Evolutions over revolutions
The "Digital Transformation". The promise of improving organisations by turning them upside down and changing them radically through technology and new ways of working. We like the occasional shake-up, but our experience – and history books – have shown that revolutions are often negative, violent, costly, and debatable in the outcome. So why do we think we need to take big leaps when we need improvement?
The big leap
The way we desire transformations in companies is very similar to what we do in our personal lives. If we're unhappy about what shape or health we are in, we rarely start with small steps or conservative goals. To motivate ourselves for real change, we look for a new, contrasting role model and set that as our goal.
Most of the time, those extra pounds or worsening health isn't the problem; it's the result. A complete transformation of our body and health looks daunting. Yet, it often feels way more comfortable than going head-first with our underlying challenges. Focusing on a disruptive change allows us to mask our inner battles by focusing our full attention on our future (and hopefully better) self instead of who we are.
In planning change, we often fall for the illusion of complexity.
It doesn't matter if you're new to a specific matter or adept; we humans tend to favour complex solutions over simple ones. This behaviour is emphasised when self-sought solutions don't work – it can't be that simple if I can't do it alone, right? Think about it. The best recipe for better health is to eat less, be healthier and increase sport-related activity. However, we place our hope on arcane and complex diets and heart-attack-inducing, masochistic workout programs that promise to transform you over a couple of weeks.
Most people will quickly find out that a program developed by someone who spent a significant amount of their life in the gym does not apply to someone with only an hour available per day. Copying a new lifestyle works, pasting into your own life? Not so much.
We see the same in organisations that struggle to bring themselves back into shape. They tend to look at other successful companies to copy & paste their culture, tech and ways of working. However, the transformation frameworks, agile implementations and tech solutions we see around us are the results of someone else's journey. They are a well-sellable by-product. A consequence of a long trip through self-discovery to find a solution which worked for them. And yes, the sales pitch is just as perfect as that of that new cleanse diet; the chances that their solutions will work for you out-of-the-box are slim.
Small evolutionary steps
There is a reason why most of us bounce back into our old ways, disillusioned. It's because we thought some novel program would magically transform ourselves at an incredible pace. It is, however, not a strategy but often our behaviour which holds us back. That behaviour and ways got us to the point we thought we needed that radical turn-around.
Looking at businesses, we see many well-intentioned, still failed, transformations towards more tech, agile or "DevOps" minded workforces. Organisations try so hard to make a solution work for them that they spend more time trying to make the solution work than actually doing the work; stuck in a loop where they aren't working on improving themselves but trying their best to become someone else.
The best diet is no diet at all. A healthier way that doesn't restrict who you are, what makes you enjoy life, and most importantly, what makes you, you. Moving into a better direction starts with a deep understanding of ourselves and why we keep reaching for those bad habits that hold us back from reaching our goals.
It shouldn't be a course in transforming who you are but understanding who you are. And making improvements, one step at a time.