The very ground of every organization can be shaken within a single transformation initiative. Just name it – restructuring, change in leadership, some strategic pivots, etc., they all are stressful movements that don’t help people stay calm and relaxed. But what is more important is that, after every change and transformation, culture doesn’t move to a new state on its own. It should be intentionally built. And during that rebuilding process, what feels new should move into a new state of familiarity.
The Post-Transformation Landscape – why it matters
Every change has two sides. On one side, there is euphoria and expectation; on the other, leaders should look at anxiety, skepticism, and disbelief. This second side is the effort every leadership initiative should make to sustain the change introduced. The post-transformational landscape is far from balanced, and the sooner and the deeper the leadership teams understand this, the better they will structure their response to the new and existing uncertainty, laying a sustainable foundation for success.
Several elements can make or break the change and transformation. Knowing what to do and how to act is crucial for the outcome of the planned and executed transformation.
Support the collective -grieving by giving it space.
What people see in transformation is often not what they win, but…LOSS. Everything familiar, like processes, colleagues, structures, and organizational identity, for example, is falling apart. So what should a leader do? Well, validating and acknowledging these emotions is a helpful strategy. The more time and effort leaders invest here, the better people move through the other steps of the transformation process and its consequences. And you know why? Because this acknowledgment builds a circle of psychological safety for the grievers.
Shared values that evolve early are crucial for fostering an inclusive culture and guiding behavior during transformation.
What was known before is now a hole that needs to be filled. This vacuum, created by the transformation, has erased known behaviors, values, and norms. The new values define what matters now. No comparison with what happened before, just setting the new normal reality. And the important point here is to ensure that this new reality will be communicated from everywhere – the customer service department, the engineer on the production floor, the accounting leader, and the General Manager. If they all speak the same, what looks uncertain and uncomfortable becomes a comfortable new situation for the others and now carries more weight in the transformation.
Transparency in the decision-making process
There is no clearer sign of cultural shift than the hesitance a leadership body shows in uncertain times. The more leaders need followers to follow and embrace change, the more they need to focus on “why” in the reasons for the change. That may mean going deeply into transparency and showing what criteria have been used, even when this may mean taking difficult-to-accept self-decisions to act. Transparency also means direct and frequent communication. Here is where the town halls, Q&A sessions, list of frequently asked questions, and other tools should enter the change initiative. The more consistently the information flows, the more people accept what is happening and see that the path forward, no matter the difficulties, is clearly described in a way that different people can accept.
Influence and Opportunity, and why Transformations need Redistribution in them
Changes and transformations are often made by small teams that gain significant influence and power during the change process. But this also creates dissatisfaction and uncertainty in others. A good way to overcome this is to focus on something simple but powerful: Rotation. Having diverse inputs, rotating responsibility, and building an empowerment bench are crucial not only to give everyone equal power but also to show that transformation is flexible and welcomes input, information, and experience from the whole organization.
True investment in Relationship-Building Across old boundaries
When changes happen, people start talking about how it was before the change. It is a common expression after political shifts and in organizational shuffles. Instead of falling into the trap of sticking to the past, scratch that old and move forward. What helps here is to focus on building new ways to interact beyond the written transactions. Former organizational lines should be replaced by an active mentorship, coaching, and support on how to act in the new normal. It should involve people in projects that seek input across different organizational layers and departments. This helps people find common ground again and deepen inclusion through relationships that are more diverse and better set up.
Following the above-mentioned steps may help, but each recommendation has its light and darkness. These opposites create the new reality, and leadership bodies need to be careful about them. So, from the “Do them” we may also need to turn to the “Avoid them” elements in the transformation process.
“Fresh Start” is filled with ignorance of the past.
Some words like “leave the past behind“ impact the relationships badly, and the expertise the transformation brings. Not honoring and acknowledging the past may destroy the foundations of what is to be built and erode trust. So, to make the change alive and support it in the best possible way, the leadership should move from a judgmental to an evolutionary approach. Because cultures that embrace continuity build strength for change and evolution during a transformation.
Don’t move “Culture Fit” to “Culture Clone.”
The most tempting thing to do when the transformation is in the end phase is to find and hire those who fit the new way. But it may turn into hiring people from the same profile. This often leads to the opposite: cultures and organizations stagnate rather than change. Cultural fit shouldn’t feel like a homogeneous new form, but should feel like shared values, collaboration on a new level, with more capacity, a higher level of integrity, etc. In other words, what boosts innovation is the approach that comes from diversity, and what hinders it is groupthink that shrinks perspectives and builds silos.
Do not ignore or validate silence as agreement.
There are different people out there. Some process changes loudly, speaking, showing emotions, and reacting sharply, while others stay quiet and process changes internally. The role of the leadership body presenting the transformation is to identify that quiet behavior and act accordingly precisely. Assuming that someone agrees or is in direct disagreement because they are quiet can’t be further from the truth. To ensure that everything is happening as per plan and that everyone is on the same page, the transformation responsible leadership body should provide multiple channels for collecting input. Direct communication and open feedback sessions are a good start, but the list should also include anonymous surveys, written feedback discussions in fractional teams or small groups, etc. That ensures that all voices will be heard in their own unique way of expression.
Do not miss the equity gaps in the process of adapting to the new “normal.”
Transformation may be a linear process, but how people process it is a different story. In general, people have different networks that provide unequal ways of supporting them while the change is executed. That means avoiding the assumption that those affected by the transformation will process it the same way, learn the same things to balance their world again, and need the same circle of support. The clearer a leadership body can be about addressing disparities, the better positioned they will be when building a strategy to deal with them in the most constructive way possible.
Don’t leave inclusion to others.
When a transformation happens, often someone plays the role of diversification manager. But just giving the role to someone, no matter their level, and expecting others to follow the leader and see the empowered employee as a reflection of the leader is childish and immature. Modeling inclusive behavior is a behavior that leaders from all levels should master. The biggest mistake is making inclusion someone else’s responsibility and abdicating it. It is why there is a big DON’T in DO IT here.
Now you know everything. What should a Leader do, and what should they avoid to transform happen? And this is a big YES and a big NO at the same time. To transform a meaningful event, the leadership body in the company must also focus on the set of instruments for measuring the change efforts to ensure a real and meaningful path to success. Such are tools measuring indicators like:
Retention: Is everyone staying with the organization, or are specific groups leaving?
Participation: Measuring across different groups to identify the level of active participation.
Pulse survey: To catch the psychological effects during the transformation and how people feel about it
Speaking distribution – showing how long the Leader has spoken and the main topics that create happiness and concern, etc.
Promotion and opportunity interest – how this is included as an element of successful transformation into different groups of people (white collars, blue collars, leadership teams, etc.)
The most important phrase in this process is not just to measure for the sake of the procedure, but to measure “what really matters” and what really impacts the status quo and the changing environment.
And why give so much effort?
Here is why the long view insists on this to happen. Find it in the short conclusion below…
FINAL WORDS
Transformations are not one-off initiatives. And building a new culture after them is not a monthly or quarterly initiative. The shake-ups that organizations experience create cracks in their structures, environments, teams, personnel, and beliefs. But to design the change, sustainably execute it, and establish it as the new normal, the Leaders need to understand that only careful design and an evolutionary action agenda can make it happen successfully. And only those organizations that use disruption as a catalyst to create deeper inclusion can emerge from the change stronger, more flexible, and adaptable, and ready to face the world and survive in it.
Because a new culture is built in the NOW, it is part of meetings, e-mails, calls, and even informal communications. And only those who make inclusion a default setting, rather than an exception, can recover much faster from hardships and turn transformations into a competitive advantage for now and the future.
The Human place - a path from you to yourself 