Change Management in Times of Uncertainty

Change management is essential for adapting to evolving regulations, market dynamics, and customer expectations. Our client — a superannuation business — needed change management support during a trying period where uncertainty, ambiguity threatened to derail the organisation.

The problem at a glance

This organisation had about 120 people and offered superannuation and financial advisory services to employees of their local State Governance. As a State Governance owned entity, the leadership team had less control of the organisation’s future given political decisions determined its likely future state.

The superannuation industry has undergone extensive consolidation, with larger firms becoming dominant players - calling into question the relevance of the business within the State Governance’s organisational structure.

Lack of clarity

Political leaders held continued and extensive discussions about our client’s future over many months, with options including; continuation as is, merging with other providers, or closing altogether being tabled. These discussions and other critical communications were not made public, and the decision-making process lacked clear timelines.

This created a situation where the leadership of the organisation had limited control over the processes or outcomes.

With limited communication on the situation - some of which coming through media and political channels - employee engagement dropped as staff felt uncertain and looked to their leaders for clarity - which they did not have.

After consulting with the CEO and leadership team, we knew the company needed a multifaceted approach to change management.

Assessing the landscape with an engagement survey

Our initial interaction with this client involved an engagement survey to reveal what factors were impacting engagement. Starting here was instrumental in shaping our understanding of the leadership team's role and led to our supporting them in their change efforts.

Survey findings for leaders

• Disengaged leaders. The leadership team (six people) were disengaged — our discussions with them identified that they felt the lack of future clarity and direction as much as their teams. They too felt somewhat helpless to influence those outcomes.
• Narrow rather than broad outlook. The Leaders were hyper-focused on their areas of responsibility. They become absorbed in their own spheres of responsibility, striving for personal success and concentrating on manageable tasks. This is a natural response given they felt overwhelmed by the level of ambiguity and larger challenges facing the organisation but highlighted the narrowness of their thinking when they needed to be more strategically focused.
• Frustration and lack of fulfillment: The leadership team felt frustrated by their powerlessness, especially around their lack of ability to plan and strategise for the company and the impact on their own career aspirations.

Survey findings for non-leaders

• Low confidence in leadership. There was a lack of confidence in the leadership team, particularly in their ability to set a clear vision for the future of the organisation.
• Concerns about job security. Participants expressed concerns about job security and their opportunities for career advancement.
• Disengaged staff. This pattern was evident throughout the organisation with individuals fixated on adhering to processes, avoiding mistakes, and maintaining a low profile to prevent drawing attention to themselves.

Following the engagement survey, leaders had an “aha’ moment — they were aware of their situation, but not the impact it had on either team. Through 1:1 interviews, team discussions and survey debriefs, we were able to shed light on what had been manifesting over time and start to work with them to change their own and the organisation’s reactions to the challenges they faced.

Solutions for the leadership team

Personal profiles, 360 feedback & coaching

To better understand how their frustrations were manifesting and the way that they were perceived by others, the leadership team completed personality profiles and provided feedback on each other through a customised 360 feedback mechanism. We focused specifically on their motivations and preferences and the aspects of their leadership styles that could derail them. We then supported them, through a program of Executive Coaching; helping them overcome personal roadblocks, building a personal sense of engagement to solve the issues in front of them and more effectively managing their frustrations.

A mini case study: managing disruptive behaviour

The leader of the Sales Team — an extremely talented and extroverted individual — was frustrated by his situation. He had ambitious growth plans and preferred a positive, energetic work environment. The organisation's situation, led to his being bored and, to create a sense of excitement, his reaction to this was to become more controversial in team meetings, creating annoyance and frustration in his more conservative peers.

This behaviour, although innocent in his mind, was disruptive and disrespectful to his colleagues. Through coaching, we gave him different strategies to manage his more impulsive reactions and reflect on his aspired impact on others. This massively helped him control his more ‘mischievous’ behaviours and contributed to more productive meetings and an improved team environment.

Workshops

After three months of one-on-one coaching, we began team workshops — four workshops, one day each, over a four-month period. The workshops were designed to create unity, connection, and team alignment through organisational change.

After each workshop, we asked participants to articulate their individual action plans and evolved our coaching approach to support their achievement.

1. Leadership team effectiveness workshop

We started with the fundamentals of leadership teams - accountability and collaboration.

To function more cohesively, we worked with the leadership team to build routines and approaches that minimised frustration and gave them a framework for calling out and responding to more damaging behaviours when they arose.

2. Skills-based workshop

This focused on career development and support, which was one of the drivers of engagement in the business for staff. Concerns about job security had been expressed in the engagement survey, so we worked with our client to develop their skills in finding opportunities for career development within the company.

This was seen as challenging given low recruitment levels (created by the uncertainty of structure and hence future staffing needs). As a result, we focused on role expansion, project delivery roles and upskilling for increased organisational and team resilience.

3. Responsibility and accountability workshop

Leaders were so lost in the constraints of their roles and that feeling of powerlessness, they’d completely lost sight of the impact and responsibilities they did have available to them. This workshop was about controlling what they could, even when they felt things were out of control.

It was designed to instil ownership and empower the leadership team to see they still had many opportunities to lead and influence and were not simply victims of circumstance.

4. Leading change workshop

This workshop focused on how to communicate and connect with the business when there was very little to update people on.

Leaders had period of up to six months with zero communication from the state bureaucracy and politicians but still had to update their teams. Again, we worked with the leadership team to identify how they might bridge these gaps.

With our guidance, leaders began to hold staff meetings every two weeks instead of going without meetings for months at a time. They introduced small celebratory events to boost positivity and openly shared their inability to provide political insights or clarity about future developments.

Six months later…

After six months, we reran the 360 feedback which revealed that perceptions of the leadership team and the individuals within it were improving and moving in the right direction.

• 80% of the leadership team reported feeling more connected to one another and the organisation and felt more confident as a team (up from 20%).
• 65% of employees had more confidence in the leadership team (previously 30%).
• 50% of employees believed their leaders had an appropriate long-term plan for the business (up from 20%).‍

A smooth merger

Around nine months after our work with this client wrapped up, the company merged with another superannuation provider.

Although RutherfordHR’s involvement was not directly related to this, our intervention and strategies for change management helped with the transition. We’d helped create a better, more positive working environment for people, and this was carried through to the new shape of the organisation after the merger.

Are you facing similar challenges?

Let's work together to create a more connected, empowered, and successful future for your team.

Contact us to explore how our comprehensive approach to change management - including engagement surveys, personal profiling, coaching, and workshops — can transform your organisation's dynamics and lead to positive results.

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