The starting point of every transformation work is a proper understanding of the current situation, its real problems and root causes within the system. Based on such thorough analysis, the appropriate approach can be designed to overcome today’s challenges: What do the ways of working look like which will make us successful and which will overcome the problems? If the root-causes are not tackled and overcome with the appropriate ways of working there will not be any sustainable impact!

Our analysis of the given situation starts with measuring the culture. Get data, benchmark them against other competitors, and back this up with observations and facts. In this way shed light on the reality from different perspectives. When the real problems become visible make sure that the root causes of these problems are well understood: See the whole system and identify the blocking Mental Models and Basic Beliefs which are being held in the organisation and which are preventing the company to change.

Based on a thorough understanding of the status quo and its challenges the future state can be designed: How do the ways of working look like which will make us successful and which will overcome the blockers? If the root-causes are not tackled and overcome with the appropriate ways of working there will not be any sustainable impact!  However, as soon as the first picture of the future state and its way of working emerges it comes to the transformation program to be designed.

The design of the transformation program should follow 2 simple principles:

(1) The (maybe) most important one we call „designing and leading from the future“. This means that we design the transformation program already in the spirit of the future, as if the future would have arrived in the here and now. This technique is also called „parallel processing“, it also ensures learning quickly and adapt before going broad (prototyping). Why is it so important? Imagine we don’t – if we do how we always did, we will get what we always got! Or how Einstein put it: „Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity.“ We cannot change us using the old ways, we would just re-create us in the old way.  

(2) The second key success factor is connecting the transformation program to business impact and business challenges; we call this connecting „What“ and „How“. In the end every change is for the success in the business! For the transfromation program this means that it must never be just a „cultural program“ where we focus just on the „How“ (e.g., well being, soft facts etc.). Instead the transformation has to be done in the business on the business problems, enabling people to explore and learn to solve business problems in a different and better way.    

Based on these 2 principles we can choose appropriate tools to run interventions to get to the desired future, discuss different opportunities on how to roll-out the transformation, identify the best way to sustain the transformation and tackle the question of how to continuously improve the approach.