HR Forum Offers Tips for Smooth Sailing

Anchored off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J., the Norwegian Dawn cruise liner provided the backdrop for the ninth annual Human Resources Forum, a three-day conference dedicated to best practices in human resources and training. Hosted by Richmond Events, a London-based company that organizes cruise-based business forums, the Dawn set sail from New York Harbor last month.

Winds of change--on board and at work

Changing tides happen both at sea and in companies, but management consultant and author Ray Bender, Ph.D., has some suggestions for handling the latter.

First off, make sure the sponsor of your change initiative is committed enough to connect his or her name and reputation to the project. "If you can't name the sponsor, it'll fail," he says. And, make sure your sponsor is willing to stick with it, even after company boats start rocking. "As a change agent, you can't work hard enough if your sponsor has lost interest."

Even if the horizon looks clear, rest assured change will come, Bender says. One method to getting employees to roll more gracefully with the tide is giving them structured time to vent emotions associated with the change, or time-limited "pity parties," as Bender referred to them. "You want to give people a chance to check out publicly," he says. "If you don't, then feelings are going to simmer underneath, and you're not going to know what's wrong." But, be sure to set a time expiry to the cathartic ramblings. Bender says when he's used this approach, it's understood that after the structured venting period is over, the complaining will be as well.

The motivation for getting change right is substantial, he says, with consequences including damaged morale and loss of confidence in leadership.

Running a tight ship

It's essential that organizations make sure their internal processes match their goals. Getting processes, such as IT, in line with your company's objectives, paves the way for innovation, says Michael Schrage, co-director of Cambridge, Mass.-based multimedia and technology research institute MIT Media Lab, and one of the conference's keynote speakers.

"Is process the sum of choices made to make the system work and the pain end?" Schrage asked his audience. "Not a bad thing, but not particularly well designed." He says to ask yourself whether your company uses the concept of process as an organizing principle. In the area of IT, for example, he says to think about whether employees have been given computer applications that are such a strain they end up driving the way things are done, or whether, as it should be, the