Transformation – What does it really entail?

Last week I went to speak to a group within a bank who were on a mission to ‘Transform’. This isn’t uncommon. Many organisations we’re asked to support recognise that they need to BrainUP in order to transform. Why? Because they’re dealing with tricky humans. And in the past the focus may have been on tech or other things, these days people realise even digital transformations require a focus on human transformation. But are we really clear on what these transformations are going to entail? What specifically needs to happen? And how??

The first thing I bring to explorations of this nature is a core insight I gleamed while working with the Wales Centre for Behaviour Change. Specificity is king. It rules. It is gold dust. Without it, things can still happen, but far less is achieved overall. So, my first question to any organisation wanting to ‘Transform’ or going through a period of widespread ‘Transformation’ is ‘Specifically what do you want to see different?’. From there we dig and wrestle and unpack. I was telling a chap who was transitioning from his existing role into more of a consultancy role that this part of our work with organisations is often hugely fruitful. The diagnostic stage. It utilises the same principles if you’re applying it to yourself or many thousands of employees.?

My encouragement is to get super clear on what you’re trying to create. Where you’re wanting to head. What specifically you want to change. (Talk more about what you want the new situation to look like than what the previous or current scenario does). There is obviously a set of skills and tools to do this stage well, but that is the big picture of what you’re trying to do.?

The next piece of the puzzle, for us, involves using a framework that we call the ‘Whole Brain Potential’. The middle part of this framework requires us to ‘Redesign’. If we want transformation, once we have ‘Reimagined’ (we’ve gotten specific on what we’re really looking for) then we need to redesign a few things to help us get there. When we’re working deeply with an organisation seeking transformation, we bring the research around each of the pillars that need redesigning to provide a wise, evidence-based strategic plan. Without knowing the specifics of what you want to transform I can’t do that here…but I can share the most important thing not to forget – which many people do.?

There are regions of our brain that want us to be logical, rational, and predictable. However, the internal rules that govern our behaviours are extremely complex – and we are often unaware of many of them, generally and while they are influencing our behaviour in the moment. Take something many people believe to be core to our identity, our values. Most people believe they would act in accordance with their values – being trustworthy or being fair. But, most people, in particular situations will act in a way that isn’t aligned with their values. And they will create rationale to justify those behaviours. It happens all the time. Perhaps you can recall a time you’ve seen it???

So, the thing most people miss, but that is essential to properly BrainUP, is to address ALL the things that influence behaviours. Don’t just tell someone to do something. I tell people this all the time, but actually, most people are still just telling people to do things differently. That is their transformation strategy when you look at the nuts and bolts of it.?

Someone recently said to me “We all know people don’t like change, but what do we do when people are change resistant?”

My first opportunity was to challenge that pesky, persistent belief that people don’t like change. Is it a universal truth? Or is it only the case, sometimes. What happens when we do sign up to the idea that people, fundamentally, don’t like change. They will resist. That it is something that is done to them, and they don’t like that. I have seen people change plenty. When people are ‘resisting’ then there is often a reason. And that reason often needs addressing. It might be a systematic reason, like the new process you want people to adopt is very challenging to learn, will have some negative implications for them, or is difficult to practically use with other systems. Sometimes it is a personal reason, like they are already juggling a lot of pressure and challenge from a home situation that is using up a lot of their cognitive bandwidth. Or it might be one of many other reasons, for example low trust because last time you tried to get them to do something different before, and just when they’d invested the extra time in mastering it you abandoned the initiative.??

This is one of the reasons we need to support transformation using more than just verbal or written communication. It needs to go way deeper, because there are a range of cognitive barriers that can get in the way.?

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P.S. If you want to see a little video explaining more about our keynotes (often the starting point for us supporting organisations with change or transformation work) check it out here: https://synapticpotential.com/whole-brain-potential-keynote/