Moments of Insight Designing for sustainable transformation - EDITION 2: Transform for Value
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
E DI T IO N 2: APR IL
Moments
of Insight
Designing for sustainable
transformation
1
Table of contents
Editorial................................................................................................................................ 3
Your input and thoughts on sustainable transformation.........................4
The 4 main topics arising from the research....................................................6
Transformation design...............................................................................................10
2
Hello and welcome to the second edition of
Moments of Insight
As we move out of the COVID pandemic and into an even more interconnected
world and workplace, the need for adaptability, resilience and sustainable change
is becoming more and more pressing.
My hands-on experience of operational change and its associated behaviours
keeps me on my quest to continually remain curious and constantly question
myself and others on human reactions to change, and to move the needle on
transforming organisational culture. Creating deliberately developmental practice
in organisations and understanding the dynamics of human systems are key to
creating powerful communities and driving change, albeit identifying constraints
and challenges along the way.
As ever with Moments of Insight, I am researching topics with a view to gathering
input from diverse and engaged leaders across the globe, to obtain different
perspectives as well as a collective understanding of how to change the way we view
and manage these subjects. I launched this second subject to engage in dialogue on
digital transformation and what elements are required for it to be sustainable.
With such a vast topic, you cannot claim to have really bottomed it out in only six
weeks, but in keeping with agile practice, the data we have collected will serve as a
starting point for further iteration, understanding and to evolve good practice.
Today, change is the constant, and we need to continuously question ourselves to
create a more adapted, inclusive and agile workplace.
Thanks again for your input and interest.
Enjoy!
Suzie Lewis
3
1 Your input and
thoughts on sustainable
transformation
The word cloud below summarises your answers to my Moments of Insight
question: what would be the three main points that would need to be addressed to
create sustainable transformation in your organisation today?
4
Digital transformation is clearly a phrase everyone uses, but what does
transformation actually mean and how do leaders and organisations go about it?
How do you create an understanding of the different skills, ways of working and
culture that you need to move forward and how do you anchor these changes in the
DNA of your organisation ?
We can see from your contributions that change is never easy, it is multi-layered,
and that transformation is essentially about people not processes or technology.
We are currently defining the future workplace where we need to rebalance our
habits, our operating models and our approach to the employee experience. It is
interesting to hear the different perspectives on how to go about this in a way that
creates the momentum for changing the environment we live and work in, and
the main challenges facing organisations and leaders today when trying to create
sustainable transformation.
5
2 The 4 main topics arising
from the research
Vision & purpose COVID has shown, we can be adaptable whilst still
resisting change.
“It’s only when companies are clear about their
We are currently looking for more agile and
purpose, have clearly communicated it, and it
sustainable ways of working which in turn demand
is understood by the team, that companies can
more empowerment, accountability, autonomy
achieve both unity of effort and distributed decision
and trust. Leaders are having to change their
making.” – Marc Koehler
current paradigms of the older more traditional
models, understand the new needs and landscape,
One of the biggest challenges companies face
and be open to taking their people on a journey
currently is the move from ego to eco. Moving away
of growth to get to where the organisation needs
from an individual bias to a more collective focus,
to go. This starts with cultivating and driving a
or from silo-ed to more networked structures
vision and purpose that motivates employees and
in the workplace, is shifting the boundaries of
provides a north star. We need something that is
organisations, changing the way we work and
bigger than us to keep us motivated, engaged and
requiring different leadership skills. The COVID
give us a sense of belonging, particularly when the
pandemic compounded this and brought with it
going gets tough: something we can constantly.
opportunities and challenges, but irrespective of
We can constantly translate back into our daily
this, it catapulted organisations, leaders and society
activities wherever we sit in the organisation and
into a more digitally yet less humanly connected
use to understand our contribution and the value
environment. Digital already brought with it lots of
we bring.
paradoxes: more connected but less certain, more
data and insight but more unknown opportunities,
Collective purpose is the most important element
more speed but less time for adapting to change.
of all because it is the north star but also provides
In fact, change has become the constant, and
the glue that holds teams and peers together. In
humans are not wired for change. Indeed we
framing collective purpose, you create the space
are far more wired for certainty and safety, and
to collect multiple perspectives and different ideas
feeling that we have some sense of control, but as
6
to healthily challenge how to achieve said purpose, and personal agency within the organisation is
and how to adapt and collaborate differently to key to creating sustainable change. Creating
do so. This creates a space for collective learning an environment where there is permission and
and contributions to the bigger picture. freedom to act and experiment also allows people
to start changing their perception of ‘failure’
The theme of learning, unlearning and relearning and to see it as part of the process of learning –
is key here as we look at the second point about deliberately designing for change and iterating for
understanding the need for collective learning as impact.
well as how to build a culture that allows this.
Digital has revolutionised the learning landscape
as well as the skills landscape, and understanding
Learning: connecting the new skills you need is pivotal to sustainable
people and ideas transformation. These skills are not just digital
(cloud, robotics, etc.) or data-driven (data analytics,
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the data science, etc.), they are also managerial,
courage to continue that counts.” interpersonal and intercultural. This is a huge topic,
Winston Churchill but again, using the holistic overview to understand
how you can break it down into smaller, more
Keeping pace with the changing face of learning manageable blocks allows you to connect people
is one of the biggest levers for transformation. with ideas, go from idea to proof of concept
Learning how to learn, unlearn and relearn is and experiment with new skills whilst creating
pivotal to aligning approaches and behaviours. We momentum in the organisation. This is not about
must consciously build a more human-centred scaling the solution, but about understanding
system. Transformation is all about continuous the needs and problems so that you can test
learning and taking people on that learning assumptions and approaches to reach an eventual
journey. It is not a technical project, or an IT solution. This learning is a continual iterative loop
roadmap, although clearly you need a roadmap, and full of challenges and opportunities for your
but is much more a mindset of continuous people and culture.
learning. It is a way of being that is built on an
understanding of the need to constantly learn, A simple example of this would be looking at one
unlearn and relearn (in general) as well as the fundamental skill, data science for example, or
need to put learning on the strategic business empathy, and analysing how big the skills gap is.
agenda as a lever for innovation and sustainable You can then look at how to manage the upskilling
change. Here, as we have seen in the purpose process. Do you need to recruit new talent? Build
part, always dream big but don’t start big – a centre of competence in-house? Look in your
start small. Connecting people and ideas and existing employee population to see what ‘hidden’
celebrating achievements to build credibility skills and potential lie within your organisation?
7
This can be full of learning, surprises, motivation projects’ is not taken to the systems level of driving
and engagement. It also offers levers for it through the different structures and processes
culture change and proactively coaching the of the organisation, be it a reward process, talent
organisation to a different level of maturity on this management process, strategic objective setting
particular skill and the opportunities this offers for process or governance. This brings with it a need
different ways of working. to look at how information is shared across
departments and teams, how power is perceived
This brings us to the topic of structure and process and experienced and how governance allows or
and the more technical side of the transformation. inhibits more collaborative, networked ways of
working.
Structure & process:
setting the organisation Collective intelligence is talked about a lot and is
incredibly powerful. Digital enables collaboration
up for success on a massive scale, driven by purpose across
boundaries, silos, locations and organisations. But
“To change something, build a new model that
tools alone, however powerful, do not bring human
makes the existing model obsolete.”
collaboration. Culture, though, can create this
R. Buckminster Fuller
enabling environment.
The results of my research during COVID tell us
that 85% of the senior leaders surveyed were only
Culture: coaching
‘moderately confident’ about their organisation’s
the organisation to a
capacity to take on board the lessons learnt from different level of maturity
the lockdown period of remote working.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.“
Understanding the outcomes of how people Peter Drucker
experienced this unprecedented transformation
will allow organisations to make those changes This is a well-known saying that still rings true,
sustainable. So what changes are we talking about? even more so in today’s environment, where
The ones that they have defined as ‘their model’ – leaders and organisations are undergoing massive
the way they want to think, act and interact within transformation and we can never underestimate
their organisation but also the way they want to the lever that culture represents here. This is
design their organisation in terms of structures about coaching the organisation to a different
and processes moving forward. level of maturity and moving beyond the visible
elements to a deeper understanding of what the
A lot of change initiatives fail because the changes, organisational culture is driving and rewarding in
engagement and momentum generated by ‘change terms of assumptions, bias and expectations.
8
There was a lot of feedback on the importance We come back here to the idea of actively
of culture, community and communication in understanding the different cultural assumptions
enabling sustainable transformation. and layers of ‘how things are done’. Looking at what
is rewarded, what is ‘accepted’ and what is inhibiting
• It can be led through the momentum created by more open communication and a safer space for
connecting like-minded people people to express themselves and form powerful
communities. You cannot ask for innovation and
• It can be leaders actively empowering their transformation and then squash it when it gets to
people through clear communication and the top. The former points of collective purpose,
permission to experiment learning and designing the system actively for
sustainable change, build the confidence of the
• It can be listening more intently to understand people and the system to dare to act differently;
the fears and assumptions of the collective system to try out new things and challenge the status
to normalise this discussion quo; to engage in the journey of change, however
daunting; and to call out things that are inhibiting
• It can be developing and aligning on the same this change to create exciting opportunities.
“language” so that everyone understands the Unless we involve people, understand their
drivers and impacts of the transformation assumptions and fears, and as leaders, actively
role model the behaviours needed to create
• Digital transformation is not ego-driven or sustainable change at all levels of the organisation
individualistic and the culture needs to reflect – which is not a ‘one size fits all’ affair - we will
this paradigm shift constantly come up against the same resistance
and essentially the same obstacle to growing
• Meet your organisation, leaders and employees potential and maintaining competitive
“where they are” in terms of maturity advantage.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate,
even when you don’t have anything new to say –
keep people informed and involved
9
3 Transformation
design
Marco Van Hout
We have heard about some of the key subjects needed to intentionally design to transform organisational
culture and how to make this behavoural change sustainable. Find out more about the Digital Society
School’s Transformation Design approach below:
What is
Transformation Design?
Transformation design seeks to create desirable create new problems, and that we cannot ever truly
and sustainable changes in behavior and form understand the people we design for: because we
– of individuals, systems and organizations. It is a are not them, and they in turn, are not us.
multi-stage, iterative process of applying design
principles to large and complex systems. This is why transformation design draws from a
variety of disciplines. Ultimately transformation
However, design is not perfect and is not a one- design aims to apply design skills in non-traditional
size fits all process-driven recipe for solutions. territories, and its beauty is that often results in
The paradoxes with design are that solutions also non-traditional outputs. That, is transformational.
10In what way is it different but organised in a fixed order in a system and
can be solved. Complex problems are highly
from normal ‘design unpredictable, follow no rules and should be
thinking’ solutions? managed instead of just ‘solved’. An example: the
used clothing app ‘Vinted’. A solution for quite a
In what is considered ‘normal design thinking’, you clear problem: the clothing industry is one of the
will find the above-mentioned focus on solutions, world’s largest polluters and we should not be
which in turn also create new problems. Most of buying new clothes all the time, so best to buy
the times, design thinking is used to think outside used or vintage. However, it is a solution for a
of the box, but still... think in solutions that fit the complicated problem.... and the overconsumption
box. This focus can block creatives from treating of clothes in our day and age is definitely not that,
‘problems’ as multi-faceted, interconnected, it is highly complex. And you can tell by having a
systemic challenges that most of the times need closer look at Vinted: it is a huge success and the
more than ‘design thinking’ to be transformed/ app and following is growing fast. You might say:
solved. fantastic! More people buy second hand clothing,
Two road-blocks that I can highlight to illustrate and less new clothes have to be produced. Fact
this: of the matter is, that users of Vinted are not just
buying used clothes... they are buying much MORE
As designers, we are usually involved in ‘fixing’ used clothes than they need, and from all over
things, in looking at the past and adjusting the the world. Searching for a bargain, finding that
future accordingly, and in seeing how we can best one cool t-shirt from France. Consequences are:
have our solution being adopted by our targeted more consumption, more packages sent around
audience/ environment. These characteristics the world and no change in mindset whatsoever.
typically define a focus on ‘change’. However, if It is still about owning, using and a luxury feeling.
we are aiming to focus on real transformation, we This problem needs to be treated with all of its
probably would need a focus on ‘creating’ a more complex components in consumer behavior,
attractive future, by asking ourselves ‘what if...’ societal values, global vs local mindset, etc.
instead of ‘what’s wrong...’ and by focusing on what Again, clear examples why need more
interventions mean for our lives, the earth, our transformation design and less design thinking.
society instead of seeking adoption of something
we came up with.
A similar tension can be found in the way design
thinking often treats problems/ challenges as if
they were complicated, instead of appreciating
the complexity and systemic dynamics involved.
Complicated problems are hard to understand,
11What does should embrace the complexity of our challenges
and focus more on creating attractive futures than
Transformation design on fixing the past. This is a vital aspect for success,
aim to do exactly and just as you noticed with my example about Vinted,
what are the major good intentions are not always enough.
concepts?
4. Experimentation. Learning is experimentation
Transformation design aims to have impact on and experimentation is learning, they are a way
three different levels: personal, organisational to bring to life what could be and allow others
and societal/planetary. I will highlight the to engage with us in co-creating those common,
organizational level here. For an organization to attractive futures. It is a continuous process
implement transformation design, 4 areas of action and highly co-creative instead of reactive. This
are important: requires a culture shift in many organisations,
towards a culture of experimentation.
1. Re-Adaptive Learning. Nowadays, not all
answers and not all solutions are provided by One of the biggest
digital tools. Digital is the context, not the means
challenges in sustainable
for transformation. All problems are primarily
transformation is scaling
human problems. Therefore, the key learnable skill
to design for transformation is the power to learn
the change effectively.
and relearn as we evolve and adapt. What is the “trending to
ending” model?
2. Sustainability and Diversity/Inclusion. JJames
Carse wrote that “There are at least two kinds of The trending to ending model we use within
games: finite and infinite. A finite game is played Digital Society School is very much related to
for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for our vision on transformation design: the work
the purpose of continuing the play.” Obviously, we is never done and growth does not happen
want our game to last, so we need to know how to without movement. Therefore, do we not only
sustain it. To start this is through shared Sustainable focus on certain technological, transformational
Development Goals (SDGs) and by harnessing trends for a limited period of time, we also
the power of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. believe people should be with us for a limited
3. Transformation. As mentioned in the above, we time. The ripple effect of our learning journeys
12would not work without the ‘migration’ of
people. Actually, this is basically how the ‘world
learned’ for thousands of years: knowledge was
only ‘diffused’ around the planet through the
migration of people and hence was the learning
society dependent on this dynamic. As DSS we
envision to grow a similar global learning society
around transformational goals and concepts :)
Your final thoughts on
Transformation design
and its place in creating
a digital and inclusive
society?
Transformation design is not human-centred, it
is not humanity-centred and it is certainly not
solution centred. It is life- and planet-centred.
This goes even beyond our societal level, let alone
the digital society, but fact of the matter is that we
are part of nature and so is our (digital) society.
Therefore we will never reach planet/life-level
transformations if we do not transform the way
we see our society and ourselves in it and, in turn,
in nature. When we see everyone being part of our
society, we might also learn how to see ourselves
as part of the planet... not as owners and solvers.
Listen to our full podcast discussion here
http://bit.ly/DSStransformation
13Tips for creating
sustainable transformation
in your organisation
Build a collective purpose: Ask people how they feel and Deliberately design
dream big (but start small) onboard them transformation together
Don’t try and solve mindset Create psychological Understand human
problems with technical safety reactions to change
solutions
Meet your organisation Define your own model Constantly bridge the gap
“where it is at” in terms of and build incrementally between digital and human as
maturity an iterative process
14Never underestimate the power of belonging and
peer coaching: if you want to go fast go alone, if
you want to go further go together…
15You can also read
