3. When to start

The problem with starting transformation is often the fear of the unknown. Consider the learning zone model below, developed by Tom Senninger.

There is a security in the control of the known. Making significant change away from that is scary. Emotionally, we don’t want to disappoint others or ourselves and practically, we think of the bills that need paying!

This manifests in all sorts of excuses – its just not the right time, the market is too volatile, we’ll work it out eventually and, most commonly, were too busy to improve at the moment.

The trick is for enough of the leadership team to agree that the risk of doing nothing is greater than that of taking action now.

To achieve this requires both quantitative and qualitative reasoning; there needs to be an honest and aligned understanding of where we are today. It will not all be bad and the good needs recognition as a platform on which to build.

There are two likely scenario’s in which the leadership team must tip into action.

Scenario 1 is that everything is fine, maybe even achieving growth, but there is a desire to be better. Often a difficult sell and there must be a compelling reason to be better; and there is.

The world is changing ever quicker – its critical to understand the need to evolve and get ahead of the new circumstances and be able to articulate the importance of making/taking the opportunity now.

The truth is that sustaining good performance, often seen as the target, is just going backwards slower.

A good starting place is reflecting on why an organisation was started in the first place - societal reasons, environmental? economic? Are we still aligned and achieving what we hoped when the organisation was started? Are we being true to the reason for the organisations being?

Another area to consider for influencing thinking are organisational values. Most often these will include: Accountability, Leadership, Customer Focus, integrity and Diversity. Is maintaining the current performance honestly displaying these wholeheartedly? How much effort is it taking to deliver what we do? Could we do more with what we have?

The second scenario is that the company is in crisis. Achieving alignment then may be easier but of course this is the hardest time to try and change. Lets not wait for this to occur, practice proactivity and start in scenario 1.

Its certain. Moving away from the current situation will be seen as a risk. If it’s not necessary then why would you do it? There must be a compelling reason for change that has been understood and agreed by the majority.

A strong Leader must need to plan for the transformation of everyone in the company, including themselves and their peers. They must be brave and trust in the ability of themselves and their teams. There is a wealth of often untapped potential waiting to be unleashed on the challenge.

There will be a lot to unlearn before laying down the new paradigms. Communication, buy in, collaboration and cooperation will all be necessary to succeed however the reward for doing so will be a significantly improved organisation for the people it serves, the people that work within it and the shareholders that owns it all at the same time.

If transformational levels of change have not already been achieved by a quorum within the leadership team, its crucial to get someone who has been through it to guide you and we’ll talk about that in the next article.