While working for a global food / FMCG leader, I was at the core of some of the largest Transformational Changes in our industry: new business models, M&As followed by massive integrations, large-scale divestitures.
Sometimes people ask me: “What makes organizations succeed in such complex endeavours?”. A simple question, but is the answer as easy? Below is my 1,000 words response. Let me know what your thoughts are, please.
The first thing to keep in mind: Transformational Change is Business. Not “Business as Usual”, but critical business. Its chances to succeed are high only if, for every leader in the organization, the business goals of the year are as important as the success of the Transformational Change.
Will a Transformational Change impact “how we do things here” now and in the future, will it ultimately impact your culture? You bet. If one of your core organizational values is “We care about our people”, you better live that value every moment during the Change!
Here are 5 key factors that in my experience enable Transformational Changes to succeed:
1. Analysis: “We know what is changing”
Towards the end of the implementation, the changes will be known for every single position, process step, and system transaction. Can that level of detail be expected from the beginning? No one has a perfect, detailed picture of what is changing from the beginning, therefore the actual implementation must be intertwined with a disciplined and well-staged process of identifying anticipated changes. What is changing in terms of People / Organization, Ways of Working and IT Applications? Who are the key stakeholders in this change and how supportive of it are they? Answering these questions at the right time, involving the right people, and using the right tools is critical for success.
2. Communication: “Help people visualize and embrace the Change”
Communication is about winning both hearts and minds. It starts at the beginning of the change with a compelling “Big Picture” view of what is changing: Leaders communicating the purpose of the Change, informing and engaging all people in driving the Change. And as change continues, the details become clearer and are shared within the organization. This is an effort for every leader, and every subject-matter expert in the organization; your Communication leader is the orchestrator of this effort, but by no means the sole actor! Sometimes, saying “we do not know yet” is OK, even if could be incredibly uncomfortable to say that as a leader; as long as you did a good job of being close to your team during the change, they will accept this answer. Be mindful about questions your team members have, and understand how they feel during different change phases: regularly “take the pulse” of your organization.
3. Ownership: “Everybody owns the Change, from the factory floor to the CEO”
Remember the “What is in it for me” question? While a Transformational Change will originate from the CEO, and provide major business benefits, there is always some benefit to Change for every single person in the organization. It may come as a chance for you to distinguish yourself, or even lead to a promotion. But in the end, everybody receives some benefits. Many times, massive transformation is the only way for the business to survive in the near future, and consequently for some of the jobs to exist.
But even for the people who unfortunately lose their job as a result of the Change, being involved provides extraordinary learnings at a rapid pace that “business as usual” cannot match. A smart employer will appreciate what you learned is gold, and your marketability will fortunately increase.
Leaders build ownership by supporting their team members in defining “What is in it for me”, but in the end this answer is very personal: no one but you will decide if you smile when you start working in the morning, focusing on identifying and acting on opportunities, rather than seeking shelter and complaining…
4. Learning: “Everyone is prepared for implementing the Change, and for the life after the Change”
600 sessions, for 10,000 employees, in just 6 weeks: that is how much training was needed around the go-live of an integration I co-led! Training starts much earlier though, and its content is defined as the organization learns what is changing (via the Analysis).
Training will be functional, cross-functional, localized, translated, and will zoom in from the overall Business Model down to each IT application transaction – this is the “hard” training. The “soft” one is focused on helping leaders and everyone else in the organization to manage change, and manage themselves (including their emotions, and their well-being) through change. In addition, being able to work across organizational (or national) cultures must be learned.
No one is 100% percent prepared for executing a Transformational Change when it starts. At best, people have learned something from previous ones. For example, an ERP implementation would prepare your organization for a full Business Model change, but the magnitude and the impact of the Business Model change will be much greater. The organization will have a “residual memory” of the ERP implementation though, and it will take a while to determine they are dealing with “a different animal” this time, and to adapt.
Learning takes some tolerance for mistakes, so make sure you have it, and make the Change a team effort as much as possible, bringing diverse perspectives in, thereby reducing the number and magnitudes of mistakes. Do not hesitate to acquire the critical competencies you do not possess internally from the market.
5. Execution: “The right people, working seamlessly together, deploy the right plan”
Double-hatting works to some degree, and unfortunately typically lands on the same people… Carefully assess the price tag for allocating sufficient time and resources to the implementation vs. the cost of failure. Will you save some hundred thousand by allocating less resources, but risk not being able to ship your product / deliver your service at the end of the implementation?
Answer these questions, and decide accordingly:
- Do the people leading the Change implementation have a reputation of navigating change, and making things happen? Will other people follow them?
- Can different functional leaders work well together?
- Do we have the right IS resources working together with functional resources? Do we have enough / the right subject matter experts?
- Do we have a great in-house Project & Change Management approach to run the Change?
