What is transformation?

- In the world of business, transformation has become the new buzzword for anything to do with change. But there is a difference between a specific change initiative and transformation. So how do we differentiate between the two? Think about the goal of the initiative. In a change initiative, organizations are often looking for more efficient ways to meet a specific existing objective. For example, as part of a cost-cutting strategy, a global organization consolidates its campus and offers employees options to work remotely. All cubicles are now shared stations. There are no changes to existing business processes or to the organizational structure. But this change has the potential to impact productivity and culture. So, an organizational change initiative is launched to train employees on remote working etiquette and to establish expectations around productivity and collaboration. Alternatively, in a transformation, an organization redefines the way it operates. Often, there is an initiating trigger that leads to a path of transformation, but in this case, how things were done in the past doesn't matter. A global financial services firm learned that the version of their enterprise resource planning system or ERP would no longer be supported. This becomes an opportunity to rethink how they want to conduct business. In their current model, each location conducts end-to-end processes and most of these are transactional tasks. They decide to create a shared services center in one location where all transactional tasks are completed. Then, other locations can focus on tasks that require specialized skills and contextual knowledge. Once the organization makes the decision to transform in this way, they rethink their processes and how their global organization is set up. Then they use an upgraded ERP to enable the new way of doing things. So, here are some ways to differentiate between an organizational change initiative and an enterprise-wide transformation. In a change initiative, there is limited scope, usually impacting people, process, or technology. Limited interdependencies and assessment of current state to determine future state and limited scope of change. In a transformation, there are impacts to people, process, and technology, with many cross-functional interdependencies. The future is redefined and there are several types of change. Now, let's think about this from a communication perspective for each scenario. In the first example about campus relocation, all communications are geared towards the same outcome, getting work done in the way you've always done it but from a different location. In the second example about the new ERP system, there are different types of communication to different audiences. These communications address the changes and processes for each functional area, changes to the organizational structure, and changes on how to use the upgraded technology to enable the new way of doing things. Both the smaller change initiatives and the enterprise-wide transformations have significant impacts that will affect the way your organization operates. Both are important for you to get right. The difference lies in how you plan and execute each type so that your stakeholders feel prepared for the change.