Organizations are living organisms. Emotional beings reflective of the actual humans that drive them. So what happens when they wake up?
Four approaches.
Case Study # 1 This organization is waking up from a deep slumber. Think of legacy verticals. Think manufacturing, traditional retail, public-sector, transportation, academia. Institutions in this category (generally speaking) have enjoyed a bread and butter business shielded from market innovation. The barriers may have been a combination of high cost of entry, an opaque business model, regulatory protection, a self-preservative ecosystem. As the inevitable happens — changing customer expectations, supply chain disruptions, risk-taking entrepreneurs, geopolitical realities — the organization yawns. It opens one eye and takes a peak at the new reality. Often it hits the snooze button for another nap. Reluctantly, it stretches. With each movement, it complains. It feels nostalgic. Parts of it feels numb.
Should you happen to find yourself in the above situation, consider yourself lucky. In today’s fast changing business landscape, opportunities to lead ground-up changes are becoming increasingly rare. Literally every aspect of such a company is innovation gold. Reimagine every business process. Challenge the business model, especially what is considered to be sacred. Become all Indiana Jones, when you hear “But this is what got us here…”. Do not do it alone. There are change hunters just like you buried in the organization. Find such thought partners and organize.
Do all of this not for the promotion, although you may very well receive one, do it for the enormous satisfaction that comes with waking up an organization and by extension the people who are a part of it.
Case Study # 2 On the other extreme, this organization prides itself on its ability to take power naps. Think of modern digital darlings. Innovation of their products and services is an ongoing phenomenon. The reward system is designed to enable and absorb change. Not to beat current competition. But to foresee future ones. These companies are not looking to master the current game but creating a new one altogether.
Don’t be fooled by the myth that everyone working in such an environment is an innovation Deepak Chopra. Often, the business transformation is being led by a select few. Learn who those are and learn from them. By default such organizations expect small failures. Fail often. Here complacency is a mortal sin. Bringing innovation for the sake of it is another one. Let business value creation drive discussions and decisions.
Case Study # 3 This organization is like my friend. Fuels herself on triple espresso shots to pull an all-nighter. Embraces regular crashes to catch up. Loves frequent detox routines. Eats junk food often but not often enough to show. Loves to salsa during weeknights but somehow manages to ace a work presentation early morning. Wakes up often with a migraine. Espresso shots. And the cycle continues.
This is a common scenario. In fact, organizations consider such lifestyle of innovation boosters as a sign of staying on top of their game. There is no problem that can not be hacked through. A reorg is always around the corner. Although a great positive attitude, this can wear off talent fast. If you are that friend. Stop. Pace yourself. Hero mentality only produces followers. If you are someone who wants to be like that friend. Don’t. Instead, be that sober friend of my friend. Someone, who encourages an innovation discipline. Where change is not the responsibility of one team or a select few. Instead, an expectation and a core competency of everyone who makes up the organization.
Case Study # 4 This organization sleep walks. A walking dead. It will only truly wake up with a bang. A major scandal. Bad accounting practices. Toxic workplace culture. Less than stellar quarterly results. Compliance blunder. Driven by a story but as it was said about a conglomerate giant, “mistaking a story for a strategy is how companies die”.
Should you find stuck in this fairytale turned nightmare, your choices are tricky. Firstly, be self-critical to make sure you are not one of the Pied Pipers. It is tempting to jump ship. Cut your losses and protect your individual brand. For most this may be the best route. For a select few there is an experience of a lifetime waiting to be had. The fastest and cheapest MBA you can do to learn from how organizations recover or fail when leadership stumbles. The thick change management skin you will develop will serve you well for the rest of your career.
Understanding where on the sleep/wake spectrum your company falls is important. Simply because, when the organization wakes up, you must too.
