The Battles We Have to Win: Fear

Here is the third in a series on the transformation battles we have to win. 

Doing nothing is the riskiest option. 

When the ocean is in furious flux, alertness, agility and speed are of the essence. Doing nothing is the riskiest option. In business the clearest expression of these qualities is ambidexterity – the ability to both protect the core business with Lean/OpEx, and also, to ignite new Growth using Digital methods.

What are the proverbial transformation ‘battles’ we have to win? Ignorance, Fear, Scatter, and Guesswork, and Space.

Today I’ll talk about Fear.

Fear

Transformation fatigue is a state of exhaustion, resistance & fear that employees experience when subjected to continuous change. Symptoms include a diminished capacity to cope with change, heightened stress and anxiety, and a general sense of apathy or numbness. 

When I launched our advisory service (in 2000) the Toyota Production System was all the rage. TPS was the ‘machine that changed the world’, and companies around the world were anxious to learn its secrets. The past decade plus, ‘Digital’ has supplanted TPS as the ‘killer app’. Indeed, I’ve spent this period learning & applying Digital methods in innovation hot spots. And now of course, AI has exploded into our world in much the same way as TPS and ‘Digital’ did. No wonder people are afraid!

How do we overcome Fear in our organizations? Here are some measures I’ve found to be helpful – both for protecting the core business and igniting new growth with Digital methods. Note: in the paragraphs below, I’ve focused on the ‘Igniting New Growth’ ‘swim lane’. The same activities & principles apply for ‘Protect the Core’, but the content is of course, different.

Countermeasures to Fear:

Senior Leaders:

Small Group Mentorship:

• Short focused lessons, practical activity, followed by applied homework
• Leaders learn by doing – in a safe environment

Executive ‘Forums’

·       Ecosystem meetups with Tech orgs and peers facing similar challenges.

·       Tech ‘deep dive’ workshops that provide Executives with a practical understanding of key innovation methods, thinking & technology.

·       Learning expeditions - explore prominent Tech ecosystems in innovation hot spots

·       Innovation projects (‘Showcases’): focused innovation projects that showcase new ways or working, and lead to effective commercial pilots.

Middle & Front-Line Leaders:

Practical Learning Academies

These entail boot camps wherein practitioners learn innovation fundamentals by doing. Design Thinking, Growth Hacking and Lean Experimentation are core curriculum elements. Key features:

• ·       'Centre of Excellence’: small team of practitioners who manage curriculum & network
• ·       Focused curriculum based on key learning gaps, and
• ·       Growing network of practitioners who share learning, problems and innovations
• ·       Multiple communication channels including regular meetups, study groups, and intranet

The Light Touch

The light touch is a friendly, relaxed, and funny way to doing things. Senior leaders set the tone & change is much easier when their language, affect & aura say, “It’s going to be alright. We’ll get through this together, and we’ll succeed beyond any possibility of doubt.”

I’ve been lucky enough to know such leaders & don’t wish to embarrass them by extolling their virtues.  Suffice to say, such cheerfulness is a necessary (though not sufficient) antidote to fear. You see such leaders at Boot Camps, Hackathons, kaizen events, new product launches, and the like. They tirelessly reinforce our core Values, Aspirations and Winning Logic. They exude, ‘everything is going to be alright.’

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis         E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

In case you missed earlier blogs... please feel free to have another look….

Transformation - the Battles We Have to Win - Ignorance
Transformation - the Battles We Have to Win
Daily Management Walks - a Primer