What characterises resilient people is they move forward, deal with the change, learn from challenges and emerge strengthened and even more resourceful.

Have you observed how some people seem to be able to cope with whatever change comes their way while others find it really difficult to move out of their comfort zone? What separates the two is personal resilience.

Resilience involves dealing with those factors or events that cause stress, and it is needed to cope with the challenges everyone experiences at work. What characterises resilient people is they move forward, deal with the change, learn from challenges and emerge strengthened and even more resourceful.

In a recent article, Dr Alan Zimmerman suggests three strategies to build Resilience:

1. Recover: To regain a sense of composure step back from your new situation for a period.  This may mean time out for yourself through exercise or having coffee with someone who will listen to your concerns. Aim to focus your thoughts on what choices you can make for yourself and, as Dr Zimmerman says, “What you are willing to accept is what you get.”
2. Refocus: Take a helicopter view of the change.  Reflect on what has happened, why and what it might mean for the organisation and for you. Identify what is causing your strong feelings.  Ask yourself, will this still matter in a year’s time? You have an opportunity to change your Mindset towards what is happening now. In Monkey Business, researchers Wright, Hager and Tyink wrote, “When you change the way you see things, the things you see, change.”
3. Regenerate: Change is stressful so you need time to regenerate. Be kind to yourself by getting additional rest, eat well, and avoid over use of alcohol. Spend more time with positive, encouraging colleagues and friends. It may require addressing your own self-defeating behaviours.  You will recognise your roadblocks in, “that’s just the way I am,” statements.  Changing these habits requires being ready, willing and able to make the change stick, so seek support if appropriate.

Being resilient is good for individuals and organisations. Rod Warner, author of The Building Resilience Handbook, states there is significant value for organisations that enhance resilience in their workforce because resilient people:

• Experience overall more hope, optimism and positivity and so are better able to cope with job demands.
• Are best able to get through tough times at work and at home.
• Are more likely to learn new skills and knowledge when their existing set become outdated.
• Are less likely to become mentally or physically ill during stressful times.
• Turn adversity into a growth experience, and leverage it into new experiences and ways of working and living.

So, what measures do you put in place to ensure that you bounce back and stay on track during times of change?

Bev Frowen
Senior Associate

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 Mindset’s report, Make That Change: Tips for a Successful Transition to Shared Services, contains some great tips and tools for leading and managing change in your organisation, using a change management methodology that can be applied to any major business transformation.

Download your copy today!

Any organisational change requires a change strategy that allows your organisation to design for success from Day One.

Mindset exhibited and presented at the 15th Annual Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Conference in Melbourne recently, which was all about the IMPACT Shared Services can have on the success and progress of the business as a whole.

Moving to a shared service is fundamentally ‘transforming’ your internal back-of-house functions and therefore requires a change strategy that allows your organisation to design for success from Day One. Using the Mindset change methodology, we were able to provide attendees with useful insights in driving change as opposed to simply managing a project.

What I found most encouraging about the event were the repeated times that negative experiences were shared about how the people side of change was mishandled; the effect this had on organisational culture; the lessons people learnt along the way, and the associated pain this brought to the project. I try to make it a habit not to be encouraged by negativity but, on this occasion, I could hear and see the message getting through. Don’t underestimate the complexity of the organisation and its people!

At Mindset we have applied our methodology to how change management underpins the successful execution of shared services. Research by SSON indicates two of the key mistakes made by firms when implementing shared services is a lack of measurement and monitoring.  Mindset has created a framework to monitor and measure the successful transition to shared services by applying best practice change management principals. Key to this are:

1. Understanding how the organisation learns, shares knowledge, gathers information and manages performance.
2. Tailoring the change management approach accordingly.
3. Defining what constitutes key value for the most critical and often overlooked stakeholder- the customer.
4. Developing measures that keep all parties focused on achieving the desired benefits of the shared service.

In conclusion, it would appear Mindsets are shifting for the positive when it comes to the importance of managing the people side of any organisational change.  We received very good feedback from our Shared Services whitepaper and it has achieved its purpose of getting those on the journey or about to embark on the journey to apply a different mindset to their approach and identify things that they could do better.

Don Holley
Managing Director

Mindset Group are exhibiting at the Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Conference at Melbourne Exhibition and Conference Centre this week.

In today’s market, both global and local markets are highly competitive and with the rise of inorganic growth (through acquisition) across the globe, organisations are constantly on the search for solutions to improve their operational efficiency. This is where Shared Services can be seen to drive cost benefits and operational excellence in a consistent measure across an entire organisation via the standardisation of processes / systems etc and leveraging the size of the entire organisation for economies of scale.

Shared services refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organisation or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organisation or group. Typically organisations may choose to adopt a shared service approach across one or more functions that are duplicated within different entities / divisions of the company such as Human Resources, Information Technology , Finance, Legal and Purchasing.  With the sharing of such services across multiple entities within an organisation / group, the expectation is that the business benefits by reducing operational costs, process efficiency, timely access to information, governance,  consistency and quality of service.

The risk with moving to a shared service is the thinking that designing and implementing the solution is simple, and that companies can just ‘morph’ into the new state of being – of ‘sharing’.  Anyone looking at a children’s playground can easily see that sharing is not always so simple, and adults are no better.  Moving to a shared service is fundamentally ‘transforming’ your internal back-of-house functions and therefore requires a change strategy that allows your organisation to ‘design for success from Day one.

Mindset and Cogniti will launch a new shared services optimisation solution at the 15th annual Australasian Shared Services and Outsourcing Week. This event will be held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Conference Centre from April 16-19, 2012. Drop by Stand 20 and say hello!

Don Holley
Managing Director

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Many Australian companies are looking at business transformation initiatives such as Shared Services to achieve some level of organisational improvement. This requires significant amounts of change to occur in the organisation, both at an individual and enterprise level.

In Make That Change: Tips for a successful transition to Shared Services, Mindset Group Founder and Managing Director, Don Holley, shares his top tips for how your organisation can successfully manage the transition to Shared Services and see the benefits of your investment on time and meeting targets. Click here to download the report.

The language used by the executive can be more powerful than you think, rippling its way to unforseen ramifications.

Greg Smith, ex-executive of Global Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs, this week launched a huge parting shot at his former employer, describing the culture as “toxic and destructive”.  Not the first time, by the way, I have heard an ex-employee describe his/her previous employer in that way.  What is possibly most damaging is the specific language that he claims is used to describe customers, alleging in some instances they are referred to as “muppets”.

Using internal language about clients and employees may seem like a harmless joke, but can quickly get out of hand. Suddenly, an off the cuff comment or discriminatory remark to the wrong person can expose your business to high risk. The language used by the executive can be more powerful than you think, rippling its way to unforseen ramifications.

Applauded by some and attacked by others, Mr Smith has quickly and effectively got his message out there. When the behaviour within the firm contravenes basic principles of integrity, honesty and fairness, people don’t only vote with their feet but their mouths, often causing major brand damage. A phenomenon that is being magnified exponentially by our increasing use and reliance on social media channels.

Companies spend many millions of dollars on cultural initiatives and employer branding. On their corporate website the company says, “Goldman Sachs is a meritocracy built on the belief that collaboration, teamwork and integrity create the right environment for our people to deliver the best possible results for our clients.” Mr. Smith says, “The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.” From an employee standpoint, this is where the real damage is caused – when organisations don’t follow through with delivering on the culture they’ve promised and reinforcement from the leadership team is lacking or non-existent.

If culture was a tangible product that was produced by the firm, I have no doubt that more effort would be put into quality control. But what happens if your people are your product?

Don Holley
Managing Director

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How well do you know your organisational culture? The Mindset Check is a culture and employee engagement survey and report that will help you determine engagement levels, cultural and communication issues, and pinpoint areas for improvement.

Contact us now and a consultant will be in touch to discuss your specific workforce demographics. We will customise the survey based on our discussion with you, and send you a web link to the assessment for your employees to complete.

Culture is either the key enabler of strategic execution or the invisible force that kills it. But so many CEOs are still overlooking this critical piece of the puzzle.

Change Management is one of the biggest barriers companies face when moving to a Shared Services or Outsourcing model. Many Australian companies are looking at business transformation initiatives such as these to achieve some level of organisational improvement. It may be the need to become more competitive on an international level; broader access to supply constrained skills; or the need to reduce costs and/or improve operational efficiencies.

But what’s the one constant that’s required to realise any of these improvements? Change! They all require significant amounts of change to occur in the organisation, both at an individual and enterprise level.

Change management affects every layer of the shared services journey and, as such, presents challenges both at SSO staff and business stakeholder levels. It’s the people involved in the change that will make or break its success, so it only makes sense that you need a plan from the commencement of the project to manage their transition.

I recently read an interview with Pfizer’s ANZ Head of HR Shared Services, Jonathan D’Souza, who said, “For us at Pfizer, it’s a mindset change.” Music to my ears! A key part of setting strategy (that isn’t always recognised) is achieving true alignment within the business so that there is one single direction and approach, rather than multiple differing ones. A lot of clients only begin to understand this mid or part way through the transformation project. The trouble is that by then the activity has already started and the dye has been cast.

Why do so many organisations continue to dedicate inadequate resources to manage the change that is required for a successful transition? Particularly now, when we know all too well that mistakes made during the transition can have an impact for years to come and lead to delays and loss of financial benefits. Or even worse, lead to stakeholder dissatisfaction, which can prevent a broader adoption of the shared services model throughout the organisation.

Culture is either the key enabler of strategic execution or the invisible force that kills it. But so many CEOs are still overlooking this critical piece of the puzzle, a fatal mistake in my book. When will CEOs and leaders of business finally realise that the soft skills are actually the hardest?

Don Holley
Managing Director

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Don will be one of the 450+ Business leaders who will gather to discuss how their organisations can leverage shared services and outsourcing to improve international competitiveness at the 15th Australasian Shared Services and Outsourcing Week. The event will be held in the Melbourne Conference & Exhibition Centre from the 16 -19th April 2012.

Don will be presenting a pre-conference workshop, Workshop D – Make That Change: A 360 degree view of change management with Sandeep Chitale, Head of Business Services at Schweppes on Monday 16th April, 9.30am – 12.30pm. Don and Sandeep’s session will explore the winning formula for successful change management and step through the various stages of successful change management implementation.

If you are interested in attending the conference submit an online enquiry to ask how Mindset can organise a 15% discount for you. We look forward to meeting and talking with you at the Shared Services & Outsourcing Week! Be sure to stop by Mindset Group’s exhibition stand for a chat.

Setting strategy is all about clarity of direction and approach.

A key part of setting strategy (that isn’t always recognised) is achieving true alignment within the business so that there is one single direction and approach, rather than multiple differing ones.

I often hear clients say, “We want help with our strategy,” when what they actually need help with is achieving full and passionate alignment to see their strategy through to execution. That means consistently aligned actions and behaviours throughout the organisation, not just nods around the Board table.

Some clients recognise up front that they need help with alignment, but for most it only becomes clear during the engagement. The trouble is that by then the activity has already started and the dye has been cast. People who are good at telling you what to do (high IQ functional experts) are often not great at fostering organisational alignment and engagement (high EQ team players). People who can do both well are very rare indeed. Further, a linear process of setting strategy in isolation from execution often has problems later.

In his mega selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey nominates, “Begin with the end in mind,” as his second habit. Essentially, the quickest and most effective route to results is achieved by having clarity of purpose and aligned behaviours. So, I ask you, how much faster could your business go if everyone only focused on what really matters?

Ben Ramsden
Senior Transformation Consultant

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Ben Ramsden is a Senior Transformation Consultant with Mindset and former Divisional Strategy Director for a major ASX-10 corporation. He is a strategic change director with a rare ability to truly integrate the commercial and human aspects of change.

It is nearly always quicker and easier to break new ground with external expert support. With Ben’s expertise in creating commercial results through strategic change, we can help you do that. Contact Mindset today!

With the pace of change increasingly picking up speed, how is your organisation and its people coping and adapting?

Who has been past the roadside signs that say, How fast are you going now?  Like many of you, I can’t quite believe that we’re in February already and it’s got me thinking about speed and agility and their critical importance as a business competency in today’s world.

I recently heard a great presentation from Stuart McLean, CEO of Google Enterprise, who is based here in Australia. Several times Stuart said, “Innovation is speed.”  This certainly supports my view of the world we live in and the challenges that both individuals and organisations face with accelerating change now the norm rather than the exception.

Most of us accept the pace of change is increasing but have not necessarily identified the mechanisms that enable us as individuals and organisations to keep abreast of it. If Emotional Intelligence is, “The ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups,” perhaps the progression of this is Agile Intelligence; “The ability of individuals, teams and organisations to predict, respond and cope with change at a speed that satisfies consumer and market demand.” Or, perhaps you have a better definition? I’d love you to share it in the comments!

Stuart stressed the importance of culture at Google as a key enabler to innovation and speed to market. Music to my ears! I know that culture is either the key enabler of strategic execution or the invisible force that kills it but so many CEOs are still overlooking this critical piece of the puzzle – a fatal mistake in my book. So, what sort of mechanisms should your team or organisation be looking for to ensure Agile Intelligence?  I’d start by asking yourself these questions;

• Do you know what your customers need?
• Do you have the internal capability to adapt and respond quickly to changing market conditions?
• Do you foster a culture of innovation and transparency?
• How motivated, engaged and equipped are your people?
• Do you know what your corporate mindset is? i.e. what are the belief systems/values/thoughts that run through your organisations’ veins?

To stay ‘match-fit’ in this environment requires new adaptive ways of thinking.  To paraphrase Executive Coach, Marshall Goldsmith, “What got you here won’t get you there.” Which begs the question, what’s more important these days; strategy or agility? Can you really afford to have one without the other?

Don Holley
Managing Director

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Assess the current mindset of your organisation with a Mindset Check. Our free culture and employee engagement survey and report will help you determine employee engagement, cultural issues and highlight your readiness for change.

Contact us now and a consultant will be in touch to discuss your specific workforce demographics. We will customise the survey based on our discussion with you, and send you a web link to the assessment for your employees to complete.

As your best and last chance to capture actionable data from a departing employee, exit interviews are HR's diamonds in the rough.

Fact: When an employee leaves, all of the time, energy and resources you invested in them walks out the door. Though some organisations will have employees take a brief exit survey, they’re doing little to learn how the company can better attract and retain top talent in the future.

A formal process for managing the end of an employee’s lifecycle–offboarding–is an HR department’s diamond in the rough. They’re your last chance to capture honest feedback from an employee. But you should be doing more than just collecting data. “The organisations that get offboarding right are able to capture feedback and make it actionable,” says Lars Schmidt, Director of Talent Acquisition at NPR.

Offboarding should involve more than a casual lunch on an employee’s last day. If you want to identify opportunities for improvement in your organisation’s process, structure and values–and to wrap up any loose ends–your exit process should include three main components:

1. Administrative:

Questions addressing administrative, legal and compliance items should be straightforward. Though goals for this portion of the interview will vary by employer, you should generally focus on: recovering company property; discussing severance pay and benefits options; and reviewing non-disclosure and non-compete agreements.

2. Strategic:

Getting to the heart of an employee’s reasons often requires some digging. Spark constructive conversations by beginning with high-level question on these topics, and then peel back that onion with care:

• Are employees connected to the company culture? Is decision making aligned with company values?

• Are there things the company should change regarding compensation, succession planning, or work/life balance? Would those changes have persuaded the employee to stay?

3. Tactical:

When handled effectively, offboarding presents a great opportunity to gauge the efficacy of your everyday processes. In the case of employees being asked to leave, Schmidt says, “You want to get a sense of why things didn’t work out from the employee’s perspective. Maybe they weren’t in the right role. We as employers shouldn’t assume that fault is solely on the employee.”

Whether the employee is leaving voluntarily or not, ask pointed questions like, “How efficient are the organisation’s workflows?” or “Did the company offer adequate employee development and opportunities for growth?”

If you handle these situations with care, departing employees can provide some perspective on how the employer can recruit candidates that would be a better mutual fit.

Ending Employment Shouldn’t End Relationship

Regardless of where an employee is going or why, Schmidt advises doing what you can to end things on a good note. “You want to maintain those ties, and oftentimes there are bounce-back employees.” Although you’ll definitely come across a bad apple from time to time, respect and professionalism will go a long way toward closing this chapter of an employee’s career on a positive note.

Guest post by Kyle Lagunas

About the Author: Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice–a company that reviews talent management software and more. He blogs about technology, trends, and best practices in human resources and recruiting. To read this article in full, check out his HR blog at: http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/hr/exit-interviews-hrs-diamond-in-the-rough-112191/

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Mindset’s Talent consultants partner with their clients to source and attract the best talent for their organisations. We work with you to retain your valuable employees and build a long lasting performance culture, providing innovative strategies across the employee lifecycle that are critical to our clients’ long term success. Contact us today to see how we can improve your talent capability.

Keeping a level head and setting sound strategies should always be your first response to unpredictable circumstances.

Globally, the market (yet again) is in a spin….what will 2012 be like? How will the European markets affect our economies and what exactly will happen there….will there be a collapse of the economy?  Will someone come to their rescue?  Will ‘they’ wisen up and change the way they manage their economy, culture and employment?  And it’s not just Europe, what of the USA market?  Will it experience another dramatic, yet predicted fall?  Whatever the outcome, it will not be solved overnight so the reality is that we need to manage our economy and businesses the best we can and put in place strategies to counteract multiple situations.

Let’s think about how companies generally manage financial crises…..many tighten the purse strings, they hold off on investments, cursory spending and the whispers soon sound (if not outright announcements) that jobs will be lost.  This has all happened without so much as a strategy being put in place to ‘weather the storm’.  So the first message your employees hear is, “This ship may be about to sink!”  What can we assume that this does for employee morale and loyalty?

The chances are what we are doing to our people is encouraging an attitude of scarcity (giving those that aren’t high achievers some excuses why they are not performing), breeding a sense of insecurity and downright fear of the future.  Some are stuck…..do I move to somewhere I’m not sure what the future will be like or stay here and stick it out…..better the devil you know?  Mostly that is the thought process of those not confident in their ability to adapt to different environments.  Your top performers will rise to the challenge and take their chances.  Either way your employees may start to resent the way that you have or haven’t managed the potential turn in the market. Those that felt a strong allegiance to your business have now lost faith.

This can be overcome!  The market is what the market is, however, much of the market becomes the way it does because the majority of organisations create those situations with their fear.  They cut off the business that they are providing other organisations, and in turn that also happens to them.  Good old Catch 22!! So what can we do?

• Creating a strategy with your employees of how to weather bad market conditions and getting people focused on the potential opportunities rather than scarcity gives the employees a chance to feel that they are being supported by management and it is safe to ask for help.

• Providing clarity around strategy and purpose (and I’m not just talking about revenue targets – we all understand them, but that does not provide a clear direction and purpose for all employees, let alone a ‘how to’ roadmap).

• Ensure that communication to employees is positive and regular – transparency creates a feeling of being a part of something.  The moment people feel a level of secrecy amongst management, they feel left out and will start creating their own version of the truth and it won’t be good, giving strength to the old ‘rumour mill’.

• Seek help yourself if you are not sure you have enough information and are making the right decisions for the future. Change does not occur with the same thought processes we have used in the past. As Marshall Goldsmith rightly states, “What got you here, won’t get you there”.

2012 has the capacity to be a great year for many……for that to happen we need to be in the driver’s seat, and have our people on our bus and committed to the journey.  How has your 2012 journey started?

Suzanne Corliss
Senior Transformation Consultant
Mindset Group

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A great way to kick off 2012 is to assess the current mindset of your organisation with a Mindset Check. Our free culture and employee engagement survey and report will help you determine employee engagement, cultural issues and highlight your readiness for change.

Contact us now and a consultant will be in touch to discuss your specific workforce demographics. We will customise the survey based on our discussion with you, and send you a web link to the assessment for your employees to complete.

Better integration with Project Management is seen as the next big step in the evolution of Change Management.

Where major projects are concerned, experience dictates that change management needs to be clearly articulated at the outset to maximise success and ensure a smooth transition to the new mode of operation, rather than added in as an afterthought or at a secondary stage.

I recently came across a question raised by US consultant and author, Thomas Luke Jarocki in a LinkedIn group we share in which he asked, “The Next Evolution of Change Management… better integration with project management?” In many quarters of Change Management, better integration with Project Management is seen as the next big step in its evolution as it directly impacts people and process, forcing broad cultural change. However the real question should be, for what purpose?

Typically in a change project, the volume of work and investment is focused on the process management of change and the compartmental changes. This results in the sustainability and ROI of change falling short of expectation and may even deteriorate further over time.

By integrating a methodology at the inception of a project which focuses on the people and leadership during change, we can often change the priority and execution of project activities, which places greater emphasis on project and leadership alignment upfront and during a project.

Time and time again, large corporations invest significant funds into major projects (especially IT in recent history) only to find they have a dud on their hands. In my experience, this can be most often traced back to a lack of appropriate change management leadership integrated into the project plan from the outset, rather than a poor buying decision.

So, rather than thinking of change management as something that you deal with later on in the project management life cycle, I recommend you start to integrate it into your project plan right from the outset. The key outcome for your organisation will be an engaged workforce actively working together to create and implement change throughout the whole business, with employees at every level sharing the responsibility of improving customer service, efficiency and profitability.

Timothy Tucker
Associate Consultant

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Whatever organisational change you are managing, be it the implementation of new technology or re-engineering business processes, a Mindset Check is a critical first step in assessing your readiness for change.

Mindset’s employee engagement & culture survey is completed online by your staff and our consultants provide a leadership report that will identify any issues that may prevent you from realising full ROI on your new business strategy. Submit our enquiry form and a consultant will be in touch with you shortly to set up your workforce demographics. Best of all, it’s free!