Orchestrate a Dynamic Transition


Most experts will tell you to aim for a smooth transition—the more invisible it is, the better. That’s not quite right. This is appropriate for conventional outsourcing, but it is a mistake in transformational outsourcing. You do want employees and current work flow to move transparently from your organization to that of your provider. On the other hand, unlike most outsourcing programs, your major aim in this initiative is to transform your organization. You’ll want to leverage the transition your organization must go through to both symbolize and actualize new attitudes and behaviors. So on the one hand, some parts of the transition should be transparent and frictionless; other parts should help everyone understand that the organization has stepped into a new game for good.

The leader’s role is to ensure that people affiliated with the organization recognize that the old ways have come to a stop. Of course, executives don’t do this in a vacuum. The reason for stopping must be compelling and proximate so the employees have no doubt that the results are worth the effort. In some cases, the motivation is organizational survival. An NS&I executive explained, ‘‘What triggered us to transform? We were on the edge of the cliff, and everyone knew it.’’ Companies can also transform themselves to leave a mediocre track record behind and head for a best-in-class position. J. Sainsbury, for example, had slipped into the middle of the pack among its UK retail competitors and initiated a transformational program to regain its leadership position in the industry.[1]

Before your organization can head off at full speed in a new direction, you must disrupt its comfortable web of routines. As a first step, work with your transformational outsourcing partner to engineer a full stop— not in employees’ current tasks, but in their expectations and attitudes toward tomorrow. In other words, your organization must stop trying to continue doing what it is currently doing in order to begin doing what it should. The transfer of employees from one organization to another is a clear breaking point. Use this very real transition to communicate that you are changing the way the organization works.

Stopping is important, but it’s only the start of change.[2] For an organization to be effective, it must also be turned and restarted. Turning means establishing new expectations, new goals, and new motivations. In transformational outsourcing, the leadership of both partners must help employees understand not just that things are going to be different, but how they are going to be different. Vague statements about financial goals won’t do the job here. Leaders must communicate a plan that makes sense to the people who have to bring it to life. Many make public commitments to achieve bold strategic aims. Since this puts them personally on the hook to deliver what they’ve promised, it provides compelling evidence to skeptical employees that they have every intention to succeed.

We’ve talked about bold agendas and business models. We’ve talked about a dynamic transition. The years of capable execution that follow these planning and transitional activities are equally important. Five of our ten leadership imperatives address this part of the initiative.

[1]Throughout the book, for simplicity, I will refer to the Thomas Cook UK and Ireland subsidiary as ‘‘Thomas Cook.’’ I will refer to its parent company as ‘‘Thomas Cook AG.’’

[2]Susanna Voyle, ‘‘Why Sainsbury Put Its Money on a Wholesale System Change,’’ Financial Times, June 13, 2003, page 12.




Outsourcing for Radical Change(c) A Bold Approach to Enterprise Transformation
Outsourcing for Radical Change: A Bold Approach to Enterprise Transformation
ISBN: 0814472184
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 135

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net