How to Accelerate Performance Under Pressure: Listen to What Your People Have to Say
Today, with so much change, uncertainty and performance pressures, companies need to move faster. Problems need to be identified and course corrections need to happen quickly. Employee and customer demands keep increasing and evolving. Leaders know they need to prioritize engagement and embrace agility – but surveys and typical management practices are not enough.
Listening to your people through structured, honest, collective conversation can break down barriers and create powerful alliances required for change.
People on the front lines of your organization are the ones who translate strategies into real, everyday actions. Senior executives need to hear from them to stay plugged into what’s truly happening with employees and customers.
This is easier said than done. It’s up to leaders to create the conditions and put the mechanisms in place for the organization to have honest conversations. Trust. Psychological safety. Equity. That means embracing humility and agility and being ready to take action on what they learn.
Honest Conversations Accelerate Strategy
Harvard Business School Professor Emeritus Mike Beer, author of the book Fit to Compete: Why Honest Conversations About Your Company's Capabilities Are the Key to a Winning Strategy, was joined by former BD CEO Ed Ludwig and Lynne Weedall, former Group HR Director, Selfridges for a recent Alliance session.
Together with members of the community, the speakers shared stories from their experience and discussed how this approach makes what can be a difficult and uncomfortable process extremely achievable.
As Ed Ludwig said, “The advantage of this approach is that it forces you to look at the whole system in play, not just a single silo. You get at the root causes of issues, not just the symptoms. It’s incredibly powerful for an organization.”
“If you can’t unlock the friction points, you can’t move quickly.” —Lynne Weedall
Many of the examples shared were completed in weeks, not months, with a positive effect on the people involved and the success of the strategy. The process itself can help a leadership team demonstrate its values and purpose.
Five Ways to Get Employees to Speak Truth to Power and Share Honest Feedback
Create a structured process where people can speak freely without fear of repercussions. Use a trusted team of trained interviewers to gather feedback from all parts of the organization. Keep names of those interviewed confidential. Invite the interviewers to share the themes and examples of what they learn – bringing to life the voice of the organization.
Turn the iceberg upside down. Make sure your process reaches people at all levels, and especially those on the frontlines. With a good team of interviewers and strong process for interviewing and preparing the feedback, it’s feasible to gain deep insight from 100 team members in a couple of weeks.
Make conversations “eyeball to eyeball.” Whether in the same location or virtual, speaking directly to each other will create connection, foster trust, and enable candid feedback on what’s working that can be accelerated and what’s getting in the way, along with ideas for change.
Use a trusted facilitator to work with the senior team through the process. Whether you tap an HR leader from your organization or someone from outside the organization, they can help make sure conversations are balanced and productive.
Make honest conversations a core, ongoing element of your culture. Senior executives should encourage this by asking questions, listening, and being responsive to what they hear.
Want to learn more?
Read Fit to Compete by Mike Beer
