I came across this nice picture the other day, showing us the many reasons against change. But my questions back would be “what is the risk of not changing?”.
Take some time today to reflect on what is stopping your company from making the needed changes.
“One of the most important dimensions of job satisfaction is how you feel about your employer’s mission.” writes Robert H. Frank, an economics professor at Cornell University. 
Values shape company behaviour. It is about how we treat employees, our customers, the type of products we build, the office environment we provide and much more. Most companies state values that usually always sound great, but actually are not shown in behaviours.
Some questions that leadership can ask themselves could be:
The World Economic Forum is Davos is always exciting. While economic and political elites are discussing what should be on the business and government agenda for 2018, the global communications community looks towards the results of the annual Edelman Trust Barometer.
Now in its 18th year, the barometer, which surveyed more than 33,000 adults across 28 countries, showed a big drop in trust. As a professional communicator my main takeaway is the increased trust in CEOs (first year in a long time!) and the decreased trust in “a person like you”. The latter is pretty big news, seeing as peer-to-peer communications had been the most trusted form of communication in recent years. Maybe we have realized we are living too much in echo chambers.
Social media companies have also lost trust, with 70% of respondents agreeing that they do not do enough to prevent unethical behaviors. With more than 30% of those surveyed believing that social media is not good for society it will be interesting where this opinion takes us and if the big tech companies will start to do some rethinking about their responsibilities to society.
It seems business is now expected to be an agent of change. Nearly two-thirds say that they would like CEOs to take the lead on policy change instead of waiting for government. As Edelman says: “There are new expectations of corporate leaders. Nearly 7 in 10 respondents say that building trust is the No. 1 job for CEOs, ahead of high-quality products and services.”
What’s the reality in your company? Have you noticed a decline in peer-to-peer communication? How can we tackle disinformation within companies? And what can communicators do to empower CEOs to become agents of change in today’s society?
You can read the full report here.
Gender doesn’t matter, talent does. And when you know that between 2014 and 2016, only 15% of workers in Germany were engaged at work then it is more than urgent to take a look at the management culture and to not just hire for experience or skills but for the talent to truly work with and inspire people.
Read more in Gallup’s latest blog post.
That’s more than Canada’s entire economy, Germany’s DAX (Germany’s biggest 30 companies put together)! The eight tech giants — Facebook Inc., Amazon Inc., Apple Inc., Netflix Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc., as well as their Asian peers Baidu Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. — have amassed as much money in 2017 as Pacific Investment Management Co., one of the world’s biggest fund managers, has done in about 46 years. Speechless.
Adam Bryant has interviewed 525 chief executives through his years writing the Corner Office column for the NY Times. In his last column (unfortunately) he sums up what his takeaways are from what’s important about leadership, culture and the “men vs. women” question. A great read – this is my favorite takeaway from the article:
“You have to be open and alert at every turn to the possibility that you’re about to learn the most important lesson of your life.”
(Photo credit: NY Times)
The digital revolution has long begun. And many companies are taking the first steps into their digital transformation. Everybody is talking about digital. Topics like big data, automation of processes, robotics, AI dominate the conversation….but many seem to forget that this change is not only about technology. It is foremost about corporate culture, structure and, of course, leadership.
For a company to successfully change its structure and culture, leadership needs to step up to the plate to convince employees why the change is needed and walk them down the path. But here is the sticking point: change is emotionally charged. It can emote fear, insecurity but also acceptance and inspiration. And at the end of the day it is only the individual who will make the decision if s/he wants to change or not.
That is why for companies to evolve and grow in this digital revolution it is imperative that they have leaders that are doers, who can generate enthusiasm in their employees, who embrace change and see it as an opportunity not as a challenge. But unfortunately I still see too many leaders who are blocking change. And because they are the only ones who can truly drive change, it becomes more and more frustrating for those around them who are ready to jump into all the opportunities that the digital revolution has to offer. My recommendation? Weed out managers who prefer to remain in a comfort zone early.
Influencer marketing has become a major part of how we market today. After all , with everything happening on social media, consumers look at fellow consumers to inform their purchasing decisions. Instead of looking at companies, they now look at each other and their favorite personalities.
But many challenges remain. Nasdaq Corporate Solutions and PR News surveyed 400+ PR and marketing pros to better understand how they are finding the right influencers to work with, and the challenges they are facing with measurement. You can read the full report here
Here are the main survey results:
This week Edelman released their annual Trust Barometer. The general population’s trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs, and media — has declined broadly, a phenomenon not reported since Edelman began tracking trust among this segment in 2012. Wow. But maybe not surprising when we are living in a “post-truth”era. Rebuilding trust is a shared responsibility by all of us. And we can only do this by putting people first
Read the whole report here
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