How do you overcome resistance to system innovation and transformation?

Anything that challenges status quo will meet some resistance. Keeping an open communication channel with the teams and stakeholders and involving them in the decision making process helps ease the process. When people are involved in the design and decision making process, they become your internal champions to work with teams and ease out any concerns.

I believe that organizational velocity is limited by its willingness to accept change. No matter what type of "change" you are seeking, your organization will lag behind goals and milestones if you have not taken time to create alignment. When creating alignment, plan on 2x the time you think it will take. Humans will run at THEIR individual pace.

This definitely goes a long way . Nothing works better than inspiration . Unless people feel the same way about the change or innovation , it will be a difficult ride as one deals with communication , approvals , alignment , engagement , timelines etc at every step of the way . One needs to infuse people with the same energy and vision that drives the need for change at the top .

The way to make this successful is to repeatedly communicate using various methods so it is not just restricted to only emails, posters or updates from the top leadership. You need to have people at various levels who believe in the vision and can help articulate it to their teams.

There's a mentor that I have worked with for years who taught me the importance of FTSOW -- for the sake of what. Benefits REQUIRE personal (and business) wins.

Adoption to few strategies can help to overcome resistance to system innovation and transformation for organizations that want to stay competitive and agile in the changing market : 1. Define your vision and mission for the system with right communication and stakeholders in place. 2. Anticipate and manage risks. Exhibit the ambiguity tolerance to embrace the change with right frame of mindset. 3. Foster the culture of innovation and continuous improvement with a mix of rewards and incentive for those who adopt the new system quickly and effectively. 4. Celebrate successes and failure with right frame of mindset. Failure is bridge to Success. 5. Create a feedback loop to improve the system.

Trust your stakeholders. EMPOWER them and let them fail their way to success. Let the truly own their outcomes! Change without ownership is bound to lag and potentially fail.

One of the triggers of procrastination and change as a whole is that people feel overwhlemed by the events. Show progress in much smaller steps and people will not resist as much as they feel more comfortable with smaller steps.

FEAR. SILENCE. Most individuals have a barrier around FEAR. The fear of "what if ..." can be a halting factor in implementing change. There's a punitive nature to fear - so take time to reassure your team that there may be failures along the path. Recognizing them, adapting solutions and learning is part of the progress. SILENCE creates a gap in teams understanding where they are in progress towards the goal. Communicate effectively. You don't need to write a long 9 pound email that describes status .. rather, create a consistent cadence of communication that's focused, factual (avoid words like "I think" "I feel" "I suspect") and concise. Change involves humans and we love to know what's going on!

It is extremely important to seek and hear feedback from all stakeholders, big and small, when you are implementing a new process or change. After all, change affects their lives. The mistakes organisations make is a sudden announcement from the top. Feedback gives new insight, you are able to improve, adapt and design a better version of what you originally thought. Most importantly, when you include ideas from stakeholders, their sense of ownership enables smooth process implementation, as if it's their own !

There's and old quote - and likely I will get it wrong here; "Fall 6, rise 7" As a part of the rise process seek feedback. Ask questions and remember that change involves continuous improvement and focus. Knowledge of the fact differs from knowledge of the reason for the fact. - Aristotle

The leader who drives innovation and transformation should be the one who - Is most trustable - Inspires rather than directs - Is an excellent communicator who communicates with empathy, not just data - Inherently and genuinely wants everyone in the organization to succeed