Getting carried away by transformation

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Transformation is one of the most over-used and under-justified terms in the business vocabulary. Hands up anyone out there who hasn’t worked in an organization during a business transformation programme?

transformation

Picture credit: alicepopkorn

Hmm, not many of you waving. Perhaps because transformational change programmes are as widely-strewn as litter at a confetti-manufacturers’ convention.

And yet genuine business transformation is rarely achieved by such initiatives.

So why do we persist in using the T word?

Do we really believe that our fortunes will be transformed, or is the T word just a higher tog-rated comfort blanket for those of us who would like things to be better?

The over-use of the word Transformation devalues its own currency because the eventual outcomes are only rarely truly transformational.

For sure Transformation becomes even more attractive during difficult times. But, maybe, for the sake of integrity, we should hold a moratorium on the use of the T word and have the honesty to dub our initiatives properly: as Business Improvement.

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First name on the team-sheet

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We spend a lot of time, effort and money on so-called “team-building” events and initiatives. But that term [team-building] usually relates to enhancing the morale and cohesion of existing teams.

teamsheet

Picture credit: Tom Brogan

We don’t, however, spend so much time thinking about real team-building – i.e. creating new teams, from scratch. Which is a pity. Of course such opportunities don’t present quite as often, because most organizations usually have well-established teams.

Nevertheless, new teams and departments are sometimes created, either by mergers and acquisitions activity, or by our old friend: “corporate re-organization;” that’s when we usually get the chance to design a new team, even if some of the members are simply being shuffled about.

One of the big problems with such team-building is that it usually has to be done quickly, we may not be allowed the luxury of deliberating the pros and cons of our team design.

Which is perhaps why we have to re-organize so often, to correct hasty design faults.

How could this be different?

Well, off the top of my head, I can think of a couple of ways: firstly by making more time for team design when we actually do have to build; secondly by occasionally thinking, speculatively, about how we would re-design our current team, if we had to do so now – try it, the exercise is always thought-provoking.

But every new team has to start somewhere so here is the killer question: which role is first on your new team-sheet and why?

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Deceptive appearances

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Enjoying a good stiff cappuccino in a coffee-shop the other day, when a young woman came in wearing a paint-smattered smock.

Picture credit: Arty Smokes

So was she a playgroup assistant, or a renowned artist? I will never know.

But it made me think how quickly we can jump to conclusions from first appearances – and how fertile our imagination can be, if we give it some space.

our brains are quick to jump to conclusions but our minds are more imaginative when we give them some thinking space.

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