ings were sponsored for acquired airline employees. Following an internal restructuring that included a reduction in force in a tele- com giant, a single three-day off-site meeting was designed to help people let go of the old and begin accepting the new. Exhibit 12.1 provides a menu for preparing the venting meeting agenda. Not all components are intended to be used in all meet- ings, either because of their poor fit with the organization’s culture or time constraints. The full agenda typically requires two days of work but can be expanded to three days if strong holding-on forces are anticipated. Alternatively, the meeting can be condensed to one day or less if components like the mourning ceremony or the feed- back session with senior management are dropped. Set the tone and atmosphere of the venting meeting early on by clarifying the meeting’s purpose and objectives, establishing the facilitator’s credibility, and loosening up people through an ice- breaking exercise. Icebreakers such as asking people to draw their current feelings about organizational life on a piece of paper or to describe them as a food or television program succeed at getting people to open up and participate. Subsequently, raise awareness of the adaptation process through a presentation that educates at- tendees on organizational transitions and their impact on em- ployees. This kind of presentation validates what employees have been experiencing during and after the resizing, which in turn gives the session and facilitator credibility and brings people’s en- ergy and interest into the process. The presentation typically is met with considerable head nodding and verbal confirmations of how the discussion applies to the atten- dees’ situation. In some cases, the attendees may be bursting to let out their feelings in an emotional and energetic catharsis. In others, a more conservative approach is taken by conducting a breakout group activity that serves as a segue between the consciousness- raising and reexperiencing components of the meeting. The in- tention is to build up employees’ comfort level with the venting process; people in a small group typically feel more at ease and more responsible to contributing to the group discussion. Conse- quently, attendees are assigned to small groups to identify and pri- oritize the issues from the presentation that are the most pertinent to their personal situation. A lively exchange usually ensues and continues until the facilitator persuades the members to return to the full group. REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 291 TEAMFLY Team-Fly ® 292 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION Exhibit 12.1. Venting Meeting Agenda. I. Introduction • Meeting objectives • Facilitator’s background • Icebreaking exercise II. Presentation on organizational and individual responses to transition III. Breakout group assignment • Identify key issues affecting this transition • Prioritize issues for discussion IV. Full group meets • Breakout groups report lists of high-priority issues • Consensus developed regarding key issues for discussion V. Discussion of key issues VI. Mourning ceremony VII. Presentation on guidelines for managing self and subordinates during revitalization after resizing VIII. Individual assignment • What I can do to facilitate revitalization • What the company needs to do to facilitate revitalization IX. Breakout group assignment • Consolidate “what I can do” and “what company can do” lists X. Full group meets • Breakout groups report lists • Consolidated lists prepared XI. Feedback session with senior management • Review of lists with questions of clarification • Commitment to next steps In the full group, each breakout group reports its list of high- priority issues. The full group achieves consensus regarding the key issues in this particular transition and organizes them into a set of discussion items to guide the reexperiencing portion of the meeting. Now comes the emotional highlight of the venting meet- ing: a facilitator-led discussion that addresses salient issues weigh- ing on the minds of employees. Precisely following the consensus list of items is less important than letting the group go where it wants with the discussion. Invariably, one issue will bleed into the discussion of another. The depth of the discussion will vary ac- cording to the skill of the facilitator and the openness of the group. The full reexperiencing step rarely occurs at one meeting. Still, the facilitator may take advantage of the presence of the group and conduct a mourning ceremony to facilitate bonding, supportiveness, and acceptance of the end of the old organiza- tional realities among the attendees. In addition to covering the three steps of the letting-go process, the venting meeting may include a module that readies people for their responsibilities in the postresizing organization. This forward- looking preparation typically addresses a common request by se- nior leadership to finish the meeting on a positive note. Although the mourning process itself may end in a celebratory fashion, much like a traditional Irish wake, the notion of grieving retains a negative stigma in most organizational cultures. To help people look forward and feel optimistic about their chances for success, the venting meeting can include a segment on preparing for life in the new organization. After a symbolic pause in the meeting, a break, or lunch, the focus turns toward the future, with guidelines for managing the re- covery period following resizing. In meetings involving nonsuper- visory employees, this could be in the form of suggestions for managing oneself. Typically, these guidelines include some mix of tactics for continuing the work of letting go and adapting to the new organizational realities. When the meeting involves partici- pants who manage other people, guidelines for managing subor- dinates during the revitalization period are presented along with those for managing oneself. An individually focused exercise to get people to distinguish between areas they can and cannot control prevents attendees from fixating on matters beyond their influence. REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 293 294 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION Finally, the full group makes summary lists of individual and orga- nization actions that can be taken as part of revitalization. These lists should be reported to senior leadership as a first step in using the data collected in the meeting to aid the revital- ization process. If time permits and the climate is appropriate, the venting meeting can conclude with a scheduled appearance by members of senior leadership to hear the findings firsthand from participants. This symbolizes leadership’s genuine interest in what people have to say about what they have gone through and where they are headed, and it lets executives hear the issues in employ- ees’ own words and with their emotions attached. Prepare executives for this portion of the meeting by remind- ing them that this is the attendees’ meeting and not theirs. Their role is to be active listeners during the reporting-back session—first showing empathy for where the attendees have been and what they are experiencing, and then conveying that they heard the em- ployees’ ideas about how the company could help manage revital- ization after resizing. Alternatively, summaries of the work produced in the venting meeting can be presented to senior leadership in a written report following the meeting. Dealing with the Neutral Zone: Monitoring and Communicating Employees who let go of their attachment to the old have not yet completed their adaptation after a resizing. They must contend with the awkward period of feeling out new methods, roles, and relationships. This reignites stress and uncertainty but is a critical— and creative—step in revitalization. The neutral zone is a time when the organization is no longer what it was prior to the resizing but not yet what it can become fol- lowing the transition. If well managed, the neutral zone sees the easing of forces for the status quo and strengthening of forces for the new. As such, facilitation during the neutral zone is built around communication to clarify what is being abandoned and what is being adopted. This includes upward communication to monitor transition and downward communication to reinforce the new and strengthen forces for desired change. Monitoring people as they struggle through the neutral zone can be achieved through common methods for conducting em- ployee research. These include questionnaires, one-on-one inter- views, focus group interviews, and observations. The content of the employee research should focus on whether employees understand the business and personal opportunities in the postresizing orga- nization and what is needed to align their individual contributions to work team and overall organizational performance. Following the last in a series of plant closings, senior executives at a manufacturing firm launched a formal revitalization program. Working with an external consultant, internal human resource pro- fessionals conducted a series of focus group interviews to monitor how employees viewed the emerging organization and their readi- ness to contribute to it. The focus group interviews were structured around a few key questions: • To what extent do you have the information you need to do your job well at this time? • To what extent do you see personal opportunity in the resized organization? • To what extent do you see a new and better organization emerging? • What cultural characteristics are predominating in the resized organization? • What makes you feel optimistic or pessimistic about the new organization? The standards of good organizational communication apply to the neutral zone (for example, send timely, consistent messages using multiple methods). There are no right or wrong methods of communication during the neutral zone; use whatever works for the organization and its people. However, messages about the promise of the new organization should be repeated and rein- forced through multiple media, including written, electronic, and in-person communications. The manufacturing firm launched a biweekly transition newsletter, sent periodic letters to employees’ homes, printed pack- ets to equip managers and supervisors with appropriate answers to employees’ questions, created a Web page with transition updates REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 295 296 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION and information, sponsored town hall meetings, and rewarded su- periors for holding small group meetings with their work teams. Through all these outlets, some constant themes were reinforced: • A clear and compelling argument for why the status quo is no good • An equally clear and compelling vision for a new and better postresizing organization • Ground rules and desired culture norms for the new organiza- tion (including commitment to communication) • The process for getting from the status quo to the desired organization • Setting a tone for the neutral zone, including setting expecta- tions for things like inevitable mistakes being made and the need for people to cut one another some slack during the process Managing the neutral zone requires the solid application of good change management practices. The delicacy comes in the ex- ecution of these standard practices. Managing the neutral zone in a manner that contributes to weakening forces for the status quo and strengthening forces for desired change requires adequate re- sources to monitor and communicate during the period following resizing; attention must be paid to time, staff, and budget. The or- ganization will not reorient itself by accident, and people will not automatically embrace new practices and perspectives congruent with the new organizational order while abandoning the ones that served them well prior to resizing. Monitoring and communication provide the feedback and detail required to stay on track to attain the desired organization. Almost as important, these efforts demonstrate senior leadership’s acknowledgment of the adapta- tion process and the need to manage revitalization following re- sizing. As a result, during the neutral zone, leadership has the opportunity to model the communication and feedback norms it wants to characterize the postresizing culture. Accepting the New: Bringing Vision to Life For a workforce that is letting go of the old and contending with the confusion of the neutral zone, a well-articulated vision of where the organization is headed plays an important role in revitalizing employee spirit after a painful transition. Vision makes it easier for people to let go of their grasp on the status quo and instills a sense of confidence that they and their organization can manage through the neutral zone. When coupled with guidelines for de- sired values and behaviors, vision directs employee actions in line with the desired postresizing organization. However, most efforts to communicate corporate vision and subsequently direct em- ployee behavior miss the mark. In the typical scenario, a CEO takes his team off site to hash out a vision statement. On returning home, an article appears in the company newsletter heralding the arrival of the new vision, a video is made to explain the vision in detail, and plaques are ordered so that all employees can have a constant reminder of the vision hovering above their desk or work area. The CEO and other senior executives then get back to run- ning their business. Employees want to learn more about the vision, how it will be attained, and precisely how they can contribute to achieving it as the organization rebounds from a resizing. To convey an adequate degree of precision, middle managers and direct supervisors must reiterate and reinforce the CEO’s statement of vision. Employees prefer face-to-face communication on matters of organizational change to other styles, and while senior executives must set the tone in communicating direction, employees want to hear directly from their immediate superiors (Ackley, 1992). Unfortunately, mid- dle managers are themselves often unclear about the vision and, following a resizing, often put a higher priority on producing busi- ness results than on contributing to organization change and de- velopment. First-line supervisors are even further in the dark about the vision and how it will be attained. Although newsletters, in- tranets, videos, and plaques are important supplements to face-to- face communication, they are not substitutes for the personal touch that employees seek to revitalize them after a resizing. Moreover, without any involvement in the development of the vision statement or the plan to roll it out, managers and supervisors tend to be cyn- ical about the promise of a vaguely worded statement, threatened by the changes it suggests. With no sense of ownership of or stake in the vision, they resist rather than support its attainment. Eventually, the CEO gets some kind of feedback that indicates that people are not clear about where their organization is headed and have increasingly lost faith in leadership’s ability to move the REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 297 298 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION organization forward. This feedback may be in the form of find- ings from an employee attitude survey, persistent nudging from a consultant or human resource director, or disappointing financial results. This typically frustrates the CEO. “Haven’t I already told the people the vision?” asks the baffled leader. Yes, perhaps, but the CEO’s message and intentions have not been brought to life. Living the Vision Statements of vision in and of themselves do little to restore faith, create hope, or generate the motivation to act in an organization recovering from a resizing. To facilitate revitalization, the vision must jump off the paper on which it is printed. It must become an- imated and integrated into people’s actions on the job, not merely be spoken about or pointed to. The process of aligning employee behavior with the desired postresizing organization is called living the vision. Figure 12.2 represents a model for living the vision through ac- tivity up and down the organization. It is built from the vision of senior leadership at the top of the organization, but it requires the support of each level from the bottom up. This activity at all levels engages people in living the vision. Senior leadership articulates a clear direction for the organization; managers and supervisors in the middle link business unit mission statements with the corpo- rate vision and develop guidelines for employee behavior. In work groups, employees translate the vision, mission, and operating guidelines into day-to-day operating practices. This process involves employees in aligning their work with the new organizational order and provides answers to the prominent question of how they can contribute to overall organizational success. Finally, working back up the pyramid, supervisors and managers review proposed new ways of approaching work to ensure they support the mission and vision and to provide coordination across work areas. Living the vision succeeds at rebuilding employee spirit fol- lowing a resizing for a number of reasons: • High credibility. Living the vision directly addresses employees’ questions such as, “Where is this organization headed?” and “How do I align my work accordingly?” • High validity. Changes in work procedures are based on em- ployees’ own recommendations for aligning work with the vision, not some consultant’s suggestion or some program’s prescription. • High involvement. Care is taken each step of the way to ensure genuine support for suggested revisions before the process engages the next level. • High relevance. The vision is linked with people’s daily work situation. These qualities contrast with common approaches to abiding by vision statements. Visions can wither if people feel they must read tablets of stone passed down from above. Allowing people some participation in developing initial vision statements, subse- quent mission statements, and operating guidelines can help boost energy and enthusiasm in the postresizing organization. This in- volvement provides the emotional glue that holds together the var- ious parts of the organization and complements the strategic and financial plans in revitalizing after resizing. And, no small matter, it REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 299 Figure 12.2. Model for Living the Vision. Operating Practices Operating Policies Operating Principles Mission Statements Statement of how to operate on the job Statement of what to do when operating in the organization Statement of an underlying operating philosophy Statement of business unit purpose for being Statement of where the organization is headedVision Individual Work Groups Supervisors Managers Executives CEO or President 300 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION engages people close to the work in recommending and adopting new on-the-job behaviors. Articulating Vision Vision statements need not be elegant. In fact, the simpler they are, the easier they are to communicate and the more accessible they tend to be for translation into on-the-job behaviors. Fre- quently, vision statements include core values that should ac- company efforts to attain the vision. Values represent what the organization believes in and how people should work with and treat one another. They are the attitudes that subtly sanction or prohibit behaviors on the job. The process through which the vision statement is developed is as important to revitalizing people after a resizing as the content of what it says. The extent to which an organization’s vision is sup- ported by top executives is an early test of how the vision will be received through the ranks and of how facilitative it will be in align- ing people and their work with the new desired organization. If people at the top of an organization do not understand or support the vision, then most certainly neither will people at the middle and lower levels. The case of a retail sales conglomerate shows how support for the process can be built concurrently with the crafting and com- munication of the vision. The firm experienced multiple waves of downsizing, store closings, and restructurings as part of an effort to close unprofitable locations while attempting to centralize decision making and rein in autonomy from business units. A consultant conducted one-on-one interviews with the CEO and business unit presidents to identify issues, concerns, and priorities related to busi- ness direction and vision. At an off-site meeting with the executives, the consultant reported the interview findings and facilitated a dis- cussion to align their perspectives about the desired end state for the restructured firm. Key concerns of autonomy versus central- ization were addressed head-on and examined through rounds of give-and-take discussion. As the CEO put it, “We now have a vision that is not just a bunch of words, but something that each of us has influenced, really believe in, and commit to achieving.” Anything short of a consensus among the top team would have foiled im- plementation in the business units. . living the vision through ac- tivity up and down the organization. It is built from the vision of senior leadership at the top of the organization, but it requires the support of each level from the. and enthusiasm in the postresizing organization. This in- volvement provides the emotional glue that holds together the var- ious parts of the organization and complements the strategic and financial. ac- cording to the skill of the facilitator and the openness of the group. The full reexperiencing step rarely occurs at one meeting. Still, the facilitator may take advantage of the presence of the group