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How Can CIOs Implement Effective Change Management?

Change management is inevitable in the era of digital transformation — at individual and enterprise levels. Over the past year, organizations across the globe experienced some form of change management out of necessity.

Shona Elliot, best-selling author and executive management & leadership consultant, shared her insights on organizational change management in a recent Transformation Thursday session on Clubhouse hosted by Management Events.  

“COVID has completely moved the needle in terms of what change looks like beyond the proper change management processes of the past,” she says.  

 

All eyes are on CIOs to not only spearhead the adoption of new technologies, but to also become leaders in change management. Easier said than done, right? 

The modern CIO may find it difficult to focus their energies on the right areas with so many elements in flux — rapid digitalization, customer expectations, technology advancements, cyber security and shifting go-to-market strategies, among others.  

Therefore, it is essential that CIOs craft change management strategies that can withstand the volatility of current times, as well as help their organizations enable effective transformations in 2021. 

 

CIO: The New Change Agent 

 

“Change management is the art of making organizations work well – and continue to work well.” – Michael K. Levine, author of People Over Process: Leadership for Agility. 

CIOs wear many hats; the newest one being an agent of change. Digital advancements have propelled CIOs to the forefront of organizational change. As a key change agent, CIOs now have the responsibility to promote cultural shifts for successful transformation.  

As more IT organizations adopt agile and design thinking methods to align with overall business goals, CIOs must be able to manage the impact of this change successfully. According to Accenture, the efficacy of technical business transformations relies on strong change management leadership to guide teams through this process.  

 

Why is Change Management So Hard? 

 

70%. This is the percentage of change management initiatives that fail to meet their goal. Change management is hard to get right, and CIOs are forced to face the added challenge of a global pandemic and a remote workforce.  

The main reasons why change management efforts fail at enterprise level are: 

 
 

Often, C-levels prioritize technical capabilities over business capabilities when taking on new spending methodology projects. Majority of resources are utilized on data, tools and insights when it should be focused on the business process adaptations that stem from change management principles.  

Organizations must discard the “There’s an app for that!” philosophy where they become too reliant on packaged software applications to drive internal processes. This philosophy leads to the increasing difficulty of educating and convincing employees to use new technological systems, something CIOs should address urgently.

 

What is Change Fatigue? 

 

As humans, our brains are hardwired to resist change.  

According to Elliot, “I’ve heard senior leaders many times in their career say they are just going to be resisting change or a stakeholder group is just going to resist it.”, and nothing can be done except to move forward to something new. In addition, 92 % of participants in a Deloitte survey stated that resistance to change is an expected reaction from employees as well.  

The rapid pace of continuous change at organizations may take a toll on employees, also known as ”change fatigue”. This is on top of the stress caused by the pandemic and health concerns, economic issues and job uncertainty. If not addressed immediately, change fatigue can be a serious inhibitor of digital transformation. 

CIOs must keep this in mind when planning change management strategies. Change fatigue can result in C-level peers and employees becoming frustrated and resentful — which can get in the way of achieving company goals. 

 

What Makes a Good Change Manager? 

 

Forward-thinking change managers must redefine the concept of change management for their organizations. This is supported by Elliot, who recalls leaders with a traditional mindset having an awakening around the importance of their employees and building a people-centric culture.  

“It is looking at all of the decisions through the lens of ‘how does this impact our employees and teams?’ and ‘how do we talk to them about it?’”  

This shift in mindset will help with creating a simple and effective change management project plan, that should include: 

 
 

Furthermore, a change management project plan should be supported by these strategies: 

  • Assess change readiness of employees to determine overall stress and morale level as well as openness to change, 
  • Understand how the organization and working culture has been impacted by external events, 
  • Acknowledge the importance of aligning people, technology and processes, 
  • Translate overarching goals and objectives into specific transformational strategies, 
  • Ensure all internal stakeholders and executives are aligned and informed. 

With the rise of remote workforces, change management strategies are likely to succeed when CIOs take the time to utilize digital communication tools to connect with teams within the organization and listen to their concerns.  

Besides that, IT leaders can propel their teams to digital transformation with five pillars of change management success:  

 
 

They can tailor existing change management models to their organization’s needs, such as Lewin’s Change Management model, McKinsey 7-S model and Kotter’s theory.  

 

Why is Change Management Important for CIOs to Understand?

 

Valuable time and resources go into adopting new technologies and processes. Without change management, that time and money go to waste.  

According to Elliot, senior leadership needs to understand all the components to change and craft an approach to help spearhead successful change initiatives. CIOs should also note that change management plans are not a one-person job.  

“I look at it as a co-creation model, to be able to include stakeholders that are going to be responsible for delivering the change and include them in the conversation as early as possible.” 

Furthermore, IT leaders who involve employees in designing change management processes are more likely to succeed. Results from a Gartner survey reveal employee engagement and retention rate increased by 38% and 46% respectively with the integration of open source change management.   

A good change manager keeps their employees in mind and closely collaborates with stakeholders when building an impactful change management strategy.

Once seen as an isolated and ongoing project, change management is now reactive and necessary. CIOs must make their mark in the change management landscape and inspire their organization to be excited about change, instead of fearing it. 

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4 Methods To Utilize Clubhouse For Your Business

Since its launch in 2020, Clubhouse has steadily been gaining influence as a viable platform for CXOs to explore. However, businesses are still trying to figure out how exactly they can use the platform as part of their strategy.

During Management Event’s weekly Transformation Thursday, expert speakers and industry leaders share their thoughts on how businesses or brands are exploring ways to use Clubhouse. If you missed out on the session, read on to find out the 4 methods that you use to utilize Clubhouse as part of your business strategy.

 

1. Creating Authentic Business Connections

 

While Clubhouse is currently the hottest social media app, it is still just a social media app and doesn’t necessarily guarantee success for your business goals. However, it can be a valuable tool for creating (or rekindling) business connections that will help as part of your overall marketing funnel.

Given the intimate setting of the app, whereby live conversations are happening, it’s easy for executives or business owners to spontaneously reach out to new connections during or after a session. This spur-of-the-moment connection can lead to possible business opportunities or even act as lead generation, on top of your planned marketing strategies.

One of the points raised during Transformation Thursday was the fact that Clubhouse has the ability to deliver real-time authentic conversations, something that no other social media platform is capable of doing.

 

2. A Direct Platform To Collect Data

 

Data is a powerful tool that companies can utilize to further improve their product/service and strengthen their organizational efficiency. With Clubhouse, you have a powerful platform that allows you to collect real-time data for your business.

Instead of expensive focus groups, you can attract the specific audience that you want into your session and communicate directly with them to get feedback on your products or services. The approach itself can be as organic as setting up a room to chat and just talk with the people in the room on what they think about your company’s products or services.

Companies can use Clubhouse to extract data, entrepreneurs can also use it to collect valuable feedback on business ideas. All you need to do is just set up a room and invite people in your industry to chat with and get instant input to refine your ideas in real-time.

 
Next-level Insights: Gain exclusives insights on industry trends from experts at Management Events’ Clubhouse (@Managementev) sessions.
 

3. Crafting A Tailored Brand Image

 

Cultivating a strong brand image is key to a company’s success in today’s socially aware market, and Clubhouse as a platform allows you to create a tailored brand image where you can control your message.

Compared to other platforms such as email marketing or Instagram where it is a “one-way” communication, Clubhouse allows for “two-way” communication where you can immediately hear feedback from your audiences.

This offers direct access to the audiences that you want to connect and better tell the story of your brand. And with the numerous sessions available in the app, it’s easy to join a room relevant to your business, get on stage and deliver value to build a relationship with the people.

 

4. Building a Community Around Your Business

 

One of the big potentials highlighted during Transformation Thursday is the ability to build an engaged community that will help grow your business sphere of influence. 

For example, Nike can create a room for the running community where users can talk about running equipment and share their thoughts on Nike products. Management Events can create communities that focus on business networking and sharing industry insights.

By creating rooms or topics that are relevant to your product and providing valuable conversations, you can quickly establish yourself as an industry expert. Through those sessions, you will then be able to build a community of potential customers that you can talk to directly.

Despite being around for less than a year, Clubhouse has proven to be quite the popular platform for influencers and executives alike. With the points we’ve outlined, your business will able to take your presence in Clubhouse to the next level.

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Clubhouse Concerns: Privacy And Security Issues

As entrepreneurs, influencers, and c-level executives (CXO) flock to Clubhouse in a bid to harness the app, the security and privacy shortcomings are becoming evident, forcing businesses to re-evaluate their approach to the social media platform.

The app’s fast rise to fame also came with a price as security issues within the platform came to light, posing the question of whether users’ data are fully protected.

In this article, we take a quick look at the recent data breach that Clubhouse experienced and what concerns it raises.

 

Data Spillage and Security Leaks

 

Stanford University Internet Observatory first raised concerns about a Shanghai-based start-up that supplies Clubhouse’s back-end infrastructure and that they would have access to “users raw audio, potentially providing access to the Chinese government.”

Another report by McAfee’s Advanced Threat Research team also highlighted similar security issues in both hardware and software due to Clubhouse’s reliance on the Shanghai tech company.

Both reports seem to indicate that the platform was working on an infrastructure that was poised to be hacked or breached.

In February, Clubhouse confirmed that chats were breached from the invite-only app. The company claimed that an unidentified user was able to stream Clubhouse audio feeds from “multiple rooms” and streamed it on their own third-party website.

A spokesperson for the company has stated that the user was permanently banned and that new safeguards were being installed, which pushes the app a step towards securing and protecting user data even more.

 
Next-level Insights: Gain exclusives insights on industry trends from experts at Management Events’ Clubhouse (@Managementev) sessions.
 

Differing Impacts of security issues

 

Responses from cybersecurity experts on whether Clubhouse is safe for users varied widely with some claiming it should be a serious concern for anyone who uses the app for sensitive conversations.

On the other side of the coin, experts highlighted that the security issues raised by the reports were hypothetical and that the risks were mainly concerned with users in China, where the app is already banned.

Nevertheless, certain parts of the world are taking a serious look at Clubhouse’s shortcomings when it comes to data protection and consumer law with countries such as Germany taking court action against the app due to its failure to meet GDPR requirements.

Whether or not Clubhouse security measures are compliant with data and privacy acts, it’s important for businesses and CXOs to be aware of the potential security risks involved with the platform.

 

Prioritizing Cybersecurity Investments 

 

Despite Clubhouse’s meteoric rise to unicorn status with a reported valuation of $1 billion, for them to remain as a viable platform for businesses and industry leaders, the company must invest in and strengthen its cybersecurity measures immediately.

Given the vast increase in digital communications due to work-from-home initiatives and our own report on cybersecurity trends among CXOs and businesses, the onus lies on Clubhouse to ensure that their users’ data are protected.

While the recent security issues do not pose any serious threats or risks, for now, they still serve as a reminder that users need to be vigilant when using the app and that Clubhouse needs to improve its security measures sooner than later.

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Can CxOs Harness The Power of Clubhouse?

Clubhouse, a social media platform, is currently making waves around the world as the latest silicon valley success with everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to Oprah making their appearance on the app.

For c-level executives (CXOs), Clubhouse can be a powerful tool for business growth when used effectively. There’s potential for it to be a platform to learn about emerging technologies, fringe strategies, solutions, and even learn new skills.

In this article, we’ll go through some tips to effectively use the platform and ensure that you’re not missing out on the hottest social media app.

 

Clubhouse: A Quick Recap

 

If you’re well-versed in Clubhouse, then go ahead and skip this part. If you do not know anything about Clubhouse, here are some important points to be aware of:

  • It’s a voice-only social platform that lets users create rooms and start conversations.
  • Users can join rooms and participate in conversations.
  • Each room will have moderators to oversee conversations.
  • It’s an invite-only app, which means you need to be invited to join.
  • It’s only available in iOS but an android version is being developed.
 
Join US NOW: Be part of Management Events’ Clubhouse (@Managementev) and gain exclusive access to deep-dives from industry experts and key decision-makers.
 

How To Harness Clubhouse

 

Now that you have a basic understanding of Clubhouse, how or why should you use Clubhouse?

While it is still in its infancy, Clubhouse does offer tangible short-term and long-term business gains that other social media platforms do not. As a business or organization, it’d be wise to take advantage of what the app has to offer, especially now with people such as Elon Musk being part of it.

 

Expanding Your Business Network

 

At face value, Clubhouse might not guarantee success for your business goals, however, it can be a valuable tool to expand your network and open up opportunities for growth and potential partnerships.

Once you’ve secured an invitation, experiment with the platform and follow different clubs, join rooms and connect with people that could be cultivated into networking opportunities for your organization or a source for valuable insights and inspiration.

The app has seen high-profile figures joining and engaging consistently, making it a vibrant platform for decision-makers to network with peers, work with visionaries, and maybe even be inspired by like-minded leaders.

 

A Place For Knowledge Sharing

 

At its core, Clubhouse is about sharing. Be it sharing information, ideas, or insider knowledge, the app provides a great place for insights from industry peers that otherwise might not be easily accessible.

Of course, it doesn’t compare to tailored industry events or virtual networking sessions for businesses, it is still a hotbed for CXOs to share their findings, engage in discussion on industry trends, and gain unique perspectives from other c-levels.

Whether it is about marketing, AI, finance, or even business transformations, there are a wide variety of topics and rooms that you can explore and learn from to help you solve or strengthen your business.

 
Next-level Insights: Gain exclusives insights on industry trends from experts at Management Events’ Clubhouse (@Managementev) sessions.
 

Huge Pool of Talent and Recruitment

 

As you visit rooms and join in discussions relevant to your industry, you’ll come across people with the skills and experience that your business might need. Given the exponential growth of Clubhouse’s userbase, this makes it a valuable platform for talent resources and recruitment.

There have been many cases of recruiters utilizing the app by finding talents through networking in the chat rooms or just setting an impromptu interview on the spot. During Elon Musk’s infamous interview on Clubhouse, he used the opportunity to promote NeuraLink and went on to encourage engineers to apply to his company, highlighting the instantaneous interaction that you can have on the app.

Finding the right people can be as easy as joining a room and mentioning that you are looking for people to help with your business. Within minutes, you’ll be receiving messages from talents and the services that they offer.

 

What The Future Holds For Clubhouse

 

While Clubhouse is definitely the buzzword for many right now, its future as a pillar of business networking is still in question. There are tons of potential within the app, but also numerous issues that still need resolving.

Some of those issues include a better method to filter audiences, a better system to moderate, and most importantly, the security concerns over data and audio leaks.

Whether or not Clubhouse will become a super-aggregator remains to be seen but the potential is there. With the developers looking to improve the platform by adding creator tools and quality-of-life improvements, the app can be a powerful tool in the hands of C-level executives in the future.