How do you save a transformation π£
Happy Friday!
At the bottom of this little email, I have a YouTube short of my bees collecting pollen from earlier this week.
Let's talk about everyone's favorite subject that absolutely doesn't induce eye-rolling or fatigue: Transformation.
Transformation is what I do, at a team level and at a much larger level. Having said that, I think enough folks have seen enough of the "T" word to be very cautious about anyone who brings it up.
I get it.
In fact, I wrote an article some time ago about one of the more common failure arcs I've seen in agile transformations. There is a pretty good chance that you've lived it.
Proxy Battle
If I were to reduce everything down to one singular reason they fail and ignore all the others I'd pin it on the problem of transformation-by-proxy.
Look, the goal of transformation is to come out better than we came in. It's a messy road to do that, but I've yet to be involved in a transformation where people didn't have a good idea of the problems in their organization. They want to transform to get past that stuff.
Transformation-by-proxy is when we don't make those issues the goal and instead use proxies. Proxies are things like training completed and maturity models. They're leading indicators that become the only indicator.
If you needed your organization to be more product-oriented and less project-oriented, you probably really care about showing business and customer impact. Instead, what you wind up with is how many Product Owners you trained.
It doesn't work.
Results First
Real transformation and change are impossibly messy and hard. You have to have a sense of the problems you're solving and how you'll know they're improved. Training and maturity models are hypotheses and tasks you believe will get you there, but when they don't, you have to course-correct.
This was the breakthrough with a Fortune 10 client whose transformation effort was dying.
They were stuck chasing leading indicators and ignoring the underlying problems. Fatigue and resistance set in across 500 teams and leadership.
So I sat down with the head of transformation, and we got honest.
"If we aren't making things better and solving problems, what's the point?"
That became the question we had to answer, or watch the transformation effort die in a budget cut. We developed a loose playbook for approaching people, establishing oneself as someone who will bring about positive change, and proving it.
The core of this was focused on two questions:
"What are the problems you see today?"
"How would you know things are improved?"
Now, anyone who worked with these teams and groups knew the goal. Their transformation efforts had a clear direction. Training became an option instead of the default. Now, people who claimed to be experts had to be.
So what happened? Helping the head of transformation right their ship was the last work I did with them. Shortly after, his budget came back after other leaders clamored that they wouldn't be where they are without him. They knew things had improved.
Now for the beesβ¦
With a high of 74 today the bees are out getting pollen from early spring blooms.
Sincerely,
Ryan Latta
PS: If you want to talk through any of this more or figure out how to make your change efforts stick better, schedule a call. If that's too intimidating, reply back. I can read!