A long time back I wanted to write a book on
Organizational Inertia; it was to be an expression of angst from stories
captured from many IT teams on theirs and my experiences in large enterprises.
The funny thing is that large enterprises have a peculiar life of their own
which makes interesting case studies. They rarely surface and get buried in the
stifled cries and whimpers of the frustrated who try to find solace in greener
pastures. When I wrote No
decision, the biggest enemy to progress, it appeared to have stories of
many encapsulated into the anecdotes.
Organizational inertia manifests itself in many
ways; pushback to innovation, new ideas and change, is the norm with
justification that is final in its utterance. If that does not work, Committees
are setup to review feasibility, or research commissioned to validate the
assumptions, or a Consultant hired to benchmark and recommend best practice, or
just keep asking for more data; anything to maintain status quo almost as if
life depended on it. Let me give you a few examples of how they manifest
themselves, I am sure you can add to the list:
1. That’s the
way it is done here
2. Current process was written/endorsed by the Chairman/Founder/CEO, how can we
change it ?
3. It was
tried earlier and it did not work
4. There is
no budget allotted
5. How can
you even think about … you don’t understand this company !
6. This
requires approvals from global headquarters … and you know how it works …
7. It is not
relevant to our industry/company …
Almost two
decades back as I remember some bright consultants created a practice around
“Change Management” to address these issues which plagued the industry. How to
manage change, how to get people to embrace new ideas, and how to
institutionalize change. Every large enterprise went through some kind of
workshops, management consultants adding value, and attempting to coerce people
to look at things differently. The inherent pushback from the change averse
(that’s what they were called) was WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) ?
Fair amount of
the change was created by automation and force fitment of processes into
technology solutions that integrated processes and functions (ERP). The next
layer of function specific solutions like CRM or SCM and then broad based
solutions like BPM added to the change which started accelerating. Post the
initial chaos emerged clarity on the benefits and the ease of use with early
adopters enjoying market leadership or an agile advantage. Things were
beginning to settle down and enterprises were at peace with themselves.
Change being the
only constant, the next level of disruption was thrust upon enterprises from
outside with the changing dynamics of employees, contractors and customers
embracing technology in their personal lives. The now ubiquitous smartphone in
the hands of the masses catalysed by exploding plethora of applications forced
enterprises to accept this force multiplier. CIOs and others were challenged to
accept the new wave which required not just adaptation to the technology but
also a change in process.
From the internet
led disruption to mobility to Clouds to now the Digital hype, IoT, and
wearables to name a few, enterprises and CIOs have never had a dull moment.
Doomsday did happen for some though not because they did not embrace the hype,
but because they did not change when they should have or when they could have. Stories
of such companies shall remain case studies in organizational inertia. In the
new world of digitally defined success measured by valuations among other
things, everyone wants a share of the pie.
This is an
opportunity for every company and leader to introspect and take some
uncomfortable decisions to give up the good old ways of working and explore how
the hype can be tamed and applied within. The CIO more than other CXOs is well
placed to take steps towards creating a dialogue that puts the elephant in the
room and test hypotheses on impact to customer, employees, partners and
stakeholders. In the new age some of the fundamentals cannot be forgotten;
finally for every company it is about creating value for the ecosystem.
"A year from now, you may wish you had started today." - Karen
Lamb
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