Leadership

The Business Transformation Network recently hosted an event on "Employee Engagement - Whose Job Is It Anyway?" in partnership with Glint, at the Bloomsbury Hotel in London. 

It was one of those defining moments that occasionally punctuate our working lives. The realisation that what had been previously taken as an article of faith was, in fact, the cause of the problem. As this inconvenient truth dawned on the faces of the assembled transformation leaders, there was a perceptible shift of energy. Feelings of release, as well as fear pervaded the hotel conference room in which we were gathered.

I recently read this statement as a headline for a report published by the CIPD.

My recent work with top talent was very interesting. They are mid level managers from several organizations. Some were grouped together and another dispersed in their own role while going through the program with me.

These are top talent. They earned their spot through the their experiences on the job while scaffolding their growth. They are very talented and some are opinionated. All of them went through several screening processes before being short-listed into this program.

The insights I got here worth sharing. Here there are:

Business transformation is a challenging endeavour, we all know that. If it isn’t, then you’re probably not transforming. Engaging people early on and setting expectations is really important, as I once said out of a bit of desperation, ‘the transformation fairy isn’t going to just turn up and magic this all into place you know’

I am somewhat disappointed by the latest figures showing how many businesses have failed to carry out Brexit Risk Assessments and even more disappointed at the number that have not undertaken any planning in order to prepare for a future after the UK has left the EU.

I recently recorded a podcast about all things Business Transformation. We talked about the difference between Agile and Waterfall, Scrum and Prince 2, Leadership and Management. It was a whistle-stop tour of my thoughts and reflections on change and transformation. One of the central concepts I offered was that Digital Transformation is first and foremost about people, not just technology.

Last week I asked I shared:

"Change is natural and in nature all living entities change or transform naturally without resisting or questioning. Life happens, and what happens is something called change. Some changes are the result of biology and the passage of time, within the natural cycle or order of things. Nature can change all by herself without the hand of man. If change is a natural event why is change so difficult for humans?"

During a recent HR Audit, whilst in the kitchen making a tea, I observed a conversation between two people who were talking about their team meeting whilst making their drinks and one left a spoon in the sink instead of putting it in the dishwasher. No big deal you might say.

The person to have left the spoon was asked by the other 'are you not going to put that in the dishwasher?' to which they replied 'no leave it, someone else will do it'. They both shrugged and left the kitchen.

We conducted a Q&A interview with Jess Tayel, Global Business and Digital Transformation Coach and Mentor, about business transformation, where it should sit within an organisation and the importance of value-add business transformation to an organisation. If you missed Part 1, you can view it here.

Business transformation projects tend to fail, so how can a clear strategy and a set direction affect this?