A butterfly isn’t a caterpillar with wings stuck on...

After a recent meeting with a long-standing client, our conversation rapidly moved to the subject of “change”. When we parted ways, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of ‘déjà vu’ as nearly every discussion I have with a client revolves around “change” and particularly the impact that today’s technology is having on them and their business.

While we recognize that change is unavoidable and that the technological revolution has been thrust upon us for the last 15-20 years, to me the last 5 minutes have felt as if everything has accelerated as we (people, businesses, consumers) begin to move into the territory of AI, VR, AR, CGI, etc., driving 'transformation'.

According to google, “change uses external influences to modify actions, but transformation modifies beliefs so actions become natural.”

At a networking event, I met a passionate author on this subject, professor and Ted Talker,?Eddie Obeng, who believes ardently that change is based on evolution of the past, but transformation requires you to break something.

To understand transformation he uses a beautiful analogy;

‘A butterfly isn’t a caterpillar with wings stuck on. It has transformed from something that crawls and eats leaves into something that flies and drinks nectar’.

He believes that we should all be pushing for positive transformation and not allow ourselves to only be reactive to change. He details what the ‘Future of Work’ could look like and advises business leaders to abide by the following two key principles:?

• Short term: Seize every opportunity available for using digital technologies to provide ‘fuel for transformation’.
• Long term: Design your transformation around the employees rather than around the technology. There will always be technologies you can harness to meet your vision. Create business models which take the fullest advantage of technology to do what it does best and of people to do what they do best.?

These top-down approaches seem all very logical, but I wonder how much of this approach is truly, understood and resonates across organisations. After all, it’s the employees who will need to actively embrace any transformation to drive change forward rather than simply reacting.

Just a thought…