Name
Chris Cox
Learning Agreement
Please describe at least 3 major strengths you currently have in your leadership role. (Learning Agreement)
I have been operating in a formal leadership capacity in the work environment since 2018, however prior to that I have been involved in many aspects of leadership both inside and outside of work for many years. To date I would say that my key strengths as a leader are:
1) Genuinely caring for my staff and wanting the best for them - I see people as not only a critical tool in delivering the mission of the business, but as a key part of the mission in themselves. I love to get to know my staff and develop strong bonds with them, and seeing them develop and succeed brings me greater joy than any personal recognition. I believe that those I lead follow by choice and I have seen many times that my team will go beyond what is required of them without needing to be asked and without reward because they believe in the value of what they do and know that I will keep their best interests at the centre of my decision making.
2) Mission focus - Once I understand the mission which the business or team is trying to achieve, I work to ensure that distractions and non-essential tasks/barriers are removed so that I and my team can focus on what is really important.
3) Staff development, coaching and mentoring - Linked to the first strength, I love investing in people and helping them develop. It is one of my core drivers as an individual and it greatly influences my leadership style. One of the things I find hardest is when I feel I am too busy to spend time investing in the growth of others.
4) Being able to make difficult decisions - Linked to being strongly mission focused, I have never been afraid to make the difficult decisions. In my early career I was know for taking on floundering projects and being able to bring them quickly to a conclusion - either as a success or by closing the project to prevent wasting anyone's time. In my current role as head of department, I regularly face difficult decisions which impact staff or project delivery and I find it easy to make the difficult calls when I need to or to support others in making the decisions that are required of them - providing a sounding board and encouragement to stick to their decisions.
5) Being able to admit fault - Early in my career I was told by a mentor never to admit when I'd made a mistake. I quickly learnt the error of that advice and now see it as an essential part of good leadership. I have experienced how admitting and owning your mistakes creates openness and trust within the team which strengthens the team during future challenges.
1) Genuinely caring for my staff and wanting the best for them - I see people as not only a critical tool in delivering the mission of the business, but as a key part of the mission in themselves. I love to get to know my staff and develop strong bonds with them, and seeing them develop and succeed brings me greater joy than any personal recognition. I believe that those I lead follow by choice and I have seen many times that my team will go beyond what is required of them without needing to be asked and without reward because they believe in the value of what they do and know that I will keep their best interests at the centre of my decision making.
2) Mission focus - Once I understand the mission which the business or team is trying to achieve, I work to ensure that distractions and non-essential tasks/barriers are removed so that I and my team can focus on what is really important.
3) Staff development, coaching and mentoring - Linked to the first strength, I love investing in people and helping them develop. It is one of my core drivers as an individual and it greatly influences my leadership style. One of the things I find hardest is when I feel I am too busy to spend time investing in the growth of others.
4) Being able to make difficult decisions - Linked to being strongly mission focused, I have never been afraid to make the difficult decisions. In my early career I was know for taking on floundering projects and being able to bring them quickly to a conclusion - either as a success or by closing the project to prevent wasting anyone's time. In my current role as head of department, I regularly face difficult decisions which impact staff or project delivery and I find it easy to make the difficult calls when I need to or to support others in making the decisions that are required of them - providing a sounding board and encouragement to stick to their decisions.
5) Being able to admit fault - Early in my career I was told by a mentor never to admit when I'd made a mistake. I quickly learnt the error of that advice and now see it as an essential part of good leadership. I have experienced how admitting and owning your mistakes creates openness and trust within the team which strengthens the team during future challenges.
Chris these are impressive strengths and obviously serve you well in your leadership role. "Genuinely caring" is so important in leadership - the key word being "genuine". So many in a leadership role project a caring personality but sadly it is often a mask they wear because they think it is the right thing to do, or have been told it is what they must do. People see through it and it creates mistrust. Your coaching and mentoring skills not only help you to support others' development but also give them the confidence to find opportunities and take responsibility for their own development. I totally agree with your take on mistakes. Often when we put our "hands up" and admit our mistakes, others will come to our defence and take a share of the 'blame". The focus should be on the mistake not the individual. (Harry)
Please describe at least 3 areas you would like to improve. (Learning Agreement)
Having been in a senior leadership role for almost 3 years, I have become acutely aware that I am far from the finished article when it comes to leadership. In particular I would like to improve in:
1) Emotional Intelligence - I think I have reasonable emotional intelligence, but I'm not sure it comes naturally to me, and when work picks up or I'm working remotely from staff I find it much harder to gauge their emotions. I also struggle sometimes to perceive how people will react to certain situations or changes - expecting all people to act the way that I do. This is particularly true when engaging with people outside my own teams where I may not have the relationship in which to ground their actions, speech etc. As an example, I was responsible for rearranging the desk plan across our offices a few years ago to make space for a number of new starters joining the business. For my direct team I felt that I had earned enough of their trust to make decisions with minimal consultation as I felt (accurately) that they would trust that I had considered their best interests. However, I had failed to consider that I hadn't built this trust with some staff outside my team and as a result they were quite upset not to have had much consultation in the process. I see now that there are a number of ways that I could have greatly improved this situation had I had the emotional intelligence to consider the situation from different people's perspectives.
2) Ability to work with different personal styles and approaches - Generally I see significant value in diversity within a business and an essential part of my recruitment process has been to bring in people who fill the gaps in my and my teams capabilities. However, (and linking to emotional intelligence) I can often get frustrated when people carry out an activity in a way which isn't what I had planned or intended - or even just not how I'd do it. On my better days, I can find this helpful as it enables me to consider different approaches and see ways to improve what we do; but more commonly I can get frustrated and want to correct them. I would like to grow in patience in this area, but also in genuinely recognising and valuing the different personal styles and approaches of people I work with.
3) Communication skills - Again, linked to emotional awareness, I am aware that I can communicate information without always considering how others will feel about the way I present it. So, if I feel fully confident in the information then I can present it as if it's the only sensible choice - rather than considering that I may need to take others on a journey to understand the end-point. In addition, I can talk about things with more confidence than it is necessarily warranted - meaning that people take things as fact which may actually just be my opinion.
4) Self awareness - When I am busy I can become very task oriented and loose self awareness as I drive for results. Equally, I can tend towards pride - believing myself to be able to do things better than others or believing that I have the right answer, without being able to see the whole picture.
I would like to grow in each of these areas so that I can become a better person as well as a better leader.
1) Emotional Intelligence - I think I have reasonable emotional intelligence, but I'm not sure it comes naturally to me, and when work picks up or I'm working remotely from staff I find it much harder to gauge their emotions. I also struggle sometimes to perceive how people will react to certain situations or changes - expecting all people to act the way that I do. This is particularly true when engaging with people outside my own teams where I may not have the relationship in which to ground their actions, speech etc. As an example, I was responsible for rearranging the desk plan across our offices a few years ago to make space for a number of new starters joining the business. For my direct team I felt that I had earned enough of their trust to make decisions with minimal consultation as I felt (accurately) that they would trust that I had considered their best interests. However, I had failed to consider that I hadn't built this trust with some staff outside my team and as a result they were quite upset not to have had much consultation in the process. I see now that there are a number of ways that I could have greatly improved this situation had I had the emotional intelligence to consider the situation from different people's perspectives.
2) Ability to work with different personal styles and approaches - Generally I see significant value in diversity within a business and an essential part of my recruitment process has been to bring in people who fill the gaps in my and my teams capabilities. However, (and linking to emotional intelligence) I can often get frustrated when people carry out an activity in a way which isn't what I had planned or intended - or even just not how I'd do it. On my better days, I can find this helpful as it enables me to consider different approaches and see ways to improve what we do; but more commonly I can get frustrated and want to correct them. I would like to grow in patience in this area, but also in genuinely recognising and valuing the different personal styles and approaches of people I work with.
3) Communication skills - Again, linked to emotional awareness, I am aware that I can communicate information without always considering how others will feel about the way I present it. So, if I feel fully confident in the information then I can present it as if it's the only sensible choice - rather than considering that I may need to take others on a journey to understand the end-point. In addition, I can talk about things with more confidence than it is necessarily warranted - meaning that people take things as fact which may actually just be my opinion.
4) Self awareness - When I am busy I can become very task oriented and loose self awareness as I drive for results. Equally, I can tend towards pride - believing myself to be able to do things better than others or believing that I have the right answer, without being able to see the whole picture.
I would like to grow in each of these areas so that I can become a better person as well as a better leader.
Chris, the fact that you recognise that you could be, and want to be, more effective in all the areas you describe, is in itself a clear indication of a high level of emotional intelligence! It is very common to get frustrated when people do things in a different way - when we know "the right way to do it"! Often there is more than one way to get the same, or better result and when individuals feel that they have the freedom and authority to make those decisions, it is exciting to see their growth in confidence and capability. You will have many opportunities to take a step back and reflect during the programme as you continue to build on your knowledge and skills. (Harry)
Your staff (Learning Agreement)
I believe that improving in these areas will give my staff more confidence to try new things and innovate, rather than only doing things my way. I believe it will help me avoid unnecessary disputes and frustrations which might have developed through my lack of considering others emotions or seeing things from their perspectives. I also think that improving in these areas will help me be able to work successfully with a broader range of people, increasing the opportunity for diversity within my staff and again enabling greater innovation.
Chris, you will also be building and sustaining an exciting working environment where individuals feel highly valued, motivated and respected. (Harry)
The business (Learning Agreement)
By improving in these areas I hope to see greater collaboration and cross-departmental working within the business and the development of a culture of innovation - where people feel comfortable to bring their own ideas and ways of working to the table and where staff feel more empowered. I also hope to see greater diversity, leading to improving the way we work and the quality of the work we deliver as it will offer a more diverse and balanced perspective. This is particularly important in an organisation like Cenex where we operate as consultants, providing expert advice on things like business strategies.
Chris, the programme will certainly help you to bring that about. There are many examples / case studies within the programme resources, that show how a wide and diverse range of businesses and organisation have achieved those kind of results. (Harry)
You (Learning Agreement)
I hope that improving in these areas will help me to be a better boss, manager and leader. I hope it will help to reduce the development of unnecessary conflict (both within and outside the business) and enable me to manage this conflict better when it does arise. I hope that it will help me become a better coach and mentor - something I love doing. I also hope that it will help me become more open minded and enable me to think differently and see a wider variety of solutions to a problem - not just my normal approaches.
Chris, these are excellent outcomes to work towards and we are happy to be able to support you on what I am sure will be, an exciting learning journey. (Harry)
What do you want to gain from taking part in this programme? (Learning Agreement)
To date, I have had little experience of emotionally intelligent, human-centric, innovative leadership and it is hard to grow in something you haven't had modelled to you. I hope that this course will help me to develop a healthier approach to leadership and introduce me to others looking for or modelling this way of leading. As a research and consultancy organisation, I regularly work with other organisations looking to implement new strategies or technologies into their businesses. I hope to be able to use what I learn on this programme to help me improve the way I support these customers in implementing change.
Chris I am sure that you will develop greater understanding of emotionally intelligent, human-centric, innovative leadership by being on this programme. You already have a wealth of experience in innovation and change and the exposure you will have to others' experiences across Europe and further afield will give you a greater depth of understanding. (Harry)
INTRODUCTION TO WORKPLACE INNOVATION
Personal reflection note (Introduction to Workplace Innovation)
The aim of empowering staff and bringing the focus to the big, important objectives rather than getting stuck on processes in hierarchy really rings true. Reflecting on my own business I can see that, as we grow, our internal targets and processes can encourage people to focus on delivering their own small piece, without concerning themselves with the wider perspective.
In our last set of performance reviews, staff fed back that they wanted to better understand the context of their objectives. I tried to do this, but reading the 'Introduction to Workplace Innovation' I can see that some of the steps I took actually made things worse rather than better. In particular, many of the objectives are virtually impossible to measure. They are important (like developing the skills and capabilities of the team, achieving a healthier and more sustainable workload post-COVID etc), but without the right measures in place it is easy for people to lose interest and ignore them.
I think that switching to a small number or big objectives for the department, and then letting people "self organise" to decide how to tackle this as a team could be a significant step for our business, but it really hinges on being able to provide the right data to people so that they can measure how they are doing.
I know this is only the first step, but I can immediately see the sense and value in rethinking all four of the elements of workplace innovation. I also really like the Fifth element - that processes need to reinforce the overall objective(s) and not cause barriers to them. They need to pull together the four elements, not put them in competition. Again, looking back at my time in previous roles, I can see how easy it is to say one thing as a business (such as a vision or values), but for your processes not to reflect this, and how this ultimately leads to people losing belief in the thing the business says it is aiming for.
Ultimately, while I think that small, incremental changes could greatly improve the way Cenex operates as a business, I think these changes need to be routed in having taken a step back and looked at the whole organisation and how it aligns with these 5 elements set out in Workplace Innovation. If we dont do this, I suspect we would build the four base elements without achieving the essential fifth element.
In our last set of performance reviews, staff fed back that they wanted to better understand the context of their objectives. I tried to do this, but reading the 'Introduction to Workplace Innovation' I can see that some of the steps I took actually made things worse rather than better. In particular, many of the objectives are virtually impossible to measure. They are important (like developing the skills and capabilities of the team, achieving a healthier and more sustainable workload post-COVID etc), but without the right measures in place it is easy for people to lose interest and ignore them.
I think that switching to a small number or big objectives for the department, and then letting people "self organise" to decide how to tackle this as a team could be a significant step for our business, but it really hinges on being able to provide the right data to people so that they can measure how they are doing.
I know this is only the first step, but I can immediately see the sense and value in rethinking all four of the elements of workplace innovation. I also really like the Fifth element - that processes need to reinforce the overall objective(s) and not cause barriers to them. They need to pull together the four elements, not put them in competition. Again, looking back at my time in previous roles, I can see how easy it is to say one thing as a business (such as a vision or values), but for your processes not to reflect this, and how this ultimately leads to people losing belief in the thing the business says it is aiming for.
Ultimately, while I think that small, incremental changes could greatly improve the way Cenex operates as a business, I think these changes need to be routed in having taken a step back and looked at the whole organisation and how it aligns with these 5 elements set out in Workplace Innovation. If we dont do this, I suspect we would build the four base elements without achieving the essential fifth element.
The Evidence for Workplace Innovation
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (The Evidence for Workplace Innovation)
05/10/2021
Through this module I've seen a clear thread appearing around the benefits of staff engagement/involvement. We are a small (circa 40 staff across Europe) organisation where staff have relatively high autonomy and relatively little hierarchy, but I wouldn't say that staff have much engagement. We have an annual strategy day where we get everyone to feed into the business strategy for the next year and beyond, but on a day-to-day we dont have many practices to encourage engagement. We also largely work remotely now, making this even harder. Do you have any examples of good practice in similar types/size businesses which can help me understand what "good" looks like in this area?
Learning log question: How can you use the evidence presented in this module to build a case for change in your organisation? (The Evidence for Workplace Innovation)
Reading this module, I can see a number of areas where change would be beneficial. In general, our organisation is very open to change if there is a good reason/business case for it. This module has provided and indication that there is real evidence and numbers to back up the business case for change for some of the less "tangible" things like staff engagement/involvement and healthy work/life balances. This will enable me to build an evidence based justification for change, as well as helping give ways to measure progress and success.
Personal reflection note (The Evidence for Workplace Innovation)
Through this module I've seen a clear thread appearing around the benefits of staff engagement/involvement. We are a small (circa 40 staff across Europe) organisation where staff have relatively high autonomy and relatively little hierarchy, but I wouldn't say that staff have much engagement/involvement, or that I even know yet what "good practice" looks like for this. We have an annual strategy day where we get everyone to feed into the business strategy for the next year and beyond, but on a day-to-day we dont have many practices to encourage engagement. We also largely work remotely now, making this even harder. I look forwards to exploring this more over the following modules and seeing how I can implement this in my organisation.
Making it happen
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Making it happen)
05/10/21
I'm torn between a few different ideas for change projects. I'm currently in the middle of developing and implementing leadership coaching for staff either recently in or looking to progress into leadership roles in the next few years. This still has some way to go, so that was my initial thought in terms of the change project to pursue for this course. However, as I've worked through the modules I'm increasingly interested in the topic of employee involvement/engagement. I have no idea what a change project would look like in this area, but I'm keen to find out. Would you suggest it's better to use something which I'm already working on, or something new?
My instinct would be to go for something that would inspire you. It could be a blend of the two subject areas as coaching behaviours are key components of employee involvement / engagement. It is possible that having a deeper understanding of employee involvement / engagement will inform your leadership coaching project. (Harry)
Forum topic: What have your experiences been of persuading senior colleagues to embrace change? How do you overcome initial scepticism and resistance?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: Outline the proposed change initiative that you intend to include within your action plan (200 words max). How was the opportunity for change identified or how will it be? (100 words max) (Making it happen)
Cenex is a small organisation (~40 people, split across Loughborough, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and London, plus some home-based staff) working at the forefront of innovation around low carbon transport. At the moment, this is an incredibly hot topic, meaning that staff are working constantly at high levels of productivity. However, this means that it is often hard to step back and take time for reflection, and as a result we can get in the habit of doing what we do very well, but not always being able to develop our capabilities or processes. My proposed change initiative is to run a Workplace Diagnostics survey for the whole business and use it to identify the key areas where we can make changes to the business in order to 1) make it an even better place to work, and 2) enable us to develop our capabilities and processes to ensure we stay at the forefront of the industry and relevant for our customers.
The initiative will result in clear, prioritised actions and a plan for how to implement these as part of our 3-year business plan.
The initiative will result in clear, prioritised actions and a plan for how to implement these as part of our 3-year business plan.
Personal reflection note (Making it happen)
Initially I was torn between a few different ideas for change projects. I'm currently in the middle of developing and implementing leadership coaching for staff either recently in or looking to progress into leadership roles in the next few years. This still has some way to go, so that was my initial thought in terms of the change project to pursue for this course. However, as I've worked through the modules I'm increasingly interested in the topic of employee involvement/engagement. I have no idea what a change project would look like in this area, but I'm keen to find out.
Following discussions with the team at Workplace Innovation I have become increasingly aware that there are a number of changes that we need to tackle as a business, and rather than arbitrarily picking one, it is better to actually make the exploration and prioritisation of these changes the first change initiative. Using the Workplace Innovation Diagnostics is a really helpful too for doing this.
I have met with the Senior Leadership team at Cenex and discussed my proposal. It took some explaining to help the rest of the leadership team understand the full benefits, opportunity and practicalities involved, but by the end of the meeting they were all onboard. It helped that I had a separate discussion with the CEO before the meeting as he is often the one with the most questions. Therefore, but understanding his concerns and questions, I was able to come to the meeting well prepared with the information needed to answer pretty much any questions which were likely to arise. It is also beneficial that I have a history with the team of bringing good ideas for changes and implementing them to positive effect within the business.
I think that having the insights from the workplace diagnostics will be a really important step for us as a business as it will allow us to understand not just our own views, but also the views of the staff and the changes which would have the most impact on them. This will help us to set out clear action plans and prioritise these actions to ensure that we are tackling the highest impact, lowest effort actions first.
Following discussions with the team at Workplace Innovation I have become increasingly aware that there are a number of changes that we need to tackle as a business, and rather than arbitrarily picking one, it is better to actually make the exploration and prioritisation of these changes the first change initiative. Using the Workplace Innovation Diagnostics is a really helpful too for doing this.
I have met with the Senior Leadership team at Cenex and discussed my proposal. It took some explaining to help the rest of the leadership team understand the full benefits, opportunity and practicalities involved, but by the end of the meeting they were all onboard. It helped that I had a separate discussion with the CEO before the meeting as he is often the one with the most questions. Therefore, but understanding his concerns and questions, I was able to come to the meeting well prepared with the information needed to answer pretty much any questions which were likely to arise. It is also beneficial that I have a history with the team of bringing good ideas for changes and implementing them to positive effect within the business.
I think that having the insights from the workplace diagnostics will be a really important step for us as a business as it will allow us to understand not just our own views, but also the views of the staff and the changes which would have the most impact on them. This will help us to set out clear action plans and prioritise these actions to ensure that we are tackling the highest impact, lowest effort actions first.
Delivering Strategic Goals and Objectives with Workplace Innovation
Personal reflection note (Delivering Strategic Goals and Objectives with Workplace Innovation)
Reading through this section, the High growth motivation (“we’re growing fast but want to keep our enterprising culture and small-company feel, and to avoid creating silos”) strikes a strong note with me. In fact, I think I said something almost identical to this when I first met with the Workplace Innovation team. At Cenex we have grown rapidly over the past 3 years, from a company of about 20 people in one location to ~40 people, split across Loughborough, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and London, plus some home-based staff. The main growth area has been in my department (Energy Systems & Infrastructure). Historically Cenex focused on vehicle innovation (e.g. electric car powertrains). About 5 years ago a member of staff was made responsible for research around electric vehicle charging and this grew to a team of 3. I was then brought in to grow the department from a small team to an equal part of the business as this was seen as an important growth area. Since 2018 I've grown the team to a department of 12 people in 3 specialist teams. However, one of the keys to this growth has been maintaining relationships and cross-working across teams. Everyone in the department feels part of the department first, and their team second. That means that everyone supports each other and ownership of any problems is shared by all the staff.
Over this time we have also launched offices in Edinburgh and Amsterdam, as well as taking on some remote working staff. We are finding it harder to maintain the single 'one team' feeling for the business and we are finding that each office has a tendency to grow it's own identify and that it can be more difficult to have the sense of staff working together and supporting each other across various locations. In reality, I can only imagine the need for remote staff and increasing number of office locations growing over the coming years, so it is important that we learn how to maintain our core values and ways of working.
Also, as we grow as a business we are finding that the role of managers is changing (from part technical, with a little management, to mainly management) and the need for processes and red tape seems to grow exponentially in relation to the number of staff. Part of what people love about working at Cenex is having the freedom to work without red tape and bureaucracy, and having wide variation in the work that any individual gets to do. It is therefore really important that we find ways to maintain this as we grow.
So far we have taken a few approaches - firstly, agreeing that we should keep the company less than 50 people, and secondly looking at using partnerships with other organisations to help us focus on our skills and interests. However, it will be interesting as I work through this course and the results of our workplace innovation diagnostics to see if this is really the right approach, or if better ways forwards are available to us as an organisation.
Over this time we have also launched offices in Edinburgh and Amsterdam, as well as taking on some remote working staff. We are finding it harder to maintain the single 'one team' feeling for the business and we are finding that each office has a tendency to grow it's own identify and that it can be more difficult to have the sense of staff working together and supporting each other across various locations. In reality, I can only imagine the need for remote staff and increasing number of office locations growing over the coming years, so it is important that we learn how to maintain our core values and ways of working.
Also, as we grow as a business we are finding that the role of managers is changing (from part technical, with a little management, to mainly management) and the need for processes and red tape seems to grow exponentially in relation to the number of staff. Part of what people love about working at Cenex is having the freedom to work without red tape and bureaucracy, and having wide variation in the work that any individual gets to do. It is therefore really important that we find ways to maintain this as we grow.
So far we have taken a few approaches - firstly, agreeing that we should keep the company less than 50 people, and secondly looking at using partnerships with other organisations to help us focus on our skills and interests. However, it will be interesting as I work through this course and the results of our workplace innovation diagnostics to see if this is really the right approach, or if better ways forwards are available to us as an organisation.
Alignment and misalignment
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Alignment and misalignment)
05/11/21
Learning log question: Which workplace practices get in the way of achieving your organisation's strategic goals? Why? (Alignment and misalignment)
I think a combination of our organisational structure and the way we set and measure objectives are getting in the way of our strategic goals. We have strong organisational values and strategic vision, which feed into strong strategic imperatives. Even our setting of objectives is generally well aligned with the vision. However, measuring KPIs can be difficult and can lead to incorrect behaviours. For example, the way that we measure financial results is that the value of a project is allocated to the team that lead it. The project may include staff from across the business, but their involvement is not reflected in their financial targets. Each technical department also has separate financial targets, meaning that you are incentivised to deliver work for your department first, rather than recognising the reality that work is equally valuable regardless of which department is leading it.
We have attempted to change our KPI measurement, but the way that our finances are set up make this extremely difficult and can actually encourage even less helpful behaviours. Therefore, we have stuck with our current approach for the moment, while being keenly aware that we need to find a better way to measure this.
We have attempted to change our KPI measurement, but the way that our finances are set up make this extremely difficult and can actually encourage even less helpful behaviours. Therefore, we have stuck with our current approach for the moment, while being keenly aware that we need to find a better way to measure this.
Personal reflection note (Alignment and misalignment)
The statement "But nobody told the departmental heads and line managers – they have tight targets and their personal performance is measured on the extent to which they meet them. There’s no allowance in the spreadsheets for giving people ‘time out’ to reflect on how things can be improved, so teams have no idea about their role in creating “a culture of innovation”" really hits home. We all know what's important, and many of our structures work to positively help this, but the current structure means that we lose money on our R&D and make money on our consultancy. Ideally the two should equal out at zero across a year (we are a not-for-profit), but this only works if the two are in the correct balance. When we win too much R&D, it inhibits our ability to do consultancy, meaning we miss our financial targets. This puts pressure on staff to delivery more work in the same amount of time so that we break even, but as a result staff lose the 'margin' in their days, and value-add activities get put off. We made some improvements to tackle this over the past 12 months, but it is still a very difficult balance, and as a small organisation it only takes a small imbalance to have a big impact.
I expect this is something which will be raised by the WIP Diagnostics results and I'll be interested to see what ideas people have for tackling this.
I expect this is something which will be raised by the WIP Diagnostics results and I'll be interested to see what ideas people have for tackling this.
Conclusions
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Conclusions)
05/11/21
Forum topic: What tools would you use in bridging the gap between strategy and workplace practices?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: What are the principal drivers for workplace innovation in your organisation? How will you make the case for change? (Conclusions)
The principle drivers for workplace innovation are a need to grow to meet the demands of the market and maximise the impact that we can have on climate change, while needing to have sustainable workloads and needing to keep our innovative, empowering culture. We could do this by refusing to grow, but one of our core values is to drive forwards the transition to net zero emissions from transport. Therefore, by refusing to grow we are actively limiting the impact that we can have. Neither options seems right, so we need to find a third way which allows us to grow, while maintaining our culture.
Personal reflection note (Conclusions)
Both of the case studies used in this module have struck home with me. The Booth Welsh example demonstrates the importance of being able to be really clear about what is important for you as an organisation. It can be easy to measure success financially only, but these four pillars are really helpful for giving a clearer measure. I can imagine having something similar at Cenex would be really helpful in focusing what we are doing.
Secondly, the HMS case study shows a path I could all too easily imagine us taking without realising - shifting from cutting-edge innovation to crank-the-handle services. The five principles set out at the end read as the kind of place I want to work and what it was like joining Cenex after over a decade working at large utility companies. I want to make sure that the path we take keeps this alive at Cenex and that we save ourselves from becoming a plan led organisation!
Secondly, the HMS case study shows a path I could all too easily imagine us taking without realising - shifting from cutting-edge innovation to crank-the-handle services. The five principles set out at the end read as the kind of place I want to work and what it was like joining Cenex after over a decade working at large utility companies. I want to make sure that the path we take keeps this alive at Cenex and that we save ourselves from becoming a plan led organisation!
The Fifth Element: People Centred Change
People Centred Change
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (People Centred Change)
03/12/21
Forum topic: Why, in your experience inside or outside the workplace, do people resist change? And what encourages them to embrace it?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: Think about a change initiative you have experienced at work. How well did it address the questions raised in the 7 bullet points above? (People Centred Change)
About 2 years ago the business had out grown our office, and as a result we decided to reorganise the offices and take on some extra space. In this process, we also decided to look at how staff were distributed and see if we could use it to break down some silos and tackle some historic office politics. This meant moving some staff away from their teams and closer to project teams / parts of the business they needed to have strong relationships with. The team most impacted was business development (BD). Rather than having the BD team together, we decided to move them in with the technical teams who they were developing business for. This was meant to create better engagement between BD and technical, and also help BD to be more aware of the capabilities of the technical team.
Ultimately, this has been very successful, but it was a pretty rocky initial journey, largely due to the way that we engaged the staff. So, how does this fit with the 7 bullet points?
1.Has the wider context been fully analysed and understood before the goal was set?
Yes, this was done successfully
2.Is the goal aligned to a common vision shared with employees and other stakeholders?
The vision wasn't shared with employees, only the final desk layout
3.Has the search for actions been sufficiently broad and creative?
Yes, a wide range of options were considered, and the right one won out in the end.
4.Did the force of the better argument prevail?
Not really - ideas came mainly from the management team. Staff engagement at this point would have made a big difference and would have helped staff feel bought in to the process
5.Is there room for experimentation?
Yes, we are quite flexible, so it was made clear that we'd try something for a few months and see if it was working.
6.How do we know if it’s working?
Once things settled down, it was extremely successful and really helped bridge some of the silos we were experiencing. However, the initial reaction was quite negative from a few staff who felt they hadn't been consulted effectively and yet felt most impacted by the changes.
7.How do we keep it working?
Since COVID we have made a further change and moved to hot-desking. Most people still have a preferred desk, but it means that you can book in as a project team or to be sat nearer the people that you need to work with that day.
Ultimately, we failed to engage the staff in a consistent way at the start, and we failed to give space for them to be involved in the journey. This turned what should have been a very simple, straight-forward change into a highly emotive challenge.
Ultimately, this has been very successful, but it was a pretty rocky initial journey, largely due to the way that we engaged the staff. So, how does this fit with the 7 bullet points?
1.Has the wider context been fully analysed and understood before the goal was set?
Yes, this was done successfully
2.Is the goal aligned to a common vision shared with employees and other stakeholders?
The vision wasn't shared with employees, only the final desk layout
3.Has the search for actions been sufficiently broad and creative?
Yes, a wide range of options were considered, and the right one won out in the end.
4.Did the force of the better argument prevail?
Not really - ideas came mainly from the management team. Staff engagement at this point would have made a big difference and would have helped staff feel bought in to the process
5.Is there room for experimentation?
Yes, we are quite flexible, so it was made clear that we'd try something for a few months and see if it was working.
6.How do we know if it’s working?
Once things settled down, it was extremely successful and really helped bridge some of the silos we were experiencing. However, the initial reaction was quite negative from a few staff who felt they hadn't been consulted effectively and yet felt most impacted by the changes.
7.How do we keep it working?
Since COVID we have made a further change and moved to hot-desking. Most people still have a preferred desk, but it means that you can book in as a project team or to be sat nearer the people that you need to work with that day.
Ultimately, we failed to engage the staff in a consistent way at the start, and we failed to give space for them to be involved in the journey. This turned what should have been a very simple, straight-forward change into a highly emotive challenge.
Personal reflection note (People Centred Change)
The three main bits which stood out for me in this module were:
• It is important to carry out systemic change projects where every change is checked and measured against the companies values and vision, rather than isolated change initiatives. The former helps to get everything in the 'Well aligned business' triangle pointing in the right direction, while the latter is likely to result in a misaligned business
• Partial change is one of the biggest causes of failure in workplace innovation
• Change fails when it doesn't secure participation of employees and key stakeholders
Regarding partial change, I've experienced (and done!) this a lot, where an initiative gets implemented but then the focus goes to something else rather then giving the time to monitor the impact of the change, provide effective training to new staff and generally ensure it gets fully embedded in the company.
• It is important to carry out systemic change projects where every change is checked and measured against the companies values and vision, rather than isolated change initiatives. The former helps to get everything in the 'Well aligned business' triangle pointing in the right direction, while the latter is likely to result in a misaligned business
• Partial change is one of the biggest causes of failure in workplace innovation
• Change fails when it doesn't secure participation of employees and key stakeholders
Regarding partial change, I've experienced (and done!) this a lot, where an initiative gets implemented but then the focus goes to something else rather then giving the time to monitor the impact of the change, provide effective training to new staff and generally ensure it gets fully embedded in the company.
Absorptiveness
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Absorptiveness)
03/12/21
Learning log question: How can you ensure that emerging innovations, technologies, global trends, competitor strategies etc are continuously assimilated within your organisation's strategic thinking? (Absorptiveness)
As an innovation focused business, we are quite good at 'future gazing' and identifying the trends and changes which are likely to impact our business. We are also quite good at planning for how to tackle these things. Where we struggle and need to improve is looking at competitors and being willing to learn from others. We can often think we are so 'different' from anyone else that we can't possible compare ourselves. However this definitely isn't true and limits our creativity - ultimately if you rely on just our internal experience then this eventually has it's limits. I like the suggestion of asking new staff what worked well in their experience else where, but I also think we need to take a more proactive role in identifying other similar organisations and sharing learnings. Fresh thinking labs is a good starting point, but I also want to find those examples of organisations who have made some of the changes we are looking at and learning from them what went well and what went badly.
Personal reflection note (Absorptiveness)
As a business we are facing a significant period of change over the next 3 years which is unlike anything we've experienced as a business so far. While the team we have is excellent, I think we need to be prepared to grow our knowledge and learn from others - after all, we are not the first business to go through rapid growth! However, our main barrier to this is that everyone is too busy on delivery activities to do any "value add" activities. This was identified through the workplace innovation diagnostics, and it is something which the senior leadership team are keen to tackle as we know we cant grow healthily without giving space to focus on things like Absorptiveness.
Engagement
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Engagement)
03/12/21
Learning log question: How are you engaging stakeholders in designing change? (Engagement)
We started with running the Workplace innovation diagnostic as a way to really hear the staffs view of the strengths and weaknesses of the business. This was incredibly insightful and as a leadership team we are keen to build on this engagement. Therefore, rather than just sharing the diagnostics report and then starting a raft of changes, we decided to run an engagement workshop where we will share the results and then ask staff to help us identify the solutions. This is potentially a much slower approach than just implementing what we think is the right solution, but it means that it has a much higher chance of success and longevity - as well as resulting in a happier, more engaged workforce. We are also looking to launch an employee forum and to bring a staff representative, nominated by the employees, into the management meetings to provide the 'employee voice'.
Chris, the effort and time you are investing in creating a climate for Change will lead to greater acceptance across the organisation and speed up the implementation. Harry
Personal reflection note (Engagement)
My natural leadership style is probably more authoritative than democratic, therefore staff engagement doesn't come as naturally to me. I think I tend to take the view that I can build trust with my team by serving them well and consistently looking after them, and in return I ask them to "follow me". This works to a degree with my direct reports as they know me and I've had that opportunity to build "trust credits". However, when implementing an organisation-wide change I find that I haven't got that some credit. As a result it is even more important that I embrace a high-engagement leadership approach to change.
Empowerment
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Empowerment)
13/01/22
Noted
Learning log question: How has your workforce been empowered to drive change forwards? (Empowerment)
This has been a really interesting challenge at Cenex, with really helpful insights raised through our recent use of the workplace innovation diagnostic survey. Culturally, Cenex is strong in terms of empowering the workforce to drive change. Since I joined in 2018, I have been given freedom, support and mandate to implement significant changes within the business, and this is common across many of the staff. However, as we have grown this has become more difficult. Currently our business model means that staff have to work at 80-90% utilisation for us to break even. Equally, we are in a high demand area and often bring in more work than we'd planned - meaning staff work often at even higher levels of utilisation. What we are seeing however, is that high workloads work against our culture in terms of empowering the workforce. The busier staff are, the less opportunity they have to drive change, or even think of the good ideas that lead to change.
Following on from the workplace survey we are making a number of changes, but the ones specifically related to this area are:
1) We are reviewing our business model to see if we can tweak it to allow us to break even at lower utilisation. This is though changes to our ratios of R&D/Consultancy, but also by looking at alternative funding routes altogether.
2) We are setting our budget for next year so that everyone has 5-10% of their time set aside for "Business Innovation". We are also setting aside a financial budget for additional resources to support these innovations
3) We are setting up a staff innovation/suggestions process which will enable staff to raise suggestions for change projects. The process will also enable the SLT to review and prioritise suggestions to ensure that resources are being directed at the ideas which will have the greatest impact. Each project will be allocated a sponsor from the SLT and a working group made up of staff from across the business.
4) Finally, we are developing a peer-led employee forum where staff can raise questions, concerns, ideas and anything else. The Forum will appoint an employee representative who will then bring feedback to the SLT meetings.
I am hoping that by implementing these changes we can support staff the workforce at Cenex to share their ideas for improvements and feel like they can be an empowered and effective part of implementing them.
Following on from the workplace survey we are making a number of changes, but the ones specifically related to this area are:
1) We are reviewing our business model to see if we can tweak it to allow us to break even at lower utilisation. This is though changes to our ratios of R&D/Consultancy, but also by looking at alternative funding routes altogether.
2) We are setting our budget for next year so that everyone has 5-10% of their time set aside for "Business Innovation". We are also setting aside a financial budget for additional resources to support these innovations
3) We are setting up a staff innovation/suggestions process which will enable staff to raise suggestions for change projects. The process will also enable the SLT to review and prioritise suggestions to ensure that resources are being directed at the ideas which will have the greatest impact. Each project will be allocated a sponsor from the SLT and a working group made up of staff from across the business.
4) Finally, we are developing a peer-led employee forum where staff can raise questions, concerns, ideas and anything else. The Forum will appoint an employee representative who will then bring feedback to the SLT meetings.
I am hoping that by implementing these changes we can support staff the workforce at Cenex to share their ideas for improvements and feel like they can be an empowered and effective part of implementing them.
It will be interesting to see the impact of these exciting changes Chris. Hopefully we can start to see the results as your time on the programme progresses. (Harry)
Personal reflection note (Empowerment)
There are some really interesting points which have been raised in this module. The parts that particularly stood out to me are:
-The importance of keeping the staff part of the process, even if it's fluid. I am looking to apply this in development of our new staff improvements/suggestions process. I am concerned that the solution seems very clear to me, but I dont want my blinkered view to result in us implementing a change which doesn't meet the issues raised by the staff. Therefore, I am planning on bringing together representatives from each team who have a passion about this area into a workshop so that we can discuss the feedback from the workplace innovation diagnostic and gather their ideas on what a successful change would look like. I will then use this to develop a draft process which I can share with them for feedback, before sharing with the SLT for approval.
-"People often react badly to change when they feel that it is being done to them, but can become its champions when it is designed and implemented with them." Building on the previous point, as well as ensuring that we get the right solution, I am hoping that this approach will help build ownership within the business.
-"Evidence and experience suggest that line manager resistance tends to stem from being overwhelmed by emails and paperwork with little differentiation between ‘priority’ and ‘routine’ communications" This is absolutely my experience personally (as a line manager). Everyone thinks that their request is the most important, and as a result either everything or nothing is important. My inbox is my greatest nemesis as a manager. By implementing a way for staff to officially submit ideas I am hoping that we can move away from things getting missed because they were in an email which I never got around to reading, or where other ideas get picked up because the individual shouts the loudest; and instead ensure that there is an equal opportunity for people from all areas of the business to raise ideas.
-The importance of keeping the staff part of the process, even if it's fluid. I am looking to apply this in development of our new staff improvements/suggestions process. I am concerned that the solution seems very clear to me, but I dont want my blinkered view to result in us implementing a change which doesn't meet the issues raised by the staff. Therefore, I am planning on bringing together representatives from each team who have a passion about this area into a workshop so that we can discuss the feedback from the workplace innovation diagnostic and gather their ideas on what a successful change would look like. I will then use this to develop a draft process which I can share with them for feedback, before sharing with the SLT for approval.
-"People often react badly to change when they feel that it is being done to them, but can become its champions when it is designed and implemented with them." Building on the previous point, as well as ensuring that we get the right solution, I am hoping that this approach will help build ownership within the business.
-"Evidence and experience suggest that line manager resistance tends to stem from being overwhelmed by emails and paperwork with little differentiation between ‘priority’ and ‘routine’ communications" This is absolutely my experience personally (as a line manager). Everyone thinks that their request is the most important, and as a result either everything or nothing is important. My inbox is my greatest nemesis as a manager. By implementing a way for staff to officially submit ideas I am hoping that we can move away from things getting missed because they were in an email which I never got around to reading, or where other ideas get picked up because the individual shouts the loudest; and instead ensure that there is an equal opportunity for people from all areas of the business to raise ideas.
Monitoring & Reviewing
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Monitoring & Reviewing)
13/01/22
noted.
Learning log question: What will be in place to review and monitor the implementation of your Action Plan against agreed targets? How will you evaluate the impact of the change on the organisation? (Monitoring & Reviewing)
For this change initiative, I have used the workplace innovation diagnostics survey to identify the key areas for improvement. This has led to a number of proposed changes to the business, each of which will need monitoring and reviewing in it's own, appropriate way. This will include a surveys at the end of the implementation of the change, and after a suitable period to monitor the effectiveness of the change. We will use the Kirkpatrick Model to guide the way in which we review progress. However, as an overall package I plan to either repeat the diagnostic survey, or carry out our own internal survey focusing more specifically on the areas identified as weaknesses, in about 18 months time. The reason for doing this so late is to ensure that there is time to implement a number of changes and then time to let staff get past the initial pain of a change and to monitor the long term impact of the change. This will also be based on the Kirkpatrick Model. Throughout the implementation phase, and shortly after, we will make use of the (new) employee forum to regularly gather feedback on the impact and effectiveness of the changes.
Sounds like a robust plan. (Harry)
Personal reflection note (Monitoring & Reviewing)
This is always an area I find difficult. I'm not naturally a completer-finisher, and so I can have a tendency to implement a change but not fully carry out the monitoring and review phase. However, I am aware that this is an absolutely critical element of any change process and one that I need to learn to deliver effectively. I fully understand the benefits and reasons for doing these steps - they just dont come naturally to me! However, going back to the previous step on empowerment, I think I often feel like I dont have time for monitoring and reviewing because the project is perceived to be finished and so other demands are put on my time. Realistically though, this step is absolutely critical to the success of the project, so in my role as a "change leader" I need to prioritise these activities and make sure that others understand the importance and time commitment required to carry it out as well.
Embedding & Sustaining
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Embedding & Sustaining)
21/01/22
Noted
Learning log question: How can you introduce mechanisms to embed the 4Fs in your organisation? (Embedding & Sustaining)
It is important to use regular feedback loops to ensure that changes are implemented effectively and appropriately. Taking the 4F's, the following are ways in which these could be implemented at Cenex:
F1 - I am currently in the process of developing and implementing a process for raising and funding change initiatives. A key part of this process will be to carry out a review at the end of the project to check the effectiveness of the implementation through collecting feedback from both the project team and wider staff on topics such as how well it fits the needs which inspired the suggestion and any challenges which were experienced through the project. This feedback would be collected by someone independent of the project team to ensure that people felt able to talk freely. The feedback will be provided back to the project sponsor who will feed it back to the rest of the senior leadership team. We also have an established lessons-learnt process which would be used to collect and share key lessons from across these projects.
F2 - Once the project is complete, it will be the responsibility of the project sponsor to evaluate knock-on impacts on other change initiatives and on wider operational processes. This will be used to update the change initiative log - either with new change initiatives resulting from the project, or with changes to the approach, priority and/or impact of other planned changes.
F3 - Going back to the feedback collected for F1, we would also include a question around "Now that this change project is complete, how do you think we could achieve further improvements/gains in this area?". This would also be posed in our employee forum. The feedback would be used to develop new change initiatives which would be added to our log and fed back to the SLT. We would also look to re-run the workplace diagnostics survey or equivalent periodically to gain further insight and feedback.
F4 - The overall change initiative log will be owned by the SLT and reviewed on a monthly basis. This will include considering changes to the global/social/economic/competitive (etc) context and initiatives will be updated accordingly.
F1 - I am currently in the process of developing and implementing a process for raising and funding change initiatives. A key part of this process will be to carry out a review at the end of the project to check the effectiveness of the implementation through collecting feedback from both the project team and wider staff on topics such as how well it fits the needs which inspired the suggestion and any challenges which were experienced through the project. This feedback would be collected by someone independent of the project team to ensure that people felt able to talk freely. The feedback will be provided back to the project sponsor who will feed it back to the rest of the senior leadership team. We also have an established lessons-learnt process which would be used to collect and share key lessons from across these projects.
F2 - Once the project is complete, it will be the responsibility of the project sponsor to evaluate knock-on impacts on other change initiatives and on wider operational processes. This will be used to update the change initiative log - either with new change initiatives resulting from the project, or with changes to the approach, priority and/or impact of other planned changes.
F3 - Going back to the feedback collected for F1, we would also include a question around "Now that this change project is complete, how do you think we could achieve further improvements/gains in this area?". This would also be posed in our employee forum. The feedback would be used to develop new change initiatives which would be added to our log and fed back to the SLT. We would also look to re-run the workplace diagnostics survey or equivalent periodically to gain further insight and feedback.
F4 - The overall change initiative log will be owned by the SLT and reviewed on a monthly basis. This will include considering changes to the global/social/economic/competitive (etc) context and initiatives will be updated accordingly.
Chris. You have captured the essence of Embedding and Sustaining Change. Imposed change rarely works. Are you creating the new process on your own, getting the whole thing together and then presenting it or are you consulting with others as you develop your idea? (Harry)
Personal reflection note (Embedding & Sustaining)
It is very easy to think about feedback as just a survey at the end of a project, or a lessons learnt log. However, it is really helpful to consider wider impacts of change, and the impacts of external change on these initiatives. Our proposed change initiatives log (referred to internally as an employee suggestions and improvements log) is a critical tool for planning changes and this must include feedback at it's heart in order to be effective in the long term.
This module has also helped me see how some of our processes end too early and do not enable the full value to be achieved because of limiting feedback. For example, we have a central lessons learnt log. It is well used and updated by our staff throughout and following projects, but it is rare that people actually review it and learn from the lessons at a later date. Simple feedback cycles such as sending out a monthly update on new lessons, key lesson themes or any duplicate lessons would help staff to engage with the lessons and be more likely to apply them in their work. We also have no way of closing out a lesson - for example if a process has been changed to capture the lesson then it could be removed from the log or marked as closed.
Feedback is generally very simple to implement - it just takes time to consider it and find an effective way to provide the feedback.
This module has also helped me see how some of our processes end too early and do not enable the full value to be achieved because of limiting feedback. For example, we have a central lessons learnt log. It is well used and updated by our staff throughout and following projects, but it is rare that people actually review it and learn from the lessons at a later date. Simple feedback cycles such as sending out a monthly update on new lessons, key lesson themes or any duplicate lessons would help staff to engage with the lessons and be more likely to apply them in their work. We also have no way of closing out a lesson - for example if a process has been changed to capture the lesson then it could be removed from the log or marked as closed.
Feedback is generally very simple to implement - it just takes time to consider it and find an effective way to provide the feedback.
The Change Curve
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (The Change Curve)
21/01/22
noted
What do you mean by "practices" in the question below?
"Learning log question: Describe the range of practices associated with change that explains the importance of managing change within your own organisation."
Practices aren't mentioned anywhere in this module. I'm not sure if it's referring to things like communication, engagement etc or something different?
"Learning log question: Describe the range of practices associated with change that explains the importance of managing change within your own organisation."
Practices aren't mentioned anywhere in this module. I'm not sure if it's referring to things like communication, engagement etc or something different?
Hello Chris. It means working practices. For example, when change is being considered, are individuals who will be impacted by the change (Stakeholders) consulted? If so how does that happen? How are they kept informed? Is change imposed? At what level are decisions made and who would be involved? Is there a process for generating ideas for change.What criteria would be used to evaluate the feasibility of generated ideas? How is the change monitored and evaluated? Are lessons learned from the change captured?
(Harry)
(Harry)
Forum topic: Does the Change Curve ring true? Can you share your own experiences, or those of people you’ve worked with?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: Describe the range of practices associated with change that explains the importance of managing change within your own organisation. (The Change Curve)
Within Cenex, we have a range of practices which we employ depending on the scale and impact of a change. In most cases we begin with engaging staff to ensure that we fully understand the problem/reason for change. Implementing a change without this step can lead to the wrong solutions being implemented. By contrast, strong engagement at this stage will help staff feel more engaged and may help minimise the impacts and time spent in stages 1 and 2 of the change curve.
Once identified, the change is entered into the company change initiative log and reviewed by the senior leadership team. The SLT will rate the impact and effort involved with the change and use this to set it's priority among other changes. At this stage, it is important to feed back to those that raised the suggestion to ensure that they dont feel like their ideas are being ignored and to keep them engaged.
Once a change initiative reaches a high enough priority to be implemented, a sponsor is assigned from the SLT who will bring together a working-group from across the organisation (especially including those most impacted by the change) to develop a plan of how to tackle the change. This again ensures that those effected by the change feel engaged with identifying the solution. This again limits the impact and time spent in stages 1&2 of the change curve. Failure to do this can lead to staff feeling upset and worried about the change, whereas strong engagement can tackle fears and worries and keep any negative impacts as factual. The sponsor will also ensure that appropriate resources are made available for the change initiative to ensure the best chance of success.
Throughout a change project, the project team will provide regular updates to staff (especially those most effected by the change) and engage with key stakeholders to guide the implementation. At the end of the implementation phase, it is critical that the project team provide a high level of communication and space for questions. This will be done in part at least through our employee forum.
All projects also include a lessons learnt phase, as well as an opportunity to review the wider impacts of the change on other change initiatives or operational practices. Having a sponsor from the SLT is a key part of ensuring that projects close out correctly, with sufficient focus on having gone through the 4F's feedback loops. Without this in place, it is easy for projects to end without having moved on to stage 4 of the change curve and therefore not realising the full impact and value of the change.
Once identified, the change is entered into the company change initiative log and reviewed by the senior leadership team. The SLT will rate the impact and effort involved with the change and use this to set it's priority among other changes. At this stage, it is important to feed back to those that raised the suggestion to ensure that they dont feel like their ideas are being ignored and to keep them engaged.
Once a change initiative reaches a high enough priority to be implemented, a sponsor is assigned from the SLT who will bring together a working-group from across the organisation (especially including those most impacted by the change) to develop a plan of how to tackle the change. This again ensures that those effected by the change feel engaged with identifying the solution. This again limits the impact and time spent in stages 1&2 of the change curve. Failure to do this can lead to staff feeling upset and worried about the change, whereas strong engagement can tackle fears and worries and keep any negative impacts as factual. The sponsor will also ensure that appropriate resources are made available for the change initiative to ensure the best chance of success.
Throughout a change project, the project team will provide regular updates to staff (especially those most effected by the change) and engage with key stakeholders to guide the implementation. At the end of the implementation phase, it is critical that the project team provide a high level of communication and space for questions. This will be done in part at least through our employee forum.
All projects also include a lessons learnt phase, as well as an opportunity to review the wider impacts of the change on other change initiatives or operational practices. Having a sponsor from the SLT is a key part of ensuring that projects close out correctly, with sufficient focus on having gone through the 4F's feedback loops. Without this in place, it is easy for projects to end without having moved on to stage 4 of the change curve and therefore not realising the full impact and value of the change.
Personal reflection note (The Change Curve)
As a whole, the concept of the change curve rings true. I think the height of the curve varies significantly based on the effectiveness with which the change is implemented (i.e. deeper lows or smaller highs). Something I've experienced is change projects finishing once the main implementation is complete and not going through communication, feedback and improvement loops. This means that you get to stage 3 and start to see a slight improvement, but never quite achieve stage 4. It is also really helpful to consider how jumping into change can draw out the first two stages of the change curve, while strong and effective engagement and communication can significantly reduce the duration and severity of these stages.
Avoiding Innovation Decay
Personal reflection note (Avoiding Innovation Decay)
There are a number of key point here which really hit home or ring true for me as I've read them. In particular the focus on embedding changes into the culture. This is something I've been doing with my department for some time - using coaching and training to embed the changes I've been making into the very DNA of the staff and team leaders. I often hear my own words repeated back to me with total belief from my staff and I see them owning the changes and approaches. This has been aided by recruiting for attitude and training for skill, as mentioned here. When I started in management I made a few bad choices in recruitment - taking people on because we were under pressure to resource a project, rather than because they were the right cultural fit for the business. Since then I've changed our procurement process so that we test for character (do their values align with the company) and chemistry (are they someone we'd enjoy to work with) first, and competence (skill) second; very much recognising that most people can learn a skill, but you cant easily learn character or competence.
It also really hit home that on-the-job coaching, reflections and "exploration time" can be critical to having a workforce who embrace change and innovation. I've seen this in Cenex. When we have capacity to stop and actively focus on these areas innovation just happens naturally and has long term impact. When busyness pushes out time for these things we start to make more mistakes, we dont learn from our mistakes and people become resistant to innovation/change.
Regarding my change initiative, I am seeing strong focus from the CEO to change the way we operate the business in order to make more space for on-the-job development and business improvements and a supportiveness around setting the right culture. I therefore think we have a good chance of making these chances work long term.
It also really hit home that on-the-job coaching, reflections and "exploration time" can be critical to having a workforce who embrace change and innovation. I've seen this in Cenex. When we have capacity to stop and actively focus on these areas innovation just happens naturally and has long term impact. When busyness pushes out time for these things we start to make more mistakes, we dont learn from our mistakes and people become resistant to innovation/change.
Regarding my change initiative, I am seeing strong focus from the CEO to change the way we operate the business in order to make more space for on-the-job development and business improvements and a supportiveness around setting the right culture. I therefore think we have a good chance of making these chances work long term.
Conclusions
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Conclusions)
25/02/22
Learning log question: Think about the principle insights that you have taken from the Fifth Element: People Centred Change Module. How will you use these insights in shaping your Action Plan? (Conclusions)
There have been LOADS of insights I've taken from this module, however some of the key ones are:
- Not assuming that I understand the problem, but engaging and empowering staff to help me find the solutions that really meet people's needs. In my change initiative I had identified that people felt it was difficult to raise ideas for changes and that changes were often poorly resourced. People also felt that ideas were somewhat randomly selected and implemented based on who had time or shouted the loudest. As our business has more staff in the technical departments than in the back-office departments this often meant that the ideas from the back-office staff weren't prioritised. Based on the initial survey results I thought the solution was to implement a formal process for raising and reviewing business improvement suggestions and I was all ready to get going. However, as I read this module I decided to stop and take time to identify a group of key staff from across the organisation and engage them through a workshop to understand how they perceived the problem and what 'good' solutions would look like for them. While the process idea was raised as one area, 2 other focus areas were identified which were of equal importance - neither of which were things I'd previously considered. This demonstrated to me the importance of taking this approach and really engaging staff. The staff also asked to be part of the implementation process - meaning that I gained a group of engaged, supportive change-agents! I'm sure this will make all the difference in implementing this change. It also means that ownership sits with the whole group, not just me. This is really encouraging as this should help with avoiding innovation decay as well.
-Monitoring and reviewing is another area that I am personally week on, and so it was invaluable to have the value of this hammered home through this module. As a result I will be planning effective monitoring into the business improvements process.
- Not assuming that I understand the problem, but engaging and empowering staff to help me find the solutions that really meet people's needs. In my change initiative I had identified that people felt it was difficult to raise ideas for changes and that changes were often poorly resourced. People also felt that ideas were somewhat randomly selected and implemented based on who had time or shouted the loudest. As our business has more staff in the technical departments than in the back-office departments this often meant that the ideas from the back-office staff weren't prioritised. Based on the initial survey results I thought the solution was to implement a formal process for raising and reviewing business improvement suggestions and I was all ready to get going. However, as I read this module I decided to stop and take time to identify a group of key staff from across the organisation and engage them through a workshop to understand how they perceived the problem and what 'good' solutions would look like for them. While the process idea was raised as one area, 2 other focus areas were identified which were of equal importance - neither of which were things I'd previously considered. This demonstrated to me the importance of taking this approach and really engaging staff. The staff also asked to be part of the implementation process - meaning that I gained a group of engaged, supportive change-agents! I'm sure this will make all the difference in implementing this change. It also means that ownership sits with the whole group, not just me. This is really encouraging as this should help with avoiding innovation decay as well.
-Monitoring and reviewing is another area that I am personally week on, and so it was invaluable to have the value of this hammered home through this module. As a result I will be planning effective monitoring into the business improvements process.
Personal reflection note (Conclusions)
Historically I think I (rather wrongly) saw good change leadership as the role of one strong individual with amazing influencing skills, imposing their preferred practices on the wider business - largely though creation of processes and the power of their own personality! This module has helped me see change leadership as something totally different - more like servant leadership where the focus is on bringing engaging, enabling and empowering others rather than on the views of an individual. This is a really powerful and important change in focus for me and helps me feel empowered as an individual as well, as the focus isn't on whether I have enough skill or force of personality to make change happen, but rather on whether I can make space and time to listen well to others, learn from them and engage them to makes the changes themselves.
Innovation Project Module
PART A: About your Action Plan
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
A1. Name of your innovation project: (PART A: About your Action Plan)
Review of organisational design & objectives to enable us to become an 'aligned organisation'
A2. Are you undertaking this Project with others? If so, who? (PART A: About your Action Plan)
I will be leading this project, but with support from the Senior Leadership Team at Cenex (Robert - CEO, Angelina - Head of HR & Finance, Steve - Head of Transport, Keith - Head of Business Development, Esther - Head of Cenex NL, Fergus - Head of Cenex Scotland). Robert will act as senior sponsor, but we are a very close leadership team, so everyone will get involved in some form or another. When it comes to implementing the proposed changes, I will bring together volunteers from across the business to form a working group to help develop and implement the changes.
A3. Which of your organisation’s strategic goals or priorities does your proposed Innovation Project address? See the (Delivering Strategic Goals & Objectives ) section for guidance. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
My proposed project spreads across our strategic goals. In essence however, it focuses on making Cenex a great place to work. By identifying and prioritising (and then implementing) the top changes we can make to our organisation design, this should free people up to focus on doing what they enjoy doing, rather than getting caught up in unhelpful tools and metrics.
A4. Please describe the specific outcomes anticipated from your Innovation Project. How will they address one or more strategic goals or priorities? See the (Delivering Strategic Goals & Objectives ) section for guidance. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
At Cenex, our strategic goals are:
1) To be a great place to work
2) To maximise the value and impact of our work on the global transition to net-zero emissions from transport
3) To grow our team to meet the challenge - in skills, reach and capacity, as well as number
4) To grow our impact through partnerships and a shift to internationalisation
...(fill this in more later...)
1) To be a great place to work
2) To maximise the value and impact of our work on the global transition to net-zero emissions from transport
3) To grow our team to meet the challenge - in skills, reach and capacity, as well as number
4) To grow our impact through partnerships and a shift to internationalisation
...(fill this in more later...)
A5. Confirm your mandate for the Innovation Project. Is the senior team fully aware and committed to the innovation project? How do you know? (PART A: About your Action Plan)
Yes. I have reviewed first with the CEO and then with the Senior Leadership Team (which I am part of) and gained agreement to progress with the workplace diagnostics survey and then for me to lead on the results and next steps.
A6. Action description. Please provide a short description of the actions you intend to take. See the (Engagement ) section for guidance. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
- We will start with running a workplace diagnostics survey within the company.
- I will carry out initial analysis of the results and use it to identify the key themes, issues and successes and come up with an initial prioritisation.
- This will then be followed up with a day in November where the Senior Leadership Team will come together to review the results and consider next steps.
- We are keen to keep staff engagement, so this will be followed by a meeting to present the findings to the company and to get their insight into fleshing out the identified challenges and coming up with ideas around what improvements could look like. This will be based on a summary of the findings produced by myself, but will be followed up by sharing the formal summary report.
- As the SLT we will take this feedback and use it to map out the key improvement areas and prioritise them based on complexity, effort and impact. Improvements will then be assigned a sponsor from the SLT and an owner from within the business (with the level of seniority defined by the complexity to ensure that the owner has the required authority to deliver the improvement).
- I will be responsible for monitoring progress with these improvements and ensuring that progress is being made.
- I will continue to engage with the staff to evaluate the effectiveness of the improvements and ensure they are achieving the desired impacts. This will include providing progress regular updates to help staff feel like things are happening.
- I will carry out initial analysis of the results and use it to identify the key themes, issues and successes and come up with an initial prioritisation.
- This will then be followed up with a day in November where the Senior Leadership Team will come together to review the results and consider next steps.
- We are keen to keep staff engagement, so this will be followed by a meeting to present the findings to the company and to get their insight into fleshing out the identified challenges and coming up with ideas around what improvements could look like. This will be based on a summary of the findings produced by myself, but will be followed up by sharing the formal summary report.
- As the SLT we will take this feedback and use it to map out the key improvement areas and prioritise them based on complexity, effort and impact. Improvements will then be assigned a sponsor from the SLT and an owner from within the business (with the level of seniority defined by the complexity to ensure that the owner has the required authority to deliver the improvement).
- I will be responsible for monitoring progress with these improvements and ensuring that progress is being made.
- I will continue to engage with the staff to evaluate the effectiveness of the improvements and ensure they are achieving the desired impacts. This will include providing progress regular updates to help staff feel like things are happening.
Noted
A7. Changes to workplace practices. How will the proposed actions change or make an impact on the workplace practices represented by the Elements? Which changes in working practice, if any, are you proposing to make?
Jobs, Teams and Technology Element. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
In the short term, we are looking to create a role (likely part time) to manage and drive forwards these changes. This will include reviewing the business structure which will be important in the long term. However, the more pressing need identified through the workplace diagnostics survey relates to splitting out technical and managerial progression routes to enable people to progress in their career without having to move into management.
Noted
Employee-Driven Improvement and Innovation Element. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
The Workplace Innovation Diagnostics Survey identified that staff feel they are not able to deliver improvements because 1) they dont have the time (they are too busy) and 2) they dont have the funding until there is an externally funded project to fund it.
To tackle this we will development of a process to enable employees to 'bid in' for funding (including allocation of time) for innovation ideas. This could include improvements to internal processes, but also (and more likely) development of tools and resources which have potential to improve our external offerings ahead of need.
To tackle this we will development of a process to enable employees to 'bid in' for funding (including allocation of time) for innovation ideas. This could include improvements to internal processes, but also (and more likely) development of tools and resources which have potential to improve our external offerings ahead of need.
Chris, it will be important, if not critical, to success, that the selection criteria for acceptance of a "bid" is very transparent. (Harry)
Structure, Management and Processes Element. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
It was identified through the WID Survey that the existing structure limits opportunities for staff progression and also limits our impact as an organisation. We have always seen benefit in maintaining Cenex as a small (<50ppl) organisation to ensure the preservation of the culture. However, we believe now that, done with care and very intentionally/strategically, we can grow the business beyond this number which can enable us to grow our impact and create new opportunities for staff development and progression.
It was also identified that the current structure creates silos and divisions, particularly between 'technical' and 'non-technical' staff. This will be reviewed to identify whether a different structure would better suit the needs of the business and remove these divisions.
It was also identified that the current structure creates silos and divisions, particularly between 'technical' and 'non-technical' staff. This will be reviewed to identify whether a different structure would better suit the needs of the business and remove these divisions.
Chris, future recruitment will be key in bringing in people that not only have the skills but also the personal attributes and willingness to embrace the company values and strengthen the culture. (Harry).
Co-Created Leadership and Employee Voice Element. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
The Workplace Innovation Diagnostics Survey identified that staff do not feel like they have a good awareness of what the SLT are doing and dont have a voice in the making of key decisions. To tackle this we intend to develop an employee forum, including a peer appointed employee representative who will join (non-sensitive aspects of) the Senior Leadership Meetings to ensure that employees are aware of what's going on and have a clear voice in decision making.
Noted
A8. Who was involved in designing the Innovation Project? For example, were employees affected by the change, senior managers and other stakeholders actively involved in identifying the initiative and framing the proposed actions? Did you use any special tools or techniques to stimulate engagement and creative thinking? See the (Engagement ) section for guidance. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
The innovation project included the whole organisation. Everyone was included in the Workplace Diagnostics survey in order to gather initial feedback and insights. I then carried out an initial review of the results and presented them initially to the SLT and then to the wider business to gain further insight into the key themes and get examples of what the issues looked like on a day-to-day. I then used this feedback to develop a list of innovations/improvements which could be ranked by complexity, effort and impact. This will then be reviewed by the SLT and presented to the Board for approval before being developed into individual change initiatives.
Chris you obviously have a good understanding and appreciation of the value of laying down strong foundations to enable, embed and sustain Change. (Harry)
A9. Who will be involved in delivering the Innovation Project? Whose understanding, commitment and participation is required to make the Project effective and sustainable? Who can contribute relevant knowledge, ideas and experience? See the (Engagement ) section for guidance. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
The innovation project included the whole organisation. Everyone was included in the Workplace Diagnostics survey in order to gather initial feedback and insights.
The Senior Leadership Team took responsibility for overseeing and co-ordinating the changes to ensure that they were all working towards the same goal and not pulling in different directions. The SLT also acted as sponsors for each change initiative, ensuring that it received the time and resource required to make it successful.
The change initiatives were shared with the board and their insights gained to help give external perspectives and benchmarking.
The whole organisation was re-engaged at various stages through strategy workshops and through sharing of the results and regular updates. Finally, staff from across the business were given the opportunity to lead or be part of teams to deliver innovation initiatives.
The Senior Leadership Team took responsibility for overseeing and co-ordinating the changes to ensure that they were all working towards the same goal and not pulling in different directions. The SLT also acted as sponsors for each change initiative, ensuring that it received the time and resource required to make it successful.
The change initiatives were shared with the board and their insights gained to help give external perspectives and benchmarking.
The whole organisation was re-engaged at various stages through strategy workshops and through sharing of the results and regular updates. Finally, staff from across the business were given the opportunity to lead or be part of teams to deliver innovation initiatives.
Noted
A10. How will you engage these people or groups in implementing the Innovation Project? How will you ensure that the people you plan to involve are given the time, authority and resources to play an effective role? Are their line managers on board? Is there a conflict with performance targets or workloads? Do you need to build trust or confidence within the group? How will you resolve these issues? See the (Engagement ) section for guidance. (PART A: About your Action Plan)
Innovation Initiatives will be reviewed and agreed by the SLT and assigned a sponsor and owner, and the resources (time and budget) necessary to deliver it will be agreed and included in the resource plan. Identification of owners will include evaluation of workload to ensure that they are not trying to deliver conflicting demands. We are a very close SLT, so any issues which arise will be discussed between the sponsor and myself and changes agreed as required, or if this is not possible then it will be reviewed at the next SLT meeting.
Noted
A11. Coaching and supporting people. How will you support the individuals involved or affected by the Innovation Project? Do they need to acquire new skills? Will they need coaching and reassurance to play a role in the change process, or to adapt to new ways of working? (PART A: About your Action Plan)
Every change initiative will have it's own sponsor who will ensure that the resources required to deliver the project are made available to the team. Where external training or coaching is required to support the initiative this will be agreed within the project budget by the Sponsor.
Noted
A12. Anticipating obstacles. What difficulties do you foresee in delivering the Innovation Project? Do you anticipate resistance? How will you overcome these obstacles? (PART A: About your Action Plan)
While some changes are going to be quite simple, many are quite complex and nuanced. It would be easy to make a change which gives short term benefit, only to find that it conflicts with the long term direction we are trying to go in. To prevent this, it is important that initiatives are reviewed as part of the whole change programme rather than on their own. It is also important that changes are not made too quickly but are given time for the SLT to weigh up the implications effectively.
It is also likely that some staff may be resistant to changes, particularly when they are significant and impacting things like the organisational or team structures and reporting lines. This is where it becomes extremely important to maintain transparency, regular updates and ensuring that staff have a forum for raising their views and having a say in changes. Development of an employee forum and appointing an employee representative will be key steps in mitigating this. It will also be very important to regularly share updates with the whole staff and provide opportunities for feedback, rather than just announcing changes. The more significant the change, the greater the level of consultation required.
It is also likely that some staff may be resistant to changes, particularly when they are significant and impacting things like the organisational or team structures and reporting lines. This is where it becomes extremely important to maintain transparency, regular updates and ensuring that staff have a forum for raising their views and having a say in changes. Development of an employee forum and appointing an employee representative will be key steps in mitigating this. It will also be very important to regularly share updates with the whole staff and provide opportunities for feedback, rather than just announcing changes. The more significant the change, the greater the level of consultation required.
A13. External/internal support and resources. What resources are available, either inside or outside your organisation, to support the Innovation Project? Can you find potential synergies with other initiatives? Do you need to secure new resources? If so, how? (PART A: About your Action Plan)
We have identified that these initiatives are essential to the growth and preparation of Cenex for the next stage of our development. Therefore, I have secured agreement by the SLT to set up a project with internally allocated resource (funding and labour time) to manage this process. This is expected to include effectively freeing up around 50% of my time to manage and oversee the initiatives, as well as resources specifically allocated for each smaller change initiative. To support this we are reviewing our funding mechanisms to find a way to cover these costs without requiring staff to work more hours.
To provide some external perspectives, insights and benchmarking, we will be making use of our Board of Directors as well as the Workplace Innovation team and Fresh Thinking Labs community - hopefully identifying others who have carried out similar changes and who can offer a fresh and experienced perspective.
To provide some external perspectives, insights and benchmarking, we will be making use of our Board of Directors as well as the Workplace Innovation team and Fresh Thinking Labs community - hopefully identifying others who have carried out similar changes and who can offer a fresh and experienced perspective.
PART B: Charting Progress
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (PART B: Charting Progress)
25/02/22
Milestone 1 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: Project Charter
Date of the entry: 12/10/21
Start date: 15/10/21
Planned outcomes: Get SLT sign off for Workplace Innovation Diagnostics Survey and agreement for me to use the outcomes to generate an action plan for implementing the required changes within the business.
Planned completion date: 20/10/21
Update: This milestone is complete - 20/10/21
Date of the entry: 12/10/21
Start date: 15/10/21
Planned outcomes: Get SLT sign off for Workplace Innovation Diagnostics Survey and agreement for me to use the outcomes to generate an action plan for implementing the required changes within the business.
Planned completion date: 20/10/21
Update: This milestone is complete - 20/10/21
Milestone 2 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: Completion of Workplace Innovation Diagnostics Survey
Date of the entry:20/10/21
Start date: 21/10/21
Planned outcomes: Prepare, set up and run WID Survey
Planned completion date: 10/11/21
Update: This milestone is complete, with 100% engagement from staff 10/11/21
Date of the entry:20/10/21
Start date: 21/10/21
Planned outcomes: Prepare, set up and run WID Survey
Planned completion date: 10/11/21
Update: This milestone is complete, with 100% engagement from staff 10/11/21
Milestone 3 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: Present results to SLT
Date of the entry: 20/10/21
Start date: 17/11/21
Planned outcomes: Review and analyse results, identifying key trends and areas for improvement. Present findings to SLT and gain agreement to on the trends and to progress with developing a programme of improvement initiatives.
Planned completion date: 18/11/21
Update: This milestone is complete. Results presented to SLT, trends agreed and agreed to progress with developing a programme of initiatives.
Date of the entry: 20/10/21
Start date: 17/11/21
Planned outcomes: Review and analyse results, identifying key trends and areas for improvement. Present findings to SLT and gain agreement to on the trends and to progress with developing a programme of improvement initiatives.
Planned completion date: 18/11/21
Update: This milestone is complete. Results presented to SLT, trends agreed and agreed to progress with developing a programme of initiatives.
Milestone 4 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: Present results to Employees
Date of the entry: 18/11/21
Start date: 09/12/21
Planned outcomes: Present results of WID Survey to all employees in a workshop and gain additional insights/feedback/ideas to support development of appropriate initiatives.
Planned completion date:09/12/21
Update: This milestone is complete. Significant helpful feedback received from employees which has provided greater insight into the key issues and what this looks like in people's day-to-day activities. 09/12/21
Date of the entry: 18/11/21
Start date: 09/12/21
Planned outcomes: Present results of WID Survey to all employees in a workshop and gain additional insights/feedback/ideas to support development of appropriate initiatives.
Planned completion date:09/12/21
Update: This milestone is complete. Significant helpful feedback received from employees which has provided greater insight into the key issues and what this looks like in people's day-to-day activities. 09/12/21
Noted
This stage identified a vast number of improvements which are required for the business to move forwards. However, one of the central challenges was the need for a clear process for identifying, raising, prioritising, allocating resource and implementing changes. This has therefore become the core focus of the rest of this change project.
Milestone 5 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: Develop process for managing change initiatives
Date of the entry: 22/12/21
Start date: 22/12/21
Planned outcomes: Agree with the SLT the formal process for managing change initiatives within the business and allocation of resource to manage this process and oversee initiatives. This should include development of a formal procedure document and whatever tools necessary.
Planned completion date: 31/01/21
Date of the entry: 22/12/21
Start date: 22/12/21
Planned outcomes: Agree with the SLT the formal process for managing change initiatives within the business and allocation of resource to manage this process and oversee initiatives. This should include development of a formal procedure document and whatever tools necessary.
Planned completion date: 31/01/21
Noted
Having progressed further through the modules, and especially the "People Centred Change" module it's become clear that just agreeing the process with the SLT is not enough to make this successful. Instead I ran a workshop with a group of engaged staff from across the business to better understand the problem and identify the appropriate solution(s). Their findings were shared with the SLT, who gave sign off to create the formal process. I will include the staff group in the process development and get their input before sharing again with the SLT. This has slowed the process quite considerably, but makes me more confident of the overall success of the initiative.
Completion date: 21/06/21
Notes: A first draft of this process was created in January as scheduled. However, consultation with the staff has mean that there has been a lengthy review and refinement process. This has led to a significantly better and simpler process so it has been worth the delay. However, the delay was also due to the inability to give development of the process the proper time and attention it deserved due to year end and too much project work taking up management time. This has further demonstrated the need to give dedicated time and resource to change initiatives and particularly to include wider staff in leading and delivering changes.
The process has now been completed and approved by the senior leadership team. The next step will be to plan an effective roll out of the process and start using it to see how well it performs.
Completion date: 21/06/21
Notes: A first draft of this process was created in January as scheduled. However, consultation with the staff has mean that there has been a lengthy review and refinement process. This has led to a significantly better and simpler process so it has been worth the delay. However, the delay was also due to the inability to give development of the process the proper time and attention it deserved due to year end and too much project work taking up management time. This has further demonstrated the need to give dedicated time and resource to change initiatives and particularly to include wider staff in leading and delivering changes.
The process has now been completed and approved by the senior leadership team. The next step will be to plan an effective roll out of the process and start using it to see how well it performs.
Milestone 6 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: Prioritise Initiatives
Date of the entry: 22/12/21
Start date: 22/12/21
Planned outcomes: Bring together all the information gathered through the WID Survey, analysis of results and workshops with employees and SLT to create clear initiatives which can be prioritised and shared with the SLT to gain agreement to progress and allocation of appropriate resource.
Planned completion date: 28/02/22
Date of the entry: 22/12/21
Start date: 22/12/21
Planned outcomes: Bring together all the information gathered through the WID Survey, analysis of results and workshops with employees and SLT to create clear initiatives which can be prioritised and shared with the SLT to gain agreement to progress and allocation of appropriate resource.
Planned completion date: 28/02/22
Noted
In retrospect, I feel this milestone comes too early in the process. There is an earlier step needed to gather a team to support implementation and to create shared ownership of the innovation. I would therefore update this milestone as follows:
Milestone title: Implementation
Date of the entry: 25/02/22
Start date: 01/01/22
Planned outcomes: 1) Finalise the Business Improvements process and set up the tools needed to delivery it. 2) Train up Cenex Leadership in the process and plan a formal launch date
Planned completion date: 30/04/22
Completion date: 30/04/22 - We have engaged with staff to develop and implement the new Business Improvement process, tested it with some initial entries, and populated it with findings from the WI Diagnostics results. Formal launch is planned for 7th August 2022 to fit with our next "All Cenex Meeting".
Milestone title: Implementation
Date of the entry: 25/02/22
Start date: 01/01/22
Planned outcomes: 1) Finalise the Business Improvements process and set up the tools needed to delivery it. 2) Train up Cenex Leadership in the process and plan a formal launch date
Planned completion date: 30/04/22
Completion date: 30/04/22 - We have engaged with staff to develop and implement the new Business Improvement process, tested it with some initial entries, and populated it with findings from the WI Diagnostics results. Formal launch is planned for 7th August 2022 to fit with our next "All Cenex Meeting".
Milestone 7 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: Launch
Date of the entry: 30/04/22
Start date: 07/08/22
Planned outcomes: Formal launch of the Business improvement process
Planned completion date: 07/08/22
Actual completion date: 07/08/22
Date of the entry: 30/04/22
Start date: 07/08/22
Planned outcomes: Formal launch of the Business improvement process
Planned completion date: 07/08/22
Actual completion date: 07/08/22
Milestone 8 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: Monitoring & Evaluation
Date of the entry: 30/04/22
Start date: 07/08/22
Planned outcomes: Monitor and evaluate the use of the business improvement process and provide recommendations for improvements
Planned completion date: 11/10/22
Actual Completion date: 11/10/22
The main learning was that it was too much to fit the review process into the existing senior management meetings - especially early on when engagement is so high. We have therefore created a separate meeting for reviewing new ideas and progress implementing existing ideas. As we get over the initial "hump" of ideas we will consider whether it becomes manageable within the normal SMT meeting of whether a separate meeting is needed long-term.
Date of the entry: 30/04/22
Start date: 07/08/22
Planned outcomes: Monitor and evaluate the use of the business improvement process and provide recommendations for improvements
Planned completion date: 11/10/22
Actual Completion date: 11/10/22
The main learning was that it was too much to fit the review process into the existing senior management meetings - especially early on when engagement is so high. We have therefore created a separate meeting for reviewing new ideas and progress implementing existing ideas. As we get over the initial "hump" of ideas we will consider whether it becomes manageable within the normal SMT meeting of whether a separate meeting is needed long-term.
Milestone 9 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Milestone title: 6-Month Review
Date of the entry:10/11/22
Start date: 31/01/23
Planned outcomes: Carry out a review with representatives from across the business on the effectiveness of the process. Identify any changes which are required to improve it. After this, a regular review schedule will be set for the process (likely every 24 months).
Planned completion date: 31/01/23
Date of the entry:10/11/22
Start date: 31/01/23
Planned outcomes: Carry out a review with representatives from across the business on the effectiveness of the process. Identify any changes which are required to improve it. After this, a regular review schedule will be set for the process (likely every 24 months).
Planned completion date: 31/01/23
Milestone 10 (PART B: Charting Progress)
Not required.
PART C: Capturing the lessons from your Innovation Project
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (PART C: Your Innovation Project)
C1. Did your Project succeed in achieving the outcomes identified in your answer to question A4? (PART C) Please discuss whether the Project was a complete or partial success, or whether it failed. Why do you think this was the case?
I currently have 1 milestone to go on the project (6-month review), so I only have a partial idea of the overall success of the project. However, so far there has been high engagement with the process and it has become a common part of conversation e.g. "That's a great idea. Why don't you put that in an 'I have an Idea' form?". We have had 52 ideas submitted, of which 13 have been completed or closed and 29 have been approved and assigned to be implemented. Staff attitude towards the changes has been very positive and it seems to be developing a greater feeling of people having a voice and impact within the business.
The current challenges we are facing are:
1) working through the high volume of submissions in a way which shows we are listening and acting, but without overwhelming the company with changes. We are 'feeling our way' with this at the moment and so far I think we're hitting the right mark. The most difficult are is where we have multiple large changes (what we are calling initiatives) that are heavy on staff time and resources. For these, we have decided to limit ourselves to delivering no-more than 2 at a time.
2) We had great engagement initially, and some continuing engagement, but we have a number of new staff who have not been fully briefed on the process. I think it's critical that we regularly engage with staff about this, providing updates on progress and asking for new ideas - rather than relying on one launch event, or annual updates. If we dont then it is likely that the process will stop being used.
The current challenges we are facing are:
1) working through the high volume of submissions in a way which shows we are listening and acting, but without overwhelming the company with changes. We are 'feeling our way' with this at the moment and so far I think we're hitting the right mark. The most difficult are is where we have multiple large changes (what we are calling initiatives) that are heavy on staff time and resources. For these, we have decided to limit ourselves to delivering no-more than 2 at a time.
2) We had great engagement initially, and some continuing engagement, but we have a number of new staff who have not been fully briefed on the process. I think it's critical that we regularly engage with staff about this, providing updates on progress and asking for new ideas - rather than relying on one launch event, or annual updates. If we dont then it is likely that the process will stop being used.
C2. Did the objectives or planned outcomes change during the Project? (PART C)
It’s not uncommon for outcomes to change as a result of the learning gained during the implementation of projects. Likewise there may have been changes within the organisation or its wider environment that led to a rethink. Did either of these circumstances occur in your Project?
It’s not uncommon for outcomes to change as a result of the learning gained during the implementation of projects. Likewise there may have been changes within the organisation or its wider environment that led to a rethink. Did either of these circumstances occur in your Project?
At the start of the project we had the following aims:
1) Run the WI Diagnostics to enable us to hear the views of our staff and help us understand improvements we can make to the business
2) Implement the changes raised through the workplace innovation diagnostics.
As the project progressed and we started reviewing the diagnostics results we realised that some of the changes we needed to implement were much bigger and complicated than we had imagined. I think we (as the senior management team) had assumed that Cenex was a great place to work and there were just a few small niggles around some of our project management tools. While the diagnostic results did show that people like working at Cenex, and indicated that there is a LOT that's good here; the results also showed that there were some pretty significant steps that we would need to take to help keep staff engaged and keep Cenex being a good place to work as the business grows. It was particularly identified that we didn't actually have a process for raising ideas or making changes at Cenex. It was therefore noted that until this was in place we would struggle to successfully implement the other improvements raised by the diagnostics.
This has changed the objectives of the project somewhat, moving the focus to developing and implementing a process for raising ideas for improvements and implementing change within the businesses.
1) Run the WI Diagnostics to enable us to hear the views of our staff and help us understand improvements we can make to the business
2) Implement the changes raised through the workplace innovation diagnostics.
As the project progressed and we started reviewing the diagnostics results we realised that some of the changes we needed to implement were much bigger and complicated than we had imagined. I think we (as the senior management team) had assumed that Cenex was a great place to work and there were just a few small niggles around some of our project management tools. While the diagnostic results did show that people like working at Cenex, and indicated that there is a LOT that's good here; the results also showed that there were some pretty significant steps that we would need to take to help keep staff engaged and keep Cenex being a good place to work as the business grows. It was particularly identified that we didn't actually have a process for raising ideas or making changes at Cenex. It was therefore noted that until this was in place we would struggle to successfully implement the other improvements raised by the diagnostics.
This has changed the objectives of the project somewhat, moving the focus to developing and implementing a process for raising ideas for improvements and implementing change within the businesses.
C3. Which obstacles did you face during the Project as a whole, and which strategies did you use to overcome them? Were they successful? (PART C)
There were two main obstacles that we faced during this project. These were:
1) Staff busyness - Progress with the project has been slower than hoped. This is largely due to staff busyness, especially within the senior management team. There were numerous times when there would be a month's delay due to waiting to get all the SMT together to review and/or approve something. This in part was due to the changing nature of the project and the realisation that the project was much bigger than originally anticipated. The change to creating a process was particularly slow as Cenex tends to avoid formal processes on the whole to avoid stifling creativity. However, this in itself was one of the main trends in the diagnostics feedback - that there is inconsistency in the business due to lack of processes.
My strategy for tackline this was to agree with the CEO what stages needed full SMT review and approval and what could be approved by just the CEO. We also identified that the owner for many of these changes would be the operations manager, so we agreed that certain stages could be reviewed and approved by the Operations manager rather than the CEO. This sped things up significantly.
2) Change in charter - Originally, as the project was believed to be about implementing a few 'tweaks to the business', I was not allocated any specific time for the project outside my normal management time. This was fine initially, but as the project grew it became clear that more time would be required. In particular, it was identified that we needed a dedicated resource to lead business improvement full time for 12-24 months. This was agreed with the whole SMT and then taken by the CEO to the Board of Directors for approval as a change to the project charter. Unfortunately, I did not prepare our CEO well enough for this meeting and he presented the information pretty poorly to the board. As a result, the board rejected the change. At the same time, I lost a few key staff - meaning that much of my usual management time was spent on recruitment and covering the gap in resource. This really slowed the project for a time. Thankfully, I was able to agree with the CEO that I could appoint a deputy department head who would take on some of my management responsibilities and free up around 20% of my time which could then be put into this project. This was approved as a change to the project charter. This is still a lot less time than the project probably needed, but it has been enough time to develop and implement the business improvement process and start using it. It has also prompted me to stop trying to own delivery of ALL the change projects which come from the process, and instead to share this role across the senior management team. Overall, this is probably a good thing as it encourages greater buy-in and engagement from the SMT.
1) Staff busyness - Progress with the project has been slower than hoped. This is largely due to staff busyness, especially within the senior management team. There were numerous times when there would be a month's delay due to waiting to get all the SMT together to review and/or approve something. This in part was due to the changing nature of the project and the realisation that the project was much bigger than originally anticipated. The change to creating a process was particularly slow as Cenex tends to avoid formal processes on the whole to avoid stifling creativity. However, this in itself was one of the main trends in the diagnostics feedback - that there is inconsistency in the business due to lack of processes.
My strategy for tackline this was to agree with the CEO what stages needed full SMT review and approval and what could be approved by just the CEO. We also identified that the owner for many of these changes would be the operations manager, so we agreed that certain stages could be reviewed and approved by the Operations manager rather than the CEO. This sped things up significantly.
2) Change in charter - Originally, as the project was believed to be about implementing a few 'tweaks to the business', I was not allocated any specific time for the project outside my normal management time. This was fine initially, but as the project grew it became clear that more time would be required. In particular, it was identified that we needed a dedicated resource to lead business improvement full time for 12-24 months. This was agreed with the whole SMT and then taken by the CEO to the Board of Directors for approval as a change to the project charter. Unfortunately, I did not prepare our CEO well enough for this meeting and he presented the information pretty poorly to the board. As a result, the board rejected the change. At the same time, I lost a few key staff - meaning that much of my usual management time was spent on recruitment and covering the gap in resource. This really slowed the project for a time. Thankfully, I was able to agree with the CEO that I could appoint a deputy department head who would take on some of my management responsibilities and free up around 20% of my time which could then be put into this project. This was approved as a change to the project charter. This is still a lot less time than the project probably needed, but it has been enough time to develop and implement the business improvement process and start using it. It has also prompted me to stop trying to own delivery of ALL the change projects which come from the process, and instead to share this role across the senior management team. Overall, this is probably a good thing as it encourages greater buy-in and engagement from the SMT.
C4. How has your Project contributed to workplace innovation in your organisation? Please summarise any changes in working practice resulting from your Project, noting any variation from your answers to question A8.
Jobs, Teams and Technology Element. (PART C)
The project has created a process for raising, evaluating and implementing ideas for business changes. One of the first ideas raised through the process, and identified through the WI Diagnostics results, was to separate out technical and managerial progression routes - allowing technical staff to develop and progress within the business without having to take on management responsibilities. This was implemented during the trial stage of the process. Since making this change, 4 staff (making up 10% of our workforce) have been promoted to roles that wouldn't have been available to them otherwise.
Employee-Driven Improvement and Innovation Element. (PART C)
The project created a process for all staff to be able to raise new ideas. Since its launch we have had 52 ideas submitted, of which 13 have been completed or closed and 29 have been approved and assigned to be implemented. Staff attitude towards the changes has been very positive and it seems to be developing a greater feeling of people having a voice and impact within the business.
Structure, Management and Processes Element. (PART C)
The project has created a process for raising, evaluating and implementing ideas for business changes. The ideas raised through this process and through the workplace diagnostics have led to a number of processes being reviewed and changed. These changes have allowed us to review many of our processes and structures and identify whether they are working towards the overall business aims. In many cases they were not, and changes have been able to be made to resolve this.
Co-Created Leadership and Employee Voice Element. (PART C)
Prior to this project, there were no regular, consistent or formal ways for staff to contribute to improving the way we work - other than raising an idea with their manager. Through this project we have created a simple and easy way for all staff to engage and share ideas, and the process of implementing any changes also includes engaging with employees and hearing their views and ideas - and where possible, using staff outside the management team to develop the ideas and implement the changes.
In addition, one of the ideas raised through the process was to set up an employee forum. We are still working on this as there have been other, higher-priority changes which have been implemented first. However, we are aiming to have this set up by the end of the financial year (Mar-23). This will further give voice to employee views, questions, ideas and challenges.
In addition, one of the ideas raised through the process was to set up an employee forum. We are still working on this as there have been other, higher-priority changes which have been implemented first. However, we are aiming to have this set up by the end of the financial year (Mar-23). This will further give voice to employee views, questions, ideas and challenges.
C5. How have the lessons learned during the Project strengthened your ability as a change leader? (PART C)
I've learnt a huge amount though this project. However, the main lessons which have strengthened my ability as a change leader are:
1) Slow is fast - It can be tempting to rush changes to achieve the benefits more quickly. Typically, this means skipping the engagement steps and ploughing ahead with what you think the right solution is. Through this project I've seen how regular and well-planned engagement with the key people impacted by the change can dramatically change what it looks like to deliver a "successful" change.
2) Engaging people leads to greater support for the solution - linked to the above, historically I have seen many change projects fail because they didn't have support from staff. Many of these were great ideas, but if people who it impacts don't support it then it has virtually no change of achieving its aims. By contrast, by engaging staff through the development of the understanding of the problem and creation of a solution, you can achieve much greater levels of support for the change. In fact, you naturally create champions for the project as people feel ownership of the change.
3) Prepare well for changes in scope/charter - I still believe that, had I prepared the CEO more effectively to present the case for a full-time business improvement manager, the board would have been willing to support the recommendation. Very simply, I could have written a position paper for the board which would have armed the CEO with all the information he needed to answer the boards questions and concerns. Therefore, in the future, if I'm leading a change project and the scope, resources or charter need to change significantly then I would now ensure that I document the reasoning very clearly to support decision making.
1) Slow is fast - It can be tempting to rush changes to achieve the benefits more quickly. Typically, this means skipping the engagement steps and ploughing ahead with what you think the right solution is. Through this project I've seen how regular and well-planned engagement with the key people impacted by the change can dramatically change what it looks like to deliver a "successful" change.
2) Engaging people leads to greater support for the solution - linked to the above, historically I have seen many change projects fail because they didn't have support from staff. Many of these were great ideas, but if people who it impacts don't support it then it has virtually no change of achieving its aims. By contrast, by engaging staff through the development of the understanding of the problem and creation of a solution, you can achieve much greater levels of support for the change. In fact, you naturally create champions for the project as people feel ownership of the change.
3) Prepare well for changes in scope/charter - I still believe that, had I prepared the CEO more effectively to present the case for a full-time business improvement manager, the board would have been willing to support the recommendation. Very simply, I could have written a position paper for the board which would have armed the CEO with all the information he needed to answer the boards questions and concerns. Therefore, in the future, if I'm leading a change project and the scope, resources or charter need to change significantly then I would now ensure that I document the reasoning very clearly to support decision making.
Jobs, teams and technology element
Introduction
Personal reflection note (Introduction to the jobs, teams and technology element)
Trust is such a critical element and I can see that already in my experience developing and implementing our business improvements process. I had various people say "If I thought the results of the WI survey would be taken this seriously I might have added more feedback!". This shows how much staff want to be part of the solution and how much they appreciate being listened to and empowered. Thankfully, one of the strongest elements of our WI survey results was that staff trusted management and that management trusted staff. However, I think a bit bit of trust is believing that things will be followed through and delivered on, and this is something we are not so good at as a management team. All too often other things take priority (project delivery and customer-facing activities) while staff and internal business improvement come second place. Again, this was reflected in the staff survey and it is a key area that I think we need to address as a business.
1.1 Job design
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (1.1 Job design)
24/06/22
Forum topic: People who have only experienced jobs with little or no autonomy and few opportunities for personal development are sometimes hesitant about expanding their roles. How do you help them overcome their reluctance?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: Think of a key frontline job in your organisation. How effectively are the above requirements met? (Job design)
At Cenex, our Technical Specialists are our most frontline staff. Where possible, they are engaged with the customers throughout business development, project delivery and post-project review to ensure that they are able to enjoy a "Complete" job (Job criteria 1). They are also empowered to make day-to-day decisions around activities and planning how they use their time (Job criteria 2). Staff deliver a wide range of activities within a project, avoiding falling into short, cycled tasks as much as possible. Where short, cycled tasks are necessary we tend to bring in support from across the team to minimise the impact (Job criteria 3). While we try to give technical specialists room to stretch, grow and innovate, we also ensure that this is balanced with activities they are more comfortable with. This is a regular topic of discussion between team leaders and myself as department head, to ensure that this balance is well maintained ((Job criteria 4). Technical Specialists manage a range of projects, with the number based on their experience and capabilities. Across these projects they have autonomy to make decisions on how to progress with projects, as well as clear support from management when they want it and guidelines around when this is necessary (such as for legal compliance) (Job criteria 5). Historically, technical specialists have often run projects on their own. However, following feedback from staff we have implemented an approach of always having at least 2 people on a project. This is to give people someone to bounce ideas off and to help work through challenged. The second person may only have a minor role within the delivery activities, but they are a crucial part of helping manage problems and issues (Job criteria 6). Unless legally required or relating to sensitive topics such as salary, Cenex takes the approach of making all information available for all staff to view. Cenex also actively works to share information through 'lunch and learn' sessions where we share findings from recent projects, as well as a shared folder of presentations which have been made externally at events or conferences. Cenex works hard to make sure information doesn't get siloed (Job criteria 7). We still have some way to go in using technology to help us share information more effectively, but we are investigating options around sharepoints and other technical solutions to help us do this better as well.
Personal reflection note (Job design)
Overall, I'd say that job design is an area we are very strong at in Cenex. It is not unusual for someone's role to change and adapt based on their interests and skills, and we always tell staff the they shouldn't feel constrained by the job specification we hired them under, but that the primary hiring criteria was an individuals values and fit with the business and we would work with staff to help them develop a truly satisfying role. This is something I'm really proud to be a part of and enabling and empowering this is one of the key roles I see myself having as a department head.
1.2 Self-Organised Teamworking
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (1.2 Self-Organised Teamworking)
08/07/22
Forum topic: Please share an example of a team whose members really work well together to create a great service or product. What makes it special?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: Self-organised teamworking devolves day-to-day leadership and decision-making to the lowest possible level, and team members themselves take responsibility for improving the way they work together. How does this (or how will it) work in your organisation? (Self-Organised Teamworking)
Cenex has always worked hard to empower all staff to innovate and improve the way they work. As a small organisation this was natural and easy, but as we've grown we have had to create processes to help maintain this culture. Team leaders typically have a coaching management style, taking time each week to hear how individuals are doing and always available to discuss challenges or ideas. Over COVID we implemented team calls 3 times a week which are led by the staff and with the team leader there to hear concerns and help tackle any major challenges. In our weekly department meeting we bring together 3 teams to share best practice and update each other on a key project, whilst also giving space to share wider business information. We have recently implemented a system for all staff to be able to raise ideas for business improvements - ranging from ways to make Cenex a better place to work, through to ideas for new technologies or business opportunities. This enables the senior management team to quickly empower staff to implement 'quick wins', while also prioritising and providing the resources to implement more complex ideas - but in a way which is fair and consistent for all staff.
Personal reflection note (Self-Organised Teamworking)
One of the areas raised through the workplace innovation diagnostics survey was the separation between our expert teams. Working across technical teams was OK, but support teams (especially marketing) felt siloed and felt like second-class employees. To tackle this we have taken a more wholistic approach to project management - now ensuring that project teams include staff from finance, marketing and any other relevant business areas, as well as the technical staff. This is creating much better working relationships and is resulting in support staff feeling part of the wider team. This aspect of team design has been an essential step in improving the way we work together as teams.
1.3 People-centred technology
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (1.3 People-centred technology)
08/07/22
Forum topic: How can technologies liberate human potential at work? Please share your ideas and examples.
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: What criteria would you use to evaluate potential future technology investments in terms of their impact on people? (People-centred technology)
When assessing future technology investments we would of course consider the typical criteria such as cost, function, risk, time for implementation and other similar factors. However, this course has helped me to step back and take a more people-centred view. Engaging staff in the definition of the problem and the review of options is critical to finding the right technology. Implementing recent process improvements has highlighted to me how as a manager I may understand a part of the problem, but unless I engage staff in understanding the problem and defining what "success" would look like, we would likely have implemented an incomplete or flawed improvement. This is even more important when considering technology where the cost of a new technology can be significant and it can be difficult to change once implemented, making it even more important to implement the right thing first time.
I would also look to ensure that we are considering a full system view of the issue. We are currently looking to upgrade our finance and management systems and I took some time to map out my understanding of what the systems where and how they interacted. By engaging with a few key staff who carry out different activities with these systems I was able to identify a number of gaps I had overlooked. This means I can now look for solutions which will help solve the whole problem, not just part of it.
I would also look to ensure that we are considering a full system view of the issue. We are currently looking to upgrade our finance and management systems and I took some time to map out my understanding of what the systems where and how they interacted. By engaging with a few key staff who carry out different activities with these systems I was able to identify a number of gaps I had overlooked. This means I can now look for solutions which will help solve the whole problem, not just part of it.
Personal reflection note (People-centred technology)
At Cenex technology generally refers to our phones, laptops, servers and software. Historically, staff had freedom to select what they needed to get the job done. However, in order to comply with the requirements of our customers we have had to move to more consistent and restricted options. This has been difficult for staff, however I think we could have made it much easier for staff to get on-board with if we had better engaged with them about the reasons behind it and ensured that we fully understood staff needs when selecting our different options. This is something I am looking to improve on as we upgrade our different technologies over the next 12-24 months.
Interdependencies
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Interdependencies)
08/07/22
Learning log question: Do the interdependent practices summarised in the above table exercise a positive or negative effect on the changes relating to this Element that you are trying to introduce? Please give examples. (Jobs, Teams & Technology Interdependencies)
Interdependencies between these different elements clearly make implementation of changes around jobs, teams and technologies much more achievable and sustainable. I can see that without considering these interdependencies any changes would likely be short-lived or would not achieve their full potential. However, the interdependencies also make implementing changes harder as they often identify wider, more systemic issues which need to be tackled first. As an example, we recently implemented a new process for staff to raise ideas for ways to improve the business. Developing the process was not that hard, however wider interdependencies around things like the way senior managers engage with staff and ensuring that staff have a voice in influencing and implementing changes, all needed tackling before we could implement the process. So, while taking these interdependencies into account is essential, I think it's also important to be realistic about what's achievable to avoid 'change paralysis' where nothing is ever done because something else needs to change first. The key to this is being able to gauge just how far off the mark each element is and therefore decide whether changing it should be prioritised before making the originally planned change, or whether it can wait until later.
Personal reflection note (Jobs, Teams & Technology Interdependencies)
I've found this a difficult one to manage. Each interdependency throws up new challenges and changes which are needed, and it's been really hard trying to evaluate them and decide what's really important. Ultimately, I decided that the key to moving forwards was to have a process for raising, evaluating and implementing changes (something we've never had before) as this created a framework to collect and consider all the different ideas, and gave a common method for implementing them and reviewing their implementation. This allowed me to factor in things like feedback cycles, allocating resources, engaging wider stakeholders and gaining a full system view; which means that other staff can be empowered to implement changes while ensuring they consider all these aspects when it is unlikely that they would have before. Hopefully this critical element will help ensure that the 'burden' of change within the project doesn't just sit with me, but is shared across everyone in the business. This not only empowers staff, but should also create a more resilient and sustainable culture of change.
Conclusions
Personal reflection note (Jobs, Teams & Technology Conclusions)
I recently ran a session for new starters at Cenex on "Developing at Cenex". In this, the first thing I said was "We truly believe that people are our greatest asset". While it is a cliche, I think it is particularly true for a consultancy such as ours where we trade on knowledge. As a 'Centre of excellence', investing in and empowering our staff is commercially for the best too as it enables us to stay as recognised leaders in the industry. Also, as a small not-for-profit and values driven business, I believe we have an ethical responsibility to our staff as well. This all feeds in to the culture at Cenex and makes it important that we learn how to empower our staff through their jobs, teams and technologies.
Employee-Driven Innovation and Improvement Element
Introduction
Personal reflection note (Introduction to Employee-Driven Innovation and Improvement Element)
At Cenex we have a strong culture of innovation, but it was identified recently that we dont always fully implement ideas or follow them through to get the full value out of them. It can also feel like ideas are implemented based on the strength of their line manager or because the person shouts the loudest, rather than based on merit. To change this we have developed and implemented a new process for staff to raise their ideas in a fair and consistent way, and to ensure that they are considered by the management team and prioritised to ensure we are implementing the right changes, not just the ones which seem most urgent. This is a brand new process, so it will take a little while to gather feedback on it's impact, but hopefully it will help us to grow and develop our culture of innovation.
2.1 Enterprising Behaviour
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (2.1 Enterprising Behaviour)
08/07/22
Forum topic: Do you have examples where inspiring ideas have come from unexpected people?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.Learning log question: How can you encourage your line managers to stimulate and support enterprising behaviour? (Enterprising Behaviour)
This is a challenge that we've experienced more recently as our workload has increased. When we are busy, it is very easy for managers to prioritise delivery over innovation. To help tackle this we have appointed Principle Technical Specialists - basically the most senior technical role in each team, and their role is in part to encourage sharing of learning and best practice. They will coach staff. review and feedback on deliverables and actively encourage innovative approaches. They are of equal 'rank' to the team leader and report directly to the department head. This gives them authority to champion innovation and shared learning.
We also hold regular lunch and learn sessions where staff can share about a project they've been working on. We also bring in external speakers for some of these sessions to help us see what is happening in the wider industry and to stop us getting too stuck in our own ways of doing things.
We also hold regular lunch and learn sessions where staff can share about a project they've been working on. We also bring in external speakers for some of these sessions to help us see what is happening in the wider industry and to stop us getting too stuck in our own ways of doing things.
Personal reflection note (Enterprising Behaviour)
Personally I believe that the best leaders are those that gather the right people for the right jobs and then empower them to do great things! Encouraging innovation and entrepreneurial nature is a cornerstone of this. I do my best to encourage it in my staff, and I also try to use things like objectives as a way to incentivise and reward staff for taking the initiative. I think we generally do this well at Cenex, but we can become weaker at it when the workload piles up. That's why it is also important to make sure we are doing the right work and saying no to things which are unnecessary.
2.2 Continuous Improvement
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (2.2 Continuous Improvement)
29/07/22
Forum topic: Have you shared an idea for improving a product, service or process? What was your experience of doing so? Or have you tried to engage others in continuous improvement?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.Learning log question: How will you embed the culture and practice of continuous improvement within your organisation? (Continuous Improvement)
Over the past 2 years I have been training up team leaders in the technical teams at Cenex to use reflective cycles, similar to those shown in this module, to support a culture of continuous improvement. Our new business improvement process also encourages people to share ideas for improvements and makes sure the right resources are made available to implement them. There is still much more we can do and I really love the fishbone diagram as a fault-finding tool, so I have incorporated that into the problem identification workshops in our improvements process.
So far, much of my focus has been on developing the culture in the technical teams because this has been my core remit. However, I am increasingly seeing the value and need for fully cross-functional culture where everyone is involved in improving the way we work. I have ensured that the business improvement process makes use of cross-functional teams when scoping the problems, identifying and implementing the solutions and when reviewing their implementation. However, I think I also need to work with the wider senior management team to ensure that they are fully bought in to this culture as well.
So far, much of my focus has been on developing the culture in the technical teams because this has been my core remit. However, I am increasingly seeing the value and need for fully cross-functional culture where everyone is involved in improving the way we work. I have ensured that the business improvement process makes use of cross-functional teams when scoping the problems, identifying and implementing the solutions and when reviewing their implementation. However, I think I also need to work with the wider senior management team to ensure that they are fully bought in to this culture as well.
Personal reflection note (Continuous Improvement)
Within my department I think we have quite a strong culture of continuous improvement, however this wasn't reflected across the wider business when we did the workplace innovation survey. We have made some big steps to tackle this, but it will be a few months for new processes to 'bed in' and for people to see whether they work before we can really measure their impact. During this time it's going to be critical that senior management support the implementation of the business improvement process so that people get a good first experience of it. Currently this is a challenge because we are ramping up for our biggest event of the year in Sept, so getting time from the management team is harder than I'd like.
2.3 High Involvement Innovation
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (2.3 High Involvement Innovation)
02/09/22
Forum topic: How can you encourage everyone to bring fresh thinking and ideas to the workplace?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.Learning log question: Describe a range of approaches and methods that you use (or plan to use) to stimulate employee-driven innovation. (High Involvement Innovation)
Since carrying out the Workplace Innovation Diagnostic last year we have gone on to create a system to allow staff to submit their ideas for business improvements, new R&D projects and new services or solutions for our customers. Ideas are reviewed by the management team and sorted into "Quick Win's" and "Initiatives". Ideas are then ranked by complexity and impact. The best ideas are then awarded support and resources to be implemented. Quick win's follow a very simple process, meaning they can be implemented within as short a timescale as possible (often within a day), while initiatives are more complex ideas requiring more significant resources to implement. Initiatives therefore follow a clear process to ensure regular review and stakeholder engagement as they are developed and implemented.
Outside of this, we hold annual department away-days where part of the time is spent working together to brainstorm and develop new ideas and identify new opportunities.
Within a project setting we often make use of what we call the "Cenex Hive-mind" to test and challenge ideas and develop new solutions. We are considering ways to extend this outside of projects and into the normal activities of the company. Due to the dispersed nature of our workforce, we are considering some sort of ideation platform. The idea is that this will also help break down the walls between teams and encourage better teamworking and collaboration across the business as well as the development of new ideas.
Outside of this, we hold annual department away-days where part of the time is spent working together to brainstorm and develop new ideas and identify new opportunities.
Within a project setting we often make use of what we call the "Cenex Hive-mind" to test and challenge ideas and develop new solutions. We are considering ways to extend this outside of projects and into the normal activities of the company. Due to the dispersed nature of our workforce, we are considering some sort of ideation platform. The idea is that this will also help break down the walls between teams and encourage better teamworking and collaboration across the business as well as the development of new ideas.
Personal reflection note (High Involvement Innovation)
Since implementing the new system for submitting and reviewing ideas I've been amazed at the impact it has had on the business. Not only are we seeing loads of great ideas coming through, but we're also able to demonstrate fast and effective responses. The number of conversations where a member of staff would raise an idea to one of the SMT, but because it was in the middle of something else or they didn't have anywhere to note it the idea just got forgotten. Now you regularly hear people saying "Great idea - why dont you submit it through the "I have an idea" form?. I think people are feeling more listened to and hopefully more empowered as well. It's hard maintaining something like this though, so it will take a while to really embed it so that it just becomes part of normal business practice and that is hugely reliant on people seeing successful implementation of some of the bigger or more difficult ideas as well as the quick wins.
2.4 Interdependencies
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (2.4 Interdependencies)
02/09/22
Learning log question: Do the interdependent practices summarised in the above table exercise a positive or negative effect on the changes relating to this Element that you are trying to introduce? Please give examples. (Employee-Driven Innovation & Improvement Interdependencies)
The interdependencies between employee driven innovation and the other 'Elements' can be both helpful and a hinderance depending on their current position. Certainly as I have implemented our new business improvement process it has been incredibly helpful to consider technology, workloads, job design, employee voice and many other areas as these have helped me identify potential barriers and issues I was likely to hit and how to overcome them (for example, staff felt they didn't have capacity to deliver any changes due to their high workloads. I therefore made sure that time as well as other resources could be allocated to staff to support the implementation of a new idea. This was agreed with the SMT and CEO and we now have a 'pot' or time available each year for innovation. Technology was also helpful to consider as it allowed me to look at the tools and technology we already had available to staff and I was able to develop a solution using these technologies - this helped remove some people's concerns about creating a new system that they had to learn how to use. Without considering these interdependencies it would have been easier to develop a solution, but it would likely have failed as it wouldn't have aligned with the current needs of the staff and business.
Personal reflection note (Employee-Driven Innovation & Improvement Interdependencies)
I found it quite hard and at times frustrating to try to consider all the different interdependencies and there have been many times when I've wanted to just stop and create a solution without worrying about the big picture. However, the results that I've seen so far continuously remind me that, while it may be slower, you get to a much better final solution and prevent yourself re-creating the wheel. I therefore still think this is critical.
Conclusions
Personal reflection note (Employee-Driven Innovation & Improvement Conclusions)
This is a great summary of this topic. Suspending judgement and not evaluating too soon is a really key thing. On our first attempt reviewing the ideas submitted through our new business improvement process I had to constantly remind the SMT that we weren't making judgements about whether something was the best idea yet, but rather we were just ranking the ideas for complexity and impact and that the top ideas would then be investigated further to find out more and see if they turn out to be good ideas. Sometimes the initial idea wasn't great, but it led to understanding a problem that we weren't aware of and we were then able to find an effective solution to it.
Structures, Management and Processes Element
Introduction
Personal reflection note (Introduction to the Structures, Management and Processes Element)
At Cenex we are currently reviewing our structure, management and processes with the aim of better aligning us with our vision and preparing us for the next 5 years. Historically we have been divided into two technical departments - Energy and Transport. However, the distinction between these two areas is ever reducing and we are regularly working together across these divides, but the fact there even is a divide makes it much harder to collaborate and can result in mixed priorities. Our KPI setting can also create further conflict of priorities. So, it's clear that a refresh is needed.
Unfortunately, different managers have different ideas about what the vision is, resulting in different ideas around how to achieve this. This is clearly demonstrating to me the importance 1) of a clear, easily articulated vision, and 2) of aligning our structure, management and processes to achieve this vision.
Unfortunately, different managers have different ideas about what the vision is, resulting in different ideas around how to achieve this. This is clearly demonstrating to me the importance 1) of a clear, easily articulated vision, and 2) of aligning our structure, management and processes to achieve this vision.
3.1 Organisational Structures
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (3.1 Organisational Structures)
14/10/22
Forum topic: How can you improve workflow and co-operation between different teams and departments?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.Learning log question: Why can co-operation and smooth workflow between teams and departments be so difficult to achieve – and what can you do about it? (Organisational Structures)
Two key challenges in achieving good cross-company co-operation are KPIs and physical location.
If KPI's for teams or departments have been set without considering the impact on the wider business then they can often conflict. In my own workplace, financial targets are set by department and are measured by the income from projects managed by that team. However, these projects often use staff from across the business. If an individual is asked to work on two projects - one for their department and one for another department, they will give preference to the one in their department because it will help their department achieve its objectives. While good for the department, this is bad for the business and creates unnecessary barriers and conflicts to co-working. Changing the way we set out team objectives could allow us to overcome this barrier. For example, changing the focus to measuring the profitability of a project, personal contribution (i.e. measuring the income earned by each member of staff and setting targets for this based on their role and activities), or even measuring customer feedback on projects could all create more collaborative approaches.
Physical location can create a sense of division between teams. By having one team based in one room and another across the hall you encourage different team identities and social groupings. Put simply, it's easier to build relationships with someone if they are in the same room as you.
Mixing up seating across departments can help with tackling physical location differences, but this isn't always practical if the teams are divided across different countries or regions, rather than just across the hall. We have implemented functional "social time" where people doing similar roles in different teams and locations get together online for half an hour a week to build relationship in a relaxed and easy way. We also do this for the whole company with a "Friday coffee morning".
If KPI's for teams or departments have been set without considering the impact on the wider business then they can often conflict. In my own workplace, financial targets are set by department and are measured by the income from projects managed by that team. However, these projects often use staff from across the business. If an individual is asked to work on two projects - one for their department and one for another department, they will give preference to the one in their department because it will help their department achieve its objectives. While good for the department, this is bad for the business and creates unnecessary barriers and conflicts to co-working. Changing the way we set out team objectives could allow us to overcome this barrier. For example, changing the focus to measuring the profitability of a project, personal contribution (i.e. measuring the income earned by each member of staff and setting targets for this based on their role and activities), or even measuring customer feedback on projects could all create more collaborative approaches.
Physical location can create a sense of division between teams. By having one team based in one room and another across the hall you encourage different team identities and social groupings. Put simply, it's easier to build relationships with someone if they are in the same room as you.
Mixing up seating across departments can help with tackling physical location differences, but this isn't always practical if the teams are divided across different countries or regions, rather than just across the hall. We have implemented functional "social time" where people doing similar roles in different teams and locations get together online for half an hour a week to build relationship in a relaxed and easy way. We also do this for the whole company with a "Friday coffee morning".
Personal reflection note (Organisational Structures)
I really loved the idea in one of the case studies of desks being randomly allocated. Even since moving to a hot-deck approach, people still tend to book the same desks each day and therefore sit with the same people. We've been working hard to tackle this, but the best success was when the heating broke in one of the rooms and so they either had to sit elsewhere or freeze!
Generally, I'm actually seeing the structure as less of our challenge however, and I think the bigger challenge is how we set out KPIs. As I consider different working structures I've realised that we are already pretty flat structured and we already empower and encourage staff to make their own decisions, clearly setting out what is within their authority and what isn't. I think the main challenges are 1) our unhelpful ways of setting KPIs, and 2) that increased remote working has created more silos in staffing and less general socialisation. In both cases we are starting to tackle these, but I slightly fear that we may end up undergoing an unnecessary reorganisation along the way!
Generally, I'm actually seeing the structure as less of our challenge however, and I think the bigger challenge is how we set out KPIs. As I consider different working structures I've realised that we are already pretty flat structured and we already empower and encourage staff to make their own decisions, clearly setting out what is within their authority and what isn't. I think the main challenges are 1) our unhelpful ways of setting KPIs, and 2) that increased remote working has created more silos in staffing and less general socialisation. In both cases we are starting to tackle these, but I slightly fear that we may end up undergoing an unnecessary reorganisation along the way!
3.2 Management roles and behaviours
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (3.2 Management roles and behaviours)
14/10/22
Forum topic: How can you change line management behaviours?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: What changes can you make (or have you made) to embed a coaching style of leadership and management throughout your organisation? (Management roles and behaviours)
Recently we have structured to create two development pathways for staff - one managerial and one technical. Previously you would reach a point where the only way to develop any further was to move into management. This is no-longer the case. We have also created more senior technical roles which include coaching of junior staff. While this is still a new change at Cenex, we are working to equip these employees to coach effectively and to ensure that they have the time to do it well.
In addition, I am looking to set up coaching for our team leaders across the business. We have many new team leaders who have never led teams before. The aim is for these sessions to be about asking questions and sharing good ideas around structured topics, rather than having a fixed training programme. I have already been running something like this for my own staff, and I am looking to learn from that experience to make it really effective across the business.
In addition, I am looking to set up coaching for our team leaders across the business. We have many new team leaders who have never led teams before. The aim is for these sessions to be about asking questions and sharing good ideas around structured topics, rather than having a fixed training programme. I have already been running something like this for my own staff, and I am looking to learn from that experience to make it really effective across the business.
Personal reflection note (Management roles and behaviours)
I really loved reading "Beverly's story" in this module. It rings true of some of my own feelings. I can often worry that 'self managed teams' wont function effectively; but in the meantime I feel exhausted from being the backstop for all my staff. I feel like I carry the weight of the company and all my employees employment and security on my shoulders, and I'm increasingly aware that this isn't healthy or sustainable. I can see that if I was asked to move into more of a coaching role that I would likely struggle with the concept, but the idea of putting down some of the weight of responsibility is quite refreshing.
3.3 Streamlining systems and removing annoying processes
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (3.3 Streamlining systems )
14/10/22
Forum topic: How can you build trust and delegate decision-making?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: How would you evaluate the effectiveness and inclusiveness of decision-making in your organisation? Is there further scope for delegation? (Streamlining systems and removing annoying processes)
Generally I would say that decision making is quite effective and that staff at Cenex are largely empowered to make decisions wherever possible. However, this isn't always true at the top. Getting decisions from the CEO and/or board is slow and arduous. As the senior management team we therefore work hard to make sure that decision making authority is delegated down as much as possible!
That said, I think it's often easy to feel like collaborative decision making (TC and MC in the table in this module) can be slow and time consuming and is therefore often skipped or avoided. However, my lesson from the other modules has been that this can often be the most important step in any large decisions, as it helps staff to remain engaged and on-board with the decision.
That said, I think it's often easy to feel like collaborative decision making (TC and MC in the table in this module) can be slow and time consuming and is therefore often skipped or avoided. However, my lesson from the other modules has been that this can often be the most important step in any large decisions, as it helps staff to remain engaged and on-board with the decision.
Personal reflection note (Streamlining systems and removing annoying processes)
We have a number of poorly streamlined systems and processes at Cenex, largely due to being forced to move to digital processes over COVID, but doing so badly. For example, a holiday request used to be completed on a paper form and passed to the line manager to sign off. Over COVID we moved to emailing word documents round with the details. This was slow and ineffective. Following the WI diagnostics I have been given the task of reviewing and updating all our business systems (HR, finance & Project Management) to try to remove unnecessary steps and processes and to make them enablers rather than barriers for staff.
Interdependencies
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Structures, Management and Processes Interdependencies)
14/10/22
Learning log question: Do the interdependent practices summarised in the above table exercise a positive or negative effect on the changes relating to this Element that you are trying to introduce? Please give examples. (Structures, Management and Processes Interdependencies)
As mentioned in the previous log, it is easy to think that co-creation is time consuming and to skip this stage when considering making changes to structures, management and processes. However, it is clear from my experience that making these changes without including staff leads to disengagement and resistance to the change. Therefore, while you might find the right structure or process, implementing it will be more challenging if relevant staff who are going to be impacted by the change weren't included in scoping the problem and developing the solution. It is therefore better to engage and co-create from the start and make the implementation a smoother journey.
Personal reflection note (Structures, Management and Processes Interdependencies)
This is an area I have to constantly remind myself of. I often want to jump to the solution and find it frustrating when people aren't able to keep up or aren't on board with my thinking. Since doing the WI diagnostic I've been working hard to be more collaborative and to check my ideas with those around me regularly. Recently I was observing behaviour in one of my staff that concerned me. I had an idea of how it should be tackled, but decided to speak to one of their colleagues first and check whether my perspective was correct. They were able to show a different side to the situation that I wasn't aware of and it changed the way I engaged with the individual and how I tackled the issue.
Conclusions
Personal reflection note (Structures, Management and Processes Conclusions)
While structures, management and processes can hinder or enable the effectiveness of staff and ultimately a business, I think that it is the one that is often the hardest to change and the one that has the least impact. If the other elements (jobs, teams and technology; employee driven innovation; and co-created leadership and employee voice) are strong then they can make up for a poor structure or processes. The other way around is less true.
The Co-Created Leadership and Employee Voice Element
Introduction
Personal reflection note (Introduction to the Co-Created Leadership and Employee Voice Element)
Generally, as an organisation we are quite collaborative in our leadership approach and try to engage staff on key decisions. However, a gap identified through the WI diagnostic was that we dont have easy ways for staff to raise queries or concerns outside of when senior management consult them. To tackle this we are looking to implement an employee forum and to include a member of the forum in part of the senior management meeting to give them a clearer voice and opportunity to raise issues, concerns or suggestions.
4.1 Co-Created Leadership
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Co-Created Leadership)
14/10/22
Learning log question: Comment on the Seven Mirrors and how they can be applied to leadership in your organisation. (Co-Created Leadership)
The Seven Mirrors set out in this module are great ways of measuring and improving the effectiveness of leaders.
Mirror 1 - Generally I would say that the leaders at Cenex act as a source of enthusiasm, drive and excitement around the vision. However, we are not always consistent about what this vision is, with minor variations across departments. As a result, each department has a strong motivation, but this doesn't always translate universally across the business.
Mirror 2 - Again, generally the leadership team at Cenex is good at modelling the vision of the business in the way we work. However, some managers are more willing to learn, adapt and grow; while others are a bit more stuck in their ways. The latter group can cause barriers to staff and dissatisfaction in teams. We sometimes hear a certain team saying that they don't feel they get treated the same as other teams, and this is in part true because their manager doesn't adapt as easily to feedback and different ways of working.
Mirror 3 - This is one of our weakest areas. While downward coaching is generally good, there is no formal process for upward feedback or coaching, and so most of the leadership team avoid it. In some individual cases some managers will actively seek feedback and learn from it, but this is unusual.
Mirror 4 - Most of the leaders at Cenex are good facilitators, however there is one who tends to talk and dominate conversation, making it difficult for others to engage. This can have a really negative impact on morale as people dont feel listened to or engaged.
Mirror 5 - Generally this aspect is strong in the business, with lots of time and attention given to engaging staff in the vision and keeping communication 2-way.
Mirror 6 - This is an area I am personally very keen on, as I think removing barriers to enable staff to get on with their jobs is my main responsibility. Generally, I think we are strong on this as a management team too.
Mirror 7 - It isn't always 100% clear who the customer is for our work. This is something I am trying to make clearer for my team in the way I set up the teams and by drawing this out clearly for each project. This would be easier with a clear and consistent company vision however.
Mirror 1 - Generally I would say that the leaders at Cenex act as a source of enthusiasm, drive and excitement around the vision. However, we are not always consistent about what this vision is, with minor variations across departments. As a result, each department has a strong motivation, but this doesn't always translate universally across the business.
Mirror 2 - Again, generally the leadership team at Cenex is good at modelling the vision of the business in the way we work. However, some managers are more willing to learn, adapt and grow; while others are a bit more stuck in their ways. The latter group can cause barriers to staff and dissatisfaction in teams. We sometimes hear a certain team saying that they don't feel they get treated the same as other teams, and this is in part true because their manager doesn't adapt as easily to feedback and different ways of working.
Mirror 3 - This is one of our weakest areas. While downward coaching is generally good, there is no formal process for upward feedback or coaching, and so most of the leadership team avoid it. In some individual cases some managers will actively seek feedback and learn from it, but this is unusual.
Mirror 4 - Most of the leaders at Cenex are good facilitators, however there is one who tends to talk and dominate conversation, making it difficult for others to engage. This can have a really negative impact on morale as people dont feel listened to or engaged.
Mirror 5 - Generally this aspect is strong in the business, with lots of time and attention given to engaging staff in the vision and keeping communication 2-way.
Mirror 6 - This is an area I am personally very keen on, as I think removing barriers to enable staff to get on with their jobs is my main responsibility. Generally, I think we are strong on this as a management team too.
Mirror 7 - It isn't always 100% clear who the customer is for our work. This is something I am trying to make clearer for my team in the way I set up the teams and by drawing this out clearly for each project. This would be easier with a clear and consistent company vision however.
Personal reflection note (Co-Created Leadership)
As mentioned above, Mirror 6 is probably my strongest area and something I am extremely keen to focus on. My weakest area is probably Mirror 7 (keeping the customer in focus). I can sometimes become quite focused on our internal challenges, KPIs and objectives and can make the customer come second to this. Thankfully my team are very good at reminding me and keeping me thinking about this aspect! This is one of the real advantages of mirror 3 as my staff make me better at being a manager when I take time to listen to them.
4.1.1 The emotionally intelligent leader
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (4.1.1 The emotionally intelligent leader)
09/11/22
Learning log question: How does emotional intelligence (or lack of it) at leadership level shape your organisation? (4.1.1 The emotionally intelligent leader)
At Cenex we have a real mix of EI abilities. I'd say that about 50% of the leadership have quite high EI, while the other half have quite low EI. Historically there's been an unspoken belief that this cant and wont change - that this is just who we all are. This leads to certain work being allocated to the staff with high EI, while those with lower EI take no responsibility for it. This creates tensions & frustrations in the leadership team. However, this module helps demonstrate that this can be learned and developed, which is really encouraging.
I think you can see clearly in Cenex that the leaders with high EI have developed teams who are created, innovative and feel empowered. By contrast, the ones led by people with low EI have staff who feel disempowered, separated from the wider organisation and low on trust. This reflects the two charts/graphics shown in this module.
I think you can see clearly in Cenex that the leaders with high EI have developed teams who are created, innovative and feel empowered. By contrast, the ones led by people with low EI have staff who feel disempowered, separated from the wider organisation and low on trust. This reflects the two charts/graphics shown in this module.
Personal reflection note (4.1.1 The emotionally intelligent leader)
My EI test showed that I have pretty high EI (score 43). Reading through the questions in Natalies "Leading your people well remotely and when hybrid working" article I can see that there are many aspects of these that I've naturally implemented, but it also gives some great ideas of further areas for me to develop. In particular, the first two of her points in the article talk about meeting 121 regularly and not just diving straight into "work" conversations. Pre-pandemic this was something I was pretty good at as we were all in the office together. Now, I see some members of my team a lot less regularly which makes it easy for them to be "out of sight, out of mind". As a result, 121's can turn into work updates because this is no-longer happening in day-to-day interactions.
Some of my staff have returned to regular office working, which is making a real difference. However, others are rarely in the office and some are formally remote working now. In these situations I need to actively engage with these members of my team MORE regularly so that there is time for work updates and personal updates.
Secondly, point 3 was about being open and honest with my own emotions. I think I'm quite good about this with my direct reports, but not so much with the wider team. This is something I'd like to model better as I really want to encourage openness with the team.
Finally, point 5 is about asking for feedback. Again, pre-pandemic this was something which was a consistent part of my engagements with my team. However, now that we aren't seeing each other in person as often, there is often too much to discuss in the time we've set aside. Therefore the "are there any things I can start/stop or change to help me improve as a leader and support you better" type conversations often get pushed out. In the short term it's probably worth me re-ordering the conversation to start with "How are you?" and then "any feedback for me?" before moving on to any work topics.
Overall, I think remote working has hindered my natural engagements with my team and so I need to recognise and accept this and find new ways to engage with my staff and make this regular enough and give enough time that we can cover both work and personal discussions.
Some of my staff have returned to regular office working, which is making a real difference. However, others are rarely in the office and some are formally remote working now. In these situations I need to actively engage with these members of my team MORE regularly so that there is time for work updates and personal updates.
Secondly, point 3 was about being open and honest with my own emotions. I think I'm quite good about this with my direct reports, but not so much with the wider team. This is something I'd like to model better as I really want to encourage openness with the team.
Finally, point 5 is about asking for feedback. Again, pre-pandemic this was something which was a consistent part of my engagements with my team. However, now that we aren't seeing each other in person as often, there is often too much to discuss in the time we've set aside. Therefore the "are there any things I can start/stop or change to help me improve as a leader and support you better" type conversations often get pushed out. In the short term it's probably worth me re-ordering the conversation to start with "How are you?" and then "any feedback for me?" before moving on to any work topics.
Overall, I think remote working has hindered my natural engagements with my team and so I need to recognise and accept this and find new ways to engage with my staff and make this regular enough and give enough time that we can cover both work and personal discussions.
4.1.2 Developing your Leadership Capabilities
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (4.1.2 Developing your Leadership Capabilities)
09/11/22
Personal Leadership Development Plan
What are you currently doing well and getting good results? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Personal Analysis - My current Strengths)
I believe that I am communicating well and empowering my staff. I believe that I am avoiding micro-managing, while being visible and approachable. This is leading to rapid development of staff and for our work to adapt to meet the individual skills and experience of our team. I have worked hard to ensure that there isn't a blame culture in the team, and this has build a strong and open culture. I have had a few members of the team share mental health or family issues without shame or concern about how this will impact how I view them. Equally staff do share where they have made mistakes and are ready to take responsibility even when I dont ask them to (for example, we had a mistake in a bid which cost us a lot of money. I didn't put any blame on the team who wrote the bid, but rather focused on learning from it to avoid future mistakes and on how we would minimise the impact on the team. In the meantime, one member of my team was keen to speak up and say that their assumptions likely led to the mistake. This was lovely as no further blame was given, but it also opened the door for me to work with them on how to avoid similar issues).
I have created and shared a strong vision which the team have inputted into and can fully support. This is making a big difference in terms of people feeling comfortable with their job description and role within the team, as well as creating a sense of combined "mission".
I have created and shared a strong vision which the team have inputted into and can fully support. This is making a big difference in terms of people feeling comfortable with their job description and role within the team, as well as creating a sense of combined "mission".
What areas do you need to improve to get better outcomes? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Personal Analysis - Areas for Development)
1) While historically coaching and staff development have been key areas for me, the increased workload and pressure since COVID have left me feeling like I dont have time to do this well. I am keen to tackle this now and reintroduce this focus. A key part of this however, is utilising other members of the team to help rather than doing it all myself. I have appointed two senior technical specialists within the team who are the "knowledge leaders" for their areas. I am working with them to set up coaching for staff that want to develop technically. This will help me focus on developing them as coaches and on non-technical coaching and development.
2) I have a tendency to pick up work to support other people, but which isn't really my role. As a result I end up not having the time I need to do my own role well. Coaching/development (as mentioned above) is one of the key casualties, along with staff 121's. I need to stop doing other people's work so that I can focus on doing my own well, as I know that this is ultimately what is best for the business.
2) I have a tendency to pick up work to support other people, but which isn't really my role. As a result I end up not having the time I need to do my own role well. Coaching/development (as mentioned above) is one of the key casualties, along with staff 121's. I need to stop doing other people's work so that I can focus on doing my own well, as I know that this is ultimately what is best for the business.
What opportunities exist for you to try out different leadership approaches? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Personal Analysis - Opportunities to implement leadership knowledge and skills)
I have a tendency to carry the weight of the whole companies problems on my shoulders. Increasingly I'm realising that this isn't sustainable. I think I need to practice a more collaborative leadership style where I delegate decision making and activities to others wherever appropriate, rather than trying to do everything myself.
What could stop you or hold you back? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Personal Analysis - Potential Barriers)
The main barriers are:
1) Current business KPI's for myself (set by the CEO) which are unrealistic, unsustainable and which promote the wrong focuses.
2) Me! I need to let go and accept help more. I need to speak up when I'm struggling and know that I will get actual, practical support. My CEO has quite low EI, meaning that there isn't much opportunity for me to ask for help or share issues.
1) Current business KPI's for myself (set by the CEO) which are unrealistic, unsustainable and which promote the wrong focuses.
2) Me! I need to let go and accept help more. I need to speak up when I'm struggling and know that I will get actual, practical support. My CEO has quite low EI, meaning that there isn't much opportunity for me to ask for help or share issues.
What aspect of my leadership do I want to improve? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Setting Goals)
I want to:
1) Return to a focus on coaching & developing my staff
2) Reduce the amount of work I do which isn't my role
3) Delegate authority wherever appropriate to help me focus on the most important parts of my role
1) Return to a focus on coaching & developing my staff
2) Reduce the amount of work I do which isn't my role
3) Delegate authority wherever appropriate to help me focus on the most important parts of my role
What do I have to do? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Setting Goals)
I am currently doing a dual role (Head of Department and leading Business Improvement). In reality, both are suffering and not being delivered fully. Currently this is essential to the business, but I have developed the processes needed to deliver business improvements long term, and I have started the major changes projects which will have the biggest impacts. I need to 1) finish the major change projects by the end of the financial year, and 2) discuss with my CEO stopping doing the business improvement role from the new financial year (Apr '23) and ensuring that it becomes a shared responsibility across the senior management team.
I also need to stop doing consultancy projects when the team are at full capacity and turn away work. In reality, when the team are at capacity, this is when they most need me to be visible, available and coaching rather than buried in my own projects.
Finally, I need to us the time which the above free's up to focus on 121's and coaching for my team.
I also need to stop doing consultancy projects when the team are at full capacity and turn away work. In reality, when the team are at capacity, this is when they most need me to be visible, available and coaching rather than buried in my own projects.
Finally, I need to us the time which the above free's up to focus on 121's and coaching for my team.
What support do I need? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Setting Goals)
I need the support from my CEO and senior management team to share business improvement responsibilities. I also need support from the CEO and Head of Business Development to support me turning away work when needed.
What will be different as a result? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Setting Goals)
I believe that these changes will help the team feel more supported, will help staff develop more quickly, and therefore ultimately mean that we can deliver higher quality work for our customers.
When will I start / do this? (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Setting Goals)
Immediately I need to prioritise completing my major change projects so that they dont extend into next financial year. In January when the CEO starts discussing work and objectives for next FY, I need to start discussing the support I need and the need to share business improvement across the team.
Short Term Goals (next 3 months) (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Personal Objectives)
Book out time in my diary on a regular basis to complete the major change projects and protect this time to make sure it doesn't get replaced by other "urgent" demands on my time
Medium Goals – 12 months (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Personal Objectives)
Agree with the CEO objectives and KPI's which enable me to focus on the things which are actually important to the business, and gain agreement on sharing the business improvement role.
Long terms Goals – beyond 2 years (Personal Leadership Development Plan: Personal Objectives)
Get to a place where my workload feels sustainable and focuses on the areas that I actually enjoy the most (coaching & developing people). For staff to give feedback that they feel well invested in and developed and that they have the coaching opportunities that they want.
Forum topic: Share your experience of leaders who encourage others to take the lead!
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: Complete a Personal Leadership Development plan (4.1.2 Developing your Leadership Capabilities)
Completed above.
Personal reflection note (4.1.2 Developing your Leadership Capabilities)
The self assessment helped me to see areas of my leadership that I have not been investing in as much as I would like to. It has helped my consider why this is and come up with a clear plan for how to change this.
Coaching and developing people is one of the things I love most about my job. It's the reason I took the job, and so it's interesting to identify that this has been pushed out by other business priorities. I've been feeling increasingly frustrated with my job, and this clearly shows why. Now that I know this, it enables me to do something about it, so thank you!
Coaching and developing people is one of the things I love most about my job. It's the reason I took the job, and so it's interesting to identify that this has been pushed out by other business priorities. I've been feeling increasingly frustrated with my job, and this clearly shows why. Now that I know this, it enables me to do something about it, so thank you!
4.2 Employee Voice
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Employee Voice)
09/11/22
Forum topic: How can employee voice become a real influence in organisational decision-making?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: Why is it important for senior decision-makers to draw on the ideas and experience of frontline staff? And how do you make this happen? (Employee Voice)
It's very easy for senior decision makers to become unaware of the real work that is being delivered by individuals and the challenges they are facing. This is particularly true in consultancy, where communications and deliverables are typically shared between the consultant and the customer. If we don't give staff a voice then management decisions can become increasingly disconnected to the experiences of frontline staff. However, by listening to the employee voice we can focus on improving the areas that are really going to have the most impact, and we also allow ourselves to hear new ideas and innovations that might not cross our minds as the leadership team!
Personal reflection note (Employee Voice)
We have various ways at Cenex where we engage staff - our "I have an idea" process for raising suggestions and ideas, our quarterly whole-company get togethers, project lessons learnt sessions and a few others.
What I think we are missing is a forum where staff can discuss wider topics or provide feedback on specific focus areas. We have been looking to develop an employee forum, but so I haven't yet implemented it. I think it would be highly valuable for all to finish this off.
What I think we are missing is a forum where staff can discuss wider topics or provide feedback on specific focus areas. We have been looking to develop an employee forum, but so I haven't yet implemented it. I think it would be highly valuable for all to finish this off.
4.3 Culture and values
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Culture and values)
09/11/22
Forum topic: ‘Culture change’ is often discussed but hard to achieve. What has worked well in your experience?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.
Learning log question: Which workplace practices shape workplace culture in your organisation? What impact will your action plan have on the organisation's culture? (Culture and values)
Culture is set by actions, not just words. At Cenex we are clear about what we believe is right; but there is also a culture where staff can quote this back at the leadership team to hold us to account! One key area where this comes up is in Business Development. As a not-for-profit and values led organisation we should pick our work based on our mission and impact. However, this doesn't always happen early in the business development pipeline and teams are often presented with opportunities where it can be unclear whether it aligns with our values and mission or not. The culture of encouraging staff to push back on this is important, so I have worked with the team to create a "Go/No-go" decision flowchart which makes sure we assess opportunities against our values and mission. If it doesn't align then staff know that they have my full support to turn down work.
One of our values is that our staff are our most important asset, and therefore we invest in developing them. However, when money is tight or the workload is high, investing in our staff can be one of the first things to go out the window. My action plan helps tackle part of this by bringing the focus back on coaching and development. However, I also plan utilisation rates into my budgets that give space for development and I regularly gather feedback from staff and managers on development needs. I think that implementing an employee forum would also be another place to gather this information
One of our values is that our staff are our most important asset, and therefore we invest in developing them. However, when money is tight or the workload is high, investing in our staff can be one of the first things to go out the window. My action plan helps tackle part of this by bringing the focus back on coaching and development. However, I also plan utilisation rates into my budgets that give space for development and I regularly gather feedback from staff and managers on development needs. I think that implementing an employee forum would also be another place to gather this information
Personal reflection note (Culture and values)
I believe that it is critical to have clear mission, culture and values if we want to achieve anything. When I joined Cenex we were lacking most of these. We had them on paper, but they weren't lived out in any tangible way. Over the past 5 years I have constantly driven the organisation to be clear on these things and to apply them to everything we do. As a result, we are a much stronger organisation with truly exceptional staff who are invested in and released to do what they love doing. I try to live this out in the way I manage my own staff, always empowering them to ask the question "But does that match our values?" or "how will that impact our culture" and being open to hear this feedback positively.
Recently we have had a number of new staff join us to replace gaps left by leavers and to support business growth. Therefore, in my most recent meeting with my team leaders I dedicated the session to reviewing our culture, values and mission and discussing how we can communicate these to our new staff and help them see these working in practice.
Recently we have had a number of new staff join us to replace gaps left by leavers and to support business growth. Therefore, in my most recent meeting with my team leaders I dedicated the session to reviewing our culture, values and mission and discussing how we can communicate these to our new staff and help them see these working in practice.
Interdependencies
Please confirm when you have completed reading through this section, including links and resources, by adding the date dd/mm/yy below. (Co-Created Leadership and Employee Voice Interdependencies)
10/11/22
Learning log question: Do the interdependent practices summarised in the above table exercise a positive or negative effect on the changes relating to this Element that you are trying to introduce? Please give examples. (Co-Created Leadership and Employee Voice Interdependencies)
For me, the interdependencies between "Co-created Leadership & Employee Voice" and the other Elements are primarily about clear communication and empowerment. The role of a leader in any setting is to communicate a clear vision, empower their people to do what you've asked them to do and to listen to the challenges and problems they are facing so that you can help them overcome them. Organisational structures and processes can often be key areas where there's a misalignment between mission and working practice, and so it is key that leadership recognise this risk and make sure that these align with what the business is trying to achieve. Equally, Job, Teams & Technology need to clearly align with the values and mission of the business and be designed to empower staff - including giving space for staff to change and improve things to help them and the business better achieve their goals.
For my project, I am introducing a system for staff to raise ideas and for them to be reviewed and implemented. These ideas touch on all Elements of the business, from job design to structure and everything in-between. Therefore, it is crucial that the leadership team recognise this when reviewing ideas. Currently we score ideas by effort to implement and impact. However, it might be a good idea to include "Helping us achieve our mission" or something like that - some measure that allows us to prioritise ideas which most align with what we are trying to achieve as a business. Equally, it is easy for the management team to take responsibility for implementing all the ideas - however it is better to use the senior leadership team as sponsors and empower wider staff to develop and implement the changes as this will encourage ownership.
For my project, I am introducing a system for staff to raise ideas and for them to be reviewed and implemented. These ideas touch on all Elements of the business, from job design to structure and everything in-between. Therefore, it is crucial that the leadership team recognise this when reviewing ideas. Currently we score ideas by effort to implement and impact. However, it might be a good idea to include "Helping us achieve our mission" or something like that - some measure that allows us to prioritise ideas which most align with what we are trying to achieve as a business. Equally, it is easy for the management team to take responsibility for implementing all the ideas - however it is better to use the senior leadership team as sponsors and empower wider staff to develop and implement the changes as this will encourage ownership.
Personal reflection note (Co-Created Leadership and Employee Voice Interdependencies)
It's easy to think very functionally when considering business changes, however this module has raised a lot more of the personal side of business and leadership. As businesses are literally made of people, it makes a huge amount of sense that trying to lead a business in a purely "logical, process" way will never work. As leaders we need to recognise the humanity of the organisation and model this in the way we lead. As an Engineer, I can tend towards quite clinical, process views of the world. I've therefore found this module to be a real challenge to me and the way I lead. Going forwards, I want people to see from the way that I lead that I value them as people, not just what they can do, and to be known as someone who genuinely listens.
In reflection, I am not totally devoid of the above in my leadership, but as I've reflected through this module, the personal side of my leadership can be the first bit to be "pushed out" when I'm busy. However, I'm not sure that I'm particularly good at listening to my employee's voices. I often make decisions based very much around the mission and vision of the business and then fit in people afterwards. I think I need to start using both aspects when making decisions.
In reflection, I am not totally devoid of the above in my leadership, but as I've reflected through this module, the personal side of my leadership can be the first bit to be "pushed out" when I'm busy. However, I'm not sure that I'm particularly good at listening to my employee's voices. I often make decisions based very much around the mission and vision of the business and then fit in people afterwards. I think I need to start using both aspects when making decisions.
Conclusions
Personal reflection note (Co-Created Leadership and Employee Voice Conclusions)
This module has reminded me about the things that I've long believed were important in leadership, and in fact the parts I've always enjoyed the most, and have shown me that I've allowed workload and other people's priorities to squash these elements out. I'm now re-convinced of their value and the need to change the way that I'm working and leading to prioritise things like coaching and creating space to hear the voice of my employees.
I've also converted the "Leadership - Shared Assessment" into a microsoft team's form so that I can share it anonymously with people across Cenex to gain better feedback on my leadership style. I'm interested to compare other people's views with my own self assessment to see if there are weaknesses or perceptions that I'm not aware of. I think this will be extremely helpful in guiding my leadership development.
I've also converted the "Leadership - Shared Assessment" into a microsoft team's form so that I can share it anonymously with people across Cenex to gain better feedback on my leadership style. I'm interested to compare other people's views with my own self assessment to see if there are weaknesses or perceptions that I'm not aware of. I think this will be extremely helpful in guiding my leadership development.
Workplace Innovation and Digital Technologies
The promise (and threat) of Industry 4.0
Forum topic: How do you think digital technologies will affect job numbers in the future?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.Personal reflection note (The promise (and threat) of Industry 4.0)
Old skills for new jobs
Forum topic: How can workers be retrained to meet the requirements of the digital economy? Do you have any examples of good practice?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.Personal reflection note (Old skills for new jobs)
Workplace innovation as an enabler of digital technologies
Forum topic: What is the medium-term potential for the adoption of digital technologies in your organisation?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.Personal reflection note (Workplace innovation as an enabler of digital technologies)
People-Centred Change
Forum topic: How would you go about implementing digital technologies?
Click here to share your ideas and experiences.Personal reflection note (People-Centred Change)
Feedback
Forum topic: What has been the single most important learning outcome you’ve taken from the Programme?
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Thank you for taking part in our programme. Your feedback is extremely valuable.
Please let us know what you think and how we can improve.
Please let us know what you think and how we can improve.
I have absolutely loved this course. It's provided very timely challenges and training that always seem relevant to the challenges I'm seeing and trying to tackle at the time. It has also created time and opportunity for reflection and learning new things, and these lessons have had direct and tangible impacts on myself as a leader and on my business. The Diagnostic is a particularly valuable tool which really transformed our business and provided insights and engagement with our staff that we would never have found otherwise. While it's been pretty disruptive at times, we are now on the trajectory to becoming a much stronger business and this is 100% due to this course and the support of the Workplace Innovation team.