Get to know your organization

Bryan C. Dunn, president, W&S Agency Group

When you’re dealing with change in
your company, it’s important to understand its history and culture. You can
do this by analyzing the different areas
of your company and speaking to
employees.

“There needs to be a clear analysis
and understanding, looking at the financial numbers and metrics, doing interviews so that you understand what people think and believe, and doing a
check as to how they align with what
the organization is supposed to be
doing,” says Bryan Dunn of W&S
Agency Group.

When Dunn became the company’s
president in 2004, he spent time speaking with employees from all levels of
the organization.

“You’re not talking about an exhaustive time effort, but you interact, sit
down and talk with people who are
doing the work,” he says of the company, a business unit of financial service
company Western & Southern Financial
Group.

Ask employees what the company
strategy is and how they feel that they
contribute to it. Find pieces of information that are consistent from one
employee to another that give you an
idea of things that need to be changed
first.

“During a change process, people
have to see early successes,” says
Dunn, who was featured in the
February edition of Smart Business. “A lot of times, people will tell you what
needs to be changed. If you can enable
those things, you start to gain that buyin and emotional commitment to the
future.”

Not all recommendations can be
made, but analyze and determine which
ones will be the best to move the company forward.

“You apply their changes against what
the strategy is going to be and their recommendations as well as the numbers
against the value proposition that is
going to give you that strategy,” Dunn
says. “If you see that change enabling
that value proposition or strategy, then
you put more work in that area.”