Counselling and Coaching – Approaches as redundant as the workforce!

So we all know that the public sector reforms and efficiency drives are now well underway!.

For those employed in this sector, what lies ahead is complete uncertainty. Will l have a job? Where will I be? How will this affect my home life? What about all the hopes and dreams I have for myself and the people I care for?

If you’re in one of these organisations right now, and you’re leading and managing this massive slaughter – can I call upon you to think about how to best support staff for life after employment with you.

The traditional approach in organisational change is to provide very structured and equitable processes so that everyone is treated ‘fairly’ – a word we have heard so much of lately. And in the typical realms of a Human Resource philosophy we see things such as:

• Whole staff engagement exercises
• Organisational change frameworks and policies
• Offer of counselling and 1-2-1 support
• Provision of 1-2-1 coaching and wider career coaching
• Provision of funding for tailored educational courses

But in this new era of economic and global uncertainty – these approaches are as redundant as the workforce. For heavens sake, please don’t think that funding a degree or sending some one off to complete an NVQ is going to help them into the next job.

The traditional career development pathways of defined jobs and competences is being eroded – what we will have in its place are new ways of working that have yet to be designed. What we will need from the existing workforce is the ability to prepare themselves for a world where job titles have less meaning and where hierarchy becomes something of the past – so reminiscent of the public sector and so hard for many to give up.

So my challenge to organisations in the throes of all of this, is to think differently about how you support staff right now. Here are just 3 things that you might want to think about…….

• Forget the 1-2-1 coaching- it’s a waste of money in large scale change of this nature – go for group facilitation and inquiry to develop interpersonal skills, insightful questioning, creative decision making and self resilience. When people leave their organisations they need to have the ability to challenge themselves and others, and question their very being as social and work support structures start to diminish.

• Don’t waste resources by ploughing large sums of money into individual cases – you’ll be getting a much bigger return on your investment by funding collective development so that the benefit has far greater strategic reach and amplification. Have some ethics about how you discharge your final budget.

• Consider your staff as being larger than their ‘workselves’ – start preparing staff for life beyond their immediate employment. They are much more than a member of staff that walks through your doors each day – they have lives, dreams, ambitions and past times that already absorb a large chunk of their working day. Think about how you could help them to consider the opportunities that lie in all of these – and again use group facilitation and inquiry as a collective approach to share the learning and raise the spirit in everyone!

What I’m advocating here is to go outside of the standard HR approach to organisational change. It’s fine in local, discrete and for one-off episodes. But with the scale of what’s ahead both nationally and globally – the standard approach holds no favours for anyone.

Staff are going to have to be much more creative as they think about finding an income in the new world – surely organisations owe it to themselves and their workforce, to show how such creativity is achieved in the first place!

It’s all in the name of change!

Any organisation worth its weight in gold, will want to engage with its workforce when leading them through major organisational change. But for heaven’s sake, can we please move away from this constant safety net of bringing all staff together in one big room, all in the name of ‘staff engagement’!

We’ve all been there! A CEO or MD stands at the front and:

• Tells everyone that they don’t yet know what the future looks like.
• Asks staff to voice their views and concerns.

and of course…….

• Tells the entire workforce that they are the most important asset to the organisation.

The organisation defends its change management strategy by these behaviours – and is proud of the fact that staff have been given the opportunity to attend, hear, listen and speak!

But let’s just stop and think - how could this be done more creatively?

Think about a time when you have had the best conversations in an organisation; when you have walked away inspired; when you have perhaps gone away and made a difference for yourself as an individual and also the wider organisation. And when you look back over your shoulder at those times, does any of the following ring a bell?

• That the best conversations you had happened in small groups (world café?)
• That you felt inspired after talking about things in a positive frame (Appreciative Inquiry?)
• That you felt motivated when you could see the part you play in a much bigger picture (Isn’t this just good local line management?)

My call to organisations is simple. There is a place for large scale events and meetings in keeping the workforce informed – but there is a much wider opportunity to create smaller organisational conversations. Only in these structures will staff feel more able to give the feedback that organisations really need to drive large scale change effectively.

Think big…..Act small!

Confusion through to Clarity... Just have the conversation!

I’m always amazed by an organisation’s unwillingness to take people into uncomfortable conversations – when they know only too well that they need to have them!

Threats to job security. Organisational mergers. Cost reductions in services. Uncertainty all around. It’s plain to see how the public sector is responding to the pressures of the economic downturn and global recession. But on an individual level for people working in these organisations I feel and see utter confusion! Confusion about:

* What questions they dare ask!
* Where will they be in 12 months time?
* How will this affect home and personal lives?

And not for one moment do I suggest that the answers sit anywhere! But people do need to mull over what’s happening and have the space to tread water somewhere safely. For anyone working in ambiguous and fluid environments, it’s accepted that following confusion comes the clarity…..and won’t it feel much better when we get there and have the structure to guide everyone through?

Mmmmm. Confusion is uncomfortable for many, but it does start to give some context and initiate a level of curiosity for what is happening around us.

For those faced with turning organisations around, find the courage to have those difficult conversations with people!.........Build the resilience to take staff through uncharted waters………..Help people to find their own answers through the confusion.

Organisations may not know the answers in times of such uncertainty, but they do know that their staff have emotions, thoughts and feelings…….and if they had one ounce of corporate social responsibility, they’d find ways to explore this healthy turmoil!

Emotional fire in the belly stays with frontline staff!

I’m more and more convinced through my public sector work, that the core body of such organisations are losing their will to connect on an emotional level! The growth of technology in human capital led organisations is simply eroding all emotional connection and breath.

The once needed rapport between people is no longer sought after. The freely given corridor chats are a thing of the past. The curiosity to find out what exists outside of the plethora of performance management frameworks, is simply absent. Conversations which help us to share and explain our emotional connections, have become shorter and less connected to the business of the day.

Technology has flooded us with apparatus that no longer needs two people to meet; no longer needs a group to converge in the same space, or at its simplest no longer needs one office worker to turn around and talk with the other. Think about it! How many of us have seen the invisible emails bouncing around an office as team members talk silently and make decisions in cyberspace!

Those who manage to escape this blanket of a technological cloud are those located closer to the end user – the frontline staff. They have the much needed opportunities to enter into rich and meaningful conversations. They are closer to the organisation’s main customer and user, and furthest away from the technology that is so stifling for the inner core. They hang onto the emotional fire in their bellies that drives and satisfies their personal motives – and we all need some of that!

Surely the challenge is how to grab back the emotion of days gone by? We all deserve some fire in our bellies no matter where we are in an organisation!