Why Is Transformation So Hard?
Edition #163
Introduction
Welcome to The ContraMind Code.
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The Code helps you reboot and reimagine your thinking by learning from the best and enables you to draw a blueprint on what it takes to get extraordinary things done. Please share your valuable thoughts and comments and start a conversation here.
Take a journey to www.contraminds.com. Listen and watch some great minds talking to us about their journey of discovery of what went into making them craftsmen of their profession to drive peak performance.
How I’ve Run Major Projects: Ben Kuhn, Anthropic.
Ben Kuhn works for Anthropic, one of the world's leading AI companies. In his blog, he shares his playbook for managing major projects.
Here are some good ideas from his article that could resonate with you, especially when managing large, complex projects.
Focus—Clearing any other schedule to entirely give it attention is vital. Being distracted by many other things competing for your attention could prove costly. Avoid it at all costs.
Maintain a detailed plan for victory - Have clarity on what defines success and victory for you and your client(both internal and external). It is essential to list detailed steps if you are moving towards the finish line as per the plan.
Run a fast OODA loop. OODA stands for observe, orient, decide, and act. Most large projects are characterized by incomplete information. Eliciting complete information is usually the hardest part of the project. It can take up a substantial portion of the estimated time costs, which may not have been calculated correctly. Hence, OODA becomes important, making what you do daily flexible and adaptable as issues arise. How can you overcome these uncertainties and unplanned things in a project?
Track and prioritize the biggest open questions.
Don’t shy away from overcommunication - ‘Communicate uncomfortably much.’
Constantly keep reorienting - Look at our list of priorities, asking yourself whether they should still be the top priorities,
Create a high level of ‘ambient awareness’ in your teams. Having ‘Situational Awareness is essential.
In large projects, you don’t just delegate the execution but you have to delegate the project management of the deliverables.
Remember, in complex projects, direction is more important than magnitude.
Learn to ‘play well with others’.
Maintain a ‘master document’ of every day’s status so that anybody can learn about the project, and you need not be a bottleneck for them when you have time constraints.
When you give project updates, optimize for signal-to-noise ratio.
Plan for retrospectives: As much as you plan for weekly meetings and updates, take time for retrospective meetings to reflect on what went right or wrong.
Read the entire article here.
Why Kids Need To Take More Risks: Science Reveals The Benefits Of Wild, Free Play.
We live in a society where parents are increasingly protective of their children. As countries become more developed economies and people become more wealthy, it seems parents get more ‘anxious’ about their children and don’t allow them to take risks of any kind. Since they have the financial resources, they engage in acts and activities to reduce their anxiety, affecting kids mentally as they get into the real world, which is uncertain and volatile. This podcast from Nature Podcast provides a great perspective on this and, specifically, what science has to offer from the research that is being done in this area.
Here are some findings and insights for you to reflect on this:
What is risky play? Risky play consists of activities kids do, like climbing and jumping from heights to leaving them away from the watchful eyes of parents.
Research shows that it is vital for kids to experience opportunities for risky play, as this develops their spatial awareness, coordination, tolerance of uncertainty, and confidence.
Research also shows children know more about their abilities than adults might think!
It is vital for parents to understand risk is not the same as danger.
When kids are involved with ‘Risky Play’, it gives them self-confidence, resilience, problem-solving skills and social skills like cooperation, negotiation, empathy, etc.
When kids are allowed to experience the cycle of challenge, arousal and coping, it helps them understand anxiety and physiological stress are not indicative of disaster and do not last forever.
An adult’s role is to provide a conducive environment and get out of the way!
There’s a key takeaway for even adults. They need to practice risky play that can give them this ’funny, scary’ feeling and help them navigate the uncertainty they deal with in their world.
You can also listen to this episode on:
Integrating Generative AI Into Business Strategy: Dr. George Westerman
There is so much talk about AI, Gen AI and how it will transform the workplace, jobs, industries, functions, and more. This is a brilliant talk by George Westerman, a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Founder of the Global Opportunity Initiative, who outlines how to approach this systematically.
Here are some key thoughts from this talk that will help you think more about this topic:
“Technology changes quickly. Organizations change much more slowly.”
“Technology is NOT the problem. TRANSFORMATION is.”
“AI can seem intelligent, but you need to be intelligent in how you use it.”
“Start with the problem. Not with the technology. Many solutions will be a combination of technology, people and processes.”
“Get started now - pilots, policy, org capability.”
“Help people be ready and willing to participate.”
“Continuously iterate and improve. What can you do with small t transformations that will help the large t transformations later on.”
You can click on the above video to watch this talk.
Why Is Transformation So Hard?
In his talk, George Westerman makes a profound statement, ‘Technology is not the problem. Transformation is.’ This statement raises many curious questions as to why transformation is so hard.
First things first, transformation requires conviction. In organizations, it is not restricted to the belief of one person who initiates the technology change but the conviction of many people who are either driving or participating in the expected adoption of a new technology, process and behaviour change. Here begins the challenge, as many people resist change or don’t inherently believe what is being done will work, or some of them don’t understand why this is being done. Hence, they are not involved or, worst of all, not committed. This leads to half-hearted attempts, and such people do not apply their minds enough and adopt them during their daily work methods. A lack of conviction leads to a lack of transformation.
Transformation requires a precise clarity of outcomes. Outcomes may include improved customer experience, reduced costs, improved margin, quicker turnaround time, higher productivity, etc. When outcomes are unclear, people don’t feel comfortable and find ways to resist or adopt them. Moreover, they highlight the time spent and effort being put in, which may not necessarily influence the expected outcome. Looking within in terms of behaviour change, adherence to new work processes, micro-level reviews play an important role more than daily huddles and standups. Successful transformations have visible outcomes defined, practised and published periodically. Transformation becomes hard because the tool becomes the hero and not the outcome.
Transformation also requires a lot of effort from the people involved, which saps a lot of mental energy and space. The inordinate effort required to influence, nudge, discuss, debate and clarify is often not captured in the requirements and plan documents. Hence, the people involved see the additional effort as an obligation. An obligation mindset rarely translates into high ‘effort intensity’. It is like learning a new skill. Initially, it takes a lot of effort, but then it becomes a way of life over time. Not factoring in high decibel ‘effort intensity’ in the early phase and supporting investments for soft landing makes transformation hard.
Transformation requires proactive collaboration. This is a fundamental behavioural trait seen in people who have effected successful organization-wide transformation. They don’t come with a cynical and ‘not-invented here’ mindset. The best ones have the knack of taking people along by addressing their concerns and fears. Setting a context for people is key for proactive collaboration. Transformation becomes hard when it is approached transactionally and not contextually.
As you can see, none of the above are technology problems, but this has to do with people - and how they ‘own’ the transformation. So, how do you make transformation initiatives work?
Spend time building conviction amongst key stakeholders as to why the transformation is needed. It is vital to bring people’s attention to the business problem and make them see how life will change. Encourage dissent at this phase and address all the questions they may have. A big part of the job is making them see what they cannot see.
Bring together a core team of ‘believers’ who can motivate, inspire and influence others. Bringing people with senior designations and titles matters very little in transformation initiatives. Remember, senior people, being a part of a transformation program should not be seen as an entitlement or a prerequisite for success. The best senior leaders remove roadblocks rather than being a roadblock.
Focus on outcomes as much as on plans, processes, schedules, and milestones. Make outcomes explicit before and after rollout to all stakeholders.
Move the ownership accountability and credit to the doers rather than the ones who lead the transformation initiative.
Break down big-bang transformations into small ‘t’ transformation initiatives.
Mindlessly follow the 5Rs - Review, Reflect, Refine, Recalibrate and Recognize.
Don’t forget that organizations are a collection of people with diverse beliefs and opinions. Each of them comes with their own bias, fears and views. In transformation initiatives, transforming minds is as important as transforming the technology within the firm.
Transformation happens only when minds and technology deployment are aligned.
Some of the lessons we learnt from this week’s mission:
Instill a sense of ‘ambient awareness’ in your teams when they handle large, complex projects.
When kids are involved in ‘Risky Play,’ they develop self-confidence, resilience, and problem-solving skills. They also learn social skills like cooperation, negotiation, empathy, etc.
While technology changes quickly, organizations change more slowly. Therefore, technology is not the problem. Transformation is a lot more harder.