successful transformation

I am a firm believer that successful organizational transformation needs two things: sufficient momentum generated from the top and a supporting structure within the organization to reinforce the concepts and propel the artists forward. Topside momentum must be established by Sr. Mgmt with substantial vested interest in seeing the organization transform and meet their goals.

This doesn’t happen if the changes are isolated to IT. IT is a service bureau. It is a Cost Center, there to create the tools by which the rest of the business can create value. No business ever made more money now and into the future by having a more effective automated purchasing system, BUT an automated purchasing system has allowed businesses to more effectively turn their AP into Cash (providing substantive value).

If we teach and preach at the “C” level, then we address high level issues and concerns and create business value there. At that level, there is more of an understanding of value and therefore a higher willingness to pay on a value-priced schedule, rather than for an hourly lowest-cost provider. I have been working with “C”s and VPs along this line almost exclusively for the past couple of years and have been quite successful – basically assessing what their real issues are (some RCA) and then stating what I can help them with (if anything – referring them elsewhere if necessary), and then tailoring solutions to fit within their cultural constraints. It is a rare luxury where I am able to also address the second point – tuning their organizational structure to reinforce the transformation.

With respect to efforts I have coached in the past; Segway was successful because we were able to tune the organization. Borland was less successful, but since we were able to tune the compensation system to align the teams with achieving what the company needed to have done – we effectively reduced the transformative process from years to year.