Are you taking your team on an Odyssey?
Keywords: overpromising and under-delivering, vision stories, leading transformation and realistic change leadership.
I went to see The Odyssey this week and couldn’t help but notice the parallels with many large-scale change and transformation programs.
You know the ones I mean. Where the team are on a journey, heading to an ideal state that they all really want to get to but don’t know how or when they’ll get there. Every time they think this is the last stretch, there’s some other obstacle or hurdle that they have to get over meaning it will be another year or two yet. They are being asked to work hard in difficult circumstances, even though they’re tired because they had already been working hard. Oh, and it’s not helped by the rumours about what might happen in the future and why, the ulterior motives that the “powers that be” have - which make the team worried and reluctant to do what’s needed.
One of the things that leaders struggle with in change is overpromising and under-delivering.
With good intent, we promise an idyllic view of the future where all our problems will be solved. The system will be state of the art, the hours will go back to normal, and everyone will be happy. “I just need you to work through this bit” we say, “once we’ve implemented it will all be easier”.
Realistically though, the change won’t end. Even if the system is implemented, there will be modifications and refinements to make, there will be processes to improve, customers to focus on, structures to change. Promising a quick journey home, where all your problems are solved is unrealistic, and underestimates the impact and opportunity of the journey for creating culture and engagement. Without acknowledging the challenges of the journey, the team feel undervalued and will speculate on what will happen next.
That’s not to say that the vision isn’t important. We know from the research that vision stories can help teams visualise and co-ordinate around pursuit of a goal. But with the volume of change happening in organisations in the current world, there’s an ever-moving target, a never-ending story.
So if you’re working on a transformation, think about how you can present a more realistic vision of what you’re doing.
Don’t promise anything that implies all your problems will be solved in the future – they won’t. There will always be new problems.
Be realistic about the journey. If it’s going to be tough, say that. Acknowledging the reality of it is important for the teams that are doing the tough work.
Resource and work your project teams like they will run like this forever. There shouldn’t be a “we’ll just work really hard for six-months” mentality unless there are actual lives at risk (e.g. COVID). For everything else you need to make a decision about time, quality (scope) or cost and live with it. Otherwise you’ll be living with the consequences of the impact on your team.
“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”