This course focuses on a range of management techniques. You’ll discover the main skills and competencies of effective leaders, and how to distinguish between management and leadership. The course will cover team dynamics, how to build effective relationships, key motivation theories, and how to use communication to best effect. This course forms part of a specialisation from the University of London designed to help you develop and build the essential business, academic, and cultural skills necessary to succeed in international business, or in further study. If completed successfully, your certificate from this specialisation can also be used as part of the application process for the University of London Global MBA programme, particularly for early career applicants. If you would like more information about the Global MBA, please visit https://mba.london.ac.uk/. This course is endorsed by CMI
Case Study: Interview with Stephen Hobbs | Workplace Communication
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Management Skills for International Business
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從本節課中
Managing Change
This week we will be looking to explore the following key area:<BR><BR>
*a range of techniques when communicating in the workplace<BR>
*selecting the most appropriate delivery channel<BR>
*the differences and similarities between verbal/non-verbal communication<BR>
*the need to understand and manage the grapevine<BR><BR>
At the end of this week the key learning objectives will be:<BR><BR>
(1)to have an awareness of several approaches to effective communication in the workplace<BR>
(2)to understand and apply the key criteria when selecting the best available delivery channel<BR>
(3)to have have an understanding of the importance and key aspects of verbal and non-verbal communication<BR>
(4)to have an awareness of the inevitable existence of the grapevine and how it’s impact can be managed<BR>
與講師見面
David JamesFounder and Director, DJ Learning Ltd
University of London
[MUSIC]
In this interview we're going to be exploring different aspects of
organizational communication.
The late, great Sir Peter Ustinov called communication
as the art of being understood.
Great words, bit more difficult to apply in the realities of the organization
because when we use the word communication,
do we actually mean face-to-face?
Do we mean one-to-one?
Do we mean one-to-group?
Do we mean virtual communication?
There are so many different ways in which we can communicate.
Actually do we mean verbal communication or do we mean non-verbal communication?
It's quite a complex area.
And what we're going to do in this interview is to talk to Dr Steve Hobbs,
who's managing director of Rittal UK and Northern Ireland.
And we're going to look at communication and
the three main areas employee engagement, 360 degree appraisals and
the communications cascade across Steve's organization.
So, Steve beginning with employee engagement in terms of
a communications strategy, how does that work in your organization?
>> Well, the employee engagement is one of our key mother strategies and
there are four main elements of that, four key drivers.
There is the strategic narrative, there is the employee voice,
there's the organizational integrity and engagement managers.
And if you key those together,
the foundation of that is good communication.
That goes from, the overall target and goals of the company,
right down so that people on the shop floor can see where their efforts and
where their contribution add and build to our overall strategies.
We structure communication in terms of
direct communication between the senior management or senior leadership team and
the whole of the factory through state of the nation meetings,
which we'll do between three and four a year of those.
We'll also communicate on a monthly basis in terms of team
meetings so that there's a narrative which is given out.
That is communicated from level to level.
>> Right.
>> And there is then discussion back so
if there's questions about it, those are fed back.
And any person can ask anyone for a feedback or
a clarification on any of those issues.
In addition to that each team has their meetings together where they can
report back to their individual supervisor if they've got problems.
It could be breakdown issues.
It could be material issues.
It could process issues.
And that feedback to their immediate boss is expected then to be resolved,
and the feedback to the group to tell them what is happening.
>> Right, so in terms of employee engagement,
we have a number of key processes that are going on here.
So, at Steve's level, we have the state of the nation communications,
where everybody across the group gets a communication from senior management
at regular intervals throughout the year.
And then we have monthly team
communications to engage everybody right the way across the organization.
And from what we've already heard, that process is not just top down.
There is an opportunity for people that all levels to feed back up and
processes in place to enable a response to be expected and
a response to actually happen as a result of that output feedback.
So how do you measure the effectiveness of these employee
engagement processes that you have in place?
>> Well once a year we do an employee survey.
[COUGH] And we look to get the feedback.
It's done by an independent company and
we get the feedback from different departments and
we also get a net promoter score as well.
The feedback also, or should we say the effectiveness, is also measured and
discussed during the appraisal process.
All leaders get a 360 degree appraisal.
So that's from their own boss, three of their peers,
and three of their subordinates.
As that drops down to the supervisor level we actually increase the number of shop
floor employees that appraise the supervisors.
>> Right.
There's several things that are happening here then.
So you've got this annual survey.
You get feedback from this survey from a third party.
Before we go in to look at 360 degree feedback,
just talk us through how the results from that survey happen every year.
And then what happens as a result please?
Within the results [COUGH] we'll get areas where
we could be a bit lacking in good communication.
Or even if it's the way which people are feeling treated.
That'll be assessed by the leadership team and then out to a broader group.
And what we'll do is we'll split that up, take responsibilities for
addressing those issues.
Some of those need addressing immediately.
But some of them are a bit longer term, a little bit bigger picture, so
they can take longer.
But that is we actually get a feedback.
The feedback is fed back to every single employee in
the organization in terms of the briefing meetings.
And we also give a written explanation of what the actions of been taken
which we publish on notice boards.
>> So we've got a very clear process that's in place.
So say for example, I'm on your shop floor and
I fill out one of these engagement surveys on the first of January.
>> Yep.
>> When would I expect to get feedback from
the leadership team about the results?
>> There's actually a process for doing this.
>> Right. >> First of all,
it takes a couple of weeks to get the feedback from the external team,
anyway, to make sure that it's all been compiled properly.
Then we'll go through that then.
And probably within two to three weeks we would expect to be communicating
at least some of the top level issues or just how they've got on.
>> The reason why the point was raised,
we know of other organizations where, yes, they do engagement surveys.
But the reality is, it's months and months and months before any results get shared.
And in today's ever-changing workplaces the big risk with that, of course,
is that results are communicated about a survey that took place several months
ago when the world was very different.
And what we've heard Steve share with us now is that
actually that process here is very quick, so in a matter of weeks.
So if I was on this shop floor and filled out my survey, I would expect to
get some feedback from senior leadership within a matter of weeks.
And that is very, very powerful.
And actually that sends a message out to everybody in the organization that
the leadership team take what everybody feels about being part of that team.
So we've heard a number of different ways that Steve and his leadership
team look to engage their employees through state of the nation meetings,
through monthly team leader meetings and through engagement surveys.
So three very, very powerful processes which are clearly working very, very well.
The secondary that we're going to have a look at now is 360 degree appraisal and
firstly how that works here, and
secondly then how that fits into the broader communication strategy.
So the 360 degree feedback process, so how does that work?
>> Okay, all leaders take a 360 degree appraisal.
>> Yourself included.
>> Myself included.
My assessment is done by an external consultant.
But each person would be appraised and they'd fill the assessment out themselves,
their boss would, three of their peers and three of their subordinates.
That's done anonymously with the exception of the individual and his boss.
Everyone else is anonymous.
>> So if I was one of your team feeding back, I would feel comfortable putting
down as I felt because you wouldn't actually know it was me that was on there.
>> That's right.
>> Right, okay.
And how well is that approach received right the way across your organization?
>> Well it's very good because when we assess ourselves we
can sometimes think we're better than we really are.
And, but more often than not, we actually underscore ourselves.
And when you compare that with six or
seven other people who've assessed you and there becomes a consistency,
you can then judge whether you were too high, too low onto
what everyone else is actually judging you on, against the same questions.
>> So, you get a kind of rounded view of where you fit and how you're doing and
what strengths you can develop and what areas perhaps you need to have a look at.
And so in terms of the communication strategy, the sorts of things that
would then bring out would be the ability to trust each other, the ability for
everybody to be receptive in getting feedback,
the ability of everybody at all levels really,
who have this 360-degree process, to grow together as a collective team.
>> Absolutely.
>> And how far then is communication
featured as part of this 360 degree appraisal?
>> Well, there's a complete section on communication.
And so you would get feedback from your subordinates telling you
whether your feedback with your communication skills were any good or not.
>> Okay.
Do you have an example of sort of across the organization what particular parts
of communication from this 360 degree process, where things go really well or
perhaps things that you're learning as a team?
>> The feedback which we've got was that we're very good at
feeding back good information.
>> Right. >> But we don't feed back bad information
quickly enough.
>> Right.
And so your teams across the organization, are they just saying then what actually,
even if it's bad news, you'd rather know about it than not?
>> That's right, that's right.
>> Right, okay.
And how have you taken that forward?
>> We just try to do it a lot faster.
>> Right, okay, so- >> Just accept that when things are not
good, that it's as well to communicate that as well as when things
are going well as well.
>> And in a uncertain world that just kind of helps.
So far then as we've been looking at communications,
we've looked at employee engagement and we've looked at 360 degree appraisal.
We're now going to look at the third of the three aspects and
that is about how the organization from Steve's level, right the way down to
the shop floor, embarks on what we called a communication cascade.
So how the strategic vision is passed right the way down at all levels of
the organization so that everybody actually understands what
the organization is trying to do and where they fit in terms of their role,
what they do and how they contribute to the organizational success.
So, how does the organizational cascade process work in your organization?
>> Okay, the overall vision of the group, which is to be the number one
in all strategic business units in all major parts of the world.
That then, obviously our market dominance in that then,
that is fed back through out into the individual countries.
The managing directors of these organizations then break down
the actions that we need to be able to address those goals.
And then we develop the strategies and
from that then those strategies are communicated.
And there's not just a communication of the goals but
also of the reflection on how we did before in these type of areas,
the goals themselves and the action plans to improve.
And those are cascaded directly throughout.
>> So, when they're cascaded down, so you've got almost like a convergence of
the strategy at different levels of the organization,
how are people at each level involved in that process?
>> It depends on their position within the hierarchy of the organization.
The senior leadership will obviously view much, much higher targets.
Yet, in each department, looking at what they, what's known as the baby strategies,
each individual department and small groups of people will be assessing
their goals and how their contribution fits into the overall big picture.
>> So, if I was a member of a team on the shop floor
the strategy coming down to our level then would reach us and then as a team,
we’d have the responsibility for saying how we're going to make this work.
>> Yeah, for argument's sake, one of the projects which is ongoing at the moment
is how to improve the quality and the yield through our paint plant.
>> Right.
>> That's reviewed on a weekly basis by the operators in the paint plant.
>> Right.
So they have ownership for it.
>> Yep. And they look at the one single thing that
they can do that week to improve that performance and
to try and take it forward as we progress.
>> So, we've just heard a really great example there of how from what can
become the remoteness of organizational strategy actually translates to
individual ownership on the shop floor of taking responsibility for
what they do and thinking about on a weekly basis how they can do it better.
So the philosophy of continuous improvement is
clearly one of the outcomes from the example that you've given.
So, as we've started to explore different aspects of communication
under Steve's area we've looked at three main areas.
The first was employee engagement, and
we've really learned about the importance that is placed on the people
resource in terms of their motivation, in terms of value in their contribution.
And we talked about the annual employee engagement surveys and
how quickly that they're fed back, the results are fed back.
We also talked about the 360 degree appraisal process which, in itself,
is an appraisal process done on an individual where line management,
peers and subordinates can feedback on an individual.
So that's the process side.
What comes out in terms of communication is that ability to build relationships,
that ability to engender trust, that ability to learn from each other which
is very, very powerful in terms of communication.
And the third area that we've looked at is this communication cascade.
And we've talked about how we've had state of the nation communications,
we have monthly team meetings, we have individuals at shop floor level taking
responsibility for that part because they know what it is they have to do,
their part, their role and to continually improve that and understand how
that's going to make a difference to that organizational strategy coming into place.
Thank you.
[MUSIC]
