Although the 2020 Summer Olympics were pushed out to 2021, impacted athletes from teams and countries are still preparing to compete at the highest levels. Even they had to pivot and now factor in another full year of training until they can inch closer to the medal stand.
As elite athletes develop mental toughness and muscle strength through training, Transformational DNA produces the exceptional ability to respond to highly unexpected and disruptive changes. Athletes have to anticipate, proactively calculate and respond to a host of unexpected scenarios.
In the first blog, we discussed how companies need to invest in creating Transformational DNA. But what does that look like?
As outlined in our Adept at Adapting white paper – the five characteristics of Transformational DNA are:
- Customer success obsessed culture: Everything starts and ends with the customer
- Continuous learning and improvement: Comprehensive and practiced as a matter of fact
- Commitment to data and facts: Scientific approach and deep engineering expertise
- Collective vectors of genius: Management serves and enables while teams are empowered to make decisions and innovate
- Celebrate: Recognition of one another regularly and freely
It is well documented how vital change is to a company’s success. However, all too often, a structured, yet flexible change management framework change is not implemented in a timely fashion and sometimes, not implemented at all — even when necessary.
As a result, change can be daunting, appear as an insurmountable challenge, or overwhelm teams causing confusion, and is demotivating even before they start. Perpetual change is the new normal, however, not all businesses have created a framework that can create Transformational DNA in all aspects of the organization.
A key ingredient for success is creating a grass roots change agent network. These employees sit throughout the whole organization and drive the continuous improvement of the operational daily functions. They participate in initiative development, drive frontline adoption and gather continuous feedback. They align transformation goals and encourage employees to “lean in” with courage to face disruption.
Everyone in the organization – North to South and East to West – must participate in building and exercising the transformation engine. Such an engine can deal with change no matter what is affecting the business.
In order to create change, who are you listening to and what actions are you taking based on their feedback? Check out our next blog that will explore how to lead with listening to understand various dimensions of our operations’ experience.