Four steps to achieving transformative change in turbulent times

If you are a senior leader, we fully acknowledge how difficult it is to do your job right now. You are navigating through extreme and unprecedented volatility and disruption. Shifting consumer behaviours, rapid technology changes, intense competition, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions have sadly become the new normal.

The pace of change has only accelerated, with new challenges and opportunities emerging daily. Amid this constant upheaval, you are still expected to deliver short-term results, drive innovation and lead your organisation through transformative change. We see it happening within the organisations we support around the world, and we know it is a difficult and unsustainable way of working. Instead of navigating around the storms in years past, we are forced to move right through them.

On top of these pressures, leaders are still expected to shepherd their longer-term transformation initiatives—which are crucial for their organisation’s success—to a timely and empathetic conclusion. Yet, ironically, some of these transformations have roadmaps spanning three, five or even 10 years. This typically results in either a shrug, a chuckle, a head in your hands or a refreshing of one’s LinkedIn profile. It is all simply too much, too long, too volatile and too costly for anyone to reasonably maintain.

So, how do you sustain momentum on long-term strategic initiatives when the present brings daily instability and uncertainty? And how do you keep your organisation focused on achieving transformative change when motion sickness from directional shifts has everyone spinning?

What it takes to sustain transformative change today

While there are no easy answers or one-size-fits-all playbooks, lived experience suggests that employing a combination of unwavering focus, proactive agility, transparent communication and authentic engagement can dramatically increase your odds of success.

Step 1: Navigate via your true north

When each day brings fresh chaos, near-term issues scream for attention, consuming limited time and resources. Before you know it, strategic priorities may get relegated to the back burner, derailing progress on broader transformational change. This is where visible, vocal and unwavering leadership becomes critical.

As a leader navigating disruption, painting a vivid, memorable and compelling vision of the future can separate signal from noise. Successful organisations establish a clear transformation brand and identity that contains guiding principles, core tenets and goals, and the “why” behind the “what,” “who,” “when” and “how”. This can be brought to life via posters in the conference rooms, the signature line for project and programme leadership teams, the background image for virtual meetings and the front page of every transformation presentation and update.

When done well, it is unmistakable, persistent and clearly tethered to all work product. As you continually remind your teams of your true north and why that destination remains essential, remember to explicitly link even tactical priorities and decisions back to the transformation strategy. These, in turn, should correlate to the overarching organisational goals at the enterprise level. If you cannot draw that one-to-one connection, consider whether you might be lost at sea.

Help your team understand how persevering through immediate challenges is crucial to ultimately achieving the desired future state. When short-term challenges occur, as they inevitably will, reframe them as opportunities to learn and adjust rather than reasons to abandon the journey. Celebrate incremental progress and quick wins to maintain momentum. By keeping your eyes on the horizon, you can prevent short-term distractions from capsizing your transformation efforts.

Step 2: Prepare with proactive agility

While a clear vision is essential, rigid adherence to a fixed plan in a dynamic environment is certainly a recipe for failure. Transformational efforts spanning months or years will inevitably encounter unforeseen obstacles and opportunities along the way. The assumptions underlying your initial strategy may be upended by shifts in the competitive landscape, technological leaps, evolving customer needs or myriad other factors. Successfully navigating these shifts requires proactive agility.

Leaders driving strategic change must vigilantly monitor the shifting context and adapt accordingly, capitalising on sudden tailwinds to accelerate progress or adjusting course to navigate unexpected headwinds. Many successful leaders establish listening posts to detect signals of emerging trends, regularly pressure test assumptions, monitor leading indicators and proactively identify nascent risks.

They also designate some amount of programme capacity to prepare for catching these unknowns as they emerge, thereby protecting the integrity of the overarching plan. This allows for mechanisms to pivot or course-correct based on new information.

For example, when the executive leadership team changes overarching goals and strategies (which happens more often than we would like to admit), you are then prepared to cascade these changes into your transformation as a reflection of the modified needs of the enterprise and your internal customer. And although this might seem minor, even having a resource befriend and align with the corporate strategy team ensures you are close to items that may exceed your remit or general exposure.

This agility should be built into the fabric of your transformation approach. Rather than crafting a rigid, linear five-year roadmap, empower teams with the autonomy to rapidly experiment, learn and adapt their tactics. Encourage intelligent risk-taking and normalise failure in service of iterative learning. This need for flexibility and real-time adaptation is why we strongly advocate for organisations to adopt a universal governance process. This process encourages ongoing re-prioritisation and re-calibration to help leaders make more objective decisions. By proactively adapting to the changing context, you can keep transformation efforts on track and aligned with emerging realities.

Step 3: Engage the organisation, truly

Transformative change cannot be achieved by leadership edict alone. Even the most inspiring vision and well-crafted strategy will fail if the organisation is not engaged and equipped to carry it out. Securing the hearts and minds of your employees is paramount, especially in the face of disruptive change. Having been the recipient of too many surprises, we all know the power of doing this well and the impacts of doing this poorly.

In a volatile context, frequent and transparent communication is particularly essential, but transparency often gets sacrificed for protectionism and “need to know” approaches. The reality is that your teams know more than you may think, and in a void of silence, they will begin to craft their own storylines and perpetuate fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Instead, make communication a two-way street by opening up dialogue early and often. Actively solicit input from all levels of the organisation. Invite employees to help identify obstacles, suggest solutions and contribute actively to the transformation plan. Establish multiple forums to surface diverse perspectives—town halls, focus groups, digital platforms, and individual conversations. Explicitly empower teams to make decisions and take action in their areas to generate distributed ownership. Bring a sample of volunteers into validation exercises, acceptance testing and as brand ambassadors for change. And do not just cherry-pick the cheerleaders; the naysayers can be powerful advocates once engaged in the process.

Also, do not forget to engage your own transformation teams directly. Several of our clients have deployed anonymised pulse surveys to gain sentiment on their team’s perceptions of unspoken risks and concerns, to score the health of the programme and to avoid the watermelon effect (i.e. we are green on the outside but red in the middle). Dynamics among cross-functional transformation teams can be incredibly complicated, so creating a safe forum to voice perspectives has proven to generate immediate dividends.

Lastly, consistently communicate progress, celebrate milestones and achievements and honestly acknowledge setbacks. Spotlight those teams and employees making outsized contributions. Amplify examples that make people see themselves and the benefits of the transformation in a truly personal way. By truly engaging the organisation as active participants, you unleash a powerful coalition for change.

Step 4: Thrive, don’t just survive

Even highly engaged employees will struggle to drive transformation if they lack the necessary skills, tools and enabling environment. As a business leader, you play a crucial role in proactively equipping your organisation to thrive in the future you are trying to create. This starts with defining the critical capabilities and profiles needed to drive value into the future, which will most likely look different than the past.

Identify key roles and skills for the future and assess your current talent against these needs. Fill gaps through proactive talent management: retain, develop and recruit top talent with compelling value propositions. Implement proactive talent management strategies to retain, develop and recruit vital skill sets. Do not just tell your employees about the future—engage them in developing the necessary skills. Offering upskilling programmes, peer learning, and cross-functional teams to accelerate transformation.

READ MORE: Vietnam HR: Driving change, fostering engagement, and building a competitive edge

In addition to skills and talent, evaluate the tools, processes and structures required for the future. This is where a strong programme management office (PMO) can play a crucial role. By providing strategic alignment, improving project execution, offering change-management expertise, facilitating data-driven decision-making, and fostering effective communication and collaboration, a well-run PMP can keep your long-term goals on track even while you navigate short-term distractions.

Easy buttons aren’t real

Leading an organisation through long-term transformation amidst short-term instability is one of the most challenging and important roles of senior business leaders today. With the accelerating pace of change and disruption, it is no longer optional. Thriving in the future requires transforming in the present, even if the present is tumultuous.

By combining a clear vision with proactive agility, leaders can keep transformative change on course even as the context continually shifts. Engaging the entire organisation as co-creators and equipping them with future-ready capabilities, leaders can unleash tremendous energy for shaping a new reality. Most importantly, but modelling grit and resolve—acknowledging challenges while reiterating the “why”—leaders can inspire their organisations to persevere in the face of inevitable setbacks.

Transformative change is not easy or linear, but by focusing on the future, staying agile in the present and empowering your team, you can achieve your most ambitious goals. As you lead your organisation towards new horizons, may you find the strength to stay on course, the wisdom to adapt and the courage to envision an even brighter future. Bon voyage!

About the Author: Mark Stelzner is the Founder and Managing Principal of IA, an advisory firm that helps organisations achieve their HR transformation goals. This article was first published on HR Executive.