Transformations are the screaming pink elephant of business landscape. Some pretend they avoid the big-T word, others are really trying to embrace living in the time of change. It is however a trend nobody can ignore – unless they feel like going out of business!
Let’s make the transformation a bit easier for you by drilling it down to why, what and the how of managing it.
With the “why” perfectly explained by Chris Chan – “why you need to lead and own your transformation”, and the “what” being “leading transformation”, I reckon we are off to a good start.
Now, down to the “how” details.
- Contrary to popular belief, consultants can be useful. They provide an expert opinion on the current state of your business and can challenge your current way of thinking. Bring them in for assessments and initial workshops. However, the key here is to ensure the assessments are carried over into your transformation roadmap and workshops results are carried over by your whole organisation
- Unless you want to fail, avoid managing transformation as a Waterfall project. You are dealing with complex change within your organisation and no single milestone will be met for changing culture.
- Treat transformation as a priority and dedicate employee’s time to it. This implies that people will have time to work on transformation and those tasks will take over other work planned
- Let your change follow the 10-20-70 learning model
- Never stop at just team coaching. Your whole company is changing tack and captains have to learn better ways of steering your cruise ship