A transformation project goes wrong
The leadership of a Europe-based company in the business services sector was attempting to deliver a transformation project to standardize its business strategy across multiple countries, and kept getting stuck. The project faced resistance from within, as most countries had developed affinities for specialized technologies and were reluctant to change. Lacking standardization, the company had on its hands a patchwork problem. In seeking to embrace a more unified strategy, it found some leaders embraced simplification. Others protested change, arguing they were succeeding under the status quo.
But senior leaders determined change was necessary for cross-selling across national boundaries to large customers. Without it, customer databases and work processes would remain siloed in different territories.
When I got involved, it was clear that there was no trust between the three sets of people involved: the country heads, European leadership and the CIO’ s team.
way, which meant all discussions were contractual in nature. It was if they were customers and suppliers, not colleagues.
This transactional mindset led to defensive behaviours, finger pointing and communication breakdown.
... people are risk-averse, which means they have to trust the change and those behind it before they will choose to work with them.
Why? They were all highly motivated to do the right thing: help the business succeed. But their efforts were focused on the technical, delivery, and cost aspects of the project, and not on the relationships involved. As a result, they behaved in a transactional
I helped them align around the ambition, commit to partnership, define what that meant in practice, and reset their relationship so that they could truly collaborate to create more value together and for their customers.
But this story contains two critical lessons that illustrate why it is so important to focus on building high trust relationships in business: change is challenging, which means you need to have relationships which can adapt in a collaborative way; and people are risk-averse, which means they have to trust the change and those behind it before they will choose to work with them.
To this end, the imperative to all leaders and teams is simple: choose trust.
The Kyndryl Institute Journal 59