Transformation, and You ?

I was on red-eye flight from Delhi to Singapore, and on arrival had to participate in a panel discussion on Organizational Transformation and managing change positively organized by HCLI, Singapore (Human Capital Leadership Institute) for a batch of senior executives in a major MNC that is likely to go into a major transformation journey. I had no time to prepare, and just as the flight was to land, the Eureka moment dawned upon me and I shared my thoughts, and participated in a Q&A. Here’s the gist for whatever its worth. Its personal, and its real  

When we talk about organizational transformation, we seem to take a myopic view of the subject of transformation. We are actually going through it all the time; it’s just that we may not be conscious. To me, it appears like a 3x3 jig, in place of the more familiar 2x2s that dominate all management concepts.

The 3x3, translates to 3 types of transformations we go through, at 3 different levels.  The types of transformation, I have seen are:

1.    Evolutionary Transformation, in all aspects of life, work, society whatever … we evolve. The journey from an ape to a modern man, and from a low-tech life to a digital life, have mostly been evolutionary. Either you are conscious or unconscious; it’s been largely a smooth ride, mostly for the better. For us who grew up in middle class India the journey from a ceiling fan to an Air conditioner at home was supreme delight. Organizations too grow through evolutionary transformation, often not turbulent, smooth, and made in small doses and everyone seems to be onboard. When you move offices, you tend to move to better ones, better-equipped and better technologies.

2.   Disruptive Transformations: These are unexpected, out of the blue and strike you hard when you seem most unprepared for it. These are incidents of closure, M&A, hostile takeovers, sudden change in management, crisis or huge opportunity. They are big, and they are sudden. It sort of throws you off your guard, and the turbulence created can also be a great wake up call. The uncertainties of it all, the unknown passages you need to walk through all of these are also opportunities for self-assessment and organizational renewal and reincarnations.

3.    Planned Transformations: These are more common, and have also come into vogue; to create impact, churn and a whole lot of management bandwidth goes into it. Well, improvements are necessary and integral however, planned transformations sometimes end up being a case of packaging improvements, to make them look better, good, and attractive and achieve greater impact. Change of internal management leadership or need to invigorate functions, divisions, and businesses have all called for these type of transformations, which also well peddled by management consultants. There is not much threatening in this, and provides an opportunity for managers to get creative and bash the status quo.

Now turning to the 3 environments, or contexts in which these 3 types of transformations play out:

1.             External Environment: It is about everything around us. The victory of Trump being felt in far flung Asia or say homes in Yangon or Chennai. We live in a connected world. The effect of the external environment on our work and personal lives every more than before, and impacts perception, feeling, strategy and action. We never discussed the impact of a Trump, in internal strategy meetings in Asia before. So is the case with a major technology breakthrough, or war or crisis.

2.            Internal Environment: Internal environment here maps out the work life and personal / social life. This is the closest concentric circle that we trudge through everyday. What happens to, and in, an organization has huge impact on us, and even more so what happens at home, family and social circle. There is a constant change and momentum in these environments.

3.            Inner Environment: This is the most important and is vital. It is the environment that we create for ourselves, in our “inner selves” – it is the sum total of our experiences, attitudes, beliefs, values, fears, complexes, and hopes. This acts as the epicenter of our emotions, and how we react, act, and work through the various transformations. It can lead to huge learning, self-renewal, growth and even reinventing oneself, or it can be an unbearable stress, leading to depression, and also self-destruction.

Whichever way you see it, other than evolutionary changes, most transformations do cause stress. The stress can be turned into a creative stress with a positive attitude or damaging one, if you turn the other way. Much would depend on what you are made of and how well you are tuned with the “inner environment”. Its tough, but you hold the key to managing transformations, by opening up and reflecting on your own inner environment and tuning it or re-tuning to make life a success. Accepting change is always talked about, but the devil is in the practice of it.

Some Interesting Q&A s:

How can you successfully steer org transformations, in the context of an acquisition?

Most organizations exist in solid state or at best semi-solid state. A post acquisition causes a sort of chemical reaction to make it into “molten state” or even a ‘fluid state’. There is a general state of fait accompli and people in the acquired entity are ready to accept (albeit reluctant) the changes that are inevitable.

It is for the leadership use this to their advantage, to steer this molten state to mold it the way it would render the unified organization deliver the positive delta in its value creation efforts. This requires exceptional leadership. A leader who lives the values, is authentic, and most importantly builds trust instantly. The biggest obstacle is often handling distrust and mistrust. It is for the leader to build that trust. That’s not easy, but great leaders are great at doing just that.

What is the worst experience in change / integration that you can relate to us, and how to prepare for it?

Well, the process is like walking through a dark tunnel. The tunnel could be deep and long, and trail unpredictable. However, what you need to look for first is whether you have enough water, food, air and essentials to exist keep you going. In other words, you have the security of the job, you need to continue conducting the existing business, protecting them, and play your role. Second, thankfully you will have the company of others, though it may be still dark for all. The comfort of a team, peers and seniors that one is used to, also in the tunnel is a major motivator. It builds greater team spirit in time of difficulty.

Finally, not just believing that there is light at the end of the tunnel but believing that truly there is a possibility of a colorful rainbow appearing makes the journey less stressful and more enjoyable. There is much humor in organizations that go through transitions; if only you could take yourself a bit less seriously. Learning to enjoy every moment is a good way to brace yourself.

Most important, this change too is going to pass one day. It is neither death nor a near death experience awaiting you, that we tend to make it, simply worrying about it.

In M&A when acquisitions appear so wonderful and perfect on paper, they don’t seem to happen that way eventually. What is your experience?

Yes, they look brilliant on spreadsheets, and even better on PPTs!!... Why? Because these are derivations from the “left brain” they are usually rational assumptions at the heart of it. However in reality, implementation of an M&A needs a whole lot of other soft skills, it needs much of a ‘right brain’ approach to handle nebulous issues and problems. As a matter of fact for success, a whole-brain approach is needed. Often the lack of soft skills in the leadership is the soft belly.

What is most difficult or more difficult than cooping with change?

There is nothing more distressing and destructive in corporate life than to work for the wrong boss! … If that’s the case, better to dispense and leave, or change the boss.