As your business reinvents itself in the face of disruption, are you maintaining the status quo or innovating ways of carrying out your business?
Today is the best time to articulate the Purpose of your business and slot in a Vision that describes a better tomorrow, and agree on the objectives of change, and what form the required change should take. With the proper communication strategies and plans at hand that align with the Business Transformation Drive approach adopted by your business, disruption becomes an opportunity to create your business legacy.
As your business transforms in the face of imminent disruption, are you driving it safely?
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives, communities and businesses worldwide. The changes it is forcing onto businesses are tremendous, questioning how businesses and economies are reinventing themselves in the face of such challenges. Businesses can come out of a market shift stronger, more optimized and more profitable, because the threat of disruption poses with it at times the greatest opportunity for leadership to rethink the Business. Disruptive change opens a window of opportunity to create new markets, new offerings and new unique selling propositions. A few business transformation milestones during this time include transforming a business’ culture, streamlining processes, optimizing operations, building talent pools and capacities, and making digital migrations. As your business reinvents itself in the face of disruption, are you maintaining the status quo or innovating ways of carrying out your business?
There are two factors why a business would push for transformation. It is either an internal struggle that the company is facing or an external factor that is altering a company’s course:
1. Internal factors could arise from a cultural transformation, a disruption in the technology used in the industry the company operates in, a need for process streamlining, or a possible restructuring the organization.
2. External factors could emerge from changes in the environment surrounding the business, such as the Covid-19 pandemic that is changing the way businesses operate, fiercer competition, or new regulations altering the modus operandi of businesses.
To answer the pressuring needs of transformation resulting from any of above-mentioned factors, transformation models, could take three different shapes:
1. It could be an operational transformation, where the business looks at what it is doing currently, and how it could do it better, with optimized time and cost
2. A core transformation is when the business model is fundamentally changed in a way that is transformed at the operational level, but with the customers coming back to this same business for its unique selling proposition
3. A strategic transformation is a drastic transformation, from a possible shift from an industry to another, such as when Virgin went from the music industry to the airline industry, or when Google went from advertising all the way to driverless cars.
While some actions businesses take are a recipe for short-term survival and growth, leaders are encouraged today more than ever to undertake both an operational model of transformation, and a strategic one to create tomorrow’s business model. Whatever the reason that pushes the leadership of a business to take such a drastic approach, be it to improve the business or simply transform it, the activities undertaken and change incurred happen in a way that fundamentally alter the paradigm of the business. A successful business transformation includes a number of fundamental change management projects, each focusing on a particular Process, People, or Technology, and working in synergy to reach the desired outcomes. Five major aspects need to be working together in order for the change management projects to succeed namely:
1. Leadership strategic orientation and buy-in, coupled with consistent and continuous intervention in managing the required change and effectively communicating it
2. Innovation in finding the business unique selling proposition and the added value it proposes to stakeholders
3. Collaboration among the different functions of the business and synchronization of efforts to create more engaged and performing work clusters
4. Delivery of an offering that is streamlined and optimized to meet and exceed stakeholder expectations, and most importantly,
5. A culture that keeps pace and accelerates transformation goals with compelling and well-articulated Vision, Mission, Values and total Brand experience.
While many of the companies are in the midst of organizational transformations – including M&A, business model changes, strategy shifts and digitization – a large number of planned changes are unsuccessful. Often, cultural barriers and resistance to change cause such failures. Recognizing the need to change and gain consensus amongst stakeholders that change is necessary, is a vital component of a successful business transformation. The role of Communicators in this Business Transformation endeavor is crucial. Communicators do help shape their organization’s culture to make it successful and more adaptable to Transformation.
At the start of the outbreak of COVID-19, from Governments, Businesses, to Individuals, the world fell into a state of shock, denial and uncertainty. Gradually, all eyes were set on the different measures taken by the countries that are the least affected by the pandemic. With a trial and error approach by the world’s leading nations, everyone – be it governments, businesses or individuals – is open to experiencing new things, learning new methodologies and tackling new approaches to survive and grow, as though it is a matter of life or death, and the survival of the fittest.
With that in mind, today is the best time to articulate the Purpose of your business and slot in a Vision that describes a better tomorrow, and agree on the objectives of change, and what form the required change should take. To keep serving the Purpose of why the business was established in the first place, a clear description of where the business stands today and where it intends to reach in the future is crucial. This requires a detailed understanding of what needs to change in particular and how it will be gradually implemented. With the proper communication strategies and plans at hand that align with the Business Transformation Drive approach adopted by your business, disruption becomes an opportunity to create your business legacy. Reach out to discuss how we can work together and make it happen. Let’s make all the difference.
