(Digital) Transformation and the Rise of the Expirational Leader
In mid-2018, LEF published a research paper entitled Digital Transformation and Leadership – The Five Big Questions.
This research was designed to help leaders, especially CEOs, get clear on the questions they needed to be asking themselves, their Boards and their leadership teams as they embarked on and/or continued their digital transformation journeys. That article prompted a deeper dive to address the biggest question that the article’s publication prompted – “Who can help me get started moving forward, and/or get me unstuck, once I ask these questions – who really drives digital transformation?” The question of “who?”, is as critical as the question of “how?”. But before we get to the “who?”, let’s step back and look at the “how?” that CEOs, their Boards and their leadership teams will be dealing with on their digital transformation journey.
In looking at what has and has not worked over the past several years, the authors have come up with several recommendations for ways forward with digital transformation in your organization. And we need to start with this statement – transformation (digital or otherwise) is not an event, or a destination, rather it is a journey. And, every journey needs a roadmap and navigation support. We would also be remiss if we didn’t also note that ‘digital transformation’ is an imprecise term, to say the least, and that the scope of change associated with it increases as the need for change moves from IT modernization to business transformation to industry disruption. You always have to start with this question – what does digital actually mean for your business?
As we reflected on our work and discussions to date, we were struck by how often CEOs, Boards and leadership teams looked at change and transformation as a project, a destination, rather than a journey focused on ongoing, continuous business transformation. In truth, this journey is a multi-year cross enterprise change management approach impacting your business model, your financial structure, your organization (people, skills, process) as well as your go-to-market plans. This is a team game, not an individual sport. It takes leadership from the CEO, the Board and the entire executive team to keep the programme on track, adjust for risks, look at unintended consequences and communicate throughout the changes affecting all aspects of your business.
Note that we did not refer to it as a project or programme, but an approach. If we treat transformation like an event, or worse – a function, we believe you are doomed to fail. What is happening with digital is about building capabilities to transform, not just going through a so-called ‘transformation programme’. It is about responding to a world where business models are shifting towards subscription-based, outcome-driven Platform as a Service and Software as a Service models. It is about turning strategy into operational ability. And, above all else, the journey we are talking about is a leadership transformation play.
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