An agile transformation process & culture is key

The pace of change in today’s marketplace and ecosystem is colossal. Changes in Information Technology, rapid changes in Customer Behavior, quick amendments in Government policies — all these factors are making it difficult for business owners to confidently undertake the transformation that can yield the desired long-term outcomes. While large-scale organizational transformations were necessary since ancient times, the exponential, multi-dimensional, and often times, geopolitical changes of today make it critical for organizations to understand what makes transformations successful and what makes them fail. It can be ruinous for organizations if they ignore these aspects.

If I were to list down the reasons of successes and failures of large-scale transformations, a decade ago, it would be project management abilities, organizational culture, change management etc. In today’s environment, my top choice would be the inability to predict what is in store for the future. Which organizations would have thought of running a company without actually owning the assets a decade ago? Today, the largest transportation company does not own a fleet of cars, the largest hospitality chain does not own any hotels; you have many such examples. Do we know what’s next? More importantly, is your transformation initiative catering to current environment or the future ecosystem? Unfortunately, there is no magic wand; there is no crystal ball, and certainly, no divine mantra which will give you a glimpse of the future.

The key to success depends on two things — how close your predictions are of the future ecosystem (compared to your old, new and emerging competition), and how agile your transformation process is to accommodate changes in case a new dimension emerges.

These transformations can take years and with the exponential pace of change, there is always the probability of being irrelevant by the end of the plan. Innovation is the name of the game. Inability to understand the complexity, inability to innovate or sense the innovation, and the inability to be agile can lead to misadventures and disasters. 

Now, imagine the enormity of the complication; the yesteryears’ needs of stakeholder buy-in, project management, change management etc. are not going away. The pace of change and disruption are new elements. That brings me to my next and favourite point—organizational culture — the beliefs, values, and principles that all your employees adhere to and whether or not it’s conducive to such an agile ecosystem? Any large organization today has multiple generations (age) and multiple ethnicities (geographies) — imagine the convolution of this — is your Organizational Culture such that it can take everyone along? More importantly, do we understand the strengths that each one of our employees brings to the table, and whether we are playing to each other’s strengths? Is the entire organization ready to embrace these strategic changes, followed by multiple other disruptions such as technology? The organizational structures need to be refurbished as the future of work is changing. Old generations, new generations, different ethnicities and now bots & machines — all will work in tandem. What should be the organizational structure to empower such future of work? Maybe the traditional organizational structures with the traditional rating systems will not work. Maybe organizational nodes with smaller groups focused on smaller initiatives are the answer — it will be different for different companies depending on their vision and their maturity. The broader question is whether the owners/business leaders and the employees have the mindset to accept this. In summary, the main point I’d like to drive home is whether or not the transformational initiative that you have embarked on is aligned to your organizational culture? 

In conclusion, I will like to draw parallels with the migratory birds. Imagine your organization is those migratory birds. I would like to believe that the process they adopted to migrate was rather simple earlier — there were some old and experienced birds who had successfully done it in the past, and some who got trained last time (close aides) would lead the journey. The timing was almost certain, place and path were almost certain, and it was all about the ability to execute, ability to fly in tandem, the culture of helping each other by replacing some set roles (flapping of wings versus resting of wings) was more than enough. However, given the environmental changes that the Earth is experiencing, the regular migration might be fatal for the birds; multiple new dimensions, e.g. if the last place would still be suitable for the migration this time? Or did they get any hints of deforestation, would the weather there be changing by the time they reach back again? Earlier, deforestation was a rather slow process, now with the new tools and the rapid pace of some economies, it might be a matter of weeks. Thinking on new ideas instead of migration might be a solution as well, should they do altitude migration instead of latitude? Should they think about hibernation? All these are catering to my first point as I mentioned above on thinking through the futuristic situation instead of the current. Second is the cultural piece i.e. while they were returning from last migration, did they think/venture out to explore some possible new areas as plan B for next time around? While flying, do they have a culture by which they can break down in groups and fly in different directions to report back on the safest ground? Did they appreciate such behavior? Or, is the culture brittle enough to part ways when such a situation arises. While flying, in today’s environment, there is a high chance that they will experience a lot more irregular temperatures and winds – in those times, do some decide to part ways? Certainly not a great answer as they lose unity and it does not help either group.

Similarly, the new age transformation has to be aware of the new complicated and rapidly changing ecosystem. Being able to sense new dangers, being agile and flexible, trusting each other and playing to one’s strength is almost a bare minimum in today’s conditions. Migration is critical for the birds, they cannot avoid it. Transformation is critical for you to beat the competition, there is no running away. Thinking through all the above aspects and having a culture to adopt such changes with ease is a key. Certainly, easier said than done!