Thriving teams: Why change shouldn’t hold your business back brought together Scott Christie – Head of Training and Integration, Strengthscope; David Edwards – Global Head of Workforce Planning, Ericsson and Anne Guérin-Moens, Group Human Resources Director, SBM Offshore.
All agreed current times were bringing diverse pressures and uncertainties to employees and organisations. Not only are external events – economic, political and so on – creating unprecedented times of change, but organisations are also changing rapidly, altering their course according to markets and opportunities.
To address some of the negative and stressful fallout from change, the panel highlighted the importance of being clear, direct and honest with employees about the need for change and to provide the kind of support required to help teams see change through. As Anne noted one of the issues at stake for organisations is the danger of disengagement with employees – that they might feel left out of considerations when change comes, with organisations presuming instead that employees will fall into line and do whatever needs to be done. However, organisations really want employees who are agents of change, ready to take on every challenge – to be part of what Anne describes as a collaborative culture.
Scott explained that understanding employee strengths can help both for teams to work together more effectively and for individual employees to be managed in a way that is more effective for them. Gone is the one size fits all approach to people management, by understanding employee’s working style and attitude it is possible to deliver more effective support and encouragement for employees to do their best.
As far as HR is concerned, David Edwards believes the function has a clear role here, taking the initiative to lead the conversation and strategy around change. By taking on that responsibility, HR can gain status and position within organisations. This isn’t just a chance to take advantage of the opportunity but for many businesses its a way to deal pro-actively with the ongoing world around them.
