A common stumbling block in organizational transformation is the belief that good design decisions plus communication is enough to mold the organization into the desired shape. As I was considering ways to illustrate why this doesn’t work, I remembered a holiday story from my own experience.
Let me preface this story by sharing that I am not a baker. I can manage some basic recipes like chocolate chip cookies, but I am far from being Betty Crocker. This became painfully obvious a few years ago, when I had an impulse to make some festive Christmas-shaped sugar cookies.
I found a highly rated recipe online and gathered all the tools and ingredients. I followed the instructions carefully, hoping to create a perfectly shaped, beautifully decorated, Hallmark movie-worthy batch of delicious Christmas cookies. However, as I prepared to roll out the dough and cut it into the trees and bells and stockings I had envisioned, I peered into the bowl and was stunned to find that it was more like a liquid than a solid.
My first thought was that I must have forgotten to add the flour. That seemed like the obvious explanation. But with a quick glance, I could see the evidence of flour usage all over the countertops, all over the floors, and all over… well, everything.
So, I thought, maybe I didn’t add enough. Maybe I measured wrong, or maybe (imagine!) Betty Crocker had a faulty recipe. So, I added more flour and stirred and stirred… but nothing changed. I tried everything from beating the dough longer in the mixer to refrigerating it to make it firmer. I even started over from scratch, double-checking every step and every ingredient. The best I could produce was something akin to a Christmas pudding.
So, I tried spooning it directly into the cookie cutters. But no matter what I did, it just would not hold any of the shapes I had envisioned when I started my baking journey.
So, what went wrong?
Well, I found out later that the plastic container that I thought contained flour, actually contained powdered sugar purchased by my husband. I had no idea that we had any powdered sugar in the house, but given the rarity of my urge to bake, I probably should have known that we didn’t keep any flour.
Clearly, I had used the wrong ingredient in my baking adventure; but what does any of this have to do with organizational transformation?
The Human Aspect of Change
We often see executive leaders carefully plan the new organizational design, but when it comes time to roll out the changes, they simply toss in some sugary communication about the benefits of the change. They hope that this will bind everything together and allow it to take shape.
Like the powdered sugar, it may look like the right ingredient on the surface, but it won’t deliver the desired outcome. Sooner or later, the executive team will step back and wonder why the transformation isn’t taking the shape they envisioned.
You may have heard it said that organizations don’t change – people do.
Clear strategies and aligned organizing choices are important elements to enable the right results, but none of it will matter or truly take shape without carefully integrating the people components of the change. Let’s explore some key people components that are necessary for a successful transformation.
What Are the People Components?
The “people components” of change focus on engaging, equipping and empowering individuals to successfully adopt new work activities, mindsets and behaviors. The ultimate goal is to create an environment where individuals feel confident, capable and connected to the broader organizational goals.
To achieve this, we must not only orchestrate the movement of people into new structures and roles, but also address the deeper needs of individuals.
Considerations for a Successful Transformation
1. Ensure senior leaders are clearly aligned
During change, employees will take their cues from their own chain of command. If leaders at the top have different motivations or aspirations for the change, this lack of alignment will affect the entire organization. Like baking as a team while following different recipes, it puts the outcome at risk from the start.
Pro Tip: Never trust surface-level alignment. For example, buzz words like “innovative” or “customer-centric” can have many interpretations. Dig deeper to align on meaning and intent.
2. Engage middle managers in modeling and molding behavior
Much like the cookie cutters in this baking analogy, middle managers’ actions will be the model for everyone they lead. Beyond role modeling, they have an opportunity to mold their team’s behavior and mindset through actions such as facilitating dialogue, setting consistent goals and providing feedback and clarification. Just as the dough can only be transformed by folding in the flour, employee mindsets and behaviors can only be transformed by forging new beliefs about the operating environment.
Pro Tip: Remember, middle managers are also experiencing change. They need the same level of modeling and molding from their own leaders to engage.
3. Align systems and signals
Examine all aspects, including leadership behaviors, performance metrics, workflows and incentives. Inconsistencies create mixed messages regarding priorities and expectations. For instance, prioritizing productivity while neglecting collaboration can undermine efforts to promote teamwork. This diminishes credibility and results in confusion, distrust and resistance. Conversely, maintaining alignment ensures that the new operational methods become integrated into the organizational culture.
Pro Tip: Incentives extend well beyond monetary rewards. Symbolic non-monetary rewards like recognition and reinforcement can be powerful drivers of change.
4. Foster clarity and commitment
Ambiguity can ruin the result. Like a recipe with vague instructions (“a pinch” of this, “some” of that) it causes confusion, inefficiency and lack of engagement. Therefore, it’s essential that employees understand the “ingredients,” measurements and expected results of the new recipe. Clearly define new roles, responsibilities and decision rights. Specify what success looks like in the new roles and how it will be evaluated.
Pro Tip: Test a variety of use cases and scenarios and work through questions and concerns. Engage others who are close to the work and schedule regular check-ins to address concerns, monitor progress and discuss feedback. It’s like tasting the dough at each stage to ensure the outcome matches expectations. This co-creation also fosters ownership and commitment.
5. Ease the path
The easier the path, the more likely people are to follow it. Remove friction, streamline processes and provide the tools people need to accomplish the work. Assess skills and knowledge gaps and tailor training, onboarding and knowledge transfer to ensure smooth transitions. Provide just-in-time resources like checklists and job aids at the point of need. Just as you must have a plan to acquire the right tools and ingredients for your recipe (ahem… flour perhaps), likewise you must have a plan to ensure employees are equipped for their work.
Pro Tip: Specify plans for off-boarding, onboarding and transition of work. For example, identify work that needs to be retired, outline tasks and processes that need to be started or adapted for new roles and establish clear plans for transitioning ongoing responsibilities to ensure alignment with new strategic priorities.
Conclusion
The people components of change go far beyond surface-level efforts like “sugary communication” that focus on positive messaging without addressing the deeper needs of individuals. To successfully shape the envisioned outcome, ensure senior leaders are clearly aligned, engage middle managers in modeling and molding behavior, align systems and signals and foster clarity and commitment.