The talk is of “transformation’ , the need for it and how to do it. Transformation is not change it’s more dramatic, more fundamental and contains a sense of urgency. The organisation needs to be more efficient, more competitive, more flexible , more responsive, more sustainable and more socially responsible. We need to be an agile organisation taking advantage of AI and making the most of digitalisation and data analysis. We need to move quickly if we want to be a leading organisation in a fast moving business environment.
A cautionary note
How often has a restructuring led to the wrong people leaving , a reorganisation caused confusion of roles and responsibility a merger failed to deliver the anticipated benefits while being highly disruptive and distracting? How often have new IT systems failed to delivered on promises? And when the dust has settled how frequently have changes in working practices improved quality and reduced costs?
This is not an argument against change or a failure to appreciate the need for transformation but there are risks . If you change too much too quickly you risk destabilising and confusing rather than sweeping all before you. Case studies show more senior management effort, energy and negotiation goes into making the case for transformation, and rather less into making the changes work which is often left to the front line. The focus tends to be on the structure, technology, new JD’s and contracts yet success is more dependent on cultural.
Changing the culture of an organisation is a lengthy process not just a case of drawing up some new policies and a few training initiatives. It’s about the style of management from top to bottom, it’s about the attitude to empowerment and employee engagement, it’s about how an organisation approaches EDI, it’s about how seriously the organisation takes the health and well-being of employees, it’s about the extent to which skills are regarded as transferable, it’s about the levels of trust and cooperation.
If an organisation is to be transformed, the pace of change must not slacken but changes must be given time to bed-in and people need time to adapt but most of all transformation is a lengthy and on going process. Typically it will see out at least two Chief Executives.
