Drive change through the company
In order to rally employees together under a change, it needs to be founded on the company’s best interests. And that requires communication about what those common goals are and how to best reach them.
When the leadership team at Cohen & Co. began re-evaluating the firm’s governance structure, for example, it identified what factors would cause the status quo to break down. Then the leaders considered whether it would be easier to change the company pre-emptively or after those triggers went off.
Likewise, by continually weighing your options against the firm’s best interests, you can encourage consensus along the way.
“[The employees] better believe that your interests wholly relate to what’s in the firm’s best interests, not trying to move the balance of power,” Myeroff says. “If they really believe that … you really get rid of all the roadblocks.”
Before you can unfold the decision to the entire company, you need to make sure that the management team members are behind it — even if they’re not all getting what they want.
“You make sure the leadership group is fully supportive. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they agree,” Myeroff says. “It doesn’t mean that they would have done it exactly that way. It just means that they understand and they’re totally in support.”
But that’s not the hard part, because rolling change across the entire company is an even bigger feat. The communication alone takes a lot of effort.
“You can’t take anything for granted in terms of people understanding; you can’t do minor communication,” he says. “Because you’ve lived it and it’s been in your mind, you try to communicate it to someone and you’ll almost always leave things out that are important.”
Cohen & Co. sent employees to governance information meetings that covered everything from big-picture reasons for the change to details like who employees should report to. Myeroff began by explaining to employees the importance and integrity of the old structure. Then he discussed the trade-off, covering why changes were necessary and how they would benefit employees.
You should also clarify what remains unchanged, like your values. Make sure to distinguish between what’s constant and what’s adaptable.
“We’re never all going to agree on everything,” Myeroff told his employees. “But we agree on things like a passion for client service. We agree on quality. … We know the rules of the game, and they are very clear and they are unambiguous and they are not negotiable.”
With the same consistent, no-nonsense language, you need to lay out what those rules are for your company. They’ll form a common ground that everyone agrees to, even if individual perspectives diverge. And no matter how ingrained your values seem, don’t hesitate to reiterate them at every meeting.
About six months after the initial announcement, Myeroff started going back to each office. Likewise, after your company has started to live the change, get feedback about the progress and ideas for improvement.
Even though the company’s governance structure was condensing, Myeroff didn’t want employees to feel like their ability to participate in decisions was diminished. To reiterate how important employee input is — even if you’re changing the formal feedback outlets — provide plenty of opportunities for employees to voice their opinions.
“Getting feedback isn’t always a formal process,” he says. “It’s walking around the hallways, being present, calling people, periodically asking them to stop in, ‘What do you think about this?’ When you do those kinds of things … people feel like they are engaged, that they have an opportunity to ask questions. They have an opportunity to at least hear what the firm is thinking.”
The communication loop shouldn’t end when employees respond, though. Reinforce their willingness to participate by letting them know how much you appreciate it.
“Be over the top when people offer suggestions,” Myeroff says. “If someone makes the most minor suggestion in the world to me, I will always leave them a personal e-mail or make a phone call: ‘I really want to thank you because, no matter what the issue is, it takes some risk to put yourself out there and put ideas out there.’”
