Communicate
When Lunenfeld is traveling and wants to let his people know what’s on his mind, he can post a video message on Moxie’s social network portal. From there, people can watch it and comment, in turn, creating the kind of communication internally that they also manage for their clients. And it’s just one way that Lunenfeld communicates with his employees.
He recognizes that they are often overused words, but he says that communication and transparency are the last key to leading and nurturing change in an organization.
“When things are moving so fast and management — and whoever everyone thinks the voices above are — are silent, everyone tends to fill in the blanks and expect the worst,” he says.
The problem is, when most of us communicate, we’re just handing down the edict instead of involving employees.
“It’s got to be something where you’re not talking to people, you’re inviting them,” Lunenfeld says. “If you’re trying to motivate, whether it’s a client or it’s your employees, to get on board and march boldly behind you to do something, you can’t just say, ‘This is the way it’s going to happen.’ You have to leave room for participation and leave room for them to help finish the vision that was started. You can’t ever bring a complete package forward. You have to lead with, ‘Here’s the rallying challenge that we all have ahead of us. Here is why we all passionately should feel inspired to do something about this, and here’s what we need from you.’”
He suggests setting guidelines instead of rules.
“One of the things I’ve found about working with creative people over time is the worst thing you can give a creative person is a blank sheet of paper,” Lunenfeld says. “But if you say, ‘Here’s a challenge, and here’s the seven colors you need to work within, and here’s what we expect on the other end, then you’ll get something absolutely incredible, so you have to set the rules of the game up correctly, and you have to enforce those rules.”
And even if you involve people and invite them to participate in the change, recognize that people will still need to process the negative emotions behind it, and that’s natural.
“We still have to remember that it does affect everyone personally, so everyone is going to internalize change, and it’s going to mean something different for everyone,” Lunenfeld says. “You can’t always address that, but you have to be open to talk about it with people and understand that you’re going to go through several stages, but ultimately you’re going to walk away with a better company, a better client relationship.
“The worst thing you can do is fear the fact that this is going to happen and fear what this might mean for a handful of people versus the greater good. You have to be bold in making the right decisions for change. If you’re not changing, you’re definitely going to be falling behind.”
How to reach: Moxie Interactive Inc., (678) 916-4500 or www.moxieinteractive.com
