According to a report by top European business school HEC Paris, the innovation function is evolving from a process managed by a few, to one that spans the enterprise. And that includes R&D, strategy, marketing and other departments. Across the board, companies surveyed agreed innovation is a long-term initiative to create ‘a sustainable culture of intellectual mobility within the company that integrates all employees to transform ideas into competitive advantages’. And it is a far cry from the burden of relentless cost-cutting and efficiency drives of recent years.

And this research isn’t alone in recognising the implications for L&D. Bersin & Associates’ Enterprise Learning and Talent Management 2011 found that 34 per cent of companies now cite innovation as a top three talent strategy. This is up from only 14 per cent on 2010.

The focus on innovation is driven by, among other things, the limitations caused by an overzealous focus on performance, efficiency and cost-cutting. So if too many employees have been taught to save money and stop taking risks, what do managers now need to do to enable their teams to develop new ideas and drive them through the organisation? And how can L&D help?

L&D needs to review its approach to learning. Traditional management development programmes have served many organisations well in the past. But when innovation, motivation and ideas are an organisation’s source of competitive advantage, processing factories churning out managers with a set of pre-determined behaviours will not produce the goods. So, what needs to be done? The answer lies in five key tasks.

Talk the language of business

L&D people have to talk to senior managers about business, not about theories. By operating and communicating in the same business world as the rest of the organisation L&D will be able to create stronger bonds and get to the heart of the challenges the business faces.

Solve real organisational problems

Senior managers want solutions to their business problems – fast. L&D needs to respond quickly and effectively with the right sort of training. This could mean any number of flexible and tailored approaches, including breaking training into short, targeted and high energy sessions. Or supporting training with coaching and intelligent facilitation to help managers develop and employ new skills.

Look forwards

New challenges need new solutions. If L&D is to deliver real and lasting improvements, it needs to become a ‘productivity partner’ offering practical solutions. To achieve this it needs a broad range of business and market knowledge and a good insight into where the business is going and the environment in which it will be operating in the future.

Use technology

L&D needs to understand the role of blended learning in all its guises to ensure the organisation has more appropriate training delivered in more relevant ways.

Fail fast and move on

Innovation means taking risks. Not all will pay off – and that includes L&D solutions. But with failure comes learning. L&D needs to recognise and understand failure – as well as success – and be open and honest about it. But then it needs to be prepared to change fast and move on to the next solution quickly without getting too absorbed by analysing what went wrong..

The factsheet has been updated to take into account changes in employment law in 2011.

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And that is no small part because coaching is all about change, both external, such as aiming for different results, and internal, looking at self-realisation, beliefs and values.

So here are my thoughts on why coaching is so fundamental to any change programme.

Empowerment

One of the most critical benefits is the opportunity coaching gives individuals to see their situation with greater clarity and from a different perspective. A good coach uses open-ended questions to draw out ideas and unearth new options from the person they are coaching. So through careful questioning – the approach is ask not tell – the coach helps the individual take ownership of the situation which had previously left them feeling trapped or powerless.

Stress and anxiety relief

Kubler-Ross’s change curve illustrates how people experience change. However, progression from shock to denial, anger, testing, letting go and, finally, integration is unpredictable. And it can be even more traumatic where individuals feel they have no control over what is happening to them. Coaching can guide managers through the change curve by helping them explore and tackle the root causes of stress and anxiety at their own pace and in the right way to allow them to move on. The coach is there to make it a smooth journey, not to give the manager the answers. So it is important that managers understand the process and are happy with the choice of coach.

Skills development

When an organisation is going through a change programme, frontline mangers’ skills can be tested to the max. From managing sickness absence, stress and conflict, to improving employee engagement, empowerment and morale, managers are expected to come up with the full package. Yet many managers will not have the whole skill set to constantly cope with the competing emotional and practical demands of a restructure. Coaching is a powerful way to boost managers’ skills quickly and with minimum anxiety through careful action, planning and review.

Focus

In the midst of a change programme it can be easy for managers to lose sight of the larger goal. An experienced coach who understands the overall organisational strategy can help managers stay focused and overcome obstacles and assumptions to learn new ways of doing things. A good coach will also hold managers accountable for their actions so the organisation can be sure they are heading in the right direction. The key is ensuring the coach and the manager know what the goals of the process are.

The future

This change programme might be hard and the end might not be in sight. However, it won’t be the last. To some HR thinkers, learning from change can be more valuable than the change itself. A good coach can help managers learn from their experiences to become stronger and better equipped for future challenges and further change.

So here are my top 10 tips for handling the response to redundancy.

1. Have a clear communication plan

Keep employees informed. All forms of change – including restructuring and downsizing – create uncertainty that impacts on employee motivation. Focus on reducing confusion, even if that means sharing bad news. If you fail to pass on information immediately, the rumour mill will churn out stories that only serve to increase stress and decrease motivation.

And this continues to be the case post-redundancy. Talk to staff regularly to ensure they feel supported in their new roles and reporting structures and they know what they are meant to be doing.

2. Tell the truth

If managers try to relieve anxiety by promising fictitious quick fixes, you will be heading for trouble. Employees need to be taught how to handle change, not to be misled into expecting solutions. It is often the loss of control that increases stress and therefore the level of sickness absence. The only thing that will mitigate this is timely and clear communication – not fabrications.

3. Continue communicating and be available

Managers that spend time with employees and build relationships keep staff longer. If you want to retain your best employees, the organisation’s leaders must be visible. In uncertain times, seeing and hearing from those at the top is important. And this applies to HR too. So make yourself accessible to managers and their teams and answer questions.

4. Cut and simplify work

When times are tough, it is easy to push people to deliver more on reduced resources. But this can lead to burnout and demotivation. Start by reordering priorities on a task-by-task basis and encourage team members to collaborate to figure out how they can achieve them. When doing more with less, there comes a point when it is not only impossible, but demoralising, so be prepared to look at how you can simplify work to get things done or cut out unnecessary stages. (See our Restructuring Factsheet for more)

5. Offer training

Staff and managers may need additional support to take on extra responsibilities. This could mean technical training to do the job.

Also consider managers’ soft skills. Are they equipped to manage their teams’ emotional needs? Many people will grieve for lost colleagues and a style and type of work that will not return. Managers will need help to confidently and appropriately support and encourage staff . (See our Training Needs Analysis Factsheet)

6. Monitor stress

Train managers to look for signs of stress and ensure they have the skills to manage and support remaining employees. Regularly assess the risk of staff developing stress-related illnesses as a result of their work. And ensure managers have the technical understanding and communication skills to manage stressed staff or staff off sick. You will also need to provide mechanisms to support managers and help them positively tackle their own challenges.

7. Monitor absences

Sickness absence can be a problem both during and after the redundancy programme. Follow this closely and be prepared to use occupational input or whatever employee assistance programme you may already have in place. (See our Managing Sickness Absence Factsheet)

8. Consider counselling and coaching

Survivors and their managers will respond in different ways and it is important to look out for those that are genuinely distressed by the changes and need further support. Remember this can include HR as well as line managers. HR people need to be careful not to burn themselves out juggling the emotional needs of the different groups in the organisation.

9. Clarify objectives and reward people

Staff will need additional help to understand and achieve new objectives. Managers need to be prepared and patient and clearly explain goals. Short-term measures will ensure both parties can see progress. Gives lots of feedback and ‘catch people doing things right’ to track progress and grow confidence. 

10.  Be prepared to manage performance

Managing the survivors needs to be addressed with as much enthusiasm and professionalism as the leavers’ programme. However, even where managers are skilled and focus on protecting productivity, team members’ damaged motivation can impact performance. Use your performance management process to focus stragglers on moving forward. And do not be afraid to deal with poor performance using formal processes where everything else has been tried and failed. (See our Managing Performance Factsheet)

Calibre HR & Training has developed a short and redundancy training package to help frontline managers develop the skills they need to manage this difficult process while maintaining morale and motivation.

Part two of this blog (coming next week) will look at what HR teams can do to minimise the dangers in such large-scale change programmes.

Any job cuts on this scale will be a complex task. But it is perhaps more so in the unionised public sector where contractual and statutory obligations have to be meshed with union agreements built up over the years. Yet few public sector HR departments have any experience of substantial job cuts. And neither do frontline managers who will be delivering the programme on a day-to-day basis. And that is a big problem.

Most public sector organisations have large and comparatively well-resourced HR departments, but teams with little or no experience managing public sector redundancies on a large or small scale face the prospect of getting it wrong. And that can be extremely expensive.

One of the biggest risks will be inexperienced managers having to carry out the difficult conversations that are part of the consultation process. But making these conversations meaningful and constructive is essential. Failure to do so can result in Employment Tribunal awards of up to 90 days’ pay.

Such complex negotiations also provide ample opportunities for a variety of legal challenges which could slow down the process and vastly increase the cost.

However, a protracted redundancy process will only serve to further damage already depleted morale and motivation among those who will be staying – and those that will go.

Public sector organisations are of course very much in the public eye. And when service standards slip, it can be front page material. Managers will face the combined challenges of making the redundancies and also continuing to maintain outputs at a time of huge turmoil. How many will be up to the job remains to be seen.

The redundancy programmes about to be unleashed in the public sector will be a hugely costly exercise on every level. PWC in a recent article estimated that every month of delay could cost an additional £100,000 and that the cost of making 100,000 civil servants redundant could range from £5.8 to £9billion. We are talking big numbers.

Given the challenges HR and managers will face in the short to medium term, it is difficult to see the efficiency gains needed to pay for the exercise happening anytime soon.

Calibre HR & Training has developed a short and interactive workshop package to help frontline managers develop the skills they need to manage this difficult process while simultaneously maintaining morale and motivation.

This factsheet looks at the alternatives to redundancies and the things to consider when using them, including:

• Pay freezes and cuts
• Overtime bans
• Flexible working
• Short working weeks
• Secondments

Download our free Alternatives to Redundancy Factsheet