How to take your teams where you want them to go

Alice in Wonderland is always a great read. In fact quite inspiring if you are leading a large transformation.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.” 

You do need to consider strategies to take your teams along. If you aren't clear with them they will get somewhere. Not necessarily where you wanted them to go.

You don’t announce you are transforming with a lot of fanfare and then magic happens. You don’t pick a methodology and say now we are using SAFe, lean, scrum and you all need to hop on the bandwagon now.

Your organization's culture matters. So does structure.

Structure has a great impact when you are transforming large organizations. Consider issues if you are trying to work with a strong command and control organization.

Do you have bloated departments and titles? Dozens of roles with hierarchy? Many layers? Many managers who all sound alike?

These are signs so consider work groups and breaking out of the fear caused by these roles, fancy titles. Focus on the future with them.

You learn to know what people like, what they don’t like. It isn’t about putting in rituals like standing up for your daily scrum. Make it sensible.

Know that people may fall into these categories -

#1 I like it – Transformation teams benefit from the enthusiastic early adopters. They like to take on challenges and they will happily join you.

#2 I may get there – If you have something that is going to add value, keep reinforcing this. One mentor I worked with swears that at least 7 types of communications are effective. I have seen messages repeated and that gets a better effect than one solitary email that went nowhere.

#3 I will wait and see- Powerpoint and presentations may not fly with this group. So think of being the relatable and approachable person who they can reach out to. They also may be fairly vocal and can stop others from joining the change.

#4 I don’t want to do it – They would resist your change no matter what you do.

Think – Prioritize how you influence the cultural shift needed for your transformation. What if you looked ahead and thought of making culture changes within your smaller teams? People matter. Stay focused on understanding them, influencing and communicating. Make it easy for them to stay on the road to your transformation.

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Welcome to my LinkedIn Newsletter – Transforming Organizations. You’re there leading a transformation and it is getting crazier for you emotionally and intellectually. You are working with and influencing several teams. What can you do to enable them?

My idea with this newsletter is to get a community together that learns. I am sharing my words, my thoughts, my views based on transformations I have been fortunate to guide. I believe each of us has the power to be a leader and to coach large transformational changes.

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