Comments
Ariella
1/13/2016 12:07:34 PM
User Rank Author
Re: Company Culture Is King
@ms.akkineni It sounds like it was a very valuable learning experience. Perhaps that made it worth the loss, though it probably was still not so pleasant at the time. Still, better to cut the losses and not sink good money after bad than to stick with something that won't work. That's overcoming the sunk cost cognitive bias that has a very strong pull on people in business.
Re: Company Culture Is King
Do you regard clear leadership as another category that should be considered as important as the culture, or would it be a subcategory of culture?
@Ariella: Absolutely, Great point !
Clarity of vision among senior leadership is very key towards the success of any intiative. Vision is something that many leaders often have. But a clear picture of how to translate that vision into a specific road map is what really sets up a ground to success.
Let me share my recent experience. We had an intiative and executed based on the directioon provided by leadeship. They realized that initiative didn't translate into any encouraging ROI and scrapped the whole initiative. Only after the damage occurred, all important brains thought together with more clarity and came up with a new initiative which now became an active new initiative. But not to forget, at a managerial level we still have to deal with $$$ spent for the old one.
To sum up clarity among leadership is very very critical to any organization.
Re: Company Culture Is King
People don't truly resist change they resist losing the power (and knowledge) through the change.
@DHagar: Reading this line is so nostalgic to me because I myself went through the exact similar sitiuation. Who else could be a better person to provide little more insight of what I had to go through.
Several years ago I was given a responsibility to manage a project that had to do with rebuilding that existed in mainframe at that time. I had to work with a business lead who had been with the company for almost 25-30 years using that legendary MF system. I can't explain how extremely difficult it was to get any analysis or requirements work done just because of the fact that HE DIDN"T WANT A NEW SYSTEM. He also stated that on my face and challenged me saying 'It is not easy and many people made multiple attempts and had to stop their efforts'. I didn't give up. I had to use all my tons of patience that I had reserved for my next two decades. He was a very difficult customer and adamantly refused to understand how easier and efforless his future system would be as opposed to run his operations on batch mode. He was so afraid of loosing his power and as a matter of teh fact he always thought he would loose his job / position. He was so afraid of change without even understanding that this change will add efficiency for him. Long story short, finally we had a new system that went live and this difficult customer resigned himslef.
So what i want to conclude is there are some people that run business operations have pre reserved thoughts and they are unwilling to accept any change no matter what. But I see that trend diminishing to a great extent.
DHagar
1/12/2016 6:41:46 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Company Culture Is King
vnewman, great example. When you are dealing with change, people want to know the big picture and how, if at all, it affects them. People don't truly resist change they resist losing the power (and knowledge) through the change. If people understand what the change is, what is going to be accomplished, how it will affect them, and (if possible) maintain as much control over the work they are resonsible for to realign with the change, they become champions of the change.
It is never easy, but unless you build the "capability" through the culture to change, it will be an exercise in futuility - which is what most people dislike.
vnewman
1/12/2016 6:34:04 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Company Culture Is King
I like the idea of having support and buy in from top management to speadhead cultural change but I think the problem comes when translating support into action. For example, my firm is in the middle of impletementing a "Strategic Plan Initiative." I've received countless emails and surveys regarding it, but frankly, most of the "initiative" doesn't pertain to me as I don't face external clients and I don't see any difference in day-to-day operations of the company. It amounts to lip service.
DHagar
1/11/2016 1:33:24 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Company Culture Is King
Re: SeniorAd, what great points. You are absolutely correct. That internal selling is as, or more important, than the vision and the direction. You will need create real change, let alone transformation, if the internal buy-in is not there and if the processes themselves do not change.
The only way to drive the transformation is to change from within; and that is not just top-down, but buy-in from bottom up.
Ariella
1/11/2016 10:37:50 AM
User Rank Author
Re: Company Culture Is King
@SeniorAd Do you regard clear leadership as another category that should be considered as important as the culture, or would it be a subcategory of culture? You seem to suggest that the impact of leadership can vary according to the culture set by the location of the company, i.e. a different cultural response in Europe than in Asia. So would you say we need a region-specific pie chart?
MDSmith
1/10/2016 10:45:02 PM
User Rank Steel
Re: Company Culture Is King
There are a number of interesting points raised in the original post and the post I am replying to. I believe that there is another maybe not so subtle dimension here which is the underlying culture that this transformation and its associated activities is occurring in. While "clear leadership" normally provides sufficient direction in North America and Europe I don't believe this is sufficient in the Asia / Asia Pacific regions. Recent experience has shown me clearly that while senior leadership can have a clear vision of the transformation that the business must follow those down the chain need to have bought into that view as well.
Years ago the company (in NA) was on the digital transformation path and produced a comprehensive roadmap show which went on a "roadshow" across the company. While there continued to the natural human resistance to the transformation I believe that the journey was made easier and that company is now reaping the benefits of a complete transformation. In my opinion a vital component of the transformation journey is the management of communications and the "selling of the vision".
So company culture is vital but how the transformation vision / message is managed is equally vital in my opinion.
DHagar
1/8/2016 7:12:19 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Company Culture Is King
Mike, interesting confirmation of what we intuitively know. Digital transformations "disrupt" the human silos and are changing the way company employees collect, use, and apply information. Now that technology has removed the technical barriers and truly provided open networks, it has put the spotlight on the human resistance.
I like your point of leadership and clear policy. Companies have to reform, if not transform, their cultures into open systems; which leaves no room for the silos and human resistance of old. Clear leadership at the top, with collaborative cultures that make effective use of the new digital environment, will enable those companies to outperform in the market and truly be competitive.
|
|
Italy's 5G auction could exceed a government target of raising €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion) after attracting interest from companies outside the mobile market.
The emerging-markets operator is focusing on the humdrum business of connectivity and keeping quiet about some of its ill-fated 'digitalization' efforts.
Three UK has picked Huawei over existing radio access network suppliers Nokia and Samsung to build its 5G network.
Vendor says that it's its biggest 5G deal to date.
Verizon skates where the puck is going by waiting for standards-based 5G devices to launch its mobile service in 2019.
Orange has been one of the leading proponents of SDN and NFV. In this Telco Transformation radio show, Orange's John Isch provides some perspective on his company's NFV/SDN journey.
10/16/2017
Huawei Network Transformation Seminar
The adoption of virtualization technology and cloud architectures by telecom network operators is now well underway but there is still a long way to go before the transition to an era of Network Functions Cloudification (NFC) is complete.
The Small Cell Forum's CEO Sue Monahan says that small cells will be crucial for indoor 5G coverage, but challenges around business models, siting ...
People, strategy, a strong technology roadmap and new business processes are the key underpinnings of Telstra's digital transformation, COO Robyn ...
Eric Bozich, vice president of products and marketing at CenturyLink, talks about the challenges and opportunities of integrating Level 3 into ...
Epsilon's Mark Daley, director of digital strategy and business development, talks about digital transformation from a wholesale service provider ...
Bill Walker, CenturyLink's director of network architecture, shares his insights on why training isn't enough for IT employees and traditional ...
All Videos
|
On-the-Air Thursdays Digital Audio
Special Huawei Video
Tweet This