Talent Keepers

Chapter 4 Communication: The Lubricant of Change

When we first began work with the Clerk of Courts office in Orange County, Florida, a major, unexpected change occurred. A week before they were scheduled to begin an organization-wide employee survey, the elected Clerk ofCourts passed away. They would not get another elected clerk into the leadership role for over one year, and they had two interim, unelected clerks before the next election. In other words, over that first year-plus that we worked with them, they saw more than their fair share of the disruption that change can render.

During that time, the office was experiencing significant breakdowns in trust throughout all levels of the organization. The results of the employee survey we were to help them run would have been quite useful to them at the time, but unfortunately, with the death of their leader, the data wound up being put on hold. When the new official took office, she came with a different vision about how to improve the organization, and the survey results remained idle indefinitely.

“We were just in this constant state of not being able to get settled,” explained Steve Urquhart, HR strategist with the Orange County Clerk of Courts. In an environment like this one, making sure the employees are settled is often a top priority. The vast majority of the employees with the organization serve in a clerical role, which means that any change to the process—whether procedural or technology based—tends to disrupt ...