Newswise — Imagine telling your CEO that the plan to re-organize your department is wrong-headed via a secured anonymous email and he responds to your concern in a video message delivered to everyone in the company.
Fiction?
It's a fact, says Jackson Nickerson, professor of organization and strategy at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, who has developed "ChangeCasting" a process and a set of techniques for communicating that can lead to vital changes in a company's behavior.
"Business strategies used to last upward of a decade," according to Nickerson. "Now, it's not unusual to see changes in business strategy every two or three years. Communicating the need for change requires leaders who can build trust and create understanding within their organization." Shocks to the economy like the current credit crisis require companies to adapt and change even faster if they want to survive.
Nickerson's ChangeCasting is a web-based approach to communication that allows executives to lead and accelerate change within their organizations. It opens up a two-way street linking the corner office and employees at every level of a company via frequent and focused brief video messages from the CEO and secured anonymous email feedback from employees.
Several major corporations (Microsoft, Sigma Aldrich) have successfully integrated ChangeCasting into their management process. Nickerson can discuss these examples and the importance of leadership open to change — in both the public and private sectors — especially when faced with the challenges present in today's global economy.
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