Lessons in Leading Large Scale Transformation

In today's rapidly changing world, organisations are constantly looking for ways to transform themselves to remain competitive. Large-scale transformation can be a daunting task, but it is essential for success in the long run.

In this video, I discusses four common myths and six common mistakes that people make when leading transformation. I also share advice on how to avoid these mistakes and successfully lead transformations.

You can watch the full video here .

Myths about Transformation

Myth 1: Once and done

In reality, transformation is an ongoing process that requires continuous effort and attention. It is important to set up a system for monitoring and improving the transformation over time.

The most successful transformations are those that evolve with the emergent paradigm within which they operate in, which means that all leading is leading transformative change.

Myth 2: Resistance to change

Usually leaders think that people are resistant to change , so they end up using a carrot and stick approach to get them to change their behaviour.

In reality, people are resistant to change when they don’t have agency in the process and when they don’t know about the reason to change.

Different people react differently to change – some want agency, some want to understand the logic, some want to know how it impacts them and their work, some want to know the carrots and sticks involved. Some are naturally inclined to change and some resistant to them.

Assuming that everyone is the same and using a common approach to enrol all of them is doomed for failure.

Myth 3: Visionary Leader

The importance of having a visionary leader in order for successful transformation. This is a necessary but not sufficient condition for success transformation efforts.

You need someone who can create a culture where people are engaged and have conversations and build strong trusted relationships, through which relevant communication happens. This is what leads to successful transformation.

Myth 4: Change is either top down or bottoms up

One of the things that most people believe is that any transformation happens either top down (leader led) or bottoms down (community led).

However, in my experience, no transformation effort can be successful until the effort is both leader and community led. One of the key players here are those in middle management.

The critical chain of any transformation effort is the enrolment of the middle managers. They hold the key to bring the top down and the bottoms up movement together and unlock success.

Common Mistakes Made When Leading Transformation

Mistake 1: Assuming Communication is Enough

The single biggest mistake that leaders make when leading large scale transformation is around communication – either assuming that communication happened and that it was effective. Formal communication is necessary but not sufficient.

Real transformation happens when people talk about the change and what they see their peers talking about, and responding to the effort.

The communication needs to be different and adapt to the different stakeholders (on one end of the spectrum are people who are early adopters and on the other extreme are those who vehemently oppose the transformation).

So, one common messaging for all doesn’t necessarily work. Again, it is necessary but not sufficient.

Mistake 2: Missing the context

Every organisation is like a living breathing organisation and has its own memory. So, what happened in the past has an effect on what we are trying to do in the present. So, ignoring or avoiding the past only creates more challenges than address them.

So, if in the past, change initiatives have failed, we need to address the question about why this current initiative is important, why do we think it will succeed and what are we doing differently this time around to ensure success.

Context also means the environment that we operate in. If the external environment changes rapidly, we need to be able to adapt to emerging environment as well.

Mistake 3: Not Engaging all The Right Stakeholders

As with everything else, not all stakeholders are the same. So, we need to identify the kind of stakeholder we are engaging and plan our engagement strategy with them accordingly.

In my experience, there are three kinds of stakeholders:

Impacted: These are people who will be significantly impacted due to the transformation exercise. Their enrolment and feedback are crucial for any level of success of the transformation.

Influential Leaders: These are people who are power centers and have significant influence over the resources, budgets and attention that is needed for the transformation to succeed.

Influential connectors: These are people who are at the center of the informal networks , who are the real people who can get work done. They may not have official titles but have significant influence.

This list of impacted people, influential leaders and connectors needs to determine who becomes part of the steering committee, who becomes part of the people who need to be kept in the loop, whom should you seek feedback from and who becomes your change agents.

Mistake 4: Not thinking in Systems

When leaders don’t think in systems , they usually are unaware of the 2nd and 3rd order effects that their decisions and actions create. They are important in a regular days work but crucial when leading a transformation.

We need to not only think in systems but develop a good understanding of how our organisation functions as a system. What part is connected to which other parts and how the decisions and actions taken in one part of the organisation affects the other connected parts of the organisation.

More transformation efforts fail because leaders failed to account for unintended consequences and address them. Put in place a red flag device which creates a system that reinforces the transformation that you are trying to effect.

Mistake 5: Not planning for Periods of Transitions

Most transformation projects struggle during periods of transitions, when they are neither in the past nor in the future. We need to have clear instructions for people on how to behave during these periods.

If we are not clear about the expectations, the chance that people go back to their comfort zone and behave in their old ways, rendering all the hard work ineffective.

So, we need to think really hard about when will these periods of transitions happen (these are called liminal spaces) and how do we want to show up and expect our teams to behave and communicate it wide and well.

Mistake 6: Missing to account for inertia

Any transformation effort can not be successful until it changes the behaviour of the people involved for good. More transformation projects fail due to inertia kicking in than for any other reason.

When people have the option of behaving in the new yet uncomfortable ways or to behave in the old and comfortable ways, they will tend to go back to their comfort zone .

So, until the new behaviour becomes the status quo , our transformation efforts have not yielded results. So, we need to continue to put in energy, communications, systems and policies and the culture in place until the new behaviour becomes the norm.

All of this until the next set of change becomes imminent.

Conclusion

Leading large-scale transformation is a challenging but rewarding task. By following the tips and avoiding the mistakes outlined in this post, you can increase your chances of success.

I hope this blog post has been helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.

PS: This post was originally published on my blog - "Leaders Worth Following " and has been republished here.