One the delegates on our recent Change Management Practitioner course shared with us a remarkable initiative within her organisation, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, the regional police force for that part of England.
What follows is with the kind permission of the Constabulary.
Rumour Mill is, in essence, very simple. It is an intranet discussion board, where anyone can post any question or comment about current happenings within the force ... anonymously.
Let the radical transparency of this sink in for a moment ... anyone ... anonymously ... on anything!
Could your organisation cope with that? Would your leaders be courageous enough to provide and promote such a forum?
So, if someone, anyone, posts a comment such as, "This initiative will mean the loss of twenty jobs at HQ", within a couple of hours at most a response is posted by the change team, correcting any wrong assumptions or clarifying any confusion where appropriate.
People following the thread can see the openness of leadership here and the abiding trust grows that everyone is being heard.
I must say, that after reading the emphasis on radical transparency in Stephen Denning's latest book, I can see how courageous and powerful this is. Well done, Cambridgeshire!
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