Today, we are rapidly reinventing our organisations as we respond to overwhelming change. At Fire up™ we call this 'rebuilding the plane as you fly.' But why do we need to move fast? Should we go slow first? And, why is making faster changes as easy (and hard) as shifting the mindset of our leaders?
It needs to be faster than you think.
During the pandemic, a rapid response in the face of the disruption was necessary to survive. But do we still need to act so fast now? Looking ahead, it's not just about surviving; it's about reinventing our organisations to thrive and be fit for the future.
Actually yes, it needs to be much faster than you think! If you want your organisation to become fit for the future, you need to see results within 3-5 months. That’s because ‘the rate of change 9in your organisation needs to be at least as rapid as the rate of change outside’, according to Julian Birkinshaw from LBS*.
Do we need to go slow, before we go fast?
So, how can you speed up your change? It's not easy. You can't take 12 months to rebuild like before. The old ‘industrial age’ way of transforming—stopping everything and then rebuilding—usually takes over 18 months. That's too slow, and more than 70% of transformations fail.
You can take your time to move fast, but make sure to focus on preparing your leaders and teams for quick success first. You need a clear step-by-step plan to achieve that.
If you fire up your people, you will get faster transformation
So why do we still fall back to the traditional way to change. Simply put, it’s because we still think of our organisations as massive, slow-moving ‘industrial age’ machines with many moving parts. ‘it’s like we are trying to ‘fight the last war using structures and methods designed for the previous era’, says Julian.
But, organisations today are NOT ‘slow-moving’. Many organisations are are people driven. So if you want to transform at pace, it can’t be about leaders designing change in the back room, big programs and large teams of consultants pushing out change.
Change has to be co-created with your people. If you Fire up your people the right way, you’ll get the behaviour shift you need en masse much more quickly. That’s when you will get rapid transformation and get most of your results within 9-12 months**.
Your leaders need a mindset shift
Your top leaders have the greatest influence on the success of change – over 50%.
So, it comes back to your mindset (and that of your leaders). One of the biggest risks is falling back on what we know—the Industrial Age approach to transformation. Unfortunately, it’s going to happen!
If you want to put people in the centre of your change, you need a mindset focused on engaging hearts as well as heads and ‘exhibiting decisive action coupled with emotional conviction, according to Birkinshaw. That means:
- Taking immediate action – with a clear plan. You can’t wait. Start now. Show ‘decisiveness and strong action orientation.’ Create the space to involve your people in change with a step-by-step plan. Start small, get traction with small steps, and scale fast. Just being able to demonstrate results at each step powers up your change.
- Do not spend too much time analysing the past as you make decisions. While it’s useful to start to build an evidence base to frame each opportunity and be able to explain the Why, How and What of the change, there is no need for ‘analysis paralysis’. Picking too much over current problems just slows you down. It can also be so disheartening that it disengages your people. Why dig deep for data to prove what your people already know?
- Engaging your people right from the start of the journey will create powerful momentum for your change. People want to be listened to, they will embrace the change they create themselves. Spur action by connecting them to something bigger through a narrative or story that ‘creates a stronger emotional connection to those around them, rather than ‘sterile, big-data-driven decision-making.’
Rapid innovation in aged care
ACH group’s narrative around the future of ‘good lives for older people’ was a huge factor in inspiring and accelerating change over 12 months. It all started by listening to carers first. Leaders and carers then shaped a narrative that appealed to their common purpose and the exceptional experience they felt elders deserved.
Take a moment to reflect
What is the pace of change in your organisation? Where are you focusing all your effort? Do you have a step-by-step plan in place to get you moving quickly. And your leaders have the right mindset for rapid reinvention?
If you’d like to talk it through, get in touch with us today.
* Fast Forward, Make Your Company Fit for the Future by Julian Birkenshaw, LBS.2017
**McKinsey Study 2021