The ‘human’ side of change as a c-suite agenda
April 29, 2021
April 29, 2021
Innovation investment is at an all-time high as companies reimagine who they are and how they will operate post the pandemic. 78% of CEOs confirm that their business requires reinvention.1 Businesses are evolving their customer experience, identifying new revenue streams, embracing disruptive technologies and transforming their entire workforces in order to respond to the pandemic.
However, the meaning of the word ‘change’ in the business context has changed entirely. Here is how we know it is different today:
Change is BIG. Most of today’s transformation programs are enterprise-wide endeavors. They are not necessarily contained within a function or a geography but impact all parts of the business and its broader ecosystem. Examples include enterprise digital transformations, cloud migrations or accelerations and customer experience evolutions.
Change is FAST. The lifecycle from ‘defining the need to change’ all the way to ‘change execution and measurement’ has shrunk drastically. Change cycles will only continue to get shorter with organizations building deeper change capabilities and adopting intelligent technologies. Grocery retailers pioneered this acceleration as they pivoted from traditional store models to online ordering, curbside pickup, and/or at-home delivery in a matter of weeks.
Change is COMPLEX. C-suites are no longer dealing with just one major transformation program at a time. They are embarking on multiple programs that simultaneously impact their processes, ways of working, technology stack and ultimately their employee and customer experiences. Sequencing and harmonizing each of these programs is a priority.
Change is HUMAN. The human side of change has traditionally meant training and communications. It has always been a defining characteristic of successful change programs. The pandemic has redefined the ‘human’ side of change to mean much more. Today it means physical and mental safety and wellness, sponsorship at all levels, real-time understanding of employee sentiments, accelerated learning or talent acquisition and even potential deployment into future roles and teams–all while we are working in a hybrid environment. What people expect from their employers has evolved significantly.
Leading these big, fast and complex transformations requires leadership alignment at all levels like never before. The ‘human’ side of change requires understanding the human implications consistently and addressing them proactively. In the past, managing the human side of change was often considered the CHRO’s responsibility. At best, the job was shared by a temporary transformation leader. Today, it is the C-suite’s collective responsibility.
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As C-suite executives come together to lead transformation programs, here are six key considerations to keep humans at the center.
With the lines between life and work blurring, employee burnout rates escalating, talent competition on the rise and mental health becoming a global priority, the ‘human’ side of change is not a nice to have anymore. It is a business priority that the C-suite needs to stack hands on and deliver on seamlessly.
1Accenture CXO Pulse Survey: Key Trends and Insights on Recovery and Growth, August 2020.
This blog was originally published on April 9, 2021, and was updated with new information on April 29, 2021.