Organisational Resilience at NZ Post - Coping with Adversity and Change
In the face of a rapidly changing landscape, NZ Post has demonstrated resilience through strategic planning and adaptation. From negotiating change to responding to crisis, the organization has navigated challenges by prioritizing innovation and efficiency. Embracing a high-performance culture and implementing both hardware and software solutions, NZ Post is evolving to meet the demands of a dynamic market. Led by Prof. Jim Arrowsmith, the journey of resilience at NZ Post reflects a commitment to transforming business and creating effective leadership in the midst of adversity.
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Presentation Transcript
Organisational resilience at NZ Post Prof. Jim Arrowsmith
Resilience The ability to cope with, and recover from, adversity or traumatic change In organisations, traditionally involves risk and response planning for physical threats But increasingly understood in terms of managing major change and restructuring It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
The need for resilience at NZ Post One of the country s oldest, largest and most familiar organisations SOE since 1987: legislated to act - commercially, as a successful business ... as profitable and efficient as comparable businesses that are not owned by the Crown - as a good employer , with personnel policies and practices necessary for the fair and proper treatment of employees in all aspects of their employment Negotiated change, sustained profitability, though 90s and beyond Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
Accelerating crisis Deregulation and competition Internet: electronic transfer - rapidly falling volume (-7.5% p.a.) - diverse items: more difficult and expensive to deliver Increased delivery points - over past decade, now delivers a fifth less volume to a third more addresses Group profits -29% FY2013 (to $121m) - sustained by courier business and, especially, KiwiBank (net profit $97m) - losing $30m p.a. from its store network - letters business breaking even but forecast loss $25m in 5 years Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
Hardware response Stores - rationalisation (to minimum 880 under Deed of Understanding ) - refurbishment (flagship Kiwibank) - self-service technology Delivery - labour intensive business (70% cost) - new postcode and investment in sorting machinery in the 6 conurbations - further centralise processing capacity close Hamilton. Wellington, Dunedin expand Auckland, Manawatu, Christchurch - revise DoU to reduce delivery days from 6 to 3 Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
Software response HR strategy: Creating a High Performance Culture - creating a world class operational environment - developing high-performing leaders - building a highly engaged workforce Focus on frontline leadership: - TL role: match staff to volumes; deal with employee relations issues; manage performance - deficiencies identified by BSC data; succession planning analysis; EPMU Aim to improve TL (and thereby staff) - engagement (motivation, commitment) - performance (ability to translate this into behaviours) - resilience (open to/ leading through change) Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
GOAL( Great Operations and Leadership ): more than usual training solution: - theoretically informed (AMO theory) - wide scope, including job analysis and design - research based (TL interviews, focus groups, anonymous survey) Research found problems in each area - ability = communication skills and modelling appropriate behaviour; operating the performance management system; in work planning and technical knowledge - motivation = most wanted to perform well, but saw their job as difficult, stressful and not valued as part of the management team - opportunity = limited by a wide range of accountabilities, unclear reporting lines, large team size, drawn into administration or assisting workers in their tasks - direction = weakened by unfocused performance measures and inconsistent consequences for those consistently failing to meet objectives Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
GOAL: - systematic recruitment; succession planning; mentoring... - job redesign and new Delivery Support role DTLs: focus on people management and work planning - daily contact with team members (limited workplace time) - quarterly performance and development discussions - budgetary responsibility But other changes ongoing (BSC, branch amalgamations, pay scheme): senior management feared GOAL could be costly and disruptive - some in the business were passionate supporters, some were against and there were a lot in the middle waiting to see who won the battle (HR) Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
yeah, well, show me the money. All I can see is that you re changing the structure, you re adding in cost you can t bank engagement! HR Strategy (a) joint partnership between HR and Delivery Business (b) pilot initiatives to demonstrate value Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
The Marua Road story Formed by amalgamation of 5 branches in October 2006 - largest in NZ: familiarisation problems; culture differences GOAL added to TL stress - early atmosphere toxic (branch manager) with low engagement (HR) HR consultant embedded weekly staff focus groups to identify and resolve concerns ongoing informal meetings with staff, TLs and union reps emphasis on relationship building Improvements over time TLs felt job enriched: more interesting, better relations with management and staff Posties saw better leadership and support from TLs, and more consistent approach to managing performance Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
Postie survey: How does Marua compare with previous branches? Same (%) 27 33 73 20 27 47 33 Better (%) 73 40 14 80 67 53 40 Communication Teamwork Development opportunities Awareness of business results Individual support Access to team leader As a place to work Business Impact Review Decrease Overtime = 50% Unit costs = 12% Complaints = 47% Absence = 46% Increase Productivity = 16% Engagement= overall mean score from 3.6 to 4.1 Better communication, performance management Better employee relations Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
GOAL has been instrumental in taking Marua Road from a dysfunctional amalgamation of five poorly performing delivery branches to a cohesive, best practice site where staff at all levels are engaged and performing effectively (Regional Delivery Business Leader) Result: National rollout signed off Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
Conclusions Maintaining employee commitment and performance in tough times and through change requires building up resilience Our front line operational leaders are continually managing change to ensure the performance of the branch and their people to meet the challenges of increasing costs and declining mail volumes. Inevitably the future will bring more fundamental change to the business model and our front line leaders need to be able to manage the performance and engagement of their people through more significant change. This requires resilience at the organisational and personal level and the GOAL programme and other initiatives are all part of this Chris Fitzgerald, Business Improvement Leader Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
NZ Post shows how this can be done HR needs to understand the business thoroughly and be prepared to propose and lead initiatives - build alliances - evidence-based change a commitment to employee advocacy : identifying and acting on concerns - inclusive of staff and their representatives It is not enough for HR professionals to be credible, they must also have a point of view on how to influence the business HR matters most under conditions of change Brockbank and Ulrich, 2009 Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
Building and sustaining employee resilience requires HR to ask the harder questions so that employees are involved and not disengaged - why is there not supportive leadership? - why are they frustrated in their work? - why don t employees trust management? Cautious note: building engagement and resilience is an ongoing process that commits all the actors to a continuous interrogation of the workplace and employment relationships - last visit to Marua Rd: resource constraints and increasing workload (eg transfer of courier work) crowding out some of the valued time for people management - so far all good, but will this erode goodwill and resilience for the Next Big Change?! Te Kunenga ki P rehuroa Creating leaders. Transforming business.
