Transformation - an Epic Mud Race

There is a need for leaders who dare to challenge the system, even if they don't always know exactly what they are getting into!

It might sound odd in the subtitle: 'not exactly knowing what you are getting into,' as you're generally expected to know what you are doing. In traditional leadership, not knowing where you are starting is a no-go. But this is not what the future needs! Occasionally getting stuck in the proverbial mud is part of driving transformations and requires a different kind of leadership. In this article, you will discover how to recognize and overcome hidden obstacles within your organization to achieve successful transformations. You'll also learn why you don't have to be afraid of a mud bath every now and then ;)

Throughout my upbringing, education, and career, I learned that there is a direct link between your ability to cleverly leverage the current system and your social position. Those who know how things work and strategically respond with the right actions or remarks have a promising career ahead. If you also understand who holds the real influence and can win them over, success is almost guaranteed. You become a director.

And it worked. By the age of thirty, I was a factory director! As a young professional, I quickly discovered that executive assistants held crucial information. By building good relationships with them, you gained access to this information and secured a place on the schedules of important stakeholders. This way, I shot up like a rocket. For over fifteen years, I used the system to my advantage, built an impressive career, saw the world, collaborated with amazing people, and led challenging projects.

One thing was absolutely ‘not done’: questioning the system. The way of working, the informal leaders, the unwritten rules?—?ignoring or doubting them was a sure way to derail your career. Examples of this include refusing a foreign assignment, considering working four days a week, or proposing a transfer to another division on your own initiative. These were moments when I challenged the status quo. I disrupted the system flow, and it took a lot of effort to get back on track.

Much of what we have learned about conforming to the system actually needs to be challenged.

Almost every leader or manager has—perhaps understandably—a deep-seated fear of systemic change. I have experienced this over the past decade during various digitalization and sustainability projects. Much of what we have learned about conforming to the system needed to be challenged. In both the public and private sectors, adapting the system was essential to making a real impact. Together with stakeholders, I had to objectively analyse and change working conditions, roles, and responsibilities. This felt unnatural, not just for me but for many others within companies, municipalities, and governments. It is an area that we often consciously or unconsciously prefer to avoid.

Yet this area is crucial for the challenges we face today. Digital Transformation, the Energy Transition, Circularity, and Nature-Inclusive approaches all require a different way of working, a revision of perspectives, and an adjustment of our mentality. Standard work processes, established systems, familiar conditions, and proven collaborations are not necessarily a given.

I often compare the dynamics that arise to a mud race. This comparison came to me during a company outing organized to promote team building.

In my example, on one side of the mud pit are the goals and missions, ready to guide the organization with ambition and moral awareness. On the other side are the teams, full of energy and ideas, with great solutions in hand. What often remains out of sight are the working methods (processes and systems), the collaborations (internal and external), and the conditions necessary for success. This forms the mud pit.

One thing is for certain: even with the best intentions, you cannot always jump over the mud pit without getting dirty. In other words, today's challenges cannot be tackled without balanced attention to the way of working, conditions, collaborations, and the willingness to step into the mud. Not knowing exactly what the real effects of change will be is part of the process. This requires rapid learning, adaptability, and adjusting together with your team.

I have gained tremendous respect for those who dare to take this leap. I have worked with aldermen, department heads, directors of multinationals and small businesses, and sometimes even the ‘lone voice in the wilderness.’ The transformations they can achieve are crucial, not only for their own organizations but also for making our society more sustainable as a whole.

To help teams and organizations gain a complete picture, I have developed a model. This model has been refined over the past ten years while I figuratively washed the mud off my body. It has undergone extensive testing in transformations within municipalities and governments on themes such as urban transformation, digitalization, and sustainability. It has also been applied within the business sector, particularly in the fields of digitalization and ESG challenges, as well as in improving public-private collaborations. The model includes lessons from both successes and painful moments and helps organizations find the right balance between ambition, solutions, collaboration, and system adjustments.

I am convinced that we, as businesses, governments, and society, can tackle the current challenges. However, the key lies in an often uncomfortable area. I am grateful that I have been able to experience this area multiple times in various transformational contexts.

What I wish, is to more often unite and make such step forward together. Leverage knowledge, experience, and approaches so to help organizations get sustainably into action.

Even though you may not always know what you are getting into, for sure it will lead you somewhere good!

Are you interested to know more about me, my model or approach? Click here for a non-binding appointment or send a message via LinkedIn or [email protected].