Many digital transformation initiatives are destined to fail before they begin.

Transformation leaders often confuse far-term objectives (the ‘why’ of your transformation) with near- term actions. This is understandable, after all, we all seek something concrete to cling to, however is flawed. Failing to define the far-term vision means you are failing to create the space and time for creative activity to flourish.

Let’s walk through the different considerations executives exploring transforming their organisation need to contemplate.

Conceptualising and initiating the ‘New’.

We’ve all seen strategic objectives that define exactly what you are going to do.

Examples:

• Replace end-of life IT systems with new technology solutions.
• Create a new operating model.
• Improve the customer experience by increasing the ability to self-serve.

These are all near-term ‘what’ items that come later and are not required yet. Transforming your organisation is a continuous mission – it never stops. What do you need in place to enable genuine transformation?

You need a vision that paints the picture of a future that turns your best people into moths near a streetlamp.

Balancing the ‘near’ and the ‘far’.

When these two elements are out of balance, your people will not believe in what they are doing.

Let’s look at the attitudes and emotions that are evoked in your people when considering transformation through a near or far lens:

Too much ‘far’ and things are too ambiguous, unimportant and unlikely to happen. However, too much ‘near’ and things are too cluttered, complex, constrained, inflexible. Most digital transformation programs are all ‘near’.

Creating the vision

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea".

• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What vision is going to move your people? Your customers?

If we think at the heart of a water industry professional, why do we do what we do? What future that we create best supports our core purpose? How can we evolve to better care for our customers and ourselves while protecting our precious water resources?

With the right coaching and guidance, your people can tell you exactly what this is.

If you want your people to flock to the vision like moths to a streetlamp, include them in defining what it is.

Throw every constraint out the window and engage without hierarchy. There is gold littered through every organisation that goes unfound. Find it.

Turn all those little pieces of gold into a giant arrow that points you directly to your shared vision.

Imagine…

Imagine a vision that genuinely connects your people and your customers to why you are electing to change.

Imagine a vision that connects your digital transformation to the sense of workplace pride a parent at your organisation can express to their child. Imagine a vision that makes your customers want to work for you, and only you, even if it meant they were never getting paid for it. Imagine a vision that combines shared cultural learnings that influence how you make decisions and the health of our water systems.

Like many of our waterways, vision runs deep and needs imagination to understand what it really can be.

Imagine objectives of your vision sounded something like this:

• Our water customers enjoy an individualised experience that is proactive, positive and easy.
• Every water utility employee works on a strengths-basis, contributes as themselves and is proud to share that they work with us.
• Our partners look to us for leadership in all domains where we interact.
• Our community supports us, directly and indirectly, as we showcase how a dynamic corporate citizen behaves and contributes to society.
• Working with us, whether as an employee, partner or customer allows people to create value easily.
• All our people feel they have contributed to defining who we are.

These may be a little rough and can use some refinement, however, objectives like the above form the very focus and basis of assessing how you are progressing towards success in your digital transformation.

And every single person involved in your transformation should be focused on those objectives ahead of anything else.

Translating the ‘far’ into action…

You are probably thinking that now is the time we get back to defining our near-term objectives (the ‘what’).

Nearly there but not yet. Now would be a great time to explore all the ways your organisation needs to change to prepare to digitally transform. Does this feel too slow? It’s faster (and more prudent) than failing three quarters of the way through for twice the cost.

What do I mean when I talk about preparing to digitally transform?

It is an odds-on bet that your wider organisation is not structured (governance, management, behaviourally, skills) to embrace what a digital transformation has to offer. That is no criticism of where any organisation currently stands, it is simply a fact that with the introduction of emerging or new technology, any existing efficiency or inefficiency will be magnified. That’s why so many organisations still must fight their way out of a digital transformation when the final program stage gate has been completed.

How might you need to change (a sample of…)?

• How does your organisation make decisions?
• How deep do digital skills exist in your organisation now (from the board down)?
• Do you understand what your risk appetite profile is and needs to be?
• How many and what type of organisational silos exist currently?
• How willing is your board and leadership to work with ambiguity?
• How capable are you at working with new partners? Would your existing partners agree with your partnership capabilities?
• How prepared and comfortable are you with changing course, often changing quickly?
• How readily can you adopt new technologies from a procurement, testing and deployment perspective?
• How empowered are your delegation of authority protocols?

That list can go on further and further. Preparing your organisation for a digital transformation means one thing: when the rubber hits the road, you can drive effectively. Failing to prepare means one thing: Whoever drives will be driving in the wrong direction (or have a longer road to the right direction) and it will be a very expensive trip (in more ways than one).

Arguably, the most important change begins before you even determine what digital technologies you are going to introduce.

Only when you are ready, and with an aligned organisation, can you begin defining what you need to do to achieve your vision. Sometimes, you will define the ‘what’ you will do only when you approach it during transformation. However, with the right mindset, behaviours and skills to transform this should be a proactively managed experience, not a reactive scramble to implement new technology.

I write about digital transformation weekly. My 📥DMs are always open for engaging conversations.