"In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
-Warren Buffet
Before any small and medium-sized enterprise can undergo a business transformation, leaders must develop a change mindset to scale-up successfully. When organizations aspire to transform, they generally aim to generate more revenue, expand operations, and gain more customers. However, going full-throttle without a change mindset confuses leaders and is like going into a battle with blindfolded soldiers.
Benefits of a Change Mindset for Business Transformation and Scale-Up
Most organizations who take business transformation topics seriously aren’t good at execution. This is because they forget that, to achieve this and scale-up their business, they have to stop doing some things and redefine the way they get things done. And this is how the first step in a successful scale-up.
As a business leader, your job
is to foster self-generated insight from your team and not provide all the
answers. Why is this relevant?
Because the most important part
of business transformation is to ensure that everyone is on board the change
wagon. But before you announce your
ambitions, you must develop a change mindset yourself to inspire others.
To successfully develop a change mindset and scale-up through business transformation, here are a few things you need:
1. A
Solid Business Case for Change
This
answers all the "why?” questions and lays the foundation for planning the
required activities to deliver change. People are more likely to develop a
change mindset if they understand the need for change? As part of an effective
approach towards successful scale-up, organizations should make their planning
as transparent as possible. This way, all departments will be able to play
their part knowingly.
2. Public
Accountability
You
need someone ready to sacrifice their reputation to get behind you and ensure
you deliver what was promised in the case for change. This person becomes the
role model for everyone during the business transformation by initiating the
changing culture.
3. A
Strong Team
Business
transformation is not possible without your team collaborating to deliver value
as quickly as possible to satisfy customer needs and your ambitions. As you
scale-up, you’ll likely need more staff, and your relationship with them might
not be as strong as with your initial team members. So, your original team will
need to lead the new generation of members in your organization.
4. A Leadership-Driven Growth Culture
As a
business leader, you must define a change and growth culture. When everyone
commits to the new norms within your organization, they are more likely to see
its future as their own.
5. A Governance Framework
When
organizations build a governance structure using their business transformation
journey, they build resilience within departments, which is important for a
successful transformation.
Summary
Organizations should transform themselves
and find their true potential. Any kind of business transformation requires a
change mindset within the organization. Get in touch with a
trained consultant who will serve as a role model and coaches you and your team
members by preparing them to scale up and build the resilience required for
business transformation.