become a more effective leader and foster better relationships with employees, stakeholders, and customers. Additionally, it will help create an environment of trust within the organization by allowing you to understand different perspectives and empathize with those affected by changes.

#2: Empathy Mapping

The second key leadership skill that helps drive empathetic change is empathy mapping. This involves collecting and analyzing data to gain insights into employees’ needs, wants, attitudes, and behaviors. Doing so allows leaders to understand how employees interact with each other and the organization’s products or services. This will aid you in making informed change management decisions. Additionally, empathy mapping can help identify areas where further research may be needed in order to understand employee needs more deeply.

#3 Communication

Communication is another vital leadership skill when it comes to driving empathetic organizational change. Leaders need to use active listening and storytelling techniques in order to build trust with stakeholders throughout the entire process of organizational transformation. Whether communicating through email, meetings or other means of communication, leaders must ensure that they are communicating their message clearly while also showing empathy toward everyone involved in the process.

#4: Systems Thinking

Systems thinking is another important skill for leaders who are driving organizational change initiatives. Systems thinking allows leaders to consider how different parts of an organization work together in order to achieve success in any given project or initiative. With systems thinking, leaders can take a holistic approach when making decisions about changes that need to be implemented within the organization.

#5: Collaboration/Co-Creation

Finally, collaboration and co-creation are essential leadership skills for driving successful organizational change initiatives. Leaders should strive to empower employees at all levels by encouraging collaboration among teams working on specific projects or initiatives related to the overall goal of organizational transformation. Co-creation also gives employees a sense of ownership over the changes taking place within their organization – leading them to feel more connected with their role in the transformation process.

Quick Summary

Empathetic leadership is essential for driving successful organizational change initiatives as it encourages trust among stakeholders while also creating an environment conducive to collaboration across teams within the company. By leveraging these five key skills – self-awareness, empathy mapping, communication, systems thinking, collaboration & co-creation – CEOs and COOs can lead their organizations toward transformative change without sacrificing empathy or transparency along the way.

WWC can help you increase your awareness as a leader. We conduct research and empathy mapping to help you understand the current state of your organization and how to communicate with your employees. We act as a trusted advisor to guide you into systems thinking so you can collaborate, co-create, and innovate to increase your revenue. Contact us now for a complimentary consultation.

References

  1. The importance of self-awareness in leadership – https://hbr.org/2018/01/to-be-a-great-leader-you-have-to-learn-how-to-delegate-well
  2. Empathy mapping as a tool for understanding employee needs – https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/10/lean-user-research-solving-the-wrong-problem/
  3. Effective communication techniques for leaders – https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2017/06/18/building-a-trust-based-culture-is-easier-than-you-think/?sh=6b4d0a9c6b1e
  4. Systems thinking and its role in organizational change – https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-role-of-leadership-in-organizational-change
  5. The importance of collaboration and co-creation in driving organizational change – https://hbr.org/2018/03/how-to-create-an-innovation-culture
How Becoming a Learning Organization Can Help Your Business Succeed: Reduce Resistance, Improve Innovation & Increase Adoption of New Initiatives

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, organizations must become learning organizations to remain competitive. Learning organizations are characterized by a culture of continuous learning and improvement, and a reliance on employees’ collective knowledge as an organizational asset.

Learning organizations reduce resistance to change through increased collaboration and communication, improve innovation through continual learning and development, and increase the adoption of new initiatives through shared decision-making. Through outlining the benefits of becoming a learning organization and the steps needed to achieve this goal. This article will provide COOs and operational leaders with the skills necessary to lead their organizations into the future.

Reduce Resistance to Change

The most obvious benefit of becoming a learning organization is the reduction in resistance to change. Becoming a learning organization encourages employees to take an active role in their learning, which increases their sense of control and responsibility for outcomes. This builds trust and engagement between employees and management, allowing for open dialogue about proposed changes.

Learning organizations also foster collaboration and communication amongst employees, which reduces barriers to change due to a shared understanding of why changes are necessary. These shared values create an environment where everyone is on the same page when it comes to adapting to new processes or initiatives, making them more likely to be adopted.

Improve Innovation

Beyond reducing resistance to change, becoming a learning organization can improve innovation as well. By providing employees with access to continuous learning opportunities such as online courses or mentorships, companies can create an environment that encourages creativity and innovation.

In addition, by emphasizing a growth mindset over fixed mindsets within teams, companies can ensure that everyone can contribute their ideas without fear of judgment or failure. The collective knowledge gained from these ongoing opportunities allows for new ideas and solutions that may not have been available before.

Increase Adoption of New Initiatives

Finally, by implementing collaborative decision-making processes within the organization’s structure, companies can increase the adoption of new initiatives much faster than traditional top-down approaches. When team members are involved in the decision-making process from the beginning they feel ownership over any new process or initiative being implemented and thus are more likely to stick with it long-term rather than try short-term fixes that may not provide lasting results.

Additionally, having multiple stakeholders involved in the decision-making process ensures that any potential issues are identified early on so they can be addressed before implementation begins.

How to Create a Continuous Learning Culture

Establishing a culture that values continuous learning is essential for any company looking to become a learning organization.

  • Prioritize employee development through training programs and mentorship opportunities
  • Build skills but foster relationships between teams working together on projects or initiatives Invest in upskilling opportunities such as online courses or conferences
  1. Encourage team members to learn best practices from other industries
  • Develop methods to help teams stay current with changing technology trends in their particular field of expertise
  • Encourage communication between teams so information is shared effectively throughout departments rather than siloed away into individual roles

Transform Into a Learning Organization

The changing nature of businesses requires adaptability for businesses to remain competitive. This means taking steps now towards becoming a learning organization rather than waiting until it’s too late down the line when customer needs have changed or competitors have already taken the lead with innovative solutions. While there’s no one size fits all answer for how best to become a learning organization, here’s how you can begin to transform your organization into one.

  • Focus on creating an environment where employee growth is valued and encouraged, communication is open and honest, and decisions are made collaboratively
  • Leverage technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) robotics, and virtual reality (VR), to creatively approach organizational challenges

In conclusion, becoming a learning organization has many benefits, with the three most impactful being:

  1. Reduced resistance toward change
  2. Improved innovation
  3. Increased adoption rates of new initiatives

Implement this within your business model in order to ensure your company remains competitive in an ever-evolving marketplace. Need help transforming your organization into a productive learning organization? Schedule a complimentary discovery call now.

Unlocking the Power of Inclusion and Belonging: Four Ways Leaders Can Foster Teamwork and Drive Performance

Leaders can create a spark to ignite a culture of inclusion and belonging by intentionally creating an environment where all employees feel valued and respected. A culture of inclusion and belonging drives performance, unleashes creativity, strengthens teamwork, improves communication, and builds trust among colleagues. This article explores how organizational leaders can foster an inclusive team atmosphere and create a sense of belonging for their employees. By doing this, they can go beyond checkbox DE&I tactics to strategically unlock the power of inclusion and belonging to drive organizational performance.

To truly create a culture of inclusion and belonging in the workplace, leaders can take several steps to ensure everyone feels welcome and included.

#1: Create a Psychologically Safe Environment

The first step is creating an environment where open dialogue is encouraged among team members. This groundwork can quickly become a checklist of to-dos without a strategic groundwork of psychological safety, where an effort is made to increase comfort in communication.

Leaders can foster this atmosphere of openness by:

  • Modeling good communication practices themselves
  • Actively listening to others’ ideas and opinions
  • Asking questions to get more clarity on the issue at hand
  • Avoiding assumptions or judgments about other people’s experiences
  • Respecting differences in backgrounds or opinions.
  • Establishing ground rules for communication at the beginning of meetings or group conversations

These tactics can help ensure everyone feels heard and respected during discussions.

#2 Commit to Developing a Sense of Belonging

The second step toward building a culture of inclusion is helping employees feel like they belong in the workplace. Feeling like you belong somewhere contributes greatly to better performance outcomes for everyone involved – when people feel accepted and appreciated within their organization, they are more likely to take initiative on projects or tasks without feeling intimidated or discouraged. Leaders should look for ways to provide individual recognition for accomplishments or successes but also celebrate collective achievements as well.

#3: Communicate Performance Expectations

Thirdly, organizational leaders should make sure expectations are communicated throughout the organization so that there is no confusion around roles or responsibilities among team members. When expectations are communicated effectively from the start of any task or project, it not only helps reduce stress levels but also creates an inclusive work environment where everyone feels included and valued for their contributions.

Additionally, having transparent communication across departments will enable employees to stay up-to-date with changes in procedures or policies that may affect their job duties in some way. This ensures everyone is on the same page regarding processes within the organization’s operations.

#4 Understand Diversity Transcends Race

Finally, organizations should recognize that diversity isn’t just a reflection of racial variety – it’s something that must be cultivated to develop acceptance as a norm. Leaders should celebrate differences between employees rather than see them as weaknesses or hindrances to productivity. Open-mindedness is an important factor in embracing different perspectives from diverse backgrounds. This mindset leads to improved team problem-solving and improved customer service experiences when dealing with customers from outside individuals’ familiar demographic groupings. Everyone should feel accepted regardless of external variables like race or age orientation.

Creating a diverse workforce isn’t always easy. However, organizational leaders need to understand that inclusion and acceptance are essential parts of any successful business model.

Taking active steps to unlock the power of inclusion and belonging looks like this:

  • Fostering trusting relationships between colleagues
  • Setting clear expectations
  • Recognizing individual contributions
  • Celebrating diverse perspectives
  • Encouraging open dialogue among team members

By doing this, organizational leaders can unlock the power of inclusion and belonging within their workplaces—leading toward enhanced performance outcomes throughout the organization.

Are you looking to understand your employee experience? Curious about the current inclusion, belonging, and performance environment in your organization? WWC can help. Connect with us now for a complimentary consultation.

References

Grant, A. M., & Parker, S. K. (2009). Redesigning work design theories: The rise of relational and proactive perspectives. Academy of Management Annals, 3(1), 317-375.

Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 23-43.

Cox Jr, T., Lobel, S.A., & McLeod Jr., P.L.(1991) Effects of ethnic group cultural differences on cooperative and competitive behavior on a group task. Academy of Management Journal, 34(4), 827–847.

Nishii, L.H. (2013). The benefits of climate for inclusion for gender-diverse groups. Academy of Management Journal 56(6):1754–1774.

Homan, A.C., et al. (2019). Diversity in work groups improves team performance because it increases informational diversity. PNAS116(30):14835–14840.

How to Create a High-Performing Healthcare Organization: Strategies for Improving Employee Experience and Job Satisfaction

As healthcare organizations continue to face changing market forces, the ability to attract and retain talented employees is essential for success. In today’s highly competitive environment, it is no longer enough for executives to focus solely on performance metrics. Instead, they must be proactive about fostering an environment where employees feel valued and engaged. This article will explore key strategies small healthcare organizations can use to improve employee experience and job satisfaction, helping them create a high-performing organization.

#1: Create the Right Culture & Values

Every organization’s success is dependent on its culture and values, which are the foundations of how people interact with each other and carry out their work. It is important for small healthcare organizations to create an environment that reflects their core values and promotes job satisfaction. This can be done by encouraging open communication between management, staff, patients, and providers, as well as providing opportunities for employees to give feedback or voice ideas on ways to improve operations. Additionally, it is important to recognize achievement and reward success in order to motivate team members to do their best work every day.

#2: Encourage Effective Communication & Collaboration

Employees need to feel like they are part of a team in order to foster collaboration and promote a sense of company loyalty. To ensure effective communication within the organization, management should place a priority on creating an environment where different perspectives are valued and respected. Holding regular meetings with staff members can help ensure everyone is up-to-date on projects and provide them with a forum for sharing opinions/ideas. Implementing an open-door policy can also encourage employees to share their thoughts directly with management without hesitation. Along with these strategies, it is important for executives to regularly communicate company goals/vision so that everyone understands how they contribute towards achieving them.

#3: Provide Training & Development Opportunities

Any organization looking to stay competitive in today’s market must invest in learning opportunities for employees. By providing training courses or workshops on relevant topics, small healthcare organizations can help enhance employee engagement, productivity and morale while preparing staff members for future challenges within the workplace. Not only does this give employees the chance to grow professionally but it reinforces the commitment from leadership towards developing their staff; something that goes a long way in creating satisfied workers who remain loyal over time.

#4: Establish Employee Recognition Programs

Recognizing employees for their hard work helps build morale, improves motivation levels and reinforces positive behavior within the organization. Small healthcare organizations should consider implementing recognition programs such as awards/incentives or praise delivered publicly or privately depending on the individual preferences of each employee. Other simple forms of recognition include sending out personalized thank you cards or hosting events/activities outside of work time where team members have the chance to connect socially while still getting credit for their contributions at work.

#5: Exploring Flexible Working Arrangements

The demands placed upon healthcare professionals have grown significantly over recent years making flexible working arrangements increasingly attractive; particularly among younger generations entering the workforce. For instance, allowing telecommuting options or adjusting hours when needed throughout the year could support a positive employee experience while still ensuring high-performance results from all team members.

In summary, there are several strategies small healthcare organizations can use to improve employee experience within their workplaces.

1) Create a culture that reflects core values

2) Establish effective communication channels

3) Invest in learning opportunities

4) Implement recognition programs

5) Explore flexible working options

All of these steps combined will help leaders create a high-performing organization with satisfied team members.

ABOUT WHAT WORKS CONSULTANTS

What Works Consultants helps organizations committed to the health of their communities create productive organizations. We help executives with internal research, process improvement, and internal communications, leveraging the power of people operations to create positive outcomes. www.whatworksconsultants.com

Teamwork and brainstorming concept with businessmen seated around a table each pointing to cards with colorful sketches of light bulbs conceptual of bright ideas and solutions arranged in a circle.
Collaboration: Building Shared Vision in Your Organization

Teamwork and brainstorming concept with businessmen seated around a table each pointing to cards with colorful sketches of light bulbs conceptual of bright ideas and solutions arranged in a circle.It can sound a little harsh, but it’s true. We live in a “what’s in it for me” society. This mindset is at the core of benefits marketing, where marketers need to be very conscious (and communicative) about what the benefit of their product or service is to their target market. However, what some leaders can overlook is how they can apply benefits marketing concepts inside the organization to create shared vision and, as a result, forward momentum.

Shared vision = shared results.

When a leader can build shared vision and specific benefits around a project goal, the buy in increases productivity, momentum, and passion behind the project. In essence, it gets done easier, faster, and better because people see why the project matters to them.

This was highlighted in one of our recent projects in state government. A grant directive was passed down with a short timeline. Although the grant was provided, no succession plan was in place for this great bit of public health communication that was being developed. What Works Consultants worked with the interested internal stakeholders to determine who needed to be involved. More than that, we researched what mattered to each of these stakeholders to develop benefits-driven shared vision for the project. The result: Everyone sees “whats in it for me” and they are bought into the project.

Are there places in your organization where your projects are stuck? Maybe they don’t move as quickly because they lack shared vision.

Here are some quick tips to develop shared vision and get things flowing.

  1. Have a meeting of the minds: Take the time to sit down and discuss the challenges, aspirations, and goals of the people who you would like buy in from. This will show you “what’s in it for them” in regard to your project.
  2. Assess their position: Will they be involved, kept informed, uninvolved, or perhaps they are a supporter who can provide ideas and open doors?
  3. Enlist in their role: Once you see their role, gain buy in on time commitment and responsibilities. Set process around how they prefer to be communicated to and commit to fulfilling your communication promise.

Building shared vision can lead to great collaboration. Do you need help doing this within your organization? Set an appointment to connect with us!

 

HR Views: Hiring to Company Culture

Is your company culture more than writing on the wall?

Unfortunately, at many companies, company culture is something that is written down by the leadership, placed on an inspirational plaque, and left for the dust bunnies to eat. When the leaders are asked about company culture, they point to the wall, not understanding that its the work and not the walls which create the culture.

I have a culture for What Works Coaching and What Works Recruitment that is expressed in how we do business. If you ask those who are part of my company, they don’t just recite the culture, they work it!

What Works Coaching helps individuals and companies in crisis or transition discover opportunity and take action to create results.

THE WHAT WORKS TEAM IS:

Passionate: We are passionate about what we do and why we do it.
Enthusiastic: We radiate enthusiasm. Our clients love our energy and they love to work with us because of it.
Proactive: If we see something that needs to be handled, we do so proactively. We openly and freely exchange ideas.
Original: We come up with original processes and utilize those versus someone else’s cookie cutter. We treat every client as the individual they are.
Empathetic: We put ourselves in our clients shoes and offer solutions with compassion.
Supportive: We are our clients biggest cheerleaders and supporters. We support each other the same way.
Responsible: Civic and social responsibility and responsible client service is at the core of all we do. We always act with integrity.
Honest: Rigorous honesty, internally and with our clients, is our constant policy.
Culture checks come with honest inquiry at the time when the culture itself is challenged? When a team knows to culture check on the parts of the culture they are most challenged by, they can improve themselves AND the service the company provides.

Is your culture infused in your human resources, operations, and communication – or is it just writing on the wall? Let us help you instill the culture your clients deserve.