What’s So Good About Business Transformation? (Part 3)
The type of organization needed to do BT well
Have you ever seen a concert in which an orchestra performed well?
How about one in which an orchestra did not?
While there can be many factors that contribute to an orchestra not performing well, there’s usually only one major reason why an orchestra performed well — everyone played their assigned parts as they should have to make the entire performance a good one.
It’s the same for Business Transformation (BT). There are three human components in the “orchestra” of business transformation:
- Leadership Team
- The People
- Transformation Management Office (TMO)
Let’s explore each of those groups.
Please note that (as it was in Part 2 when discussing the BT Framework) the perspective taken in this article best fits that of a business unit.*
Leadership Team
BT starts with the business’ leadership (i.e. executives and upper management). There are three main tenets to BT for which leadership has the responsibility of bearing the torch for the rest of the organization.
- Vision drives leadership
- Information drives organizations
- Meaningful connections (not fate or luck) drive our life paths
Top leadership must be fully engaged and patient. They must show the rest of the organization the vision needed to start a transformation program and the resolve to see it through when it gets tough and the initial excitement runs out. They need to lead by example.
The People
In this context, the “People” are those who contribute to the day-to-day operations of the business.**
The people of the business must absolutely be fully engaged and active during a BT program. That’s because they feel the results of business transformation projects more than anyone else in the organization AND they are the ones who will make the change work (if it has any chance to work to begin with).
Figure 1 shows (by color) how typical business functions align to each of the BT dimensions. Note that most business functions contribute to all BT dimensions to some degree, but specific functions tend to contribute more heavily to one dimension more heavily than others.
Transformation Management Office
In addition to the functional disciplines seen in Figure 1, there are several change disciplines that an organization requires to pull off BT successfully and make the end state sustainable. Some examples are:
- Strategy Development
- Project Portfolio Management
- Project Management
- Change Management
- Organizational Development
- Continuous Improvement
Figure 2 shows how these change expertise insert themselves into the Business Transformation Framework to varying degrees (Big dots = heavy involvement; medium dots = moderate involvement; small dots = some contribution).
These change expertise are embodied in what can be called a Transformation Management Office (TMO).
These days, most people are familiar with more visible parts of the TMO like project management, change management, and continuous improvement. This is because these change disciplines are the ones that people in the business see the most. However, the TMO is involved with more than the execution of projects (as can be seen in Figure 2).
How all the parts come together
Organizations would do well to position their TMO as a trusted partner to the business’ leadership team when fleshing out competitive strategy and determining what goes into the transformation portfolio.
The TMO is like the conductor of an orchestra. The conductor calls for when the brass, the woodwinds, and the percussion instruments activate and weave together to deliver a symphony. Similarly, the TMO does the same for the business’ portfolio of offering, infrastructure, and organization transformation projects.
Additionally, a truly well-positioned TMO facilitates the cohesiveness between leadership and the rest of the people of the business. It can set up mechanisms for communication and stakeholder management vertically along the organizational hierarchy and laterally across the business’ various operations. This helps mobilization on projects and builds agility into the organization.
Concluding thought: BT is for the people of the business
Business transformation is not easily adopted. In general, human beings are naturally built to resist change. That might be due to any combination of reasons such as (but not limited to):
- Fear of the unknown
- If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it mentality
- Insecurity about personal or individual limitations in capabilities to learn new things and adapt.
Taking this into account, the business must still move forward. The TMO and business leadership can help the majority of its people overcome the fear and adopt what will make the business better. However, sometimes what’s best for those stubborn resistors to change in the business today is that they are no longer in the business tomorrow (and that they are on the path to something more aligned with their well-being). In those cases, the TMO and leadership have a duty to help them exit the company with dignity and the ability to move onto the next phase in their life paths.
When it’s all said and done, what (and who) remains after transformation should be a business ready to compete and take its place in the environment of its choosing.
This part concludes this “What’s So Good About Business Transformation?” series of business articles. I sincerely hope that you take what has been presented in this series and apply it to your own contexts. Transform your own businesses into the type of place you want to work and grow!
Endnotes
* What is a Business Unit?
For the intent of this article, a business unit can be a standalone unit (like a small manufacturing company) or one of many in a global corporation, so long as it has a reasonable level of autonomy over its own business activities. Typically, that means it has a management committee, operations across multiple functions, and at least some local specialized resources that can be dedicated to project work.
** The People
These are people who carry out the day-to-day operations. Some examples are roles like buyer, inventory analyst, production worker, shipper receivers, marketing specialists, inside sales, account managers, customer service representative, finance clerk/analyst/manager, human resources generalist, payroll, etc. Additionally, middle management may also be considered as part of this stakeholder group.
