Change is about people, not policies
Why is it that business transformation so difficult to successfully achieve? I believe that the fears and insecurities that keep people locked into behaviours, even invisible fears, even when we know rationally that we should change. Whilst it is possible to change policies, processes, office layout and other external factors, but until they change people’s internal feelings, beliefs, assumptions, and minds, it is not easy to make the changes persist.
According to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), 85% of companies have undertaken a transformation during the past decade. Transformation is a significant task that can have wide-ranging ramifications for a business.
The same research found that nearly 75% of those transformations fail to improve business performance, either short-term or long-term.
So why is transformation so difficult to achieve?
People tend to get ‘locked in’ to old behaviours – even when they know that it is inefficient. On top of that, people don’t like to change. Many organisations will focus on planning and strategy, mapping out execution – instead of looking at what people are feeling and thinking when they’re asked to transform. We have all seen when passive and unconscious resistance has prevented change and transformation from being successful – staff who resist change both actively and passively.
I have seen digital transformation projects that have structured around two main areas; technology/implementation, and policies/processes. However, there is not enough focus on the area of adoption, changing user behaviours, training, employee engagement
Business transformations are typically built around new structural elements, including policies, processes, facilities, and technology. Some companies also focus on behaviours — defining new practices, training new skills, or asking employees for new deliverables.
“Culture” is a term that’s thrown around far more often than it’s explained or understood. For business purposes, think of culture as how we do things around here. It’s the set of shared beliefs and assumptions that go into the decisions and work habits of all employees in an organisation.
What most organizations typically overlook is the internal shift — what people think and feel — which has to occur in order to bring the strategy to life. This is where resistance tends to arise — cognitively in the form of fixed beliefs, deeply held assumptions and blind spots; and emotionally, in the form of the fear and insecurity that change engenders. All of this rolls up into our mindset, which reflects how we see the world, what we believe and how that makes us feel.
Leaders also have an outsize impact on the collective mindset — meaning the organizational culture. As they begin to change the way they think and feel, they’re more able to model new behaviours and communicate to others more authentically and persuasively. Even employees highly resistant to change tend to follow their leaders, simply because most people prefer to fit in, rather than stick out.
