CMOs: Unless You Change, Don’t Expect Your Staff To

CMOs are the leaders of business transformation. Whether or not they take into account, involve, and encourage their staff throughout the process determines success or failure.

Change may be the only constant, but when it is forced on you and you have a job to do, it can be a pain in the neck.

The business world right now is all about change, whether that’s transforming your people into digits, finally listening to your customers, dealing with disruption foreign and domestic, or just “simply” dealing with unchecked growth.

As a CMO, the decision to actually run a change management programme is likely to be out of your hands, even though you’re a key stakeholder in selecting a partner for change. Dealing with that decision, however, is most certainly in your hands.

Have you ever taken the time to think about whether or not your staff are actually interested in this?

There are many positive vibes that can come from the notion of change, of course. But if you want this to succeed, here are some attitudes and opinions—all perfectly valid and living below your pay grade—that should be taken into account before the consultants turn up.

Inertia Creeps

Your staff may be perfectly happy with the way things are. They come to work, do their job, and get paid, repeat. Most have no vested interest in the overall health of the business apart from keeping their job and getting the occasional raise, so generating excitement about change can be problematic.

If you have a “young” workforce, those Millennials lucky enough to have jobs tend to lean towards portfolio careers. For them, engaging in what might be a multi-year change programme may seem a bit pointless if they plan to leave next month.

The old guard and more cynical members of the team may have no interest whatsoever in what they see as a tick-box exercise unlikely to have any lasting positive impact for them at least—a fair point.

Your staff will, no doubt, be suspicious of “strangers from the outside” coming in and messing around with processes, telling them their job and pretending that after a 20-minute chat they are suddenly experts on what you do and what needs to happen. Such suspicion triggers a “not-made-here” syndrome and inspires staff to be not so passively aggressive about the entire initiative.

For those in the team who are already truly engaged in the business and working to push the company forward, it can be a massive slap in the face when a third party is brought in. It’s a reminder of how they’ve been ignored or, at least, marginalised in their own efforts so far. Demotivating the motivated members of your team prior to any change programme is generally a bad move.

You also have to hope that your current staff are actually busy (if not, why not?). That means they will, undoubtedly, feel this is “yet another thing” on an already-full plate. “Too busy to change” is one of the most common complaints I’ve heard. Regardless of how positive the potential outcomes, anything that breaks their workflow is a strain.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

Worse than many of these attitudes is experience. Some staff may have been through a change programme in another company and seen it fail, as is often the case.

This makes them hesitant to engage beyond the minimum, especially if it’s not in their “job spec,” and they may retain the right to remain silent so as not to incriminate themselves. This is a fairly Darwinian and understandable approach for employees to have.

The most widespread attitude among staff you will need to handle is that if they are not consulted and informed upfront, then the majority are going to worry about whether their jobs are at risk. Depending on the desired outcome set from on high, this is a clear and present danger.

It’s Not The Staff’s Fault

The most fundamental word of warning for CMOs is that unless YOU change, then why should your staff?

They may have no faith in management whatsoever and believe that the only thing that will help the business long term is a change in that management, regardless of what happens in the short term.

It’s a hard medicine for bosses, but if you treat your staff as some kind of social experiment without looking at yourself, then you deserve everything coming to you.

No Surprises

So, what can you do about it? Before the consultants—Men and Women in Black with Backpacks (MIBs)—arrive:

• Share with your staff what is going to happen, why, and what the impact might be on their positions.
• Have a group and/or individual meetings to discuss the positives and negatives of having a “neutral” third party in the room.
• Allow the staff to share privately any concerns or questions they might have either with you or the project owner, and then share the results with the rest of the staff.
• Encourage your peers to do the same and then share those results.
• Provide the MIBs with any points of consternation so they also understand the sensitive areas.

During the MIBs incursion:

• Have regular catch-ups with your team (without the MIBs) to discuss how they feel the programme is going.
• Take any concerns they have seriously and communicate them up, sideways, and out. This may make the MIBs uncomfortable, but that’s their job.
• Question any action you feel will damage moral without providing a positive outcome.
• Don’t be disruptive of the process. It’s all about leading by example. If you aren’t engaged, your staff won’t be either.

After the MIBs leave the building (if they ever do):

• Group hug (if HR allows it).
• Discuss the outcomes, what has been learnt, what will be adopted, and how to maintain it.
• Have regular check-ins with others across the company to see how the change has bedded in and share experiences.

Change, of course, can be a great thing resulting in many positive outcomes across the business and for the team. Here I’ve focused on the negative as a way to hope for the best but prepare for the worst—all it takes is a few bad eggs in the business to derail the entire process.

And, finally, just remember that when it comes to change, there is no you—there is only we. Ultimately, if you, as a leader, don’t lead, then be prepared for an abundance of mumbles, grumbles, and resistance.