In every part of commercial and creative life, we are faced with a significant contradiction. There is almost universal acceptance that ‘implementation’ or the ‘act of getting things done’ is where things go wrong. Despite this, most of the focus, attention, and resource (financial and other) in any complex transformation project seems to rest with the strategy, design and development.

Even the language reflects this truth.

• In the business of building and construction, we can all think of a famous architect or two, but how many expert and recognised builders are etched in our collective memory?
• In tertiary education, universities are seen as the place to learn strategy and design whereas technical colleges provide the implementation skills required…it’s quite clear which type of institution is perceived to provide greater value.
• In the making of movies, the director occupies a position of perceived superiority to that of the producer, when it is the latter who enables the production to go ahead.

We need to redress the balance… or continue to fail in transformation.

So, who needs to get involved in the development of this particular subject matter expertise:

• Those involved in planning, resourcing and tracking. Creating a plan of implementation which is realistic and defensible, reviewing resource requirements which recognise that productivity is a reflection of morale and motivation as well as capacity, whilst tracking deliverables honestly and clearly. These people are the true champions of implementation.
• Behavioural change champions. All aspects of implementation have a change element to them..whether it’s in the management team, in specific functional areas, or across a broad population…and anyone brave enough to tackle this thankless task is absolutely critical to this discipline.
• Communicators of all shape and size. If the planners create the skeleton of the new business, the communicators are responsible for the blood circulation. Without your intervention, we are left with a lifeless corpse of transformation. You understand in the deepest recesses of your souls that everyone is a stakeholder in the process of change and that through creative use of channels, messages and feedback loops, you have a responsibility to bring as many with you as possible.
• Coaches / mentors / influencers / counsellors..all are welcome. We recognise that every time you interact with someone who values your input, it’s your authenticity and selflessness which is called upon, no matter what state of mind you’re in at the time.

What’s our first task? To have a material impact on the development of scope, time and quality of a programme of work at conception. Easy enough, right?!

Having the guts to break down the virtual door of a ‘strategy planning’ session and engage positively (not with a series of downsides, risks, and reasons why it won’t work) in the development of a plan which has some semblance to reality seems to be a good place.

Your thoughts?

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Categories: Agile, Change management, Complex transformation, Consulting, Disruptive Innovation, human behaviour, Language, Project Management, psychology, Transformation

Tags: change management, Collective behaviour, productivity, stakeholder management