Where each person is an individual, and some do not openly show their emotions in behavior or communication; all human beings have emotions. Emotional skills are crucial in well-being, resilience, and change capacity – on both personal and organizational levels. In this blog, I will focus on the organizational angle and take you through the journey of emotional leadership at different levels of an organization. We’ll explore practical tips for leaders and the Howspace platform, a great example of a modern multi-purpose helpful tool (among many other things) in Change Leadership.    

Emotional Leadership in Executive Roles Executives usually underestimate the impact of their communication, especially tone of voice, choice of words, and body language, on their people. A 10-minute prep talk in online personnel info on a rainy Monday morning is the smallest task for a busy executive, for an employer that triggers the biggest positive or negative emotional reaction for that month. While constantly being under a magnifying glass might create pressure for most, it’s also an opportunity to excel as the owner of the change journey. 

Tip for executives: Be aware of the company’s emotional atmosphere and consider it in decisions. For a few reasons, the emotional atmosphere will impact how your words are interpreted and understood and people’s actions. Reasoning your decisions with numbers and emotions will help you remain “human” in people’s eyes, avoiding the shift to a non-human decision machine. Use the Howspace platform to quickly follow up on the general emotional atmosphere with open dialogue and anonymous surveys to let employees share their feelings openly.

Middle Management and Emotional Influence Middle managers are the bridge between the top executives and the team managers. They often deal with a great number of conflicting interests, complaints, and demands, operating in the culmination of information flow. Emotional awareness is of high value here because a person’s emotional state affects our decision-making and how we interpret information. Middle management is responsible for bringing clarity and acting as an advisor both downwards and upwards. During organizational changes, their emotional steadiness can help stabilize the waters.  

Tip for middle Management: Ensure the information you handle is of good quality, diverse, and free of biases. This means you should collect both hard (like numbers & things) and soft (like mood, motivation, and well-being) information on a regular basis and build a complete picture of the situation. To stay objective, utilize Howspace, which will make the information-gathering process efficient and help you analyze the mood of any conversation, even with hundreds of people, objectively and in seconds, with the help of AI. 

Emotional Leadership on Team Level The relationships between team members and the team leader can grow close and strong when the culture and individuals support this. When change occurs, their close connections and psychological safety within the team allow them to address concerns emotionally. This ability to address the emotions woken by change defines the speed at which the team is (or isn’t) able to adapt to the change. All change happens one individual at a time, and the team can take steps forward only when a critical part of the team is ready to try something new. 

Tip for Team Leaders: Maintain awareness of these two levels in your team during the time of change: How are my people doing emotionally as individuals? How is my team doing on an emotional level as a whole? Individuals will be in different emotional states of change, and your job as the leader is to make sure you adjust the speed of change to your team’s phase. Utilize Howspace to stay on the pulse of the daily mood of your team and use 1-on-1 discussions to help individuals remain emotionally connected with their team. Maintaining the connection and feeling of belonging on the team level can be a game changer in the well-being and productivity of a team in the middle of changes. 

Self-leadership in change Let’s say you work in an environment where there’s some change going on. All change is positive, evokes emotions, and requires energy. Even if the change in an organization doesn’t directly concern you, human beings are prone to transferring emotions, so other people’s feelings can transfer to you. You might have noticed, for example, how excitement in a group can be contagious. Emotional awareness of you, especially the team you’re working closely with, can help you take care of your energy levels and well-being. 

Tip for self-leadership: Start or keep building up your emotional awareness and skills. Whenever there is an employee survey about well-being or your team leader or colleague asks, “How do you feel?” Use this as a chance to really stop and reflect and give a real answer to that question. You might be surprised how much you can learn while also contributing to building a more open and sustainable work culture. You might even go wild and start asking others about their feelings. 

Stakeholders Have Emotions, Too “Clients” and “partners” are human, too, and have emotions as well. This might sound self-evident, but how often do you connect with them on an emotional level? Especially when something changes inside your organization, it might feel like this has nothing to do with our customers’ or partners’ emotions. However, It is likely that when the news finally goes out, there will be emotions that might have long-term effects on the background if not addressed. Communicating the situation will also help your customers and partners to relate humanely to their observations or even show some support since organizational changes tend to show outward in one way or another.   

Tip for stakeholder management: Especially with important customers and partners, develop the habit of measuring mood on a regular basis. Utilize Howspace to bring all communication into one place, effortlessly following up on how the relationship is evolving and making visible how far you’ve come together. 

Extra tip: Consciously bringing emotions to the workplace now, and not later, is also a strategic choice and step towards a future-proof organization. Talents on the job market might soon dodge job offerings from organisations where the work community lacks emotional competence. This is part of the shift towards a more sustainable work culture, where well-being at work is a basic requirement.

I’ve been in multiple-level roles myself and then walked alongside professionals from more than 20 different fields, witnessing the very humane reactions to change. Now, as an entrepreneur, my mission is to transform (work)life into something more sustainable for people through development and leadership.

For more tips and sparring for any role or level of emotional leadership, let’s connect and talk more!

Milla Ranta,

Founder & CEO
Millainen Consulting Oy
milla@millainen.fi +358400802727
LinkedIn | Instagram | Millainen.fi | Events & Content | Book a meeting

Make sure to check out Milla’s Howspace template “AI Transformation Workshop” here.

The post Emotional Leadership in Change and Transformations at Different Organizational Levels appeared first on Howspace.

Gofore is a digital transformation consultancy dedicated to helping ambitious companies, communities, and entire societies thrive in the digital age. As pioneers in ethical digitalization and change, Gofore combines technology, business, and design expertise to shape the future the right way.

Gofore and Howspace have been cooperating for several years, sharing an ideology and mission to pioneer human-centric transformation. The companies have now decided to enter into a more strategic partnership. Through this partnership, the companies will focus on expanding the use of the Howspace platform within Gofore service delivery and platform sales to capture the growth potential for both organizations.

Auli Packalén, Director of Brand and Offering at Gofore: “At Gofore, we truly thrive on customer success. In certain transformation services, we have perceived the Howspace platform as a critical element in delivering the customer value we always aim to create. The platform is versatile, easy, and intuitive to use, and most importantly, our customers have found it to be a pleasant way to participate, learn, and engage in discussions.”

Pasi Mantila, CEO at Howspace: “We are very impressed by Gofore’s ambition to create a more humane, sustainable, and ethical digital world. At Howspace, our vision is to revolutionize how enterprises collaborate and drive transformation, and Gofore is certainly one of the forerunners in this area. We are honored to deepen our collaboration with Gofore and excited about our shared goal of delivering a leading collaborative experiences for Gofore customers while ensuring growth for both companies.”

About Gofore:

Gofore is an international digital transformation consultancy with Finnish roots. We have over 1,400 impact-driven people in 19 locations across Finland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Estonia, and Italy. With our technology and business expertise we create an equal digital society and sustainable solutions for the intelligent industry. Our diverse group of professionals share a pioneering ambition to create a more humane, sustainable, and ethical digital world. Our values guide our business: Gofore is a great workplace that thrives on customer success. In 2023, our net sales amounted to EUR 189,2 million. Gofore Plc’s share is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. in Finland. Our vision is to be the most significant digital transformation consultancy in Europe. Get to know us better at gofore.com.

About Howspace:

The Howspace platform is designed to empower organizations to drive growth and sustainable impact through limitless involvement. We believe that engaged people can transform anything. Our platform enables leaders to involve people in transformation and change. The platform adapts to any journey and promotes limitless involvement by design, enabling sense-making and engagement supported by interactive, real-time AI.

The post Gofore joins forces with Howspace as a new strategic partner appeared first on Howspace.

The Challenge: Limited Perspectives in Decision-Making

Organizations use various approaches to decision-making, from centralized to decentralized, consensus-based to data-driven. However, many struggle with processes that don’t fully leverage their collective intelligence. If you’re relying on traditional top-down decision-making, you might face:

• Disengaged employees who feel unheard
• Resistance to new initiatives
• Overlooked innovative solutions
• Slow adaptation to market changes
• Limited problem-solving capacity

What if you could tap into the collective wisdom of your entire workforce?

The Solution: Embrace Participatory Decision-Making

By involving your employees at all levels in the decision-making process, you unlock a range of benefits:

1. Enhanced Decision Quality: Access diverse perspectives and expertise across your organization, leading to more informed and well-rounded decisions.

2. Increased Employee Engagement: When your team contributes to decisions, they become more invested in the outcomes, boosting motivation and job satisfaction.

3. Faster Implementation: Decisions created collaboratively often face less resistance and are implemented more quickly and effectively.

4. Improved Innovation: Create an environment where new ideas can emerge and develop, fostering a culture of creativity and continuous improvement.

5. Stronger Organizational Alignment: Build a shared understanding of goals and challenges, leading to better coordination across teams and departments.

6. Enhanced Problem-Solving: Leverage collective intelligence to tackle complex issues and find creative solutions that might be overlooked in a top-down approach.

7. Increased Adaptability: Develop a more agile organization that can quickly respond to changes in the market or industry.

8. Better Risk Management: Identify potential risks and challenges from multiple perspectives, leading to more comprehensive risk mitigation strategies.

How You Can Implement Participatory Decision-Making

To start reaping these benefits, consider these practical steps:

1. Involve your team early: Bring employees into the decision-making process from the start to maximize their input and buy-in. Create the context

2. Create an open dialogue: Foster discussions where ideas are valued based on merit, not hierarchy.

3. Leverage technology: Use digital platforms to facilitate large-scale participation and real-time collaboration, even in remote or distributed teams.

4. Seek diverse viewpoints: Actively include voices from different roles, departments, and backgrounds to enrich the decision-making process.

5. Act on input: Implement decisions based on collective input and transparently communicate outcomes to your team.

How Howspace Supports Your Participatory Decision-Making

At Howspace, we’ve designed our platform to help you easily implement participatory decision-making and realize its full benefits:

• Super Chat: Launch AI-supported, large-scale dialogues to capture your team’s diverse perspectives efficiently. It doesn’t matter whether there are 10 or 10,000 participants.
• Interactive Polls and Surveys: Quickly gather input from your employees on key issues, ensuring everyone’s voice is heard.
• NEW! Priority and Resource Allocation Tools: Align your team on priorities and make tough choices together, improving buy-in and understanding.
• AI-Assisted Analysis: Gain insights from qualitative data to inform your decisions, uncovering patterns and ideas that might otherwise be missed.
• Multi-Language Support: Break down language barriers with automatic multi-directional translations in global teams, ensuring inclusive participation across your organization.

Quick Guide: Using Howspace’s AI for Decision-Making

1. Share the context with a video and invite people to explore the topic.

2. Create a Super Chat widget for open discussion.

3. Use AI to analyze the chat: “What are the 5 key action points from our discussion?”

4. Create a decision-making widget based on AI analysis: “Create a Priority widget to rank these 5 key points.”

5. Invite your team to prioritize the 5 key points.

6. Review results and use AI to summarize: “What are the key takeaways from our prioritization exercise?”

7. Communicate outcomes and plan implementation.

This approach transforms decision-making into an efficient, inclusive, and effective experience. It’s good to remember to keep in mind facilitation as this kind of process does not just happen on its own. You as a leader or someone on your team should be the facilitator. Collaboration design and active facilitation are needed to support the process. (Boost your confidence and develop your skills as a digital facilitator – Join our free online course on Digital Facilitation)

Ready to Transform Your Decision-Making?

By adopting participatory decision-making, you’re not just changing a process – you’re cultivating a culture of collaboration, innovation, and shared purpose in your organization. The benefits of this approach can lead to improved performance, higher employee satisfaction, and a more resilient organization.

Are you ready to explore how you can make your decision-making more inclusive, effective, and beneficial for your entire organization?

Let’s discuss how Howspace can support your journey towards more collaborative and impactful decision-making. Book a demo with our expert to learn more about how to make your organization’s decision-making more participatory

Learn more

Template for prioritization and resource allocation

What is collaborative leadership and how can you practice it?

Check out our free online course on Facilitating Transformation

Designing for change: From mere participation to transformative involvement

The post Make Your Decision-Making More Inclusive and Effective appeared first on Howspace.

Here is what Tekpon’s listing says about Howspace: “Howspace is a collaborative LMS that emphasizes engagement and social learning. Its AI-powered platform enables businesses to create interactive learning journeys with ease. Howspace’s standout features include real-time collaboration, customizable learning paths, and powerful analytics. The platform’s focus on user engagement and community building makes it perfect for organizations aiming to foster a collaborative learning environment.”

You can read the full article here: https://press.tekpon.com/tekpon-reveals-top-learning-management-systems-for-businesses/.

Tekpon is an online marketplace connecting businesses with the software solutions they need to thrive in today’s digital landscape. With a focus on innovation, quality, and transparency, Tekpon offers a curated selection of software across various categories, aiding businesses in enhancing their operations and achieving their digital marketing goals.

Howspace has been supporting numerous educational institutions and organizations in improving the impact of their learning, training, and development programs. We have recently introduced Howspace Learning, a comprehensive learning platform designed to create deep, impactful learning experiences. You can read more about Howspace Learning here: https://howspace.com/howspace-learning/.

The post Howspace included in Top Learning Management Systems for Businesses list for 2024 by Tekpon appeared first on Howspace.

p4d is a consulting firm that supports organizations with a holistic view of organizational development, cultural change, and leadership during times of transformation and consolidation.

p4d supports companies, organizations, and NGOs in international environments through all phases of organizational development and change. They specialize in supporting transformation processes and the further development of leadership and organizational culture.

“We have been collaborating with Howspace since 2020. We are honored to bring our relationship to a more strategic level. We’re especially excited about Howspace’s new AI features that make our work as consultants even more efficient and impactful,” says Claus-Bernhard Pakleppa, Managing Partner at p4d.

“We are impressed with p4d’s extensive expertise in shaping working culture. Their holistic approach to organizational development and their deep understanding of cultural change make them an ideal partner. We are excited about the emerging opportunities this collaboration will bring,” commented Ulla Luukas, Head of Partnership Channel at Howspace.

Join our joint webinar
p4d and Howspace are organizing a joint webinar on Shaping Transformation Together in German on June 27th, 2024. Read more and sign up here.

About p4d:

p4d is a consulting firm that supports organizations with a holistic view of the organization, the change in organizational culture and leadership in times of change, transformation, and consolidation. p4d was founded in 2005 with the idea of partnering with organizations (partnership for development GmbH) to support them in their respective developments.

The founders of p4d have a background in ethnology and are recognized experts on cultures. The consultants complement our expertise with their own professional or university backgrounds and many years of experience in leadership roles within organizations. Together, we are experts and companions when it comes to guiding organizations, teams, and people into the future. What sets us apart is our systemic approach.

About Howspace:

The Howspace platform is designed to empower organizations to drive growth and sustainable impact through limitless involvement. We believe that engaged people can transform anything. Our platform enables leaders to involve people in transformation and change. The platform adapts to any journey and promotes limitless involvement by design, enabling sense-making and engagement supported by interactive, real-time AI.

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Designing with purpose

“At Howspace, we’re driven by the understanding that our platform might be or become someone’s most essential daily tool,” Ilkka begins. The emphasis is on intuitive design, ensuring that everything from previously created content to basic features is easily accessible. 

“Considering users might spend hours in Howspace, we need to focus on every detail,” Ilkka adds, highlighting the responsibility of building a platform that truly supports users’ work. At the heart of this support is enabling true involvement and active engagement among users. This means making everyday work easier and creating a dynamic space where every interaction encourages participation and collaboration. We believe that this type of involvement transforms everyday work into a more connected and engaging experience for everyone involved.

A toolbox for transformation

Transformation journeys are often multifaceted, so several tools are needed to support the different stages and processes. Howspace aims to provide an end-to-end toolbox for this journey. “Our goal is to facilitate transformative involvement, offering a diverse set of features that cater to all aspects of change,” Ilkka explains. This diversity combined with a logical product hierarchy and contextual functionality, ensures users find what they need without unnecessary complexity.

A new approach to platform design

Unlike other platforms that prioritize tool structure, Howspace focuses on process structure. “This means the platform, especially for participants, stays in the background, making the process, not the tool, the star”, Ilkka points out. This approach enables a smoother, more engaging user experience, allowing the platform to support rather than dictate the flow of work.

Instead of offering a one-size-fits-all approach, Howspace equips admin and facilitators with the means to design and build customized processes tailored to their specific needs and goals. This flexibility ensures that the platform adapts to the workflow rather than imposing a rigid, ready-made structure. 

With Howspace, the facilitator can craft a journey specifically designed for their audience, utilizing features and functionalities in a way that improves engagement and learning without the technology becoming a distraction. This approach makes for a smoother and more engaging user experience.

The importance of transformative involvement

Transformative involvement, where design and implementation merge seamlessly, is essential for organizational success. “Howspace serves as a bridge between designing and implementing transformative processes, supporting events and training as part of a cohesive whole,” says Ilkka. This integration ensures that transformative efforts are not fragmented but are experienced as a unified journey.

Challenges in traditional involvement

Reflecting on traditional involvement methods, Ilkka notes a common issue: the tendency to view participation as mere input collection rather than genuine dialogue. “True involvement comes from dialogue, iteration, and shared sense-making,” Ilkka argues. He describes that Howspace is advocating for a methodology that empowers all participants to contribute meaningfully to the conversation in opposition to answering questions and giving input.

Enabling meaningful dialogue

A platform must allow for diverse conversational structures for change management to be truly participative. “Howspace enables hundreds of different structures for conversation, reflecting the dynamic nature of dialogue in the real world”, Ilkka notes. This flexibility facilitates meaningful exchanges and ensures all voices are heard.

Looking ahead: The new Howspace

The soon-to-be-launched new Howspace platform builds on these principles, introducing features and functionalities that improve efficiency and customization. “From AI-assisted content creation to simplified editing, the new Howspace is about making involvement easier and more impactful,” Ilkka shares. These improvements aim to streamline the building of processes, enabling even more agile and responsive transformation efforts.

Beyond the technical: building connection

Ultimately, transformation is about more than just facts and processes; it’s about people. “We’re focusing on the mental and relational aspects of involvement, building a culture that supports meaningful change and helps organizations to develop their transformation capabilities,” Ilkka concludes. The new Howspace platform facilitates transformation and nurtures connections and shared understanding that make lasting change possible.

–

To those ready to dive deeper into facilitating transformation and shaping the future of organizational change, we invite you to join our free virtual course, “Facilitating Transformation: From Theory to Practice”. Read more and sign up through the link below.

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The post Designing for change: From mere participation to transformative involvement appeared first on Howspace.

Why Your Insights Matter

Your experiences, perspectives, and strategies are invaluable in shaping a collective understanding of transformation initiatives’ current state and the required capabilities. By sharing your insights, you contribute to a broader knowledge base that can empower fellow leaders to navigate their own transformations successfully.

What We Aim to Uncover

Our research delves into key areas that are crucial for steering enterprises through transformation:

• Transformation readiness: Understand and evaluate the transformation readiness and the qualities that are needed for successful transformation.
• Challenges and Opportunities: Identify the most pressing obstacles and promising opportunities in your transformation journey.
• Technological Adoption: Explore the role of technology in transformation and how it affects the impact of transformation.

How You Can Contribute

Participating in our research is easy and can be completed in about 15 minutes. Your answers will be anonymous to other survey respondents, and the aggregated insights will be shared in a comprehensive report. By joining this initiative, you gain access to a network of like-minded leaders and play a vital role in shaping the future of business transformation.

Thanks to our Translation feature, you can participate in the language of your choice.

Click here to access the research and make your voice heard.

We’ll be collecting responses from February 26th until March 24th, 2024.

What’s in it for You

We will raffle 5 free 1-hour consultations with Howspace transformation experts among the respondents. You will also have the opportunity to receive an exclusive early-access preview of the research results. Additionally, your input will contribute to developing best practices and thought leadership content that will be shared with the global business community.

Spread the Word

We encourage you to actively share this opportunity within your network, contributing to a global conversation on transformation.

Thank you for being at the forefront of transformation, and we look forward to hearing your insights!

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The post Global Research on Transformation: Calling All Transformation Leaders to Participate appeared first on Howspace.

However, larger organizations may find it challenging to transition from traditional hierarchies and operating models that were once successful but now hinder adaptability and agile learning. In these environments, it is essential to nurture a culture that embraces involvement, different perspectives, and flexible approaches to change.

This article explores how organizations can effectively design large-scale involvement to harness the transformative power of their people. We’ll examine common challenges and discover the potential of thoughtfully designed involvement in steering organizations toward a future where people are truly engaged, involved, and committed.

Understanding the challenges of involvement

Imagine yourself as a part of a multinational enterprise headquartered in Toronto, with teams scattered across London, Stockholm, and Sydney, each operating in a different time zone and having their own subculture, bringing unique perspectives to the table. Now, envision this organization embarking on a transformation journey. The challenge in this endeavor goes beyond just coordinating meeting schedules, it’s also essential to ensure that every voice from every corner of the organization is included in the change process at the right time.

Moreover, during a change journey like this, you may have heard comments and questions like “Who made this decision?”, “I have not been involved in this.”, “I don’t understand this.”, “This decision doesn’t make sense.”.  If these sound familiar, you probably understand the crucial role effective involvement plays in driving successful transformation.

The scenario described above isn’t isolated; it’s a recurring reality for many large organizations today. We at Howspace recognize that the challenges that arise from geographical dispersion and diverse organizational cultures can complicate the change process. That’s why we believe that effective involvement requires a balancing act of logistics, cultural sensitivity, and time management.  

Cost of low involvement

Research has consistently demonstrated that employee disengagement can significantly impact transformation efforts. According to Gallup, disengaged employees are absent 37% more often, have 18% lower productivity, and 15% lower profitability. During a transformation journey, this disengagement can manifest as resistance to change, decreased morale, and a lower success rate in implementing new strategies or processes. It’s important to keep employees engaged and motivated during times of change to ensure a successful transformation. The cost of disengagement can lead to more than just a decrease in numbers; it can potentially derail the entire transformation effort.

Therefore it’s crucial to understand and overcome these challenges as they are not just a step in the process but a cornerstone of successful transformation. The following section will explore how to design involvement to navigate these complexities effectively.

Designing Involvement

After understanding the unique challenges that large organizations face in engaging their employees, it’s clear why a strategic approach is necessary. Designing involvement is a critical method to ensure that every person in an organization, regardless of their role or location, is meaningfully involved in change. 

Transformative involvement

Designing involvement means intentionally creating environments and processes that foster deep, meaningful collaboration. It involves crafting a transformative process that changes how people think, act, and interact, not just getting them to work together. 

At Howspace, we believe that transformative involvement is a journey that we all navigate together, not just as passengers but as co-navigators. This dynamic process has six key aspects:

1 Deep engagement: Enable participants to be thoroughly engaged in the work with each other. This means they are emotionally and intellectually invested in the collaboration.

2 Mutual learning: Encourage all participants to bring their experiences and expertise to the table, leading to a rich exchange of ideas and learning opportunities.

3 Change and innovation: Transformative involvement drives change, whether on a personal level, where participants experience growth and development, or on a systemic level, where it fundamentally alters the operations of a team or organization. It can also contribute to societal change, reshaping social norms and policies.

4 Shared vision and goals: Shared vision is necessary for transformative involvement as participants work towards common goals that are larger than individual agendas.

5 Empowerment: Enable participants to take action, make decisions, and feel confident, as those aspects are the essence of collaboration.

6 Sustainability and readiness for execution: The changes that come about from transformative collaboration are often sustainable and executable. This is because the process involves active participation and mutual learning, which result in innovative solutions that are more likely to be accepted and sustained over time. Collaborating in this way leads to mutual agreement on specific initiatives and tasks that help achieve shared goals.

Practical application with Howspace

How can our platform assist you in the process of designing involvement? Howspace can play an important role in translating the concept into tangible actions. 

Shared space for deep engagement and mutual learning

How Howspace can help foster a culture of deep engagement is by providing a unified platform for collaboration. This ensures that every participant, regardless of their role or location, shares the same context and medium for exchange, which leads to a more thorough engagement in the change process.

Moreover, the platform promotes mutual learning by enabling participants to share experiences and expertise with each other. With Howspace, organizations can easily create a learning environment that is customized to their specific requirements, facilitating ongoing collaboration and knowledge sharing throughout the transformation journey.

Facilitating change and innovation

Howspace is a platform that can facilitate change and innovation by providing a safe space to brainstorm, iterate on ideas, and co-create in real-time or asynchronously. This nurtures a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement.

By designing workspaces intentionally, collaboration spaces become creative hubs for ideation and implementation. Every member can contribute meaningfully to drive change, empowering employees to play an active role in shaping the transformation journey. This approach ensures that the transformation effort is truly inclusive and collective.

Alignment and empowerment

Alignment on purpose is a crucial aspect of involvement design when it comes to the transformation journey. By going beyond mere agenda-setting, the platform enables teams to understand and connect with the purpose and the core ’why’ of the change. This ensures that all efforts are united towards a shared vision.

Through features like the Journey widget, Howspace facilitates the alignment of participants towards shared goals. This fosters a sense of purpose and direction and helps participants understand their role in the change journey. The visualization tool also facilitates transparency and accountability, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working together towards achieving the desired outcomes effectively.

Howspace can also be an excellent tool for participants to feel empowered by providing them with the tools and autonomy to take action, make informed decisions, and feel confident in their contributions. This empowerment is crucial for nurturing collaboration and ensuring that participants play an active role in shaping the change.

Readiness for execution

Utilizing Howspace to drive change promotes sustainability and readiness for execution through collaboration and engagement. The platform is designed to be inclusive, ensuring every employee has a role in the transformation’s success. Through artificial intelligence, collaborative widgets, and interactive features, the platform helps to sustain engagement and align efforts with the organization’s vision. It not only focuses participants’ attention on critical areas but also encourages the exploration of new ideas and monitors engagement levels. This effectively breaks silos and nurtures a cohesive community.

Benefits of purposefully designed involvement

Carefully crafted involvement is a strategic approach that brings multiple benefits. One of the key benefits is increased employee engagement, which leads to a smoother change process and better outcomes. When employees feel valued and heard, they are more committed to the change and are more likely to engage in the change processes. 

This transformative involvement translates into a smoother transformation journey, as it encourages early identification of the potential challenges, nurtures a sense of ownership and reduces resistance to change. The outcomes of such involvement are naturally better, as diverse perspectives contribute to innovative solutions that ensure sustainability and adaptability. Additionally, this approach promotes a culture of cross-functional teamwork by enhancing collaboration and communication across different organizational levels and departments. 

Ultimately, designing involvement reinforces a culture of continuous improvement and aligns the organization towards a shared goal, making the transformation journey more cohesive and impactful.

Not a one-size-fits-all approach

In wrapping up this article on the exploration of transformative involvement, we’ve delved into the heart of what makes organizational change not just possible but powerful. It’s clear that the key ingredient is the people–engaging deeply, learning mutually, and innovating collectively. This approach isn’t just about adapting; it’s about reimagining the way we work together, ensuring everyone’s voice is heard and valued.

As we’ve established, designing involvement is far from a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s a tailored, dynamic process that requires the right tools, intention, and creativity. Designing involvement is about creating an environment where everyone feels valued, heard, and empowered to contribute to the shared vision. And the payoff? A lasting change that is deeply embedded in the organization’s culture.

To those ready to dive deeper into facilitating transformation and shaping the future of organizational change, we invite you to join our free virtual course, “Facilitating Transformation: From Theory to Practice”. Read more and sign up through the link below.

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The post How to design transformative involvement in large-scale transformation appeared first on Howspace.

Why should you change, and what does a top salesperson even mean as a concept? Sales and customer service are words that can make many professionals sigh deeply. I often find myself discussing in different contexts how to get experts in different fields to sell when it feels like an oppressive push or shove. Yes, those are the words that are used. 

Educators don’t want to sell skills development services since they want to coach or train. A sustainability expert is distracted by actively offering their services when not everyone understands the need for sustainability. A creative professional can build experiences and bring new content to people, but selling their own output is a distraction. The pet services specialist can see what the customer’s pet needs in a flash but doesn’t want to bother a dog owner with a snaggletooth who comes into the shop. The welfare services specialist would know that regular treatment would change the client’s daily life but is afraid to raise the issue.

The customer does not want to buy anything from a pushy salesperson but wants to escape or avoid such situations. Yes, we recognize when distressing high-pressure selling happens, but those situations are not.

Customer does not know what they need

Experts know their stuff better than the average consumer, so they have the knowledge to help others. Typically, a customer will meet an expert because of a need. The customer needs advice, help, another service, or a product. Even if the customer has found the expert’s help, they may not know everything they need. It may be that what the customer is looking for only partially solves the customer’s problem or that another option might work better. The client may have too narrow a view, too little knowledge, or too little experience. 

This is why it is important that the professional plays an active role in the situation so that the client finds the best solution and is satisfied with the professional’s work. Therefore, the expert should ask and listen to the customer carefully and then explain what the proposed service or product will solve as precisely as possible. What is the benefit for the customer? What problem will it solve? Why is this product or service worth buying? What is its value to the customer?

Consider how the doctor works when a patient comes to the clinic: analyzing the situation, asking questions, listening, other analyses, and finally proposing a solution. The situation is often checked later to see if the problem has been resolved. This is where we can easily understand how the doctor and the patient work. This is normal practice, but why is it more challenging for experts in the previous examples?

A medicine for sales allergy

I mentioned at the beginning that I had discussed this topic with several experts in different organizations and fields. The experts have wanted to help the customer, but sales seemed like a poison to them. Discussing sales with experts has often been challenging, as it has brought emotions to the surface or even broken off the conversation. However, a cure for the sales allergy has been found: helping the customer! Let’s ditch the sales pitch and help the customer responsibly.

Barriers to sales are barriers to change

My conversations with people from different organizations have been linked to the change journey of many experts. Before coaching sessions, I explored the barriers to sales for experts. What distracts, hinders, or impedes their own sales work? You can find this out through a questionnaire, a discussion, or even a social discussion platform. In any case, it is worth bringing the obstacles to the attention of the whole training group, either as a list or, for example, with a word cloud on Howspace. At the end of the training, you can return to the list and check whether all the obstacles have been addressed.

The starting point is almost always the same: for some reason, the sale of the expert’s services or products does not go as expected, and the situations described earlier come up. In many cases, management sets sales targets for experts, and these targets quickly become fears and challenges if the experts’ mindsets do not change.

Once the barriers to sales have been identified, it is a good idea to bring the customer’s perspective into the coaching situation: what does the customer value and expect? This can be discussed at a general level and then considered in terms of the expert’s activities: what do customers usually expect when buying services? What are my customers’ expectations? It’s worth bringing out the customers’ views through feedback or stories to set the scene for new thinking. 

I have noticed that it is often easier for experts to understand the opinions or wishes of customers than the advice from senior management. It is easier to justify the need for change with the expectations of the paying customer – easier to internalize. They enable the expert to build a better customer experience and manage customer relationships. As a result, sales increase as the customer gets better solutions and keeps returning for more. That’s starting to sound like a profitable business!

In coaching, experts understand that building trust, identifying customer needs, i.e., actively listening, and suggesting solutions are the best services they can provide to the customer. The client appreciates the expert’s pro-activity in finding a solution. Many have found their work more interesting and meaningful since this change. But wait a minute – this is sales, building the best customer experience!

How can you build this sales transformation? Let’s walk through the points of the change process in outline: 

1 Initial mapping and orientation: Let’s start with an initial mapping and orientation on the topic, for example, with Howspace. It is worth considering whether, for example, a senior management video on the subject would improve the ground for change. Or should we go through customer requests or other feedback?

2 Identify barriers: List the barriers to action on a whiteboard, questionnaire, or discussion platform.

3 Building trust: Start building trust through discussion and interaction. At this point, it is useful to verbalize participants’ feelings.

4 Create meaning: Discuss why the topic is important. Create meaning so that as many people can feel the topic is important. What is in it for me, what is in it for the customer, what about the company’s perspective?

5 Identifying customer needs: Practice identifying customer needs in pairs or small groups. Open questions will give you more information about the customer’s situation. On the other hand, with targeted, precise questions, you can eliminate bad options. An important discussion at this point is also to address the common situations where the client refuses. This “no” from the client usually scares many people – even when the expert is passive and does not dare to suggest anything.  

6 Offering solutions: In pairs or small groups, practice offering solutions, considering what the client has just said. It is worth remembering that the client may not know what they need. The expert helps the client in an active and responsible way. It is worth remembering to go on the client’s terms. Pushing and shoving is just that, pushing customers to buy something they don’t need. That’s not the point.

7 Customer satisfaction: The professional then ensures that the customer is satisfied with the service situation, how they were treated, and what solution was found for them, making it easier for them to return. A satisfied customer is the best marketing communication when they recommend the expert to others.

8 Repetition: The more often the expert gets to do points 5–7, the better the articulation of their own expertise becomes natural, the more the client’s needs are taken into account, and the better the chances of building win-win situations between the expert and the client.

From expert to top salesperson

An expert can become a top salesperson in their field because quality sales are about actively helping people. Here is one feedback from an expert’s personal transformation: “Sales and customer service is probably the worst thing I could imagine doing. But what the heck, the trainer got me all excited! Now it’s easier and more comfortable to get started in customer service when you know what you’re doing.”

When an expert actively helps, they naturally become a top salesperson. An organizational transformation journey is possible if more experts get excited about the topic and change their own behavior. Then everyone wins. 

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The post Sales allergy – can an expert become a top salesperson? appeared first on Howspace.

It’s high time we ditch the dusty, old-school Taylorism in our corporate cultures. Let’s spark a rethink, pushing for the integration of genuine human sciences. We must collectively rise against outdated management practices and embrace community-centricity, challenging the obsolete confines of rigid organizational structures.

In my voyage through the domains of sociology and management in early 21st-century England, a profound truth struck me: our management teachings were deeply entrenched in the dogmas of Taylorism, not really surprisingly. Real human sciences like philosophy, psychology, and sociology were overshadowed by pseudo-sciences hurriedly patched into management practices without a solid intellectual base. This diluted version of “management” blatantly disregarded historical resources, notably the immense power of the community.

Today signifies a radical shift, challenging the status quo and rallying behind a more human-centric approach, defiantly embracing community-centricity, social constructionism, and revolting against the outdated stranglehold of Taylorism. I am starting to witness and ardently believe that these new paradigms will fortify and drive organizations into a future-proof realm.

Communities vs. Taylorism: A History Lesson

Throughout history, communities have been the creators of social realities, sculpting collective identities. Conversely, Taylorism, known for its scientific management principles, robotized tasks, and dehumanized workplaces, reduced individuals to mere cogs in the industrial machinery. This archaic system has become defunct in a rapidly changing world. Organizations must revolutionize their perspective, seeing people not as parts but as catalysts for transformative progress.

Revamping organizations: Embracing Community-Centricity

Today’s transformations champion community-centricity, reigniting shared realities within workplaces. It’s not about useless PowerPoint monologues anymore; it’s a collective narrative directing the path of organizations. It was not possible before to engage hundreds of people to dialogue around the organization’s purpose – now 1000 people simultaneously – no problem. Ghost Community is a boutique consultancy that crafts methodologies and orchestrates transformation processes through the utilization of community-centered thinking. If a small company such as ours has effectively fostered meaningful workshops engaging over 30,000 individuals within a transformative context over the last two and a half years, it stands as evidence of a paradigm shift that is possible by utilizing the approach and available technology.

Vital principles for a modern organizational culture

There are some key principles that we follow when moving companies from bureaucracies to modern organizations through the utilization of community thinking.

Consider here the few most important aspects of community building: 

1) Fostering Ownership: Open dialogue cultivates a sense of belonging and shared responsibility, which is especially crucial in segmented organizations. Howspace has been a technological breakthrough, transforming this vision into a reality in our facilitation of transformation. 

2) Cultivating Trust and Shared Meaning: Transparent communication constructs trust and shared purpose, shunning Taylorism’s one-sided dictations. This is now achievable by enabling communication without the constraints of place or time through digital platforms. Burn the Post-it notes, please!

By focusing only on these two foundational community elements, we’ve uncovered how they advantage modern organizations by…

• Amplifying Innovation: Reconnecting employees sparks diverse perspectives, fueling groundbreaking innovations.
• Elevating Morale and Retention: A strong sense of belonging and ownership enriches job satisfaction and retains invaluable talent.
• Magnifying Collaboration: Trust and shared purpose breed collaboration, amplifying team efficiency.
• Adaptability and Resilience: Community-centricity fuels adaptability, empowering organizations to navigate swiftly through changing market dynamics.

In practice: why communities?

Embracing community-centricity breathes vitality into organizational cultures, fostering collective intelligence and reshaping the course of progress. It signifies a shift away from rigid hierarchies towards dynamic and collaborative energy, fueling innovation and resilience in our constantly evolving world. The evolution of this era demands inclusivity from the outset, shifting away from knowledge held solely by a select few—’management.’ Through employing a community-based approach, companies adapt faster, becoming more resilient and ultimately improving their business practices. This encapsulates the ethos of Ghost Community:  liberating the power and wisdom of large crowds in organizations, both online and onsite. (Preferably online if there is no time to enjoy some sparkling and coincidental encounters )

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The post Liberating organizational paradigms: the triumph of community-centricity over Taylorism appeared first on Howspace.