Mistakes to AVOID in Large Scale Transformation

In today’s rapidly changing world, organisations are constantly looking for ways to transform themselves to remain competitive. Large-scale transformation can be a daunting task, but it is essential for success in the long run.

In this video, I discusses four common myths and six common mistakes that people make when leading transformation. I also share advice on how to avoid these mistakes and successfully lead transformations.

You can watch the full video here.

In reality, transformation is an ongoing process that requires continuous effort and attention. It is important to set up a system for monitoring and improving the transformation over time.

In reality, people are resistant to change when they don’t have agency in the process and when they don’t know about the reason to change.

Different people react differently to change – some want agency, some want to understand the logic, some want to know how it impacts them and their work, some want to know the carrots and sticks involved. Some are naturally inclined to change and some resistant to them.

Assuming that everyone is the same and using a common approach to enrol all of them is doomed for failure.

One of the things that most people believe is that any transformation happens either top down (leader led) or bottoms down (community led).

However, in my experience, no transformation effort can be successful until the effort is both leader and community led. One of the key players here are those in middle management.

Common Mistakes Made When Leading Transformation

The single biggest mistake that leaders make when leading large scale transformation is around communication – either assuming that communication happened and that it was effective. Formal communication is necessary but not sufficient.

Real transformation happens when people talk about the change and what they see their peers talking about, and responding to the effort.

So, one common messaging for all doesn’t necessarily work. Again, it is necessary but not sufficient.

Every organisation is like a living breathing organisation and has its own memory. So, what happened in the past has an effect on what we are trying to do in the present. So, ignoring or avoiding the past only creates more challenges than address them.

So, if in the past, change initiatives have failed, we need to address the question about why this current initiative is important, why do we think it will succeed and what are we doing differently this time around to ensure success.

As with everything else, not all stakeholders are the same. So, we need to identify the kind of stakeholder we are engaging and plan our engagement strategy with them accordingly.

In my experience, there are three kinds of stakeholders:

Impacted: These are people who will be significantly impacted due to the transformation exercise. Their enrolment and feedback are crucial for any level of success of the transformation.

Influential Leaders: These are people who are power centers and have significant influence over the resources, budgets and attention that is needed for the transformation to succeed.

This list of impacted people, influential leaders and connectors needs to determine who becomes part of the steering committee, who becomes part of the people who need to be kept in the loop, whom should you seek feedback from and who becomes your change agents.

We need to not only think in systems but develop a good understanding of how our organisation functions as a system. What part is connected to which other parts and how the decisions and actions taken in one part of the organisation affects the other connected parts of the organisation.

Most transformation projects struggle during periods of transitions, when they are neither in the past nor in the future. We need to have clear instructions for people on how to behave during these periods.

If we are not clear about the expectations, the chance that people go back to their comfort zone and behave in their old ways, rendering all the hard work ineffective.

All of this until the next set of change becomes imminent.

Conclusion

Leading large-scale transformation is a challenging but rewarding task. By following the tips and avoiding the mistakes outlined in this post, you can increase your chances of success.

I hope this blog post has been helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.

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