Making Business Transformation a Success
When executed with the right tools and techniques, business transformation can fix the things that are dragging your organisation down.
Problem is, a lot of businesses invest time and money into transformation only to experience ineffective change.
It’s challenging to identify why your change project went wrong without external support, especially if this is your first business transformation endeavour.
Andrea Law, Founder and Director of Enthuse, recently tackled this subject during episode thirteen of Tony Lockwood's podcast series on business transformation. You won’t regret giving it a listen, but we thought it’d be useful to cover Andrea’s main points in this blog.
Has lockdown triggered the need for transformation?
While all businesses won’t need to completely transform because of lockdown, we must “be mindful that the world has shifted on its axis,” explains Andrea. And as organisations go into this new phase, there are specific areas they need to consider.
For example, as your business grows, you might not need a bigger office anymore because you now know that your employees can work effectively from home.
However, having an office, or rather a hub for people to get together occasionally is essential. Because you still need to invest in engaging with your people face-to-face, and them with each other.
Also, it’s easier to treat your team as a homogeneous group when you’re not seeing them face-to-face regularly. But this can be detrimental to their wellbeing and performance. Because, while some employees might like working from home, others may find it isolating.
“You can’t make unilateral decisions,” urges Andrea. “You need to talk to your team to find out their individual viewpoints.”
Transform by listening, not telling
Before Andrea started Enthuse in 2015, she worked in-house for The Co-operative Group during its year of crisis. She led internal communications for the Food business, which was going through a transformation programme of its own, to turn the business around:
“The whole point of transforming Co-op was to correct those things that weren’t right in the business. To find out what wasn’t working, we had to go out and ask the people on the inside.”
This is key: if you don’t get that initial input from your employees, reflect on it and structure your communications practices accordingly, your change plan will fail. That’s because:
● You’ve looked at the business’ problems top-down - you don’t fully understand the bigger picture or the problems at the employee or customer level
● Your employees don’t have a stake in the success of change - they don’t get why the changes are important to them - generating a lack of enthusiasm and positive action
So how do you effectively engage people in your organisation’s transformation?
Create awareness and generate enthusiasm
Your people need to know why they’re being asked to do things differently. So, during the preparation stage, you must build that understanding - why you’re doing this to take the business to a better place.
At the same time, let them know that you haven’t got all the answers (because it’s true!) and ask for their input. That’s how you generate enthusiasm: it gives your people a stake in the success of that change, and they become its champions.
With their dedication, it’s far easier to achieve transformation than just from the top.
Respect their fears about change
“You can do your very best to engage and communicate effectively, but you will always have people who are resistant to change,” advises Andrea.
The truth is they often have a good reason to be fearful. Change can result in job losses or redefined roles employees may have to apply for. You’ve got to appreciate the personal stress this can create. But you’ve also got to address it because it can create conflict in the rest of the team. Leaders need to sit down with that fearful person in their team, find out how they are feeling and what else is going on in their life.
There’s an added benefit of listening to these legitimate fears: the learning you get from talking to that person could help to make transformation smoother.
But it can’t just be anyone who approaches the employee about their fears, as Andrea puts it:
“It’s down to the line managers and team leaders to understand all the individuals in that team. Everything you do - communication, change, engagement - the critical factor is the leader. They have to be able to communicate and engage effectively.”
Tools and techniques for effective leadership
Developing strong leaders “doesn’t have to be complicated,” advises Andrea. She continues: “give people the tools and language they need to have those conversations and set up processes for them to be coached themselves.”
Peer-to-peer coaching is a great way to prepare leaders for difficult conversations with fearful employees. They can connect with other team leaders and share their experiences, helping them learn what’s working well and what isn’t.
Six Thinking Hats can be one approach to nudging employees through the change curve. It helps them look at problems from different perspectives, but one at a time. It also gets individuals in the team to talk about the positives of transformation, generating excitement on a peer-to-peer level and removing fear.
Understanding the Kubler-Ross change curve and the Bridges framework also empowers leaders to support individuals on an emotional level.
The Kubler-Ross change curve describes the emotional journey people go through when experiencing change: from shock and denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Learning these stages helps you empathise with team members better, making you a powerful communicator.
The Bridges framework, created by change consultant, William Bridges, focuses on the internal transition individuals experience while going through change. This consists of three stages:
Ending, Losing and Letting Go
The Neutral Zone
The New Beginning
To help employees go through this internal transition, leaders can guide them through each stage, helping team members overcome their anxieties, challenge resentment and adopt change sustainably.
Leaders also need to keep the narrative for change moving, through active listening and celebrating people’s efforts. If your teams’ input on change has enabled a system to work better, or has led to an increase in sales, you have to keep telling these stories.
Listen to the podcast
To solidify everything you’ve learnt today, give Tony Lockwood's interview with Andrea a listen. And if you fancy it, let us know your thoughts on Twitter.