lessons from the field: transformation

TRANSFORMATION! It feels like everything is transforming right now and organisations are trying to keep up with transformation 'programmes', 'agenda' and lots of new jobs to plan then implement them.

Tech/AI, HR, finance, whatever. Transformation is big business. Going by what others knee-deep in transformation programmes are telling me and from the work I've done - including the successes and mistakes I was accountable for - those leading transformations need to keep coming back to these points.

1. Transformations aren't routine big projects with a beginning and an end. They are fundamental shifts in how an organisation thinks, positions and delivers its impact on which the vision and strategy stand or fall. If a strategy or vision can be delivered without the transformation then I'd argue it isn't actually a transformation: it's just a project.

2. So they must be clearly defined against that vision and strategy, with that link driven home through formal and informal storytelling at every opportunity to those who agree with the approach as well as those who do not. It'd be a strange world if we all agreed on things and transformations are no different. People will oppose, people will fear but people also listen and come to their own conclusions whether or not they can work towards a new and different future.

3. Transformations can never be cover for issues that could be addressed in different ways. Too often, I've seen transformations become catch-alls for a bunch of interventions or programmes that should just be happening routinely: performance improvement, process remapping, roll-outs of new kit, efficiency and productivity improvement or - the classic - structural or operating model shifts. If any of that stuff needs to happen, get on with it at the same time!

4. Most importantly, transformations succeed if there's a team of credible leaders who share the same understanding of not only the vision and strategy and what needs to transform to deliver them, but who collectively live and breathe the expectations, behaviour and standards required to make such a fundamental shift.

Remembering this stuff will keep transformation leaders equipped with the clarity, courage and credibility to make progress.

If you're considering a fundamental shift or needing to prepare that top team for what's to come, let's have a conversation.