CONDUIT

Middle Managements Role in Managing Change

Peter Adebi gets it right in his recent article, Middle Managements Role in Managing Change. There is no doubt that corporate America is asking a lot of its field, branch and middle-level managers. For starters there are less of them. Thanks to various right sizing initiatives the ratio of manager to employee has dwindled. Factor in changes in technology, product offerings, competitive threats, customer expectations, and regulations and its easy to see why the amount of face time that managers have to guide and develop the attitudes and abilities of those that work for them has declined severely. 

So how does this impact change and change adoption?  I’ll be doing a presentation at The Motivation Show in Chicago later this month entitled Keep the Change! The Role Employee Engagement Plays in Driving Adoption and Utilization of New Business Practices. While that’s not a very sexy title, I think this topic is more relevant today than at any other point in our society.

We live in a hyper- competitive, global market where changing business conditions can shift suddenly triggering swift transforms in strategy and operations.  And while the imperative to change has never been greater and with all that energy and resources focused on change the sad fact is that most change initiatives under perform.

Why is the change track record so uniformly disappointing? Hint; It’s not because the strategic or technical aspects haven’t been thought through. It’s because planners fail to provide the targeted employee constituency with enough personal motivation to make the transition. Change planners fail to consider the human dynamic in the change equation and as a result may also be missing a golden opportunity to create leaders and strengthen employee commitment.

Yes, mangers must play a critical role in communicating the rational for change in a context that employees can relate and buy into. But more importantly organizations need a high level of engaged employees to help adopt the change and provide the role models that are so critical in rapid change assimilation.

I’ll be talking more about this in the next couple of weeks as we get closer to the show.

Is your “people strategy” world class?

Conduit recently examined incentive strategies implemented by leading companies (across 8 industry groups) with both domestic and global participants and found the following trends. 

• Companies are using incentives programs to address critical business behaviors across the entire enterprise. Progressive companies are using non-cash to strategically strengthen cash plans, promote best practices, brand employee behavior, and support training and promote worker competency.   
• The “individualized” communication and tracking of value propositions and performance attainment against goal is on the rise. Fueled by the technical capabilities of web-based programs, more and more companies are utilizing one-one direct marketing style communications and feedback mechanisms while lowering administrative costs in the process.
• Several companies using the web are centralizing (or planning to centralize) all incentive activity into a single web portal. Companies report that the often conflicting objectives of reward consistency and cost control can be realized without compromising or limiting the planning autonomy enjoyed in decentralized units. 
• Real-time web-based reporting is on the rise. Managers using electronic reporting functions report saving considerable administrative dollars while also gaining enhanced planning flexibility and creative options. The move also appears to be adding to the incentive experience for participants and increasing program visibility within the organization.
• As an award mechanism, debit card utilization is on the rise. Based on our interviews, we suspect that debit cards will outpace merchandise as the leading award component for annual programs. Branded debit cards will become the award anchors for integrated reward and recognition programs across a company’s employee base.

What to look for to keep security at its highest?

Companies are under increased scrutiny to secure their information while still giving employees convenient access to work tools and databases. Security gaps don’t necessarily need to be the trade off.  Smart IT pros encrypt all information at every point. It is not uncommon common for individual desktops or laptops to run antivirus software locally. But progressive data stewards are also including personal firewalls, anti spyware, HIDS (host intrusion detection system) or HIPS (host intrusion prevention system) for additional monitoring. Even with these extra layers of protection, it is imperative that firms continue to update the security versions on a daily basis to stay on par with the latest threats.

Of course all this extra work involves extra expenditures and the costs need to be evaluated against the need. Tony Bradley, consultant on network security says "A key consideration when you are investigating endpoint security options is the administrative overhead of implementing and managing the product. If an endpoint security product requires an agent of some sort to be installed, it can be a logistical headache for the IT department and will not offer any protection against rogue devices that connect to the network without the agent software installed."

Network Administrators Have More To Worry About

In the past, network administrators could sleep more soundly knowing their network’s perimeter was locked down.  Configure the firewall properly and keep the anti-virus software updated and your network was assumed safe. Ahh… the good old days!

Then came…what do we call it again? Oh yeah….progress.  As we accelerate further into the internet age technology has evolved. And so have the criminals. The unscrupulous have gotten smarter and traditional protections have gaps.

In our virtual world your people link into the network via PDA, cell phones and laptops with wireless connection. Each entry point jeopardizes the concept of a secured physical network.  Protecting the entire network has become an arduous task weighing heavily on the shoulders (and careers) of the administrator.  The IT staff is increasingly on the defensive, designing programs to counteract clever attacks on internal data and fortifying defenses that encapsulate all computing devices.

Online insecurity

Last year over 53 million people had their personal information exposed online somehow. That’s about 20% of the US population. Those numbers look worse when you consider that the majority of some age groups (the elderly for example) don’t use the web much.  Spamming specialists (and there are a lot out there) are finding increasingly creative ways to track your online viewing habits. Simple, seemingly innocent every day web functions, increases your vulnerability. In the process of downloading a song, shopping or chatting online users run the risk of inadvertently downloading spyware that clutters hard drives, slows downs performance, or permanently disables their computer. 

What does all of this have to do with recognition planning? For many practioners the web is the tool of choice. Cost efficiencies, targeted communication, and real time diagnostics come with the move to cyberspace. But to the ill prepared there is a risk. Sponsoring companies share sensitive information with vendors daily. SSNs, phone numbers, employee IDs, dependant demographics, addresses, etc are part of the normal data exchange. Companies using the web now have the additional need to make certain that sensitive information (either passed on to vendors or published on company intra/internet sites) is secure from hackers and identity bandits.