Transformation

It seems to be on everyone's minds lately. Digital transformation, personal transformation, team transformation, organisational transformation.

How do we transform ourselves and our organizations to meet the future, to meet current needs?

We know we need to change, some of us may even want to change. We know the things we're doing aren't right, aren't optimal, aren’t sustainable, could be better.

How do we transform?

We get curious. We investigate possibilities. We look at things that we want to improve or change: about ourselves, about our organizations, about the way we do our work, about the way we live our lives, and how we make decisions.

Sometimes we have help in the form of feedback from: friends, family, bosses, colleagues. And sometimes we just make it up on our own, things that we're not happy about and want to change. Sometimes it's a combination, often it’s a combination.

And then we'll make the decision. Try something out: take a course, go to therapy, go back to school, change jobs, find a new hobby.?

We start, with that first step, sometimes it doesn’t even feel like a step, it feels so natural.

October is a month of transformations from summer to fall or from winter to spring (if you’re in the southern hemisphere).

Leaves dropping from trees, the weather's getting cooler.

For me, October is a month of personal transformation. It's the month that I left Hewlett Packard, it's the month that I moved to Berlin.

Transformation is hard. It's complex. It's scary.?

I take it back.?

It's not hard.?

The individual steps of transformation are easy.?

Focusing on the individual steps, makes it easier.?

This is a lesson I learned many, many moons ago.?

I went to a retreat a week long retreat. I knew what the goal was for the end of the retreat and I couldn't imagine how I was going to get there from where I was at the start. I kept looking for an agenda, a guide, a process, something written down that would give me some comfort, something that would outline the process I was going to undergo in the coming days that would get me from where I was to where I wanted to be.?

That process wasn't provided on the first day of the retreat. It wasn't provided on the second day of the retreat either.?

By the end of the second day of the retreat, I realized it wasn't coming.?

There was no process that was going to be shared.?

Certainly, the leaders/facilitators knew what the process was, they were teaching it, but those of us in attendance, had no idea and weren't meant to know.?

What was important was that we took each step one at a time and did what was asked of us one step at a time, not getting hung up on step number 10 which might have looked incredibly scary and frightening and definitely not step number 100 which might have looked terrifying.?

Look at step number one. We could do step number one. That was easy. No problem.?

I can show up and do step number one. And later that day, I could show up and do step number two and by the time I got to step number 10. I could do step number 10--it didn't look so scary. Not that I knew what it was going to be when I started and by the time I got to the end of the week. I could do step number on 100 or whatever it was. It wasn't scary, it felt completely natural.?

And so when I look at the conversations I'm having over the last few weeks about digital transformation, digitally enabled transformation, about how we need to do things differently in our lives, and in our work, in our organizations. How we need to transform for the future that is upon us.?

I see so many people stuck and wondering what to do, uncertain about how to move forward and so they stay where they are because they don't know what step to take.?

It's not about knowing what step to take. It's about taking a step. Whatever that step might be, whatever it might look like asking the questions, making a strategy, looking at the organization, looking at your life, what things do you want to change??

What's one thing you can do today to move towards that goal. You may not get there, you may change your mind along the way. Or you may I hold on too long, like I did when I was going to school to be an accountant. I held on for much longer than I should have: there were signs along the way, that if I had paid attention to I would have stopped and changed directions much sooner than I did. However, I got to the end of all the iterations on that path, still wasn’t an Chartered Accountant and decided this was just not gonna work out, I needed to find a new way forward.

Transforming myself. transforming people and organizations that I have worked with. It doesn't have to be hard. In fact, it shouldn't be hard. There should be fun. Each step should be enjoyable, we need to look at it with curiosity—what’s going to happen, what will I learn to take me to the next step?

Communicating, playing a game, making notes, reflecting, iterating, trying something new, discovering what works and what doesn't. It should be exhilarating, not scary. If it's scary it's because you're telling yourself that story.?

What are you holding??

What story are you telling yourself?

How do you want to transform? What's your next step?

Painting and exploring my creativity has helped me and helped the people and organisations that I've worked with figure out those steps.

What about you? Are you ready to transform?