Category: Shared Services/Global Business Services Centers

From Headshakers to Institutionalists: Exploring GBS Change Management Personas | Blog

Understanding your change management approach and experience level can improve decision-making and enhance transformative practices. Our research has identified four change management personas that GBS organizations typically fall under. To find out which persona best fits your organization, read on.  

Change management is necessary within Global Business Services (GBS) organizations. But finding the right approach for effective execution – from implementation to management and measurement – can be challenging, even for more mature GBS organizations.

Moving to a GBS platform sets off a chain reaction of transformations for businesses. At its core, the GBS’ mission is to create and sustain business operation change by consolidating, standardizing, streamlining, and creating more value. The GBS model’s nature lies in bringing change through new ways of working, distributed operating models, elevated service levels, enhanced experience, and digitization, enabling the enterprise to experience higher levels of innovation.

Since constant transitions within the GBS model are expected, change management should be viewed as a continuous process and not a one-off fix until the next shift occurs. Effective change management can enable GBS organizations to identify new opportunities, mitigate risks, and create a culture that embraces innovation and continuous improvement, ultimately leading to long-term success and growth.

So, what’s the path to successful change management? To begin, assess where your organization falls on the adoption scale that ranges from those who have not yet prioritized change management to leaders who seamlessly embed it into all aspects of GBS operations.

Understanding the four change management personas 

In our recent report, State of Play in GBS Change Management, we conducted in-depth interviews with 58 leading GBS organizations across the globe to understand how GBS organizations approach change management.

As we compiled the data, we discovered the way GBS organizations implement change management is influenced by various factors such as the change management imperative, scope, talent model, and funding.

These elements can determine a GBS organization’s change management persona. Our research identified a range of generalized organizational profiles that we categorize as headshakers, crawlers, gamechangers, and institutionalists.

Let’s define these typical change management personas:

Headshakers

A GBS organization that falls into the headshaker category hasn’t yet established change management competency and, unfortunately, does not perceive it as crucial. At this starting level, the organization may approach change by communicating transformation on a case-by-case or ad hoc basis. While ensuring that information is relayed throughout the enterprise at the outset of periods of change is indeed essential, this approach often lacks a comprehensive strategy, monitoring mechanisms, and effective change management engagement practices.

Headshakers tend to place change management primarily as a communications function with sporadic support for other activities. Additionally, these GBS organizations do not invest in dedicated talent resources specifically focused on implementing and overseeing successful change initiatives.

Crawlers

Organizations categorized as crawlers may notice that the GBS organization is gradually moving toward establishing a GBS change management competency and views change management as somewhat critical. The organization might allocate resources to address change management needs for specific transition and transformation projects. Crawler organizations also tend to emphasize communications to ensure leadership alignment and prioritize change impact assessments to better understand the nature of the change and where it will occur.

Crawlers typically lack the in-house talent to lead their change management initiatives and instead rely on external consultants or contractors. The change management team’s size is usually contingent on the available funding and project requirements. Like headshakers, crawlers operate on an ad hoc basis, but they may incorporate certain enhancements, such as Centers of Excellence (CoEs), to equip employees with the necessary tools and training to support change initiatives.

Gamechangers

Gamechangers are generally younger GBS entities that have reached a respectable level of maturity in their change management journey. These organizations are actively taking steps to establish change management practices, recognizing its necessity. Gamechangers readily invest in change management for both transitional and ongoing changes. Their approach to change management is comprehensive, playing a strategic role in driving business transformation. Gamechangers go beyond mere communication methods to take on stakeholder and transition management, methodologies and tools development, and conduct change risk assessments to ensure successful change implementation.

Gamechangers typically have a dedicated team consisting of both in-house and contractor employees devoted to the specific needs of each project. These initiatives are regularly funded as part of the annual transition budget, demonstrating the organization’s commitment to this crucial aspect of GBS operations.

For gamechangers, change management becomes firmly established when the enterprise transitions to a GBS model or undergoes any significant transformation.

Institutionalists

Institutionalists firmly believe in change management and have invested substantially in building a robust GBS change management competency, recognizing its value as a strategic capability. Change management is implemented from the start of GBS model adoption and is funded annually. A consistent and systemic commitment to change management exists, with a focus on both maintaining business operations and driving business transformation. It is embedded and managed as a critical component of all GBS initiatives.

With this approach, the organization carries out the full scope of activities, including change champion network management, training and learning programs, organizational change readiness, and customer experience monitoring. A dedicated team of employees focuses specifically on change management and may be supported by contractors.

By incorporating change management as part of the overall GBS governance, stakeholders can easily understand, adopt, and embrace transitions – solidifying the organization’s ability to adapt and evolve.

Are you ready to make a change?

Change management is an important yet frequently misunderstood topic that plays a pivotal role in empowering GBS organizations to generate and maintain sustainable value.

Identifying which of the change management personas best characterizes your current approach is essential to gaining deeper insights into change management and its impact on your GBS organization.

Whether you are a headshaker, crawler, gamechanger, or institutionalist, recognizing your organization’s current position will empower you to make informed decisions and strategically enhance your change management practices.

• Take our quick, five-minute quiz to find out how well you know GBS change management.
• Gain more insights and uncover effective change management practices in our webinar, Why GBS Change Management is the Key to Added Value and ROI.

To learn more about change management personas and how to incorporate change management across your organization, reach out to Rohitashwa Aggarwal, [email protected], or Arushi Gupta, [email protected].

Discover the Strategies Top GBS Organizations Use to Create Superior Employer Brand Perception | Blog

Positive employer brand perception is crucial to attract and retain top talent in today’s dynamic environment. How current and potential employees view the organization’s brand is critical to business success. Gain insights from our research on best practices by leading Global Business Services (GBS) organizations who have created a superior employer brand perception in this blog.

Why brand perception matters for GBS organizations

In today’s competitive landscape with constant change and evolving workforce needs, having a strong employer brand isn’t just a benefit but an essential asset that can propel GBS organizations toward exceptional growth. For employees and job seekers, perception is reality.

Having a superior employer brand perception is a magnet that attracts and encourages top talent who want to align with the organization’s values. GBS organizations increasingly are recognizing the importance of building and maintaining a distinctive employer brand perception.

Creating a strong employer brand perception is a challenging and intricate task that requires consistent efforts across various fronts. Understanding the complexities involved is important to succeed in this effort.

By drawing on insights and best practices from leading GBS employers that stand out for their employer brand perceptions, organizations can enhance their ability to create a compelling one. Let’s explore the findings from the latest edition of our case study report to learn more.

About the Top GBS Employers™ 2023 Report

To better understand the true differentiating factors that help create a superior employer brand perception, we analyzed the success stories of some of the top GBS employers from our recently published Top GBS Employers^™ 2023 Report.

We collaborated with GBS entities of Experian, GSK, and Sun Life in India; Henkel and Northern Trust in the Philippines; and Takeda in Poland to understand nuances of their journeys to elevate employer brand perception to new heights.

In the case study compilation report, How GBS Organizations Build Differentiated Employer Brand Perception, we uncovered how all these organizations adjusted to constantly changing employee needs and fostered a strong sense of camaraderie within the organization.

The study provides profound insights on:

• The key factors that make the top GBS employers stand out in terms of brand perception
• The key initiatives, actions, and practices that create a strong employee value proposition for top GBS employers
• How top GBS employers adjust to the evolving employee needs
• Ways GBS employers can future-proof the employer brand perception

Insights from the report

Every organization’s secret sauce is unique. Our research found that each company adopted a different approach to building a strong employer brand when navigating through specific challenges.

Here are some insights from our analysis:

• Experian’s success can be attributed to its thriving culture, where employees have the autonomy, flexibility, and resources to build their career paths. Experian further bolstered its value proposition by improving the quality of work, offering unparalleled learning and development opportunities, and building a diverse, inclusive, and collaborative work culture

• GSK emphasizes an organizational culture that allows people to thrive and contribute to their fullest potential. This philosophy underpins its efforts that are centered around these five key themes:
  • Fostering the GSK culture
  • Building an inclusive organization
  • Driving impact through performance using data, digital, and an innovation   mindset
  • Investing in talent and leadership needs and development
  • Creating a learning environment for future skills

• Henkel has always prioritized employee needs and fostered a culture of enabling employees. This approach helps it stay ahead of the curve in addressing evolving employee expectations

• Northern Trust believes that collaborative efforts among management, employees, and other key stakeholders build a great workforce. The company believes in ensuring its five key promises:
  • A culture of care and collaboration
  • A focus on individual career development and growth
  • An opportunity to innovate
  • Dedication to a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace
  • The chance to have a meaningful impact

• Sun Life believes in planning for the future and has created a plethora of learning and development and career progression programs. The financial services company has been nimble in understanding and adjusting to evolving employee needs, earning its position as a top GBS employer in India for the second consecutive year

• Takeda Business Solutions (TBS) is dedicated to being and remaining a best-in-class GBS organization. It continually evolves its captive delivery strategy and ways of working to reflect the evolving business and workforce. This commitment is demonstrated through:
  • Creating an exceptional people experience
  • Unleashing the power of data and digital
  • Investing in and future-proofing the capabilities of its people

These examples show that no one formula exists for creating a strong employer brand perception. The key to creating a desirable image lies in the individuality and distinct character of each organization.

Although every organization’s journey is different, the paths are connected by common threads. By unlocking the workings of the top GBS organizations, we found they each:

• Not only understand but act quickly to address employee needs: With rapidly evolving employee requirements, GBS organization needs to be flexible and autonomous to act with agility
• Provide employee growth opportunities: Offering holistic professional development beyond compensation is valued. Employees are not only looking for compensation but career paths, professional guidance, upskilling opportunities, and challenging and meaningful work assignments
• Align the enterprise culture with local value systems: By integrating local needs and perspectives of employees to foster individual growth, GBS organizations can make a greater impact and significantly improve employer brand perception

From these findings, it’s clear that highly skilled individuals today want more than just a job. They are seeking to work for organizations that value their contributions and encourage collaboration, purposefulness, and achievement. GBS employers who are seen as having a reputation that aligns with these aspirations are likely to succeed in recruiting and retaining top talent.

To uncover the details of each organization’s journey to create a superior employer brand perception, read the report How GBS Organizations Build Differentiated Employer Brand Perception. The report was developed by collaborating with GBS organizations of Experian, GSK, Henkel, Northern Trust, Sun Life, and Takeda.

To learn more about employer brand perception and talent management strategies, reach out to [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected].

Blueprint or Wallpaper: The Challenges of Selling Your GBS Strategy to the Team | Blog

Your stakeholders seem to be willing to embrace a more comprehensive model, embracing new scope and moving even more work offshore. The enterprise’s CXOs are pushing an imperative for digitization, giving your GBS initiatives real coattails to grab onto. A white shoe strategy firm or one of the Big 4 has helped you develop an all-singing, all-dancing global business services blueprint that harnesses the latest GBS thinking. You’ve cobbled together some beautiful PowerPoints communicating the whys and wherefores of your next evolution.

Yet you don’t think your senior managers are on board. Why? Their eyes glaze over when you talk about a GBS strategic blueprint, thinking that it is just a piece of wallpaper.

I’ve seen this movie before. Gorgeous, sensible up-to-date GBS strategy; a senior team that won’t wear it on their tee-shirts. For a leader invested in the growth and change that drives GBS value, it can be hard to accept that the team is not on board; after all, setting GBS strategy is his/her prerogative. If the team isn’t behind it, it can be seen as a personal failure of leadership.

But without a strategic blueprint that everyone embraces, GBS models can turn into endangered species. The status quo is not an option.

So I asked myself, why is it often hard for GBS team members to get on the bandwagon?

• Black box development – When the development of a GBS strategy is a private pas-de-deux between the boss and the strategy lead, it can be hard for the rest of the leadership team to take any ownership or even a high level of interest. Springing it on them as a fait accompli is a sure-fire way to create a not-invented here response.
• Non-GBS natives – Often, GBS organizations are comprised of a majority of team members who came up through the enterprise ranks. They may be unfamiliar with the model’s imperative for survival—growth.
• What’s in it for me? – Self-concern is a strong motivator to embrace a change in strategy. If a GBS blueprint does not highlight opportunities such as increased responsibility or new career paths, it can be hard for team members to make a personal investment.
• No skin in the game – Since most GBS organizations focus individual performance on operational goals and objectives rather than strategic, the successful implementation of strategy may be seen as the responsibility of top leadership rather than that of every manager.
• Pie in the sky – For team members facing daily operational challenges—recalcitrant stakeholders, missed deadlines, delivery center attrition—a GBS strategy can seem like an aspirational nice-to-have, not a roadmap for model maturity and survival.
• Too complicated – GBS strategies with too many moving pieces—organizational changes, new delivery center locations, transformation projects, technology deployment—become daunting propositions for even the most sophisticated of GBS professionals. If there is no clearly delineated line of sight as to how each component adds up to a new stage of maturity, team members can tune out.
• Competing initiatives – With today’s pace of business change, it’s likely that the team is juggling the implementation of a number of programs, often disconnected. A new GBS strategy that does not connect the dots can be seen as the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Sure, it’s a daunting list of derailers, but savvy GBS leaders know how to help their team understand and embrace evolving strategies as a given. Here are eight tactics to ensure that the strategy sticks.

• Promote a living strategy – Change is a GBS constant, so big initiative, once-in-a-blue moon, big bang strategies may prove ineffective. Focus on changing tactics as business conditions change, rather than strategic tenets to ensure the team is consistently aligned.
• Have a formal, visible strategic planning process – If the organization likes to manage by scheduling strategic planning projects rather than embedding processes, it’s critical to promote transparency. Ensuring that strategic planning processes are incorporated in the GBS calendar, that outputs are shared on a timely basis, and that there is plenty of opportunity for contribution and comment is vital to success.
• Personally engage key GBS stakeholders – We take the time to engage with our key business stakeholders; when it comes to a change or evolution of strategy, leaders owe their key managers the same courtesy—soliciting feedback and gaining commitment on a one-on-one basis.
• Create a strategy cascade – Everyone in the organization needs to understand the current GBS strategy, what needs to change, and what it means for them personally. Town halls are great for the organization (but ensure that key leaders don’t see the strategy for the first time on a Teams call).
• Solicit tailwinds and headwinds – The entirety of the team, not a few leaders, will make your strategy a reality. Ask them for structured input, and if they feel they can’t or won’t contribute, ask them to stress test the blueprint by identifying tailwinds—what will make the strategy implementable, and headwinds—what will derail the strategy. No one can identify opportunities and challenges better than those with their feet on the ground.
• Seed the strategy with the business – If team members can triangulate the GBS strategy with what their business stakeholders are saying, it gives its tenets and imperatives credence as opposed to being seen as a hypothetical leadership exercise.
• Tie personal metrics into the delivery of strategic goals – Behaviors align with rewards and recognition. Expanding each team member’s metrics to include the support for or delivery of strategic goals will go a long way.
• Deliver GBS strategy through an OGSM or similar – (For the unfamiliar, OGSM refers to objectives, goals, strategies, and measures). Far too often, GBS strategies are great blueprints, but don’t harness tools that promote implementation. Embedding common success factors, such as clarity on what needs to be achieved and how it is measured through a formal program, gives life and meaning to a blueprint.

So the next time your team’s eyes glaze over when you mention the imperative for a new GBS strategy, perhaps it’s time to think about it differently. Making the process transparent, aligned with performance, and part of the GBS routine will go a long way toward making GBS organizations agile, responsible, and valuable.

Be Like a Duck. But Below the Surface, You’d Better Be Paddling Like Hell | Blog

Deborah Kops
Managing Principal, Sourcing Change
Executive Advisor, Everest Group

Is it a normal silly season? Or is it a symptom of the times? Business dynamism is at an all-time high, compelling smart GBS organizations to go into continuous change mode.

This year there seems to be more MAC (moves, adds, and changes) in GBS delivery networks than usual. Work is transferring from center to center, often in response to the need to rebalance locations as a result of the Ukraine war. Talent challenges are causing GBS organizations to rethink what goes where and whether it’s time to break the Costa Rica/Cracow/Warsaw/Manila/Hyderabad-Bengaluru-Gurgaon mold and invest in locations that haven’t yet been saturated. And the perennial, the client-giveth-to-the-outsourcer, the client-taketh-away syndrome seems to be in full flow as the BPOs face the same talent and delivery challenges as captive operations do. But that’s another, more complicated challenge for later on—let’s focus on in-house center-to-center transfers.

Is a delivery network switch a non-event? How do you make it so? I’ve been thinking through a challenge that gets almost no airtime but is a fact of life for the majority of maturing GBS organizations—if they always have their fingers on the pulse of the business.

The common wisdom amongst many of the GBS glitterati is that any change in delivery location should be invisible to its stakeholders. Why mount a full-fledged change management initiative when moving bill paying from one location to another should be a non-event?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Ergo, the duck as an analogy. It’s a worthwhile goal to aim for a non-event for stakeholders. But under the surface, GBS had better be paddling like hell. Be prepared, people. A GBS inter-center transfer of work can be a surprising and silent GBS headache.

Here’s what I see as the difference between transition and transfer:

• Since the main goal is to make a delivery switch part of silent running and ultimately frictionless, the transition playbook, with its high levels of negotiation, communication, and engagement, is usually not fit for purpose
• In a center-to-center transfer, as opposed to a transition, GBS organizations forgo setting up formal channels to “explain or complain”
• The focus shifts to users as opposed to the business. In a transition, aligning the business to working differently is critical to success. In a transfer, users usually bear the brunt of the pain
• In a transition, employee attraction, training, and institutionalization is critical. In a transfer, the impacts on staff are greater. It means new work, new roles, and often no jobs. The culture of the sending team may be different from that of the receiving team. Since light-out GBS is still a pipe dream, the dependency on people becomes a wildcard in the transfer

Thinking about moving the deck chairs around? Let’s examine what needs to be true to be successful.

First off is the concept of legitimacy. If a GBS is not deemed to be legitimate by its most critical stakeholders—the functions and the business—transfers are a non-starter.

1. The GBS model must be stable and accepted by key stakeholders. Ideally, GBS should be viewed as a type of managed services model, with full purview over delivery location decisions
2. A well-defined strategy should be in place, with clearly articulated and previously communicated principles backed with data as to what should go where (also known as sign on the door). This is critical to quash speculative debate about the perceived advantages of Bengaluru (Bangalore) over Bucharest
3. Any financial implications of the transfer must be calculated and communicated to the stakeholder in advance, such as tax and transfer pricing, in order to maintain transparency. Nothing crushes trust like a bill no one expected in a ramp down and ramp up

If legitimacy is established, it’s time to examine operations to ensure that the ball won’t be dropped in the process of transferring work. Prepare for trouble if you can’t tick off the following boxes:

• The impacted processes are standard and stable across the delivery network. The aim here is lift and shift, not fix and shift
• SLAs are current, in place, and accepted, with limited deviation expected in the center-to-center transfer
• Now, this sounds a bit picky, but if experience is not standard across the network, with such elements as generic addresses, catalogs, and avenues to access GBS in place, you are likely in for a heap of hurt as users struggle to make the switch
• There is a reasonable level of process digitization with limited reliance on humans. The higher the automation, the greater the chance for a frictionless transfer
• There is no language dependency required for process delivery, or necessary language capability available in the receiving location

Now it’s time to start the action. Make sure the approach is tailored to the change at hand, or in the immortal words of Gilbert and Sullivan, “let the punishment fit the crime.”

• Keep your tendency to “tweak” held in check. Remember that the goal is transition, not transformation. Save radical process improvement for another day
• Stay flexible. There will be surprises. The transfer plan must be dynamic
• Acknowledge and work with cultural differences in the delivery teams. While it’s stating the obvious, delivery pivots on the culture of the team performing the work, especially when it comes to customer experience. Make sure that the impact of the cultural differences in location are understood and addressed
• Over-index on the comprehensiveness of knowledge transfer. We think we’d documented the dickens out of our processes, but sadly, that is not always the case. An obsession with accurate knowledge transfer is especially critical when the loss of jobs is part of the plan
• Establish realistic timelines. PPT timelines are easy to create, but the reality on the ground is usually quite different. Regulatory, recruitment, office fit out, and other requirements likely will take more time than expected. Plan for it
• Develop well-thought-out and targeted communications, escalation, and remediation measures. Sure, you want to play under the radar. But these assets are as important in a transfer as in a transition
• Focus on care and feeding of impacted staff. Dealing with staff may be your biggest communications/change challenge. Unanticipated flight or disaffection on either side of the transfer has a high potential for derailing
• Acknowledge and manage change implications on vendors and other third parties. Forget them at your peril; they are part of your GBS service ecosystem

Back to the duck. Center-to-center transfers should be seen as graceful and calm as a duck swimming across a pond. But the reality underneath the waterline must be very different, with the GBS organization paddling like all get out to effect a transfer that doesn’t go under.

Learn about Everest Group’s GBS research and insights.