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CEGE Reflections: Maria Artuso

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“Change management in the workplace is the leading factor in supporting people through adoption and engagement while change occurs and is undertaken. Change management is a set of steps that are followed on a particular project or initiative. It really is a three-pronged approach:  people need to understand the change, buy into the change, and then have the change reinforced to actually change behaviour.”

-Maria Artuso MBA(FS) Class of 2015-

 

Maria Artuso MBA(FS) Class of 2015

Read Maria’s full article here

 

Maria Artuso: Managing Through Change

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“Change management in the workplace is the leading factor in supporting people through adoption and engagement while change occurs and is undertaken. Change management is a set of steps that are followed on a particular project or initiative. It really is a three-pronged approach:  people need to understand the change, buy into the change, and then have the change reinforced to actually change behaviour.”

Maria Artuso MBA(FS) 2015, Community Manager at RBC Royal Bank

 

Maria Artuso MBA(FS) Class of 2015

Managing through change has become the new norm. As a leader, it is important to understand a number of parameters, including why change is occurring at such an extreme pace, how individuals feel about the change and how they cope with the change. Change at this point is inevitable.  Gone are the days where we reminisce about how things were done years ago. Some individuals thrive in an agile environment, where change can be viewed as exhilarating and super exciting, and personally challenging. Others struggle with the reality that the constant is change, not being able to stay put, and always needing to reinvent themselves and learn new things.

I have been working in the financial services industry for the past 21 years, and have had the privilege of working with leaders who have been phenomenal in terms of working through change, and being respectful of how people will adapt, endure, and overcome the constant of change. When I first started in the industry, I was in my late teens and found it very interesting how some colleagues would say “this is the way we do it here”; “we’ve done it like this for years”; “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”. I remember being taken aback at how it felt to be working within an inflexible and policy-stricken working environment.

In school and at home, my generation was encouraged to “shoot for the stars”; “you can be whatever you put your mind to”; “don’t ever settle for second best”. What I was learning in school and experiencing at work was quite different. What I did not realize or really endorse at the time was that while change management is not an easy philosophy, it is a critical component of organizational transformation. How employees respond to change, let alone, how they overcome this new norm, is vitally important to the viability and sustainability of an organization’s success.  Both the leader and employee play extremely important roles.

As I continued to work in the banking industry, and furthered my education, it became clearer to me that how people felt within the working world was very different than in the educational system. I began to think about how great the workplace could be and would be if we continued to push the envelope, consider everyone’s thoughts and opinions vs. just those of the loudest contributors.  We could  never rest on our laurels.

Change management in the workplace is the leading factor in supporting people through adoption and engagement while change occurs and is undertaken. Change management is a set of steps that are followed on a particular project or initiative. It really is a three-pronged approach:  people need to understand the change, buy into the change, and then have the change reinforced to change behaviour. Change management matters. It needs to occur one person at a time. Change can be very costly if managed improperly.  The good news is that effective management of change increases success overall.

As a new leader, I learned about ADKAR, a model used to understand how people process change: Awareness of the need for change, Desire to participate in and support the change, Knowledge on how to change, Ability to implement required skills and behaviours, and Reinforcement to sustain the change. The truth is, leading employees through organizational change, whether big or small, requires empathy, trust, care, and a growth mindset in order to move forward. Organizations cannot change their culture unless individual employees change their behavior—and changing behavior is not easy; it is actually hard.

Sometimes a leader’s admission of vulnerability helps others recognize and address their ability to process change. You cannot force people to change – you can only help them want to. It is so important for people to understand the why behind the change, the impact it will have on them, and what’s important them. It is vital to acknowledge that there are opportunities for individuals to provide input and feedback.  This will empower individuals to buy-in and feel good about their contribution to the change. In so doing, leaders generate a winning culture by engaging and exciting the people responsible for delivering change. It is important to celebrate successes and quick wins and generously and publicly acknowledge those who demonstrate the leadership behaviours that make a strategy succeed.  Asking team members to share their experiences will encourage the growth mindset required to ensure that change continues to take place at a pace that is commendable in our organizations.

I truly believe that the behaviours of change of management will allow us to never be stuck in old ways. Instead, it will create a flexible and agile collaborative team capable of pivoting in a timely manner, generating the environment where great things will happen because we allowed ourselves to try something new.

Maria Artuso MBA(FS) 2015, Community Manager at RBC Royal Bank, was recently named one of Ottawa’s Top 40 under 40 business professionals. A successful, highly motivated business leader with a track record of success in the fields of operational effectiveness, retail banking, commercial banking, and leadership, Maria is dedicated to giving back to her community, believing that her volunteerism enhances her job performance and life experiences. Maria has graciously agreed to be a repeat contributor on CEGE Connection.

 

From the CEGE Connection Archives first Published May 5, 2020

Yvonne Thevenot: Leaders – Feedback Might Last a Lifetime

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Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 1999

You laugh too loud. You smile too much. You need to wear makeup.

This is real feedback I received at different times in my career. Each was genuine, framed in behavioural change, and carried business rationale. As a career oriented young adult, I adapted.

You laugh too loud – it was “startling” and impacted customers. I was offered professional help. I conceded that now being aware, I would keep it in check – thank you for telling me.

You smile too much – apparently my smile made me appear flighty and insincere. This woman-to-woman feedback was offered …anonymously… via 360 feedback exercise. As I debriefed the feedback I learned the source and thus how I knew it was another woman – thank you for telling me.

You need to wear makeup. This led to a corporate paid professional coach who also guided me to “act like a woman, think like a man, work like a dog”. I was truly appreciative of the investment and feedback especially if this was going to hold me back from a corporate career – thank you for telling me.

Maybe, the world is starting to change? For reflection: leaders – feedback might last a lifetime; young people – feedback, regardless how hurtful and inappropriate it might be, can still have grains of value.

Yvonne Thevenot

Change Management | Mentoring | Strategy Development & Implementation

#saturdaymorningmusings #feedback #leadershiplesson

Lisa Colangelo: Recognizing the Individual Journey

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“One constant exists in today’s work environment – change. In the past three years, the typical organization has undertaken five enterprise changes: cultural change, restructuring, market expansion, leadership transition, or a merger or acquisition. Two-thirds of these changes fail to deliver against their stated goals, and they are also not happening quickly enough.”
Lisa Colangelo, Dalhousie MBA Leadership Candidate, 2022

Lisa Colangelo, Dalhousie MBA Leadership Candidate, 2022

Lisa Colangelo, SVP Retail Banking Coast Capital Savings Federal Credit Union, is currently in the MBA Leadership program.  In a recent virtual interview with CEGE Connection, Lisa shared her thoughts on leading change within a complex business and social environment.

Lisa Colangelo

What does change look like for people in an organization? Think of a ‘curve’ as the process we go through as individuals, and the process in an organization that creates sustainable support for a new process over time.  Individuals ascend this curve at different times; some, like sponsors, go through the process early; others commit to the process once they confirm that their leaders embrace change. The responsibility to set the pace rests with the leader.  Supporting and believing in the change process will encourage your teams to actively participate and thrive during transitions.

How does this play out for individuals within an organization?  Initially, we are simply aware of a change.  As we gather more information, we start to understand that change; then if conditions are right, we may decide to accept the change.  For change to be successful in the long run, that acceptance shifts even further, into feeling fully committed to or even taking ownership over the new way of being.  Does this connect for anyone on a personal level?

The most valuable takeaway may simply be for leaders to be conscious that they are going through a process themselves personally, and that it is okay to struggle or need specific things to get to the next stage.

Moving up the curve can require various things: more information, more encouragement, connecting the dots on individual benefits, even having a chance to kick the tires. The watch out: just like walking uphill, it is easier for groups or people to slide back down a curve than to progress up it!  Be sure that you get what YOU need to move up the curve if you feel yourself sliding back or feeling stuck.

Once a leader is up their own curve, then they can help move their teams from awareness to understanding, then from acceptance to ownership.  So as leaders, we use this model to help ‘clue them in’ to warning signs that teams or individuals are sliding back down.

There are some clues to recognize where you and your team are located on the curve.  As well, there are also reliable clues when people are ‘coming back down!’

When you become aware of an impending change, be curious and open to innovation. Of course, there is always uncertainty with transitions. There may even be cause for concern if people seem unaware that change taking place.  But once individuals become aware, they generally move to understanding by asking questions and integrating fresh information.  Training is essential to highlight how roles and workflow will change.  Confusion is a natural part of the process as we sift out the right information from myths and assumptions.  This is the time when you can bring clarity and purpose to the discussion, thereby positioning individuals and your team for success.

Once we understand a change, we have a choice: we can resist it, or we can accept it.  Now, one of the watch outs here is our tendency to believe that no news is good news or worry if we hear a lot of questioning and feedback (i.e., “road noise.”)  On the contrary, this questioning is a crucial part of what is needed for individuals to fully acknowledge and accept a change.

Once people accept that a change is really happening, there are two ways: actively oppose it or actively support it.    Active support means that the change is the new normal, and we even see individuals show that they believe it is here for good, suggesting improvements and wanting performance measures to be based in the new way.  That is when you know the change can be sustained over time.

Lisa Colangelo
Dalhousie MBA Leadership Candidate, 2022

 

Devin Drover: Managing the Impacts of Remote Working and Social Technology on Organizational Culture during COVID-19

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“While social technology allows people to work from anywhere, managers should be aware of cultural change that can occur in removing traditional face-to-face meetings and shared office spaces. While communicating over e-mail or SMS can be useful in some contexts, research indicates that face-to-face communication remains critical for efficient communication in businesses.”

Devin Drover MBA/JD

Devin Drover MBA/JD

 

Over the last two decades, the Internet has given rise to the development of new social technologies that have had a significant influence on how people obtain and share information. These technologies – like social media applications Facebook and Twitter, or instant-messaging platforms Slack and WhatsApp – have redesigned ordinary practices of organizational communication in both formal and informal ways. Now, due to on-going COVID-19 pandemic, more and more organizations are moving to remote working environments, and relying more on these social technologies on a day-to-day basis. As a result, managers should be aware of the implications that relying more on these technologies will impact all elements of their organization.

 

One area that managers should be especially aware of as they adapt to new social technology and remote-working is expected changes in organizational culture. With this growth in technological capability, including ubiquitous access to workplace activities through the Internet, both executives and employees will be challenged to change the way they interact with each other and adapt to the technologies that enable their work.

 

Workplace Expectations

Past research indicates that one area of workplace culture that has been impacted significantly by the use of social technology is workplace expectations. Social media use in crisis management and strategic communications, for example, has often created expectations that employees have to work extended work hours and deal with an increased workload beyond what would have traditionally had. These unintended effects correlated with a high-level of time-based and strain-based work-life conflict that can cause ripple effects across an organization. Similarly, employees working remotely through social technology. struggle with additional expectations of always being “on”, which can cause burn out and lead an organization to have retention problems.

Managers whose organizations have switched to remote working with a heavy reliance on social technology during COVID-19 should be certain to manage workplace expectations during this change. What expectations are set about responding to correspondence after business hours, or on weekends? Are team-members confined to normal office hours, or is there an additional level of flexibility offered? Have important due dates or timelines been shifted due to the crisis? Questions like these should be answered and communicated across the workplace to ensure organizational alignment and protect from burn-out and workplace conflict.

Importance of Face-to-Face Meetings

While social technology allows people to work from anywhere, managers should be aware of cultural change that can occur in removing traditional face-to-face meetings and shared office spaces. While communicating over e-mail or SMS can be useful in some contexts, research indicates that face-to-face communication remains critical for efficient communication in businesses. Physical proximity plays into all of our senses, allowing for a richer recognition of verbal and non-verbal cues such as tone of voice and body gestures respectively. Similarly, face-to-face communication allows for information to be received instantaneously, and can expediate decision-making as a result.

In lieu of the ability to be together physically, managers should be diligent in ensuring face-to-face meetings continue to occur by utilizing video conferencing software. While many groan at the thought of additional meetings, and often celebrate when they are cancelled, ensuring routine video meetings can help overcome unwanted change in the organization culture and decision-making.

Managing Loneliness

Lastly, it is important that managers be attentive to how employees are responding to the challenges of self-isolation and social distancing. Personal troubles, including risks to one’s health and wellness, can inevitably impact one’s ability to work efficiently, and a change in productivity can snowball into negative consequences across an entire organization.

Social distancing requirements exacerbates existing problems of loneliness and social isolation that exists in Canadian society; in fact, a 2019 study from the Angus Reid Institute indicates that nearly half of Canadians are either “very lonely” or “somewhat lonely” on a routine basis. It is well documented that loneliness, especially when continuous, can have severe effects on an individual’s physical and mental health. And, now with remote-working, informal communication processes within an organization – like small-talk between meetings and lunch-outings – will clearly be impacted.

Managers should be attentive to these challenges and may want to offer alternative, digital social gatherings or activities to replicate informal office communication channels. Digital happy-hours or coffee breaks may help team-members retain a sense of community in the midst of these strange, unprecedented times – and strengthen the organization as a result.

Devin Drover is a Canadian writer with an interest in communication theory, and social policy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Memorial University, and most recently completed his MBA/JD from Dalhousie University to be awarded May 2020. You can connect with Devin on Twitter and LinkedIn:

http://www.twitter.com/devindrover

https://www.linkedin.com/in/devindrover/

Editor’s Note:  Special thanks to Dr. James Barker for introducing Devin Drover to CEGE Connection.  We are thrilled to publish Devin’s research paper and advise that he has agreed to be a repeat contributor on CEGE Connection.

 

Maria Artuso: Managing Through Change

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“Change management in the workplace is the leading factor in supporting people through adoption and engagement while change occurs and is undertaken. Change management is a set of steps that are followed on a particular project or initiative. It really is a three-pronged approach:  people need to understand the change, buy into the change, and then have the change reinforced to actually change behaviour.”

Maria Artuso MBA(FS) 2015, Community Manager at RBC Royal Bank

 

Maria Artuso MBA(FS) Class of 2015

Managing through change has become the new norm. As a leader, it is important to understand a number of parameters, including why change is occurring at such an extreme pace, how individuals feel about the change and how they cope with the change. Change at this point is inevitable.  Gone are the days where we reminisce about how things were done years ago. Some individuals thrive in an agile environment, where change can be viewed as exhilarating and super exciting, and personally challenging. Others struggle with the reality that the constant is change, not being able to stay put, and always needing to reinvent themselves and learn new things.

I have been working in the financial services industry for the past 21 years, and have had the privilege of working with leaders who have been phenomenal in terms of working through change, and being respectful of how people will adapt, endure, and overcome the constant of change. When I first started in the industry, I was in my late teens and found it very interesting how some colleagues would say “this is the way we do it here”; “we’ve done it like this for years”; “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”. I remember being taken aback at how it felt to be working within an inflexible and policy-stricken working environment.

In school and at home, my generation was encouraged to “shoot for the stars”; “you can be whatever you put your mind to”; “don’t ever settle for second best”. What I was learning in school and experiencing at work was quite different. What I did not realize or really endorse at the time was that while change management is not an easy philosophy, it is a critical component of organizational transformation. How employees respond to change, let alone, how they overcome this new norm, is vitally important to the viability and sustainability of an organization’s success.  Both the leader and employee play extremely important roles.

As I continued to work in the banking industry, and furthered my education, it became clearer to me that how people felt within the working world was very different than in the educational system. I began to think about how great the workplace could be and would be if we continued to push the envelope, consider everyone’s thoughts and opinions vs. just those of the loudest contributors.  We could  never rest on our laurels.

Change management in the workplace is the leading factor in supporting people through adoption and engagement while change occurs and is undertaken. Change management is a set of steps that are followed on a particular project or initiative. It really is a three-pronged approach:  people need to understand the change, buy into the change, and then have the change reinforced to change behaviour. Change management matters. It needs to occur one person at a time. Change can be very costly if managed improperly.  The good news is that effective management of change increases success overall.

As a new leader, I learned about ADKAR, a model used to understand how people process change: Awareness of the need for change, Desire to participate in and support the change, Knowledge on how to change, Ability to implement required skills and behaviours, and Reinforcement to sustain the change. The truth is, leading employees through organizational change, whether big or small, requires empathy, trust, care, and a growth mindset in order to move forward. Organizations cannot change their culture unless individual employees change their behavior—and changing behavior is not easy; it is actually hard.

Sometimes a leader’s admission of vulnerability helps others recognize and address their ability to process change. You cannot force people to change – you can only help them want to. It is so important for people to understand the why behind the change, the impact it will have on them, and what’s important them. It is vital to acknowledge that there are opportunities for individuals to provide input and feedback.  This will empower individuals to buy-in and feel good about their contribution to the change. In so doing, leaders generate a winning culture by engaging and exciting the people responsible for delivering change. It is important to celebrate successes and quick wins and generously and publicly acknowledge those who demonstrate the leadership behaviours that make a strategy succeed.  Asking team members to share their experiences will encourage the growth mindset required to ensure that change continues to take place at a pace that is commendable in our organizations.

I truly believe that the behaviours of change of management will allow us to never be stuck in old ways. Instead, it will create a flexible and agile collaborative team capable of pivoting in a timely manner, generating the environment where great things will happen because we allowed ourselves to try something new.

Maria Artuso MBA(FS) 2015, Community Manager at RBC Royal Bank, was recently named one of Ottawa’s Top 40 under 40 business professionals. A successful, highly motivated business leader with a track record of success in the fields of operational effectiveness, retail banking, commercial banking, and leadership, Maria is dedicated to giving back to her community, believing that her volunteerism enhances her job performance and life experiences. Maria has graciously agreed to be a repeat contributor on CEGE Connection.

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