Why won't my people Transform?
Nathan Bell
Digital Translator | Advisory Consultant | AI Explorer | CIO50 & CIO75 ASEAN Tech Leader 2020 & 2021 | IT Global Strategist
Transformations know many challenges during their execution and many business leaders will often feel frustrated by IT, their SI or even the Software partners themselves. Yet the biggest challenge in realising a transformations objectives always lies within an organization. When we talk about a digital transformation
As such we talk about the Business transformation being across People, process and technology. Now we can transform our technology
I want to share a scenario with you, you are being asked to move house today, I have told you where you are going, but not what to expect, I have told you what it looks like, but not what features will exist in your house. I have told you that while there are other people in this neighbourhood you may not know whether you will like them, or they will like you. Now, how excited are you going to be about this move, remember you don’t have a choice. There will be a few special people who will reply to this question with “yeah whatever let's give it a go”, to those people I say, now consider you can’t move back, you will be stuck where you are. I would challenge anyone to feel comfortable with this scenario, now imagine you are moving with your entire organization into that new house, getting a little uncomfortable yet? Good … Transformations are possibly some of the most complex programs any business will ever run and being uncomfortable about how it will be executed is a great starting point.
So why in the world do we think people would be excited about being transformed? Change the way they work? Change the nature of their job, see colleagues from many years be asked to leave? All of this can seem quite daunting and for this reason, I consider that while tech and process transform we need to consider that as people we are better at “transition”. The outcome may be a transformed organization from where it started, however, it's more about the journey to get there when it comes to guiding people through change. For this reason, I would highlight that Change management
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Change Management helps to ensure that business teams feel part of the planning and that representatives from different functions get to see what’s coming in each phase, what it means for their teams, what is exciting, what will require an “unlearn and relearn” approach and where interim workarounds may be required while having confidence in future releases this will improve. Ideally, business champions who will be the voice of sceptics, eager adopters or just worried colleagues are crucial for a transformation. Empowering business champions
There are a lot of different approaches and toolsets to support Change Management, however for all of them it is about inclusion of all impacted teams and including these activities in your broader strategic planning when embarking on a transformation will give your teams confidence that you are embracing the importance of the people change as much as the excitement in achieving your Digital goals. Humankind has evolved not transformed, so why would we think organisations can achieve something which thousands of years have not? Organisations therefore need to adopt a transition approach
I would love to hear the views of others who have read this article and if you would like to talk about your transformation journey or are simply looking for some advice do please let me know and I would be more than happy to share war stories, discuss strategies or see how else I might be able to help.
The neglecting of people in a transformation process is one of the major reason for lack of success. Your reflection is a description of the reality in most transformation activities.
CFO | business transformation
2 年Very good perspective Nathan! The recent business transformation I was leading, we learned that change management started with the “why”. The organization and its stakeholders needed to understand why a change is needed so we had to show the (langer term) benefits/opportunities of where the transformation was targeted to bring us, as well as the risks if we wouldn’t change. Without this common understanding a business transformation and respective change management is very likely to fail… Happy to share experiences in a 121 setting.
Delivering sustainable growth through customer-centric strategy, transformation, and innovation
2 年Great article, the analogy is a good one. Building on your point a digital transformation needs to be based on observations/embedded design thinking. Changing the way a business operates is a human problem first, enabled by technology and process. You can’t change without truly empathising with users.
Industry Practice Leader APAC// I help my customers to grow, differentiate and innovate with technologies/Digital Business Curator/Certified Scrum PO-SM/ACTA
2 年My learning from John Dewey about “ Habits”. 1) Habit is a function between individuals and environments, 2) Habit is socially produced 3) Habit is intertwined with inquiries and impulses. There is strong linkage between habits, behaviour and emotions. The stimuli that employees are exposed to by their environment and their observations and form their self judgement. When we try to change a habit or someone’s being conditioned over period of time, it becomes a disruption. It takes time to unlearn, relearn and form a renewed habit in support of the new change. So it’s a lot more challenging to drive change in people as we need to overcome intrinsic barriers like values, beliefs and extrinsic challenges of which historical data and insights provide one with positivity towards or negativity towards change.
CEO & Co-founder
2 年Great article!