Catalyzing change in the workplace

THERE comes a time in any organization when change needs to happen fast for the company to progress. A good effective leader can bring about change well.

“One man’s or woman’s idea can bring about change,” said Maria Ressa, head of news and current affairs of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, and managing director of ANC. For instance, Lee Kuan Yew, she said, took a backwater nation and turned it into the first world country we now know as Singapore.

At the Women to Women Mentoring Conference at the Philippine Trade Training Center held last April, Ressa revealed that she had to catalyze change in ABS-CBN upon joining the broadcast company in 2005. Their news programs were overtaken by those of GMA in the ratings game. And she felt the company had to emphasize its core values of transparency, accountability and consistency for it to come out on top.

We have all heard of the reorganization that happened when she came on board. Veteran journalists and even vice presidents were given the pink slips as the company streamlined its operations to cut costs. She was one unpopular figure back then, to say the least.

Looking back now, Ressa, who was with CNN for a long time as bureau chief, revealed the steps she took in bringing change to ABS-CBN. She said these eight steps are not original, as she learned it from Harvard Review, but I must say, they could work in any organization. Here they are:

1. Establish a sense of urgency. People will be more willing to change if they understand the need for it. Identify your crisis points. Crisis can mean danger or opportunity. Determine what you must address.

2. Form a guiding powerful organization. You’ll need lieutenants to ensure the job is done. In Ressa’s case, her “lieutenants” are veteran journalists Marites Vitug, now head of the online operations, and Glenda Gloria, now COO of ANC.

3. Create a vision. You can’t lead if you don’t know where you’re headed. At ABS-CBN News where there are 1,000 people, it was imperative that they make a standard and ethics manual. “Our vision is summarized as follows: Excellent journalism to make the world a better place,” said Ressa.

4. Communicate the vision. Ressa had to go where the people went, even drank with them to talk to them (in Filipino even).

5. Empower others to create the vision. She got rid of hierarchies and titles at the broadcasting company, saying TV is a team effort.

6. Plan for and create short-term wins. Celebrate wins with the guys. In her case, they celebrated ANC’s brand new look and ABS-CBN’s improving ratings.

7. Consolidate improvements. Produce still more change.

8. Institutionalize the new approaches. Articulate connections between new individual behavior and the corporate results it brings. Start creating a succession plan.

Instituting change is a real challenge, but the effective and capable leader can handle it well.

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