Legacy Behaviors and Patterns Die Hard

The following is an excerpt from our monthly Org Design Digest e-mail. If you would like to receive our update in your inbox each month, let us know.

LEGACY BEHAVIORS AND PATTERNS DIE HARD…How you organize, structure and approach a transformation effort is not the same as you would a more common change project!

Let’s start with the assumption that transformation work is very different from typical change work…if we take "typical change work" to mean activities of the “change management” type.*  

One of the first mistakes made by leaders responsible for the success or failure of the transformation is this:  They set up, organize, structure and approach the transformation work in exactly the same way they would any other type of change work. 

This is a huge mistake and one that is worth discussing as this month's business transformation wisdom…

Case in point: We recently had the opportunity to conduct a one-day assessment of a “transformation” effort being executed by a collaboration between a national government agency and its private industry partner.  The intent of the transformation effort was to deliver a substantive cost savings, faster response times, improved delivery against customer requirements, etc.  In our review of the entire transformation effort, we found these structures, approaches and characteristics:

• Five levels of governance made operational by existence of committees and councils whose tasks were to oversee, review and in some minority cases, approve.
• Value stream work – where the real change has to occur, was overly fragmented into sub-parts and pieces.
• The absence of significant integration of ongoing work to ensure it “fit” together.
• Majority of human resources were dedicated to governance efforts and not the transformation of value creation work.
• None of the real work was being done in the context of structured, disciplined methodology.

When we queried as to why they set up the transformation effort this way, the response was "This is how we go about change."  Patterns die hard – don’t they?!

Repeating the mistake in the approach is quite common in both industry and government.  So here's the point: 

If you want data and clues to see how a transformation is going…just look at how the effort is organized, governed and approaches managed.  If it’s done like it is always done…well, patterns die hard, and you can expect the same methodology to produce the same results the organization is accustomed to - not the transformative outcome intended at the outset.

By the way, if you are currently working on or thinking about initiating a transformation effort, we’d be delighted to shine an objective light on your plans or progress to date (at no cost, of course). We've completed so many transformations that we can quickly provide you with an informal assessment as to whether you are headed down the right path or if your approach needs adjusting to achieve the intended transformational outcomes.

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*Don’t agree with the assumption that change does not equal transformation? Join our webcast to find out why it IS different!