My Organization Has Announced Another Large Transformation Effort. Yay?
It’s happening again. There’s a transformation effort being announced with all sorts of excitement from leaders behind it – this time it’s a new global strategic initiative to focus on sustainability. But the question for me as I sit in my auditorium seat remains – “will this one stick?”. All large transformation efforts, whether it’s a new strategy, a new process or technology implementation, or a re-organization, fundamentally struggle – but few understand why. Here are two big reasons:
Scale – All these leaders understand why we’re focusing on sustainability and what it actually means for them, but I sure don’t
It is relatively easy to get a team of senior leaders on the same page about the purpose of a big organizational shift and to understand how it impacts them. Sometimes this even reaches the next level or two down. But it often all falls apart from there. Broad communication on change efforts is necessarily high-level so that folks understand the overarching rationale. However, that doesn’t tell anyone what the change actually means for them and how they need to change their behavior as a result.
Consider involving a broader team of individuals in the process early on – this will inform the plan for how to more specifically connect the change with different audiences, and also build early engagement and buy-in. Empower managers with the right tools and talking points to be able to articulate to their teams how it impacts them – and if it doesn’t materially impact them, say that! Too often, leaders try to explain how a change effort is beneficial for and impacts everyone when it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, be transparent about that and it will build trust for the next one that does.
Sustainability – I’ll just wait this one out like all the others
Large transformation efforts often have a lot of energy behind them at the beginning – town halls, creative communication, roadshows, and all of that fun stuff. But all too often, that energy fades after the initial push and people go back to their day jobs. People do not change overnight. Rather than making a hard left turn right away, people change with small nudges – incremental, continuous reinforcements over a long period of time.
Build this into your implementation plan from the beginning with a defined approach for communication and change management. Use technology tools to automate the process wherever possible to make the lift easier. For example, balance in-person communication with automated outreach from collaboration tools, internal websites, and short surveys to create a consistent drumbeat of engagement and feedback.
Understanding these issues, the context for how they apply in your team and ultimately how to address them will help make your next transformation effort a success. If you’d like to learn more about how we’ve seen these issues addressed in the past and how we address them today, let’s talk: contactus@geigsen.com.