Changing behaviours at scale: the power of an effective EVP

Citation

Adams, B. (2015), "Changing behaviours at scale: the power of an effective EVP", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 14 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-09-2015-0077

Changing behaviours at scale: the power of an effective EVP

Article Type: Strategic commentary From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 14, Issue 6

Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams is Founder & CEO at Ph.Creative, Liverpool, UK.

The modern workplace is far from prosaic – it fuses together a wide breadth of people, ideas and technology, all of which are expected to work seamlessly towards a unifying goal. In reality, far too many businesses struggle with identifying purpose, which invariably leads to a disjointed and fractured workforce. When tackling the art of changing behaviours at scale, companies must adopt a clearly established and well-defined EVP, or Employee Value Proposition. Its benefits to the workplace are unmistakable not only does the complex architecture of modern business become clearer but an EVP also ensures that a company works more efficiently and cohesively by encouraging the individual to shine.

Companies with an EVP are five times more likely to have highly engaged employees and two times more likely to exceed targets (Towers Watson 2012 Talent Management and Rewards Study Global). To put it simply, an EVP should form the fundamental backbone from which an organisation manages change and responds to complex decision-making situations.

Putting theory into practice

Human nature is notoriously fickle and difficult to address. An EVP represents the first stepping stone towards effecting change at mass scale, as its reach is all-encompassing. At Ph.Creative, our own unique EVP attempts to address and illuminate three core beliefs for our employees – nurture, cultivate and empower. To ensure that our company’s mission is aligned with that of our employees and, more importantly, that they feel an active part of this vision, we openly encourage these tenets on a daily basis. Nurturing winning behaviour goes a long way towards delivering powerful business strategies. We build on this by cultivating a company culture that actively embraces change, rather than shy away from it. Together, these values help empower our team to take pride in their work and feel a sense of fulfilment and purpose.

The theoretical side of the conversation is all well and good, but how do companies actually put abstract theory into concrete practice? Our efforts at Ph.Creative cut to the core of impactful change management by giving authority and warranted praise to deserving individuals.

Nurturing a winning behaviour

We recognised quite early on that to effect palpable change on a daily basis, our strategy would have to go above and beyond flashy rhetoric. After much discussion, we landed on the idea of a poker chip scheme. The concept is quite simple; at the beginning of each month, we hand out five poker chips to every employee. When an employee observes a colleague demonstrating one of our core brand values, he or she has the choice to reward them with a corresponding poker chip. This tactile handover from one colleague to another not only instils a real sense of authority but also offers team members the chance to recognise positive behaviour and reward it with something tangible. At the end of the month, the employees with the most poker chips are rewarded by the company.

By virtue of this scheme, our business has witnessed a profound change in employee behaviour, which gives our workforce the tools and beliefs to respond swiftly and adeptly to complex situations. The statistics support the argument; before we began the poker chip program, only a third of our team members could name more than half of our brand values. Even more worryingly, a quarter could not name any at all. Within a few months, our entire team was able to name our brand values. The strength and success of the scheme feeds back to the idea of demonstrating values in action. With the poker chip initiative, our employees were not forced to memorise an arcane list of brand values, but gleaned the company message intuitively on a daily basis through habitual repetition. The answer to implementing change at scale is not rocket science; it is about coming up with an initiative that reinforces a company’s larger brand architecture in simple terms.

Cohesion, congruence and clarity

There is a reason the phrase “a business is only as good as its employees” has stood the test of time – because it is true and it works. Every good organisation wants to develop a powerful company culture, but very few recognise that positivity and efficiency develop naturally by changing behaviours at large. Even still, the fortunate ones that do are often left scratching their heads as to how they can ensure their employees do the “right things”. Companies must ask themselves a few fundamental questions about their business practices: why do we exist? What is our purpose? What do we stand for? Answering these questions can steer an organisation through uncharted waters, even in troubling times when the ship seems to drift off course. The truth of the matter is simple: a company that develops, implements and continually expands an EVP will always have a destination, even when that target seems no more than a tiny speck on the remote and expansive horizon.

To kick-start change at an organisation, we at Ph.Creative firmly believe in the value of an engaged and motivated workforce. While changing organisational behaviours can seem like a daunting task, the reality is much more exciting and enjoyable. We find that simple schemes can have a lasting effect on cohesion, congruence and clarity. When addressing the issue of large-scale change, the answers often lie in the little things. Our advice to HR professionals up and down the country is the same – drive engagement to inspire a fun, engaged workplace. In doing so, organisations will foster an appreciation, recognition and fulfilling feeling of self-worth that provides career momentum and drives change naturally. Every valuable team member wants to feel a self-worth that can only be achieved by understanding why, where and how their efforts contribute to the bigger picture.

A subconscious shift

When companies take these ideas on board, they do not need to worry about forcing their employees do the “right things”; instead, they will find their employees begin to adopt these actions and values subconsciously. By forming an environment that encourages engagement and positivity, employees will naturally value each other and act in a way that generates benefits for the team, not just as an individual.