ESCP ALUMNI magazine - #198 - Mai 2022 - 88

Vie des entreprises
Conseil
Five Conditions for a
Successful Transformation
Katerin LE FOLCALVEZ (EAP 88)
Partner, Insigniam
Insigniam recently surveyed senior leaders about 10 of the largest challenges facing
business, and the world, today. As one would expect, the survey revealed differing
priorities and responses to challenges as diverse as global food security and
the increasing pace of technological change. But the responses also highlighted
a widespread understanding that in many cases, a wholesale transformation is
required to be an effective actor in this new and progressively more complex world.
How, then, can leaders think of transformation on such a scale, and of such impact,
that it would be adequate to steer a company through a mega-challenge such as,
say, climate change?
It should seem obvious that such
a transformation can't be planned
in a linear way. Large organizations
are compl ex adapti ve systems
that constantly evolve through the
ac tions of
independent agent s-
from employees and customers to
shareholders,
regulators and other
stakeholders. That is the case even
before we contemplate the massive
changes that are being wrought.
Through our work with large companies
in all industries and geographies, we've
found fi ve conditions that set the stage
for adaptive transformations.
A Transformation Must Be
Anchored in a Clear Purpose
That Is Worthy of People's
Personal Commitment
Def ining a clear purpose for a
transformation calls upon one of the
most basic tasks of leadership: to show
people the way forward, and to show
why the new world they are being
asked to build is superior to the old.
The transformation has to express the
possibility of a new order and must be
anchored in what would be considered
breakthrough results. Without
this
clear purpose, the effort required to
successfully transform the organization
will not seem worthy of commitment
on the part of those required to put it
into action.
Culture and Business Must
Be Integrated
Because transformations can seem
so overwhelming, it's tempting, and
sometimes helpful, to put tasks and
goals into buckets. But business and
culture often get put into separate
buckets-the hard and the soft-which
is a mistake. Culture is simply " how
work gets done around here " . It is part
of every aspect of the organization.
And it cannot be prescribed through
a list of " prefer red behaviour s " .
When taking on a transformation, it's
important to ask if your culture has the
characteristics needed to support the
transformation you seek.
See the World Differently
It is easy for us to get caught in our
own little bubbles. But we're unlikely to
solve any of the large challenges ahead
of us without new perspectives-if our
existing knowledge and approaches
were enough, we probably would have
solved many of these problems already.
That means we need to actively seek out
perspectives that differ from our own,
and we need to build an organization
that encourages its staff to do the same.
Look at your organization and how work
is typically structured. When could new
connections take place? Is time for that
activity valued and protected? How
much does your organization encourage
people to develop themsel ves ,
outside of the expected professional
development pathways?
When taking on a transformation,
it's important to ask if your culture
has the characteristics needed to support
the transformation you seek.
88 ❙
ESCP Alumni Magazine numéro 198 ❙ MAI 2022
ESCP ALUMNI magazine - #198 - Mai 2022

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