Missing potential due to behavior…

We often see it: we buy a solution with enormous potential, but after a tremendously difficult project, we don’t see the potential being realized. It’s easy to blame the software, the project, or sometimes even the employees. But isn’t it the behavior or even the culture within the company that is the cause? Do we have the skills and behaviors necessary to truly extract the potential?

“Transforming” your company, that’s what many platforms claim. In the beginning of the project, the focus is often on simply implementing the data provision, the basic process. Once this Minimum Viable Product is up and running, larger implementations often experience fatigue within the organization due to the change. However, the transformation takes place afterward. Now the platform must lead to concrete changes and opportunities for further improvements must be found. This depends on the users themselves and the team around them. But are they capable of this? Often, we see that this group is not yet ready to actively engage in this process. As a result, the potential remains untapped. The team will continue with their daily routine as they always have. The result is that sometimes only the tool has changed, perhaps one step has been automated, but it cannot be called a transformation. Larmans’ Law of Organizational Behavior has already indicated that if the context does not concretely change, the organization will revert to its old behavior. Therefore, we must actively do something to change the context in such a way that a different outcome emerges. Otherwise, the potential will never be realized.

Does the team adapt as the context changes?

To achieve this, the team itself must be engaged in continuous improvement. Now that they have the platform, this should be possible, right? In the book “Turn the Ship Around,” David Marquet refers to a possible cause of failing to realize potential. He describes teams on submarines that were conditioned to work according to orders and not think for themselves. They were centrally controlled or waited for external input for change. The process or instruction was always followed, less and less thinking occurred, and initiative was punished. But the transition to team autonomy proved more challenging than expected. A truly autonomous team required not only autonomy but also more knowledge. To ensure that the team truly improves continuously and takes responsibility for this improvement, they must actively engage in their own change. Whether this is on a submarine or in an organization safe on land. If you don’t do this, every change or improvement will have to be externally driven, by management, a project, or a vendor. That is exhausting and costly.

Five focal points for a change culture surrounding digitalization

But where do you start with this culture and behavior change? Begin with the following five focal points in your organization, and you will experience improvement quickly!

1. Promote autonomy at the team level. When the team can autonomously implement changes, they will feel more responsible for making improvements. Help them formulate their own objectives and continuously look for improvement steps.
2. Actively work on knowledge development during and after implementation. Ensure that you work on developing the knowledge level, not only in terms of the technical aspects of the platform but also in actively engaging in improvements. Once the team embraces this, they can take responsibility for finding improvement proposals. This requires independent thinking about how things can be done better and acquiring knowledge about the possibilities.
3. Schedule regular time for improvements. After implementation, organizations often feel tired from the improvements. Make sure you establish a regular rhythm for identifying, designing, and implementing improvements. This ensures that your platform stays up to date and that you constantly discover new potential.
4. Change step by step. Although a large software implementation often takes a long time, it is important to continue making small changes afterward. This helps the organization feel the impact quickly and have a sense of ownership. Make the steps small, so they feel more manageable, and actively encourage this approach.
5. Make improvements measurable and visible. In the busyness of daily work, it is often challenging to feel improvements and realize how something has improved. Therefore, make every improvement measurable, no matter how small. This helps increase support, celebrate successes, and experience progress. At the same time, work on making the improvements visible. Share them as widely as possible!

Getting 1% better every day.

All the changes resulting from these focal points originate at the behavioral level. This cannot be achieved through a process, instruction, or agreement alone. Actively steer towards this, but give it time. It will change the culture within the company in a way that goes far beyond the impact delivered by the software alone. However, behavioral change takes time. It will take months for people to actively notice the tremendous strides that have been made.

Curious how you can implement this in your organization? Mark Your Progress is here to help you!