Five Tips for Leveraging Disruption to Accelerate Transformation
“Times of crisis, of disruption or constructive change are not only predictable, but desirable. They mean growth. Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
Times of disruption provide opportunities for growth if you take advantage of them, but it isn’t easy to do. In this article, we share some ideas for how you can leverage a disruptive event to evolve and innovate across your organization.
Disruptive events include mergers and acquisitions, technological advancements, global economic shifts, launching a new product or service offering, or shifting customer needs.
Leveraging a disruptive event to drive transformation requires strategic thinking, adaptability, and a willingness to embrace change. It’s not for the faint of heart, but you can do it. And that’s our first recommendation:
You’re going to be ok
Before you begin, it is important to take a minute to acknowledge and even mourn what the disruption means. You could feel several emotions like real or perceived loss of power or control, and personal fears around risk, failure, finances, or even job loss. Let them come and allow them to inform you and inspire ways to constructively react.
Having done that, roll up your sleeves and get excited about the opportunity for growth that is now present. You can do this!
A look in the mirror
Look at yourself, your teams, and the organization as an outsider looking in and ask yourself the following questions:
Are we on point with the latest trends and market demands? Collaborate with industry partners, peers, and experts to share insights and best practices. Networking can provide valuable perspectives and potential opportunities to collaborate.
What is the nature and impact of the disruptive event on our organization and how will it affect our current processes, business model, and overall operations? Assess your existing strategies and business model considering the disruptive event. Be willing to test out new ideas, see what might work that you haven’t considered before or been willing to try. With disruption comes a new boldness.
Do we have activities underway that made sense in the past, but don’t going forward? Assess your culture and determine ways to foster one that encourages a growth mindset among employees.
What are the hard decisions we haven’t wanted to make and now is the time to evaluate? Emphasize the opportunity for learning and improvement rather than focusing solely on challenges.
If you fail to plan…
Take the discoveries you gained from looking in the mirror and develop a strategic plan that considers the lessons learned from the disruptive event. Consider the long-term implications and position the organization for future success. Within the plan, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your innovative initiatives. Set up ways to continuously iterate based on feedback and data to refine your strategies. Consider what your employees will need as well. Provide resources and support for upskilling and reskilling to meet new challenges.
Try on some different shoes to test and see
Create personas to stand in the shoes of your customers, your people, and your peers to evaluate how the plan looks and feels for each persona and thoughtfully adjust the plan. Now garner buy-in by sharing your analysis and plan with actual people, including all levels of the organization. Engage and involve others and empower them to contribute ideas and take ownership of innovative solutions. By doing so, you are building a team of champions for the ideas and opportunities. This team of champions will be critical to the success of the change as you implement.
Make it real and tell your story
Refine your ideas and your plan and prepare to tell your story. Build an effective way to share and demonstrate ownership of your journey through this process and then share it. Share why you’re excited and bought into this plan. Share how you’ve engaged others and how you are all prepared to face this disruption and evolve together.
And now for the challenging part – putting this into action! If your organization is currently facing a disruptive event, reach out to us. We’d love to help!
For more information about Switch and how we can help you, send us an email at contact@switchconsultinggroup.com. If you’re interested in receiving our latest articles in your inbox or hearing about upcoming webinars, submit your email address in the “Stay in the Know” form below.