by Iris Seuthe, Business Coach, Germany
Isn“t this the first thought of many – but not most – employees that have experienced more than one change process during their professional life or career when they hear the word „change“ in their company? Can I maybe prevent this process from affecting me or my department? Can I comment on what is happening from an outsiders view or do I have to give in and participate in the change process? My hypotheses will prove right again anyway!
The employees often recoil because there is yet another change process even though the last one went down the drain and the created measures haven“t been pursued any further. Are the standard procedures embedded too firmly? Or is it not even possible to make changes within day-to-day operations? Maybe the new changes aren“t even backed by the top management? Is the project getting the due respect and attention? Is the place value justifiable compared to other projects?
Questions upon questions that can explain the failure of a change process. However, the more important question is: How can a change process be successful? How does the company have to be set up and how much do the employees have to be involved in the process so that they are motivated and look forward to the changes? There is a lot of specific literature on this subject. Change processes can“t be that hard but still they fail too often. Every year a lot of money is invested in companies that want change but in many cases the employees are disappointed about the results.
Practical experience of Lanxess AG
Gerhard Schmitz, group function head of accounting and reporting at Lanxess AG has experienced a big change process that was initiated by him, the employees and the Managing Director Birgitt Winkler and that was supported by a Business Coach. This company of the chemical industry gives a lot of incentives and ideas because their change process has been a positive experience for the management as well as for the employees and established very well. In the following interview Gerhard Schmitz explains how the change process, that was supported and accompanied by the Business Coach Iris Seuthe, turned into success.
Iris Seuthe, Business Coach: What does group function mean?
Gerhard Schmitz: Together with the business units, which are in charge of the day-to-day business operations of Lanxess, the group functions form the global service units of the company. There are classical finance functions, e.g. accounting which I am in charge of, and – just as in other companies – group functions such as IT, global procurement, logistics and human resources.
Iris Seuthe, Business Coach: How do you assess the changes in society?
Gerhard Schmitz: Changes are a part of our life and always will be. You can never see this as one-dimensional: Many parts of this change have helped to enhance the prosperity and improve the quality of life in Germany during the last decade. Changes, however, always include having to let go of habits that we have become used to. Therefore the personal mindset and attitude have to be adjusted constantly and this isn“t always easy.
Iris Seuthe, Business Coach: How do you at the moment assess the speed of the changes and the alteration of our society – especially compared to the early 1990s?
Gerhard Schmitz: It is hard to say whether or not the speed of changes in our society has accelerated or not. In earlier periods there have been big changes in technology and society. In my opinion globalization and the merging of the world into a global village have been stronger and more visible for every individual in the last 20 to 30 years because of the much more intensive and prompt information supply. Whereas the younger generation has been growing up with it – it can be challenging for experienced employees. Combined with globalisation, the difference in generations is for sure one factor that influences the perceived speed of the changes and developments.
Iris Seuthe, Business Coach: What does this mean for the employees of a company?
Gerhard Schmitz: In my opinion there are two important aspects: On the one hand, every single employee has to be taken even more seriously than he or she has been anyway – especially on an individual level and not via boards such as employee representatives or works councils. For us this means that the management of people and the communication with the employees has to be made a top priority. On the other hand this means that, especially in a high-wage country like Germany the requirements profile has changed on a personal level as well as on a professional one. Employees have to show more flexibility, initiative and personal responsibility.
Exactly those development steps were the key to our change process: The technological developments combined with globalisation or internationalization and the required changes of the work structures of our employees and the management. Only if we all pursue the same goals we can be successful.
Iris Seuthe, Business Coach: What measures did you take in order to support your employees during this change process and what challenges did you face?
Gerhard Schmitz: In my opinion the first step, as well on an individual level as concerning the overall organization, is to create awareness. That is why we started our change project, which, especially in the beginning, increased the understanding of our actual starting point. After that the most challenging step was a clear project definition: What do we actually want to achieve on which level?
Iris Seuthe, Business Coach: Now you are specifically talking about the change process. What should be focused on at this point?
Gerhard Schmitz: In a change process like this I think there are two main factors: the broad effect and the authenticity of the process. By saying broad effect I mean that as early as during the project work and the workshops you have to try to integrate as many employees as possible in the project in order to achieve a high identification of all people involved. Authenticity means that all persons involved have to create their own cultural change within the framework of corporate strategy so that they don“t just have to look for a possibility to implement the predefined guidelines. Nevertheless „management“ is an important part of every change management process.
Iris Seuthe, Business Coach: Which resources or competences are important for that?
Gerhard Schmitz: One of the most important resources is of course time. You should not underestimate the time that is needed for such a process. Another important factor is a certain moderation in order to give the whole project structure and prevent it from failing. In my opinion a very important competence is critical faculties – towards oneself as well as towards others. Of course creativity is very important and the volition to change one“s own behaviour on a sustained basis.
Iris Seuthe, Business Coach: Would you do things differently in future change processes?
Gerhard Schmitz: For a successful change project it seems very important to me that the employees develop as much as possible by themselves from the objective and the project sequence through various workshops up to the documentation of the results and the implementation in the company. This approach has proven to be very effective and I would use it again at any time.
Conclusion: It is decisive for a successful change process to have a confident management, that places great emphasis on sustainable changes. However, it is important that the changes are being carried on also by the following generation of leaders in order to consolidate the changes that have been introduced and made.
Iris Seuthe, Change Management Coaching:
How to succeed in planning and implementing a change process
– clear decisions for the change process, clear contracts
– an open and systemic approach in the whole company
– the management has to act as a role model in the change process
– creating awareness for the problems increases the willingness to change of the employees
– early and extended inclusion of the employees
– use of „Multipliers“ for the change process in the company
– forming a core team that focuses on preparation and communication
– unified and convinced coalition of management and other drivers of change organization
– clearly structured and controlled time management
– clearly defined organisation of the project and the responsibilities
– creating Quick Wins
– goal-oriented motivational and methodical planning
– high flexibility of the change management process
– structured monitoring and controlling of the change project (hard facts / soft facts)
– firm and visible anchoring of the change
– continuous moderation of the process by a Business Coach
Iris Seuthe has many years of experience as a Business Coach. For more than ten years she has been supporting companies and people in various situations and positions. Prior to her studies of applied psychology she gained a lot of experience as a freelance “ Moto therapist “ and curative teacher. It was actually by chance that she started coaching: Because of her personal appearance and her positive charisma she moved into the business community and started her consulting business. She attended various advanced trainings in the field of human resources development and corporate development. Her range of services includes individual coaching, team development and systemic planning, optimization and supporting of change management processes. Iris Seuthe, Business Coach, would be pleased to advise you on change processes in companies.
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