Did you know? “One in four Australian workers (25%) would sacrifice company perks for better wellbeing in their workplace and one in five workers would sacrifice a promotion (21%) or a pay rise (19%). Stressed workers would more readily sacrifice company perks (28%) and a pay rise (27%) for better wellbeing in their workplace” (McMillan, 2017 Workplace Wellbeing). Implementing a workforce wellbeing program can be one of the levers organisations can pull to help their teams thrive. See below some suggested actions organisations can take in order to help improve wellbeing of their workforce. Offer Health and Wellness Benefits Providing resources for employees to engage in health and wellness activities is a common way of supporting employee wellbeing. This may be in the form of onsite workout facilities (Google, Hootsuite, Adidas), gym discounts, team fitness activities (e.g., step challenges, team games, sports days), or just encouraged scheduling of regular fitness time in the calendar. To address mental wellbeing, several companies such as Yahoo, Google, Nike, Pearson, and Salesforce offer onsite meditation rooms for their employees to rejuvenate their mind and body (MarketWatch, 2018). Providing access to, or encouraging use of, apps like Insight Timer, Headspace and Smiling Mind are another way to offer these services remotely. Setting Priorities and Boundaries One of the most common factors impacting wellbeing is workplace burnout. This can be prevented by setting realistic goals for your employees, helping to provide time management tools and training, helping employees set healthy work-life boundaries and respecting these boundaries. Being clear on priorities and setting realistic deadlines are also key. These things are easier said than done, but as burnout continues to rise after a challenging 2020, Managers and employees alike would benefit from new tools to maintain energy in the workplace. Addressing employee engagement Studies reveal that highly engaged teams tend to be 21% more profitable than non-engaged teams (Forbes, 2019). Understanding the level of engagement and the factors causing these levels is just the start; being able to create and implement plans that address underlining issues of engagement is crucial to engendering positive change. Learning and Development From financial education to physical and mental health education, employers can provide individuals access to training that improves their personal wellbeing as well as their professional wellbeing. Access to Professional Support Many companies offer employee support programs to provide critical professional services in times of difficulty. Whilst very important in a time of crisis, these services can also be beneficial for everyday mental health. To improve uptake of these services, organisations would benefit from reinforcing anonymity and suggesting commonplace uses to remove any barriers and stigma from utilising these services. Social wellbeing Managing your employees remotely can mean employees may sense a feeling of isolation or disconnection. This should be considered in a change communication and engagement plan – being sure that both formal communication forums (such as Town Halls, team off-sites) and informal social interactions (e.g., social events) allow for authentic social connection. Games such as fun questions, guessing games, and personality quizzes can help provide icebreakers that break monotony and promote camaraderie among employers. Time Breaks. Time off. Annual Leave. These are all important factors supporting health and wellbeing. One of the easiest things organisations can do to support overall wellbeing is to provide the time for employees to reenergise and renew. Whilst there are no quick fixes or silver bullets to address wellbeing in the workplace, the list above provides a few examples of what organisations can do to address employee wellbeing. Managers must set an example, to provide the permission for others to do the same. And we all must take action to ensure wellbeing strategies and programs come off the shelf and become part of our everyday lives. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to share with you how we can help you address workplace wellbeing in your workplace. Links to references Forbes. (2019, January 16). 10 Timely Statistics About The Connection Between Employee Engagement And Wellness. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nazbeheshti/2019/01/16/10-timely-statistics-about-the-connection-between-employee-engagement-and-wellness/?sh=1ad465c422a0 Forbes. (2020, July 13). Amazon Stock Is At An All-Time High, But Will It Grow Any More? https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2020/07/13/amazon-stock-is-at-an-all-time-high-but-will-it-grow-any-more/#4732eacc59ef MarketWatch. (2018, October 26). Meditation rooms are the hottest new work perk. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/meditation-rooms-are-the-hottest-new-work-perk-2018-10-26#:~:text=Pearson%20isn't%20alone%3A%20In,can%20take%20free%20meditation%20courses. As we face ongoing uncertainty in the aftermath of 2020, organisations need to pay additional attention to factors influencing individual and team wellbeing. As Leaders we need to be mindful of these factors and be proactive in how we manage them to mitigate their impact in this new reality. Whilst not exhaustive, here are some of those key factors that are influencing wellbeing. Financial Insecurity One of the major factors influencing employee wellbeing and productivity is financial insecurity. The present adverse market conditions have instilled the fear of losing jobs and facing an increasingly difficult job market. This mental anxiety impacts employee productivity and employee engagement. These feelings of financial insecurity can also be created by major transformation programs. Organisations going through times of high turn-over and major transformations need to go that extra mile to address employee concerns. Transparency and open communication are vital in helping alleviate the impact on workplace wellbeing of these major changes. Empathy and mindfulness are also critical to maintaining employee engagement during difficult times. Workplace Environment As remote working arrangements become more prevalent, organisations need to consider how the home office environment is optimised for wellbeing. Ventilation and natural lighting play an important role in how your employees feel while at work. Meanwhile, sitting for long hours in the same place can result in lower concentration levels, higher blood pressure, obesity, and several other health concerns (Mayo Clinic, 2020). After addressing aspects of the physical environment, organisations also need to re-consider diary management and meeting agendas to include regular mandatory breaks so that employees can walk away from their desks and screens. The Silo Culture Workplaces with a silo mentality make it difficult for employees to contribute their very best, jeopardising organisational efficiency and employee wellbeing. Breaking down silos through creating a unified vision and common goals can be part of the solution to addressing a silo culture. Unhealthy Lifestyle Each year, Australian employers incur indirect losses to the tune of $637 million due to obesity. Unhealthy eating habits and a highly sedentary lifestyle are impacting the health and wellbeing of employees, and in turn their productivity in the workplace. Long working hours The expectation for employees to work for long hours and be always on as a by-product of remote working, is resulting in employee burnout. (University of California, 2020) In fact, the WHO has included employee burnout under the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases, as a non-medical health condition (The WHO, 2019). Knowing these common factors, what actions can you take to help mitigate the negative impacts on wellbeing in your workplace? It could be a culture program to improve transparency or change management, or it could be a work-life balance initiative like an extra day off or a team fitness activity. Whatever it may be, being intentional and proactive is an important first step in driving healthier and happier workplaces. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to share with you how we can help you address wellbeing in your workplace. Links to References Mayo Clinic. (2020, August 21). What are the risks of sitting too much? Retrieved December 07, 2020, from Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/sitting/faq-20058005 The WHO. (2019, May 28). Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases. Retrieved December 10, 2020, from The WHO: https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases University of California. (2020, September 3). Job burnout is a billion-dollar problem. Can we fix it, despite COVID-19? Retrieved December 10, 2020, from University of California: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/job-burnout-billion-dollar-problem-can-we-fix-it-despite-covid-19 How we invest in human capital at this time may prove the difference between businesses that stand the test of time and those that do not. Here are some of the key benefits of investing in the physical and mental wellbeing of your workforce and how that translates into higher productivity. Better Health, Better Performance Studies have shown that high wellbeing correlates with many individual traits that influence ability to work cooperatively as part of a team. Wellbeing has been shown to make employees more productive (Roberston, 2011), with those individuals with high wellbeing more likely to be rated as ‘high performance’ by their supervisors and to achieve a better financial performance (Wu, H et al 2016). Research has also shown that happy workers are healthier workers (Oswald, 2016). Those with higher levels of wellbeing tend to bounce back from negative events faster and experience a lesser decrease in their mental health when encountering a potentially stressful or challenging situation compared to their less-happy counterparts (Tay, L., & Diener, E. 2011). Lower rate of Absenteeism In Australia alone, employees take around 8.8 days of unscheduled leave annually, costing the economy over $44 billion dollars per year (Food Mag, 2018). Heightened individual wellbeing has been shown to correlate with lower levels of absenteeism, and reduced interruptions to collaborative projects in the workplace. (Jones et al, 2018). Lower rate of Presenteeism We often get to hear about the downside of absenteeism, but seldom do we discuss presenteeism which can be equally or at times even more disruptive to a business. Presenteeism refers to the periods when your employees come to work despite mental or physical illnesses. It is the state during which they are not in the mental and physical condition to deliver optimal performance. Presenteeism costs businesses up to 57.5 days in lost productivity each year, which is much higher than the 4 days lost due to absenteeism (HRD, 2020). Reports indicate that Australia alone pays a price of $34 million annually due to lost productivity caused by presenteeism (ABC News, 2016). Profit Maximisation Employees working in an environment where they feel valued and heard are 4.6 times more likely to deliver their best (Forbes, 2019). This is because people are more collaborative than ever before and give a hundred percent when they feel they are working ‘with an organisation’ rather than ‘for an organisation’. Studies highlight the strong correlation between employee wellbeing and productivity at work:
Workplace wellbeing initiatives can help to foster a work environment in which employees can thrive. It aligns the values of individual employees with organisational goals, which eventually translates into business benefits such as better performance, productivity and increased profits. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to share with you how we can help you address wellbeing in your workplace. Links to references
Food Mag. (2018, April 09). The cost of absenteeism. Retrieved December 10, 2020, from FoodMag: https://foodmag.com.au/the-cost-of-absenteeism/#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20Australian%20employees%20take,%2444%20billion%20per%20year2. Oswald, A. J., Proto, E., & Sgroi, D. (2015). Happiness and productivity. Journal of Labor Economics, 33(4), 789-822. Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective wellbeing around the world. Journal of personality and social psychology, 101(2), 354 Wu, H., Sears, L. E., Coberley, C. R., & Pope, J. E. (2016). Overall wellbeing and supervisor ratings of employee performance, accountability, customer service, innovation, prosocial behavior, and selfdevelopment. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 58(1), 35. Workplace wellbeing refers to everything that creates a favourable work atmosphere for employees to thrive in and deliver their very best. It includes the implementation of safety measures, physical safety, peace of mind, work hours, employee physical and mental health, and also how employees feel about their work and workplace (The ILO, 2020). Over the past decade, employers in Australia have realised the significance of employee health and wellbeing. In fact, there has been a higher emphasis in recent times on the importance of mental health, which was earlier largely overlooked. According to a Beyond Blue survey, over 91% of Australian employers now agree that mental wellbeing is important, and this is slightly more than the 88% who agree that physical wellbeing is (Beyond Blue, 2020). The same study also shows the impacts of recent mental health trends on the workplace. It shows that one in every five Australian employees has claimed at least one day sick leave due to mental health conditions during the previous twelve months. Whilst workplace wellbeing has always played a pivotal role in ensuring optimal utilisation of human resources (Nordea, 2020), its importance since the 2020 pandemic cannot be overlooked. How we invest in human capital at this time may prove the difference between businesses that stand the test of time and those that do not. Our people survived through 2020, holding on to optimism that things will eventually return to normal. As 2021 is upon us, and a new normal emerges, are we prepared to help our employees thrive in this new world? Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to share with you how we can help you address workplace wellbeing. References:
When & should we go back to the office?COVID-19 has accelerated the transition to remote working, forcing companies to adapt or die. Those companies not re-imagining the way they do business in a digital world, will not find a place in this new reality. The office, customer events, the boardroom and the commute have all changed forever.
As with all things, there are pros and cons of this new way of working, prompting many to ask not when should we go back, but if we should? Here’s a quick synopsis of how the argument is currently shaping up: The Highs:
Enterprises are compelled to accelerate investment in contactless technology as well as re-engineer processes for the digital world. Whilst before it was a customer expectation now it is a customer necessity. Those that are doing it well are mindful to transform in the move to digital, not just shift and lift, to improve the outcome from the digital experience for both the business and the customer. The Lows:
As the effects of the pandemic continue to change the way we work forever, putting people at the heart of what we do today is even more crucial. Whilst we move to a digital, always on environment, we need to find new ways to build human connections and provide new tools and processes that allow people to continue to perform at their best – efficiently and effectively in the new world. Links to reference Hot Desking The Psychological Impact of Hot Desking https://www.opensourcedworkplace.com/news/psychological-impact-of-hot-desking#:~:text=Positive%20Psychological%20Impact%20of%20Hot,and%20communication%20in%20the%20workplace.&text=%2D%20Can%20lead%20to%20quicker%20employee,with%20employees%20outside%20their%20team Hot desking affects wellbeing for eight in 10 office workers https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/hot-desking-affects-wellbeing-for-eight-in-10-office-workers/ Working from home Working From Home Increases Productivity https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15259-working-from-home-more-productive.html#:~:text=The%20study%20found%20that%20working,of%20their%20work%2Dlife%20balance Why working from home is bad for productivity https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/why-working-from-home-is-bad-for-productivity-20200618-p553wn.html Australians more productive working from home https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2020/australians-more-productive-working-from-home-.html Research: Knowledge Workers Are More Productive from Home https://hbr.org/2020/08/research-knowledge-workers-are-more-productive-from-home Connecting with Customers in a COVID world Connecting with customers in times of crisis (McKinsey) https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/connecting-with-customers-in-times-of-crisis# 4 Ways to Reconfigure Your Sales Strategy During the Pandemic (HBR) https://hbr.org/2020/10/4-ways-to-reconfigure-your-sales-strategy-during-the-pandemic Eight ways to keep up with your customers during and after COVID-19 https://www.ey.com/en_gl/consumer-products-retail/changing-customer-behavior-growth-strategy Assessing Your Data Quality Assessing the maturity of data quality in your organisation can be difficult. Data Quality ownership may be distributed across individuals and business units, with those responsible holding varying points of view of issues and priorities. A data quality framework can help ensure that an assessment is complete and systematic, providing coverage across multiple inter-dependent data quality dimensions. Benefits of using a Data Quality Framework A Data Quality framework can help you assess data quality confidently and objectively. For example, they can be useful in exploring:
The risk of attempting a data quality review without a framework in place include:
Dimensions of a Data Quality Framework* It is important to be mindful of the full breadth of data quality dimensions when assessing your data quality and formulating a framework. The dimensions of your data quality framework should include aspects like:
Tracking maturity over time After defining your framework, you're ready to conduct a maturity assessment. This will help to provide a baseline of where your organisation is performing well versus areas for improvement. The maturity assessment and framework dimensions can now be used in tandem to track and prioritise projects that will progress your organisation towards data quality maturity. Outcomes of your data quality strategy can be measured through identifying a small number of data quality metrics. It is helpful to narrow down to the "metrics that matter", so as not to overwhelm with analysis paralysis, choosing the key leading and lagging indicators of data quality performance. Easy visualisation and frequent inspection can be enabled through the use of out-of-the-box CRM dashboards and simple governance practices to support ongoing improvement. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to share with you how we can help you address data quality in your organisation. Contact us today *Adapted from The Practitioner’s Guide to Data Quality Improvement. By David Loshin Data Quality has a big impact on your bottom line and is a key factor that can differentiate you from your competitors. However, as the issue of data quality is complex and spans multiple business units, the impacts of data quality often go unchecked and unmeasured.
Data Quality issues are systemic across many businesses: For example:
The impacts of data quality Data Quality issues can have direct and indirect impacts on your organisation. The direct impacts are easily quantifiable, including how much money is being spent on 3rd party data, data cleansing, and manual data remediation efforts. However it is the indirect impacts that create the higher cost for many organisations. Three common in-direct impacts of data quality include:
So what is data quality costing your business? What is the opportunity cost of leaving this unchecked? No doubt, with some measurement and investigation, there is a strong business case for value creation by addressing this often overlooked and under managed issue. It takes an analysis of the direct and indirect impacts of data quality to get a true sense of why data quality is important and to understand the true cost to your business. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to share with you how we can help address data quality in your organisation. Contact us today
As seen in the Australian Financial Review The “new normal” of work is more a work in progress than a done deal but there’s no doubt that the momentum for change is unstoppable. A survey of 2,500 “working professionals” by recruitment firm Hays in November found that 61 per cent believe that a hybrid working model – part-remote and part-office working – is the most productive. Hays managing director Nick Deligiannis says the rapid shift to working from home necessitated by the lockdown and social distancing requirements established that “a large percentage of the workforce can work productively and successfully from home”. Hays research has also discovered that 47 per cent of employers, noting that productivity and business continuity were not adversely affected by having employees working remotely, are open to retaining working from home as part of their workplace mix. For many employees, according to Hays, overall performance, job satisfaction and work-life balance improved as less time was spent commuting or dealing with the distractions of office working. The challenge for employers as the economy reopens is to strike a balance between the work preferences of employees and the needs of the organisation. This is particularly a consideration for business leaders who believe that having staff working in a central office has cultural, creativity and collaboration benefits. “Employers are looking to the future and how they and their staff can benefit most effectively from this new way of technology-enabled working,’’ Deligiannis says. ‘‘Organisations everywhere will be going through this process ... [A] hybrid working model could be the ideal middle ground that allows employees to work flexibly on certain days of the week then come together with colleagues in a central workplace on others.” The boon to employee productivity and job satisfaction has been one of the big surprises of what has been widely dubbed “the great working from-home experiment”. A survey of 2800 knowledge workers in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia found that Australians were more productive working from home than their overseas peers. The survey by business transformation and managed services company Adaptavist found that 85 per cent of Australians, compared with the global average of 82 per cent, reported being equally or more productive when working from home. One-third of respondents said they were more productive than being at the office. But there were also some downsides to digitally-enabled working from home: one-third of Australian respondents reported stress arising from being “always on”. “An overnight transition has been forced upon the business world and companies have had to rise to the challenge by doing whatever seems to work immediately,” Adaptavist CEO Simon Haighton-Williams told the Australian Computer Society’s Information Age. “Now it’s time to reflect and analyse this, to see what positive patterns have arisen that we need to reinforce and what negative patterns we see that need to be changed.” Paul Ventura, managing director of management consulting firm Collagis, which specialises in workforce and organisational effectiveness, says “everybody is trying to get their head around what the new reality is going to look like”. “I don’t think there’s been a bigger or more profound adjustment, certainly not since the industrial revolution,” Ventura says. “What’s happening now has been possible for a long time in terms of available technology but what’s changed is the mindset around the workplace and employee wellbeing.” Ventura says the “nature of work” has changed and “remote working is here, and here to stay”. “For many workers the commute will no longer be part of their daily life. For them, work has changed from somewhere you go to something that you do.” While most employers are satisfied that the working-from-home experiment has been successful, that recognition is just the beginning of the business transformation that needs to occur as the economy reopens. “Dealing with change, navigating the uncertainty and striking the right balance between the benefits of a flexible workplace and the needs of the organisation are the challenges that now face businesses,” Ventura says. “The working-from-home experience has created the momentum for change but organisations can’t afford to be too aggressive in pursuing new ways of working. “Changes have to be balanced, reflecting the needs of employees, the needs of the business and the needs of the customer.” For many organisations the transformations they embark on will not be limited to the workplace. “There will be opportunities to grow and expand that weren’t there previously. Equally, products and services that were a solid basis for growth in the past may no longer be relevant or sustainable or may be subject to supply-chain disruptions,” Ventura says. “Some organisations will need to consider a change of business model.” Although questions about the future shape of organisations will be more complex for larger organisations, Ventura cautions that “fundamental change is important whatever the size of the organisation”. The good news, he says, is that whatever form the “new normal” takes, the end result will be “more efficient and more productive” businesses. Find out if you are new world ready? Register now for a free new world health check
In the age of analytics, data quality plays a critical role in helping organisations achieve better and more sustainable results. However, as it is a complex issue often with distributed ownership, many organisations fail to tackle the issue of data quality holistically. Siloed business units and individuals can have different points of view of what data quality is and where data quality issues may exist. Unconnected projects can pop up that may not tackle root causes and may not work together towards a common goal. Because data is such an intrinsic part of the way we do business today, we see data quality as a foundational element of organisational effectiveness.
What is Data Quality? Data Quality is basically the shape that all your information is in. Is your company's data fit for purpose? Is it complete, accurate and reliable? Our clients rely on data driven insights, whether it is to develop key strategic initiatives or to help improve relationships with clients via marketing and servicing. The quality of data will determine your ability or inability to solve business problems and will greatly influence your ability to make sound and accurate decisions. In short, the impacts data quality cannot be underestimated. Defining Data Quality Dimensions Data quality management is multifaceted, so when defining data quality in your organisation, it is important to create a common language and understanding of the dimensions of data quality. Here's an example of 6 dimensions of data quality that are useful in defining data quality. 1. Consistency - Is there only one version of the truth? Can you compare data across data sets reliably? 2. Completeness – Do you have all the information you need? Are your key data attributes populated for your data set? 3. Accuracy – Is your information correct? Have you a process to manage errors? 4. Uniqueness – Does the information you have uniquely describe each individual? Can you identify a unique individual across data sets? 5. Timeliness – Is the information fresh? Do you have real time access to the data? 6. Validity - Is your information in the correct format? Make sure that the data you have is user friendly and aligned to business rules. Data quality can be a very complex and challenging business problem to solve, but breaking down the problem and reaching a common understanding of what the problem is, can be a helpful first step to commencing a well designed Data Quality Management Strategy. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to share with you how we can help address data quality in your organisation. Contact us today Change is the only constant thing and it is necessary in an organization or business. However, it can often take a toll on the employees so that they start to suffer from ‘change fatigue’ - increased stress, exhaustion and decreased commitment among employees. Over time, change fatigue can lead to burn out among your employees. Change fatigue is actually a form of ‘passive resignation’ and can have serious implications on your business.
Here is how to reduce and combat change fatigue in your team. 1. Facilitate the change from the perspective of the entire team Many organisations launch and manage change as individual projects within departmental boundaries yet this is not the reality of change. Change, even the smallest changes, sends ripples into other areas of the business. It may be a change specific to one area of the organisation but it will eventually affect the whole team. Stop managing change as a collection of projects but as an interconnected journey that the organisation is taking. If your plan is going to cause ripples, reduce the number of changes and increase your employees’ ability to handle change. 2. Begin at the end with every change When initiating change of any size, start with an intended outcome that is understood and meaningful to the people affected. You cannot initiate change without having a clear outcome and communicating this outcome visibly to those who are involved. Outcomes expected from changes should be documented and communicated in a clear, concise and concrete way. It not only reduces the risk of change fatigue but also sets you up for success. 3. Build the change leadership strengths Don’t separate leading and managing change from general operations because then leaders will easily overlook the impact of day to day leadership and management of the organisation on how the employees’ response to change. How you lead and manage when you are not implementing change will either improve or hinder your employees’ ability with change. To solve this problem, it is necessary for you to know the leadership and management activities that strengthen your organisation’s ability to handle change and those that do not. With this knowledge, you can do more of those activities that strengthen your capabilities and do away with those that weaken them. 4. Expand the involvement of the recipients of change When implementing change, it is only a specific group of change management team that is involved in the planning and implementation. The others affected by the change become the recipients of the plan. This approach is not effective because there is no active involvement of the change-recipients. Therefore, they begin to feel like the change is being done to them and not with them. To solve this problem and avoid change fatigue, expand the level of active involvement in the areas and levels affected by the change. Change fatigue is something you want to avoid in your team because it will slow down your progress and ability to accomplish your goals. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you drive effective and sustainable transformational change. Change can be frightening and intimidating to your team. For many, it might be something they want to avoid. But not all change is bad. As a matter of fact, it creates an excellent opportunity for growth, new directions and renewed energy. If you want to make change a positive experience, then use these tips:
1. Be strategic about change While change is a necessity in an organisation, it should also be strategic. Don’t decide on changes without having a solid rationale for change. Look out for signs of change within your industry or organisation and how these changes affect the role of your team or your organisation. Besides making contingency plans in the expectancy of change, build scenarios for those possible changes. Spend time writing your case for change and helping to make this consumable for all different roles and personality types (simple, visual, data-driven, rational, emotive). Make sure the need for change can be understood from several angles and can also be justified to yourself! 2. Communicate the change There is nothing as discouraging for employees or team members as having changes made in the organisation without their awareness or involvement. When employees have no communication about any changes taking place, they will be passive about the whole process and make it out to be a negative experience even when it was for their benefit. It is important for you to make an effort to communicate what you could see happening now and what might happen in the future. You should encourage your team to express their perceptions and ideas. You may just be surprised at the insights they have. Furthermore, they will feel that their contributions are important enough to be considered in the change strategy. Having them as active participants is less likely to result in any negative energy or experiences in the course of implementing the changes. 3. Coach for change When implementing changes in your organization or team, it is not only important to have a change management team but also a training and coaching program for your employees. There is need for continuous improvement in all areas if change is to be successful and seen as a positive thing. Meet your team or employees on a regular basis and make them individual champions of change in the areas of their responsibility. It is good to encourage them to think and plan strategically for their roles and future roles. In addition, coach them so that you can help them develop the skills they need to implement the anticipated changes. 4. Try mini changes Try small changes in your organization before the implementing the actual change. For example, you can encourage your team or employees to experience tasks outside their normal duties with other employees. Mini changes create a dynamic in an organization that promotes organizational cohesiveness. 5. Celebrate changes Take note of the little changes that happen on a daily basis. Make comments on them and when necessary, appreciate and celebrate them. Giving positive feedback on change to one employee leads to positive performance and creative thinking in the others. With all these said and done, still expect some resistance from some people in your team. Regardless of how well you prepare them, some people will still resist change. Nevertheless, these strategies should help you have more people having a positive experience with the changes than those who are not. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you drive effective and sustainable transformational change. Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au What goes into a strategy? What makes it either good or bad? In simple terms, a strategy is a way to deal with a problem or challenge. A good strategy must therefore identify the challenge to be overcome and design a way to overcome it.
The three elements of a good strategy In order to spot a good strategy, you should look out for these three important elements:
Other elements of a good strategy include:
The elements of a bad strategy There are four major hallmarks of a bad strategy which include:
Use these pointers to evaluate your strategy, and determine if your business has a well-formed strategy or if correction needs to be done. Strong strategic planning is the first step towards effective execution. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business. Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au In August 2020, Collagis undertook a survey of current Executive Assistants and Executive Officers within the Australian market. The survey was conducted to understand the role of the Executive Assistant (EA) and Executive Officer (EO) across industry in Australia.
Following are 6 key insights into Executive Assistant roles that have been gleaned from the results. Job Satisfaction Insights Job satisfaction was positive across the range of those surveyed. All parameters surveyed indicated that over 70% were somewhat satisfied or very satisfied. The highest degree of satisfaction was about their own level of effectiveness followed by their salary and a positive attitude towards their organisation. On the contrary, job dissatisfaction, where it occurred, was under 5% and was linked to two primary causes: dissatisfaction with the Executive supported and dissatisfaction with the level of ongoing training received. The level of satisfaction is supported by the extended tenure of those currently in the EA role, typically greater than 10 years. Also, the level of tenure significantly exceeds other mainstream roles in both the Public and Private sectors. Pay Insights Executive Assistant’s in the Private sector have an average base salary of $91k which represents a 5% premium over their peers in the Public sector at $87k. Executive Assistants in the Public sector in capital city metro locations have an average salary of $87k versus their regional counterparts’ average salary of $83k, a 4.3% premium. An incentive component was added to base salary for just over half of survey respondents. Role Type Insights The level of Executive supported, where “Level” is the number of organisational hierarchy steps from the most senior person in the organisation, it was noted that on average an Executive Assistant primarily supports levels 0 to 3. Training & Career Insights More than half of the sample surveyed are career EA’s (i.e., more than 10 years’ service in role). A significant percentage are degree qualified including some with post-graduate degrees. More than 90% of EA’s have no formal EA-specific training. Furthermore, a similar percentage of the Executives they support have no formal training in how to best utilize the EA’s that support them. Support Model insights The models observed and explored included the following:
Work Duties Insights Work duties varied by role type, industry and organisation, with the most common responsibilities pertaining to Executive Calendar Management, Administration, Meetings and Management of Executive Physical office space. Staff management was uncommon in role respondents. This blog has only touched the surface of the insights gained from this survey and the data collected. For a more comprehensive analysis and insight into understanding the role of the Executive Assistant (EA) and Executive Officer (EO) across industry in Australia, you will need to download the entire report from this site. Many organisations have been unable to turn their strategies into action mostly because they start with the wrong strategy or they get caught up in a model that no longer works. Compelling visions that cannot be seen or believed by others remain only in the mind. This is why organisations must understand how to bring a strategy to life. While it may sound like a really difficult thing to do, there are five simple ways that businesses can do that:
Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business and enable effective execution. Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au The failure to effectively execute a strategy is not uncommon in organisations. But businesses sometimes miss that their failure to execute is because there isn't a strategy worth executing.
Reports are written, town halls held and budgets are set aside, but after all these steps are followed, still nothing happens. The major reason why failure occurs and there is no action on the “new strategies” is that these strategies are often not strategies at all. Is your strategy real? The big question is therefore what a real strategy refers to. A real strategy is one that involves a set of clear choices that define what the organisation is going to do and what it is not going to do. Understand that a real strategy is one with clear choices. Therefore, if a strategy does not represent a set of clear choices, it will fail to be implemented even with ample efforts of hard-working people. Goals vs. strategy In so many instances, people mistake strategies for goals. A statement that only covers what you hope your outcome will be but not what you are going to do to get there, is a goal and not a strategy. You still need a strategy to accomplish those goals. So if you only have ‘hopes’ and no actionable plans, then you have a ‘false’ strategy and you are bound to fail in your execution process. Priorities vs. strategy Sometimes, it is not just goals that are confused for strategies. Some organisations have a set of priorities and choices which they pass for a strategy without forming a coherent direction when considered in conjunction. For example, the priorities of your business may be to increase the operational efficiency of your business, target markets outside your country and divest in a certain business. While these are excellent priorities, they cannot be combined to form a strategy. When you have your priorities, a strategy presents a clear set of choices which fit together to form a direction for the business. If there is no clear strategic direction, any execution process is doomed for failure. Ask yourselves these questions to determine whether your strategy is real?
If your strategy is not real, then you need to work on making it real. If it is real, your halfway there, and tackling execution challenges is your next focus. What other tips do you have for determining if you strategy is real? Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business. Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au People get excited about having a strategy, but how many organisations stick to the plan and enable the team to effectively execute? Having a strategy is important, but it is even more critical to create the right conditions for execution and to stay the distance in order to realise the intended outcomes.
So how do you ensure that you stick to a strategic plan? 1. Designate a champion - A champion is a leader who can engage others and break down big projects into small steps. Your strategy should have a designated champion who will push the rest of the team towards implementing it. This champion does not have to be a senior manager or a person in senior leadership. You should also not designate yourself as the champion of your strategy. Find someone who is charismatic and great with interpersonal skills who can get others to engage with the plan. 2. Define responsibilities - When you have your strategic plan all written down, you must delegate responsibilities to make sure that everyone in your team and organisation understands his or her own components. Such clarity on responsibilities will allow the designated champion and other leaders to execute the plan without unexpected roadblocks and unnecessary slowdowns. Every person in your organisation should know what their role is in executing a strategic plan. As such, you will have check and balances that evaluate how well people have taken up their responsibilities and bring to account those that have veered away or are slowing down the implementation process. 3. Constantly clarify priorities - In the midst of implementing a strategic plan, it is easy to lose sight of the priorities. Your team could be focused on so much that they need constant reminders that your strategic plan takes priority. There are two ways to communicate the importance of your plan. One is by what you say and two is by what you measure. If you don’t communicate the importance of the plan in one week, then it is no longer a priority for them. In addition, if you are not evaluating your metrics according to your strategic plan, people will lose sight of it. People will usually spend time and effort in something they know they will be evaluated on. 4. Give time to see results - It takes time for a strategic plan to yield results. When you evaluate your plans too soon, you will likely get discouraged and start assuming that you have veered from the plan. Don’t expect final results from an incomplete process. Your strategy needs time to bear fruit before you start changing the direction or actions to achieve it. 5. Clarify how/if the plan changes - Along the way, you may have to incorporate some changes into the plan. You might find a better way of going about something listed in your strategic plan. When you decide to make a change to the plan, ensure that you get everyone on board. Otherwise, people will lose track of the plan and fail to stick to it. Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business. Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au Top 5 Must Haves In Your Marketing Automation TransformationThere is no perfect marketing automation software that applies to all businesses across the board. Different marketing automation platforms have different elements, so some are better suited for some environments more than others. However before you invest, look out for these five top must-haves.
1. Multi-channel capability Leads stream into the sales funnels from varying sources and that is why multi-channel capability is important. Your system must have the ability to coordinate across the various channels and campaigns on many platforms. It should have the ability to handle social media, email, online and offline integration, and direct mail. 2. Aggregate Information Other than being able to coordinate data across different platforms, your automation system should also be able to aggregate that data in a way that helps you segment your customers and prospects into targeted groups. Successful marketing automation relies heavily on how data is collected and how it is used. 3. Lead scoring and nurturing Once you get the data on your leads, the next critical question would be what to do with these leads. Do you understand their needs and how can you meet these needs? Your marketing automation tool should help you answer these questions. It should have the ability to perform lead scoring so that you know the sales-ready leads, it should also help with lead nurturing so that you guide your customers through their buying journeys, and it should have segmentation tools that allow you to tailor content to the customer's specific needs at that stage in the buying cycle. 4. Content Marketing Content is a key aspect of implementing a successful marketing automation platform. A good platform must be content hungry. It should allow you to generate and cross-reference the content you create. Go for a system that allows you to monitor and customise information, gather data on an individual's profile and consumption, and one that allows you to generate content across various platforms. 5. Analytics A good marketing automation platform allows you to access all your information in an easily accessible comprehensible format. It should have customisable dashboards and intuitive designs in analytics presentation. At a glance, you should be able to see data at an individual level, data pertaining the campaigns and overall data indicating performance. Making sure your marketing automation system has these five elements is one step towards successful implementation. It is, however, important to note that choosing the right automation system does not on its own guarantee success. Paying attention to the People and Process parts of the transformation plays a key role in determining whether your implementation will be successful or not. Collagis is committed to helping businesses to drive sustainable and effective Marketing Automation transformation. Contact Sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au to set up a time to discuss your business needs. Marketing automation gives businesses the chance to have meaningful interactions with their customers at pivotal moments. Automation must, however, be adapted in a strategic manner so that the change process is effective and seamless. Here are ten tips for effective marketing automation change.
1. Define success Before investing in a marketing automation system, you need to define marketing automation success. If it’s driving revenue, by how much? Clearly defining the success will help you implement the tool to get desired results. 2. Focus on efficiency in content production Content is the fuel that drives your marketing automation engine. From the very onset, have an idea of the content that will resonate more strongly with your clientele and potential customers. 3. Reach a consensus on the lead scoring measures Instead of just pursuing a great number of leads, have your sales and marketing teams agree on criteria to pursue leads with the greatest potential. That way, you increase the chance of increasing revenues since most of your leads will most likely give you business. 4. Take Total Cost Ownership seriously In addition to the subscription fee you pay for your marketing automation system, there are other costs that you will incur from campaign design and activation among other days to day tasks. Keep money aside for these additional expenses; otherwise, your system might not give you the ROI you hoped for. 5. Align your system with business strategy Before implementing a marketing automation system, it is advisable that you take six to twelve months preparing for it and ensuring it is aligned to your business strategy. 6. Pay attention to content requirements Generating content regularly is not enough. Periodically, you will need to carry out an audit to determine which content is current and valuable, irrelevant and outdated and what you can do to salvage the situation. 7. Work with your CRM Your customer relationship management system should be integrated into the marketing automation system. This will help close the gap in creating new growth opportunities. 8. Understand your business needs It’s easy to get carried away by the hype of a marketing automation system but if it doesn’t meet your needs then it won’t achieve desired results. Understand what your business needs are and then research on the systems that can meet these needs. 9. Capitalise on the discovery workshop Before implementing a marketing automation system, the vendor conducts a series of workshops with you to help you and your team members understand the system. This is critical because you are able to evaluate the need and efficiency of the system to your unique situation. 10. Assess, refine then rest Implementation of marketing automation systems is continuous. You have to keep reviewing, refining and resetting periodically as the business environment changes. You might even have to change your entire marketing automation system if the one you’re using becomes outdated. Collagis understands firsthand the challenges that come with change and that is why they are committed to walking the journey to support the implementation of marketing automation with you and your team. For more information about Collagis services, contact Sheree on sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au Research shows that the adoption of marketing automation has increased by over 50% in the last year and is expected to grow exponentially within the next year.
However, just like with any marketing platform, there are pitfalls that you can avoid when implementing a new marketing automation platform. These include: 1. Failure to align your marketing and sales Research shows that businesses that fail to align their marketing and sales when adopting marketing automation often realise lower or even negative return on investment. This is tragic since marketing automation platforms are intended to help increase sales and ultimately profits for the company. Your sales and marketing teams should agree on lead definitions. The team leading your Marketing Automation implementation should be in constant communication with members from both Sales and Marketing. They should work through what constitutes a quality lead, expectations on lead volume and velocity and the type of leads Sales has the capacity and incentive to serve. The marketing team should also rely on constant feedback from sales, so as to use this information to create the ideal nurturing campaigns. A good marketing automation software is not enough on its own. You will need the right sales and marketing teams working together for successful implementation. 2. Assuming that a new platform will sort out all your issues No matter how excellent a marketing automation platform is, it cannot make up for deficient internal processes. It’s an automated platform, not magic. A lot of effort has to be put into the marketing strategy and planning so that your implementation can be a success. Since a marketing automation platform is a tool used by a long chain of individuals in a business, it is important that every individual in the chain does their job well so that overall success can be achieved. If any team member or groups of teams are slacking, irrespective of how sound the automation platform is, your business will not yield the desired results. 3. Failure to produce up to date content that is relevant Do not be deceived, content is a major component of marketing automation. The marketing content is what fuels your marketing automation platform so that it keeps going. Ensure that your automation platform is smoothly running by creating content that provides balanced information about the business and products and services offered. Including white papers, informative eBooks, research reports, infographics and other content is extremely valuable as well. Watching out for this pitfalls is one step towards realising the successful implementation of marketing automation tools. However, let’s face it, it’s not as easy as black and white. That is why Collagis is dedicated to bringing your workforce effectiveness tools to the marketing automation transformation. Collagis will help make your marketing automation journey seamless and successful by bringing to your best practice change, program management toolkits, approaches, and processes, which they then customise to suit the needs of your business and to address the marketing automation challenges Want to know more about how to effectively manage Marketing Automation change? For more information on Collagis and our services, email sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au. We'd love to hear from you. Selecting the right marketing automation system can be gruesome. Changing or adopting a new marketing automation system is even more gruesome. When leaders decide to acquire a new marketing automation system, they should be effectively enabled to take their teams through the transition process as seamlessly as possible.
Leaders can be effectively enabled for the change by following these tips. 1. Involve the main stakeholders in the decision process Marketing automation systems are employed by several stakeholders in any business and involving them from the very onset of deciding on the best automation system is imperative. These stakeholders include sales, marketing, data and IT, who should all be involved in the selection process and implementation as well. They should be adequately trained on the system so that they are able to assist and oversee its implementation and use by teams. 2. Prepare to migrate your marketing data properly Leaders should ensure that their data is properly migrated into the new marketing automation platform. This will help ease the transition once the organisation starts using the marketing automation tools. It is common to find that some of the data is incomplete or of low quality. A proactive approach to data strategy and management needs to be taken to ensure the data that moves into the new marketing automation system is relevant and useful. Otherwise, you put garbage in and you get garbage out. 3. Prepare corresponding metrics and set goals for the transition Leaders should proactively establish goals and then put together performance indicators that will be used to monitor how the team is progressing towards achieving set objectives. Changing into a new marketing automation system should not be rushed. It is a large project and it should be evaluated and adjustments made every step of the way so that the business gets the most from it. Goals should be set with a realistic phasing, taken into consideration the time it will take to build and migrate programs and upskill the team. 4. Engage IT in the transition process Marketing leaders ought to work closely with their tech leaders when transitioning into a new marketing automation system. The process requires tech guidance from evaluation to deployment and maintenance. IT leaders can help in developing a cost-benefit analysis for the services the automation system offers. IT professionals can also offer guidance on the best automation system to go for, customised to the organisations unique set of needs. The biggest potential pitfall when it comes to switching marketing automation vendors involves issues with technology integrations. Addressing existing and unforeseen issues from the very onset can save the business a lot of time and money. 5. Identify Change Sponsors and Agents Leaders and teams are often not effectively enabled to adopt and drive Marketing Automation Change. It is essential that leaders become sponsors of change, helping to create and communicate a vision for the future state and a compelling case for "why" change is required. Marketing teams are change fatigued, so leaders need to clearly demonstrate the "what's in it for me" for teams, and paint a picture of the future state that inspires action and adoption. Change agents within the team need to be identified and activated in order to embed the change. Collagis recognises a gap exists between technology implementation and the effective embedding of people and process to support sustainable and effective MarTech change. Collagis can support your organisation in bringing best practice process change and program management toolkits and approaches to help enable Marketing Automation change. We can customise these to suit your unique needs and challenges during marketing automation transition process. Want to know more about how to effectively manage Marketing Automation change? Contact Sheree on sheree.morrison@collagis.com.au. We'd love to hear from you. |