3 Key Components to Business Transformation
The power of vision, information, and meaningful connections
On Thursday September 30 of this year, I was saddened to read of the passing of Ned Smith. He was a professor at Northwestern University who designed and taught a course on the topic of Strategic Change Management, which I attended in the spring of 2020.
As the course unfolded, I could see how his thoughts integrated the topics of competitive environment, strategy, change, how to organize, and information flow. While there are a wealth of lessons to draw from, today I wanted to share my thoughts on Ned’s overarching philosophy from that course:
- Vision drives leadership
- Information drives organizations
- Meaningful connections (not fate or luck) drive our life paths
Each one of these statements can be seen as a pillar of Business Transformation.
[1] Vision drives leadership
It goes without saying that the transformation of an organization starts with a vision of what that organization wants to be in the future. A leader of this transformation can’t lead the organization to a future state if that leader can’t visualize what that future state looks like.
When I worked at Brother International’s Canadian subsidiary, I was fortunate to be a part of their transformation effort into a customer-centric business. The president at the time charged his management team to work in their respective domains and to fully integrate whatever they built into generating a customer experience where Brother would be “At your side”. Each leadership team member would convey that vision to their teams, who in turn would work (cross-functionally) on change initiatives and projects to incrementally position the company to provide the desired customer experience over time. Additionally, a PMO was installed to provide the capability Brother needed to manage these transformation projects. (Hint: That’s where I came into the equation.)
The results were phenomenal. Brother gradually developed its brand into something fun and relatable — a key component to the customer experience. CRM and eCommerce platforms were implemented to enable the collection and management of customer data, that would in turn be used to tailor the approach Brother would take in delivering the desired customer experience. A loyalty program was developed and integrated with those systems as well. Everything tied together in line with the vision.
[2] Information drives organizations
Think of the central nervous system of the human body. If a finger is in a boiling pot of water, pain receptors shoot signals up the nerves that route from the finger to the brain. The brain recognizes this signal as pain and determines the source, then sends a signal back to the arm and finger. All the muscles work in synchronization to pull the finger out of the boiling pot of water and out of immediate danger as quickly as possible.
In much the same way, the efficiency and effectiveness at which information flows through an organization depends heavily on how its people are organized, whether it be in day-to-day operations or transformation projects. During Weir Minerals Canada’s SAP implementation in 2018/19, the implementation manager and I (functioning as the change manager) had to find a way not only to ensure that information flowed at all levels within the regional business unit, but also to certain key stakeholders at the Division and Group levels within the Weir Group (which itself is a global company). This was absolutely critical if we wanted to successfully manage expectations and shepherd the business unit through this massive change. In response to this need, we set up a project governance structure similar to the one shown below.
By organizing ourselves along the aforementioned structure, the SAP implementation not only delivered on the business need but it was also a “perceived” success as well (an important distinction). Why? Because this structure enabled communication to flow vertically and horizontally through the different layers of the project and business operations.
- Good communication enables good stakeholder management
- Good stakeholder management enables good risk management
- Good risk management enables successful delivery of the transformation project.
If you’d like to learn more about how to organize for a transformation project, check out this post by clicking on the link below.
[3] Meaningful connections (not fate or luck) drive our life paths
We’ve all been told of the value of connections in our careers and in our lives. However, not all connections will bring equal value. In fact, it’s most likely that only a handful of connections are truly “meaningful”. Meaningful connections change the course of our life paths (in a good way) so significantly that it would be hard to imagine what life would be like if that meaningful connection hadn’t exerted its influence at the time(s) that it did.
While I had joined Weir Minerals Canada’s SAP implementation in September 2018, the project had already been rolling since April of that year. At a 3-day DILO presentation event, I had the opportunity to see the roster of key users who joined the team prior to my own insertion. The team (that the implementation manager had assembled) appeared to be a diverse group of smart, hard working, good-natured employees coming from multiple sites and functions across Canada. After the event, I had asked the implementation manager how he came to assemble such a group. His response was that these were all people whom he had developed a connection with over his then 8-year tenure at the company (in various roles).
As I’ve indicated earlier, that SAP implementation was a true and perceived success. Most of the team members went back into the business and recieved a promotion or were placed in other prominent roles (including myself). Additionally, that SAP implementation launched the “ business transformation” era of my career, having added credible change management experience to my (already established) project management background. This is the power of meaningful connections.
Conclusion: Tying it together
Prof. Ned Smith’s three-statement philosophy on strategic change management represent three distinct pillars of business transformation. Without a proper vision, efforts within the various functions of a company don’t have a common “north star” to follow. Without organizing for efficient and effective information flow, the project team would not be able to respond to risk well nor would it be able to set proper expectations in a timely fashion with key stakeholders that make or break the project. Without meaningful connections, it would be very difficult to infuse the right knowledge and expertise into a complex transformation project. So, if you’re going through some sort of transformation at your organization, be sure to check on all three dimensions to ensure you’re set up for success.
Additional information for you:
If you’re in the fields of (or interested in) transformation management, change management, organizational development, or any related field, you’d definitely benefit from taking this course. I’m not sure if it’s still being offered, but here is a link to the course outline/brochure.
Note: I’m not affiliated with Northwestern University in any way. Just recommending the course because I found it meaningful and useful.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
