Develop the vision
If you want to be successful rolling out a major change, you need to get input from all levels of the organization when creating it.
“A very important part of that is to get buy-in by the leaders and ultimately the entire organization of what that vision is so they are part of implementing it,” he says.
“It would be very common for me to touch base with a couple of people and say, ‘What do you think about this?’ We’d discuss it and debate it, and through that discussion and debate, we’d come to what we think is a much better product, if you will, a much better answer, and then we roll it out to a larger group and test the thinking and the logic with them, as well.”
McMullen and his leadership team would meet with a cross section of employees in small groups of two or three, which included plant managers, a few business product line leaders as well as general managers and those in human resources.
“It was not scientifically chosen,” he says. “It was kind of just a cross section of the organization to get a sense for, ‘What do you think about this? Does it make sense to you? What if it doesn’t? Let’s talk through that and see if we can help clarify or change to make it better.’”
When you get input from lower levels of the organization, pay close attention to it, and if that input is given directly to you, show that person you appreciate the input.
“Be open-minded, show respect and all the things your mother taught you when you were young,” he says. “They absolutely are critical here — show empathy. If it’s the first time you’ve met someone and they haven’t had the opportunity to interact at more senior levels of the organization, they are probably going to be nervous. If there are things you can do that will make them feel at ease, you’re probably going to get them more comfortable to share their thoughts with you.”
You can also phrase your questions to the employee so they know their input is needed, and they aren’t just being asked to reinforce what is already a finished plan.
“The foundation that you build with each interaction is critical and then kind of setting the stage of, ‘We readily admit this is not perfect,’” he says. “‘There are many things that can be improved on it. This is a start. It is a work in progress. Please don’t take it as cast in stone. What we would like in this discussion is to get your reaction to it and to get your ideas for how to make it better.’”
What McMullen discovered in this process is that the company was already practicing some principles that made up One OMNOVA, but the practices weren’t formalized.
He was able to get more buy-in by building off some of those practices, which helped others understand what the company wanted to accomplish.
“The idea of working together across the company was already happening in other areas,” he says. “So, I can point to that as an example of where we are already doing it as a way of trying to illustrate where we were trying to go with some of these other areas.”
He would have never discovered this advantage if he hadn’t sought feedback.
“If there was one thing I could say in terms of advice, it’s get a lot of people involved,” he says. “You’ll get more buy-in, and you’ll end up with something better than you would have had if you huddled in a room with you and one or two other people and tried to craft it just on your own.
“I’m convinced that we are far better having a group that is pushing and testing and asking what-if questions to help improve the vision, than if it was just me doing it on my own.”