What happens after the excitement of inspiring kick-offs of any business transformation, wears off? "Think about it as the first week of a gym membership: Will you really go to the gym every week and transform your life" Or will you go back to your old habits?"
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The book of March:
Move: How decisive Leaders Execute Strategy, Despite Obstacles, Setbacks, and Stalls.
By Patty Azzarello
Originally published: Jan, 2017.
In her book, the author describes her model for business transformation, MOVE:
M stands for the MIDDLE
"Strategies are often stated in end goals. An end goal, no matter how inspiring it is, is not enough. The "Middle" is the important part."
O stands for ORGANIZATION
"Everyone in the organization needs to personally invest in understanding what is required and how they can take personal ownership to help lead the change from their roles."
V stands for Valor
"Having the grit, persistence, and guts to stick with change, when everyone is losing confidence, questioning you, and presenting emergencies that seem more important at the moment."
E stands for Everyone
"You can lead a transformation from the top, but you can't implement a transformation from the top. Success requires everyone, not just management. Everyone"
The most interesting takeaway from this book is the focus on the long, challenging, sometimes frustrating, and even ugly Middle: what happens after the excitement of inspiring kick-offs of any business transformation, wears off.
"The middle - Where transformation either happens or get stuck"
Transformation takes time. This is the reality.
It is really easy to get an organization excited at the beginning. It is the "Middle" that's the problem. "Think about it as the first week of a gym membership: Will you really go to the gym every week and transform your life" Or will you go back to your old habits?".
The challenge is to keep an organization focused on the hard, uncomfortable, unpredictable transformation for a long time.
It is really easy to get an organization excited at the beginning. It is the "Middle" that's the problem. The challenge is to keep an organization focused on the hard, uncomfortable, unpredictable transformation for a long time.
What transformation leaders need is a strategy to maintain execution and momentum through the middle.
Here is how it normally works: You decide on a strategy, then you set long term goals (i.e. "Where do we want to be 3 years from now"), and then you set this year's goals ("Where do we want to be a year from now"). Sounds good right?
But then, as described so beautifully in the book, everybody leaves the room thinking... OK... I have a FULL YEAR to get there. But there are tasks I need to complete NOW... so this new strategy can wait. Sounds familiar?
Definitely!
The secret is to break the long-term targets into quarterly and monthly targets. This way the thoughts process changes from "I have lots of time to get this done" to "I am already late!". And this is where the magic happens. If you manage to create this elusive sense of urgency, people start to execute, see results, and the momentum fly weel starts to work.
If you manage to create this elusive sense of urgency, people start to execute, see results, and the momentum flyweel starts to work.
This book is a great resource for any transformation leader. It describes with actionable advice and tips, how to lead a complex transformation in organizations while using real-life examples and lessons learned by the author.
A great addition to your reading list :)
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