By Karin Niesczeri
Introduction
Business transformation is a messy, complex undertaking. Throughout my years of helping organizations strategize and implement major business transformation, I have identified some very simple, but powerful lessons learned that apply to organizations making any business change, big or small. The scale of change will determine how much effort and infrastructure needs to be put in place to enable the change, but the concepts hold true.
Business transformation or what used to be called business process reengineering has been around since the early 90’s. Many companies have gone through some version of reengineering or business transformation with varying degrees of success. In these times of economic uncertainty, the notion of transforming business to meet customer expectations is more important than ever.
Think of business transformation as the process of changing from “one business look and feel to another” – from one set of people, process, technologies to support business strategies to another. If visible change has not taken place (both inside and out) then the change is not transformational in nature or form. Successful transformation starts at the top of the organization, with the CEO, and is often referred to as a “C” level leadership initiative. This type of transformation usually affects every part of the organization and can significantly change its structure, business processes and technologies.
Your people will determine the success of the change
Too simple? Of course you won’t succeed without your people – everyone knows this. Unfortunately, once an organization has decided to undertake a major business change, often too much time and effort is spent on defining the new business processes and technologies required to support the business change without an equal focus on the people. Everybody needs to participate, from start to finish. The key to success will always be about the successful engagement and active participation of staff in the change. When I say staff, I mean everybody – from the leaders to the entry-level personnel, from the top of the house, to the mailroom and across all business units.
Intuitively, organizations know that the people are the key to any major transformation. No matter how many processes are changed, or new technologies are introduced, it will always be the people that really live, eat and breathe the new way of doing things. Because human beings are so complex, they are also the most difficult part of most changes – they can simply refuse to change their behavior. People may or may not buy into the business change, for a whole variety of reasons – fear of job loss, a perceived loss of power, of control over information and so on. Yet it is these same people who can bring about powerful change and literally transform a business.
Change will affect or impact different people at different times in different ways. I am not talking about hierarchy or position either. Too often organizations make assumptions that if you are an executive, you will automatically understand and model the change simply because you are a leader at the top of the house. I have seen executives who have intellectually bought into the change, but are emotionally not there yet. As a result, they are simply unable to lead and model change for their staff. Change is happening to them just as with any other person in the organization. Change can be frightening and paralyzing, regardless of who you are or what position you hold.
The key is to take the time to assess where the people are at in terms of the change and then provide them with the support required to internalize the change before being required to start modeling the changed behavior. The harsh reality is that some people, including leaders, will simply not be able to make the required shift – ever. This is a difficult issue that organizations are tempted to ignore – ignoring it can have a real impact not only on the initial efforts to change, but on the ongoing sustainability of the change.
Celebrating the success of changes made will reinforce the positive aspects of the business transformation. More importantly, it will enable more people to take more risks in trying out the new activity or behavior.
Ensure your change management efforts are practical
Most organizations know that change management is a critical success factor to achieving the desired business transformation. There are a multitude of change management methodologies along with supporting tools available to help an organization manage through the change. The difficulty is making it real, making it practical for staff. This means that the change management principles need to be embedded in everything that is done to transform the business. The best graphs and charts in the world will not help staff to understand what the change really means to them in practical terms.
Recognizing where individuals are at in the change continuum is key. Are they in denial of the change, are they resisting, or have they accepted the change intellectually but don’t know how that change really manifests itself in their day to day work life? What does that really mean? Do they believe the change is real and necessary or do they see it as something that will go away with time (if they just keep their heads down)?
Helping individuals translate the change requirements into real behavior change that reflects the change in business direction will help to ensure that the change sticks at the individual level. I believe that helping individuals to understand what “a day in the life of” means in the new world helps them to make it real. What will be different for them? What behaviors will have to change, what new people might they have to work with, how will the focus of their work shift? The more you can identify practical examples of the change impact at an individual level, the more success you will have in having that individual embrace the change.
Use your project teams wisely
Transformational change requires a dedicated team. However, there is a danger that these teams play too large a role in the face of the transformation. Relying too heavily on your project team can undermine the importance of the business leaders in understanding, owning, and modeling the change to staff. Organizations that are really serious about making a transformational change will have a project team with the appropriate focus, authority and team membership in place to get the organization moving on the transformation. Project teams will include staff drawn directly from the business and whose role it is to ensure that the business can directly input and shape the project approach. Usually, change management, business process and technology change are major focuses of the team. These teams may be in place for extended periods of time as the major changes are introduced to the organization.
For real success, the business must have “skin in the game” to deliver on the change and then sustain that change. The project team and other support services such as HR are simply enablers of the planned business transformation. The change in culture, in behavior, in the company DNA has to happen with the business. It is easy to hide behind a project team whose mandate is to deliver on the change but the reality is that project teams will go away and without a strong business foundation, the change will simply not stick – sustainment of the change will fail. Leadership must work closely with the project team to ensure that the changes being implemented are being accepted and embraced by the business. When business takes ownership in delivering the communications and modeling the new behaviors, the transformation has a much stronger chance of long-term success.
These lessons learned may seem like a whole lot of motherhood but the reality is that business transformation is a tough business and it is often very complex business. Keeping it simple, and keeping it real for your people will go a long way towards ensuring a successful implementation and, more importantly, the permanent adoption of the change.
About the Author
Karin is a principle of a Vancouver-based management consulting firm. She has over 20 years of practical experience leading a wide variety of initiatives. Her knack for assisting clients to successfully delivering business transformation initiatives is rooted in her practical approach and a strong background in business process design, technology enablement, and project and change management.