By Nancy Painter

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …”

Charles Dickens was commenting on society when he penned the famous opening lines to A Tale of Two Cities, but throughout history, many situations have earned both descriptions.

Often, what is first seen as the worst possible situation can lead to the best—through ingenuity. Challenge breeds innovation in every area of human endeavour; HR is no different.

Nancy Laughton

Nancy Laughton, managing director at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, helps clients from a range of industries when they’re facing challenges, often when downsizing. That said, one of her most vivid experiences of innovation comes from her own workplace.

Innovation Inspired in the Moment

“The Chinese symbol for danger is also the symbol for possibility,” Laughton points out. “We had a global partner who ended up buying one of our competitors. We were scrambling to service clients throughout the world. We had to move quickly to find a seamless way to do that.”

“So we chose best practitioners in each country and formed the Career Star Group, an alliance of independent companies. We’re now much better able to manage our services around the world,” says Laughton We have an annual conference and develop best practices. We bring on new partners all the time and are connected to more than 800 offices in 73 countries.”

While Knightsbridge was able to rise to that unexpected challenge, Laughton advocates planning as the best preparation for problem situations.

The Flip Side to Tough Times
Laughton and her team often work with employees who remain after downsizing. They begin by encouraging a different attitude. “Let’s flip the coin and look for the positives. Employees might learn new skills, be able to take on new responsibilities, or highlight their leadership capability. They can rise to the occasion. Yes, they’re grieving, but they can move forward, change their view, and see the opportunity to do more than what they’re doing now.”

Leaders must consider the impact on individual people’s lives, the overall organization and remaining employees, she says. Decisions are best made by teams, with input from various viewpoints, including department heads.

“Challenges do bring out inner strength we didn’t know we had,” Laughton concludes. “That’s when we have the most personal growth, take risks, try things, and end up more self-aware.”

Crafting Hytec People Solutions

Deborah Fox, CHRP

The response to one problem can leave an organization better positioned to handle a future crisis. That’s how it worked out at Hytec, a tub and shower manufacturing company located in Armstrong, BC. Hytec is part of the Kohler group of companies and its only manufacturing plant in Canada.

While a depressed construction market meant 2008-2009 were difficult years for building supply companies, Hytec’s HR manager Deborah Fox, CHRP, recognized that ramping up again in 2010-2011 presented other challenges.

“Lots of new staff, a high volume of training, stress to meet the demand for products, the introduction of new faces into a long-established team and integration of new ideas,” Fox recalls. “There were a lot of people with their heads down in their silos just doing what they needed to do.” It was adding tension and conflict to what was traditionally a good place to work.

Oz-some Power of Common Language
In the fall of 2011, Fox was introduced to the Oz Principle through Partners in Leadership. “I thought that it would work here. It provides employees with language and a framework that are safe and understandable, and that can break down silos.”

By identifying “above the line” behaviour (action-oriented) and “below the line” behaviour (ignoring, blaming, waiting to see what happens if nothing is done), the program provided employees with a common language.

The program had been used at the executive level within Kohler, but in the spring of 2012, Fox led its introduction to both administrative/leadership staff and the lead hands on the Hytec shop floor. “There was an immediate change. The next day everybody played with the language.”

Collaboration and Accountability Key
“Any time you share out a tool like this, it holds everyone more accountable,” Fox adds. “It held all of us accountable to greater expectations, emphasizing that you are accountable for yourself and to others.”

Reaction was mixed at first, but employees who already had experience with the concept became advocates for it. “It reminded us to listen to people even when we’re really busy. It increased problem-solving and collaboration, and got us back into using our LEAN tools more intentionally. The tools helped us to not stay in a negative place.”

Fast forward to 2014, which Fox describes as “the most challenging year in Hytec history.” A new process installed in December 2013 didn’t deliver as expected, and employees were forced to do work manually that had been automated for years. “I believe we would have seen terrific turnover without these tools,” Fox says, “but we didn’t lose any tenured employees.”

In fact, through the 12-month struggle with the process before it could be replaced, staff came up with great ideas for how to handle the manual processes and how to improve the automation. The new system that was eventually implemented includes some associates’ suggestions.

Culture Grounded in Organizational Strengths
“We worked together,” Fox says. “People weren’t always happy, but they were committed. When you have a business and culture worth fighting for, you need a framework and foundation you can go back to, that you can identify and speak to.”

In Armstrong, employers compete with other manufacturers and the lure of high-paying jobs further north. “Our goal is to be an employer of choice,” Fox explains. “Hytec has always had strong values and ethics, and a commitment to respect in the workplace, but you need to be intentional about the culture you provide. This is a good way to introduce expectations to new managers. It’s simple, but not easy. Your associates will remind you if you stray too far. It’s okay to be below the line occasionally, but not to stay there.”

The next step at Hytec is to introduce team accountability, using the same tools that have worked so well for individual accountability. Whatever happens, Fox knows they’ll be ready.

Of Communication and Innovation

Marni Johnson, CHRP

Even good change presents challenges. When the North Shore Credit Union changed its name to BlueShore Financial in 2013 as the final step in an evolution-of-brand process, Marni Johnson, CHRP, VP of human resources and communications, and her team had already put in many hours of planning and implementation to ensure a successful “overnight” change.

Almost one-third of its employees had worked for the North Shore Credit Union for a decade or more, Johnson says. “They’re a very loyal and committed employee group, so it was not a slam dunk that they’d support the name change.”

It was crucial that employees become engaged in the name change, support it and be enthusiastic about it. “We know that our clients are very connected to our employees, and are influenced by their reactions,” says Johnson, whose first step was to establish brand ambassadors at all 12 of their locations in the Lower Mainland and along the Sea to Sky Corridor. “We wanted to ensure we had strong two-way communications to lead the change. We asked for volunteers, and got 32 brand ambassadors who were very enthusiastic, and important to the entire exercise.”

Transparency Breeds Brand Ambassadors
Leadership had to communicate with staff, being as transparent as possible, while keeping the new name secret. “Staff felt anxious, that they didn’t have enough information,” Johnson admits, “but we wanted to present the name in context.”

Their solution was to treat the name reveal as a surprise, at an all-staff party held a few weeks before the name went public that changed tension to excitement. The 99 per cent of employees who attended were told the new name in context—why it was changing and how it was being done—then bound to secrecy until the public reveal. “We were thrilled that it didn’t leak,” Johnson says.

Between the internal and external launches, half-day brand training enabled all employees to develop their own messaging to communicate the new name.

Just as the name had been a surprise for most employees, it would be one to the public, allowing Blueshore to provide context, as well gain maximum exposure. While planning had been under way for a couple of years, the public literally saw an overnight change in external signs, internal collateral and employee response.

Managed Change an Opportunity to Innovate
The successful change won the 2014 Canadian HR Award for Best Change Management Strategy. Johnson offers the following tips for emerging successfully from business change:

• Don’t underestimate the impact of change. Even with good change, people need time to react, absorb and adapt to it;
• Plan, plan, plan;
• Remember that not everyone has had as long to absorb the change as those working on it. Allow them the time they need to process it;
• Use as many communication channels as you can. Share your message as many ways and as many times as you can;
• Tell employees everything you can. Explain why you can’t tell them everything, and what they can expect;
• Provide as much certainty as you can;
• Involve employees as much as you can, and get their endorsement; and
• Give employees as much control as possible.

For long-term success, you must maintain momentum past the finish line, Johnson adds. “Change is a process, not a one-time event. It continues long past when you think it’ll be over.”

BlueShore continues to reinforce its brand with staff through emails, face-to-face messaging and videos, and introduces all new employees to it during orientation. In 2014, the company recorded its highest-ever employee engagement score at 81 per cent. Record financial results indicated clients embraced the change, too.

When the company moved its head office in October 2014, it used its brand ambassadors to engage employees successfully again. While the move didn’t affect operations for the entire organization, it was important for everyone to understand it.

“I’m extremely pleased with the processes we put in place,” Johnson says. “I suspect we would not have been nearly as successful as we were without them.”

The Power of a Good Story
Organizations need to build cultures that will support them in bad times, according to Steve Cadigan, a consultant and one of the keynote speakers at the 2015 HRMA Conference + Tradeshow in Vancouver April 28-29, 2105.

Steve Cadigan

“It will always be a more competitive world this year than it was the year before,” Cadigan says. “Companies have to market themselves more than they used to, and talk about their voice and brand, in a world that is unbelievably transparent.

“You have to be a great place for employees or potential employees in good times and bad, or they can go to social media.” Employers are missing an opportunity if they aren’t proactively using social networks and sites to tell positive stories, Cadigan adds. “You need to fill your employees with so many good stories that they’re going to go to their amplification devices and tell them. It’s about teaching your team that if they like working for you, they should tell people.”

The best way to deal with trouble is before it’s even on the horizon, Cadigan says. “You need to build goodwill and trust in your brand. A winning talent strategy is one that enables your organization to ride through good times and bad. You’re always going to hit unexpected turbulence. If you wait for an adverse event, it’s going to be much harder than if you already have a sound employee/management relationship, mutual respect and communication.”

Organizations Look Deep to Differentiate
An organization’s relationship with employees begins at the first contact with a candidate, Cadigan explains. Even if a candidate isn’t a fit, if you handle it well, they may talk to friends. “For an employer brand, that kind of goodwill out in the world really helps you.”

A successful culture emphasizes people, he stresses. “You need to frame it in a way that nurtures people. Find out what’s important to them and makes their heart sing. Learning about someone is more personalized in a digital world where people are seduced into looking at phones instead of people.”

When organizations face tough challenges, Cadigan says, they are forced to look deeply and strategically at themselves in order to win against discouraging odds.

In 2010, LinkedIn wanted to more than double its workforce of 500, but it was competing against Google, Twitter, Facebook and other well known, “sexier” employers that could offer better pay and benefits.

“We had to focus on something that cost us nothing, but would be a difference-maker,” Cadigan says. “How were we different? What assets did we have to differentiate us? We had to fully commit to employee development and career growth, to make this the best job anyone had ever had. We introduced speaker days and one day a month to work on whatever employees wanted.

“We sought employees’ advice and asked them how they felt. We wanted to amplify connections, not just to establish common direction but to build rapport and relationships. It started to really resonate with people, along with our purpose – to help people find their dream jobs. We were offering employees the chance to make a great difference in the world,” says Cadigan. “Our challenge really forced us to look at who we are and what we do. As it became clearer, the tide started to shift in a really positive way.”

Communicate to Innovate in Changing Times
Organizations that engage in such practices are similarly prepared for when internal challenges arise. As internal strife effectively stymies innovative potential, Cadigan has the following tips to add for those facing an unexpected organizational challenge:

• Speak to employees as soon as you can to diffuse fear. Fear drives mistrust;
• Immediately emphasize that “we’re working through this together;”
• Avoid blaming. It only strains relationships by adding fear;
• Never announce news outside before you tell employees; and
• Don’t fall into the common pitfall that you need solutions before you speak to employees. Besides contributing to uncertainty, it fails to recognize that frontline employees are closest to problems and often know solutions that can help you solve the problems much faster than you think.

Every organization eventually faces challenges. While specific situations often spark innovative solutions, the best advice to prepare yourself for the challenge and the solution is to grow a strong, involved culture.

Essentially, good HR.

Nancy Painter is a freelance business writer and a member of the International Association of Business Communicators.

(PeopleTalk Spring 2015)