Organisational transformation is today more important than ever before – this applies to any type and size of organisation, whether providing a service or manufacturing a product. Organisational transformation must form an integral part of an organisation’s strategic and business planning cycle. This is crucial to remain relevant and successful in a rapidly changing world.
The aim of transforming an organisation is to move it from where it is currently today, to a decided future state. This is no easy task! It first starts with recognising the need for change, the need to transform – perhaps the most challenging step – particularly when an organisation is performing well. Continually challenging the status quo, planning for change, implementing change, communicating the change, reviewing change, measuring achievements are all important steps.
Organisational transformation goes beyond just transforming business processes or implementing new technology. It’s a holistic approach to maintain a competitive advantage, develop a strong brand and market position. It may also very well be focused on digital transformation, that is repositioning an organisation in the digital economy.
Peter GattAchieving employee buy-in
Moreover, organisational transformation is about leading people, building a people-centric organisation with the aim of successfully developing and delivering the organisation’s transformation plan. Achieving and maintaining high levels of employee engagement and buy-in throughout any transformation process is key, and in turn increases the probability of success.
Achieving employee buy-in is more and more challenging today. Organisations are increasingly facing a phenomenon that would have seemed unthinkable some years ago. In what has been dubbed the ‘Great Attrition’, hiring the right talent has become harder than ever before. Organisations are facing a constant struggle to come up with the right strategies to find and retain talent.
Having a clear purpose
One of the main challenges in organisational transformation is to recognise and understand the need to change. The questions to be answered are: Why transform? What does the organisation want to achieve? How does this translate into concrete plans and goals? How will an organisation implement its plans? How are plans expected to impact the organisation’s outcomes? What resources will be required? How will success be measured? These are all questions to be answered. Again, no easy task with no magic formula, but with people involvement.
ransformation doesn’t happen in a silo
The chances of organisational transformation being successful increases when an organisation has a clearly defined purpose. Formulating and communicating a comprehensible purpose – having a clear Mission, Vision and Values makes it easier to embrace change and have employees support the transformation. That is achieving and maintaining employee buy-in!
Planning and leading the change
Transformation doesn’t happen in a silo. It is an ongoing process, needs to be planned, lead and managed and as mentioned needs to address all areas of a business. This means understanding the impact of change on all areas. How will the change impact an organisational structure? How will the change impact the technology being used? How will the change impact its employees and its customers? How will the change impact an organisation’s service delivery, its product portfolio? Will there be any potential talent gaps and how will they be addressed? What are the risks and how will they be managed?
A good approach is to plan the tasks required to transform an organisation, starting with the end-results in mind, and working back through all areas of the organisation. A plan with clear goals, timelines and performance indicators, makes the transformation process more tangible. It is impossible to change everything at once and prioritising the matters that need to be tackled first is essential.
Engaging stakeholders
Engaging all stakeholders in organisational transformation is essential. Identify who the stakeholders are must be done at the very beginning of the process. Reiterating why the transformation is taking place and what the role of each stakeholder also needs to form part of the planning process and cycle.
Furthermore, ongoing communication is a must as is the ongoing review of the plans which most likely will result in the transformation plans being re-evaluated, modified and goals reprioritised.
Communicating the benefits
Communicating the benefits, will make it easier to overcome any resistance to change. A communication plan should be drawn up. Communication is two-way and therefore needs to provide employees with opportunities to ask questions and share their concerns. Team meetings, townhall meetings and 1-on-1 meetings are all ways of communicating transformation plans, progress and achievements.
Measuring progress
Finally measuring progress contributes to understanding what has been achieved and what is still to be achieved. Data plays a key role in measuring progress also employee feedback is just as important. This is achieved by measuring employee engagement, employee experience, performance and productivity.
Each step in a transforming an organisation requires people input and therefore employee buy-in. Most of all it requires strong leadership to see the change through. Above all, without employee buy-in the chances of a successful transformation are slim.