Leading Transformational Change – Making the Impossible Possible
Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
("Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll)
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
("Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll)
Over many years of leading transformational change in large organisations, I have learnt that the things most people think are impossible in organisations are usually possible. It’s just that, like Alice, most people haven’t had much practice in believing in "impossible" things. Possibilities for innovation and performance improvement are all around us, but organisations (particularly large ones) do a good job of hiding them or making them appear impossible. The dynamics of organisational systems and mindsets get in the way of innovative change. But by looking at problems in different ways and connecting the dots differently – or often, the people differently - impossible things can become possible.
In my experience there are three basic ingredients to making conditions right for impossible things to happen. Here they are:
1. A compelling vision for change, and why it matters to me
A clear, simple and compelling vision of what success looks like, and why it matters to people affected, is a critical element in making the impossible possible. An inspiring goal unleashes amazing powers in organisations, societies and people. It gives a focus for people’s energy and imagination; it helps people choose the right path without guidance; and it channels people’s capability and talents to achieving a common outcome.
A positive goal that people buy in to unleashes the vastly underutilised potential of people that exists in all organisations – especially large ones. A vision needs to be something that speaks to the organisation’s heart, its DNA, the reason people are proud to work there. It is often about transforming customer service. It may involve creating a solution that will challenge people's ability and commitment like nothing they have ever done before.
It needs to be a quest that people can relate to and that can be described at gatherings with pride. In Alice’s case, it was simply to slay the Jabberwocky.
2. Leaders who champion the quest
As I wrote in my post on Breakthrough Innovation - The Germ of a Brilliant Idea, it takes a special kind of leader to sponsor impossible quests and create the culture in which they become possible. Such leaders understand the power of creating an inspiring vision of success that people want to commit to. They can see how such change can be achieved and they see the hidden potential of people both inside and outside an organisation to make it happen.
Such leaders create the story, help to break down organisational silos, encourage contribution and collaboration and are resourceful and courageous in overcoming barriers and roadblocks. They empower people to feel safe to bring out their deeply hidden capabilities that are usually only revealed to the trusted few and they value contribution and trial and error.
They understand that talent is not the property of a few special individuals but is held in abundance by most people and found in the most unlikely places. They understand the quest is not impossible as there is so much underutilized talent inside and outside their teams and that other people somewhere have probably solved part of the problem already.
3. Connecting strangers
The third ingredient for exponential performance improvement and making the impossible possible is connecting strangers - people who bring very different perspectives to a problem and who probably do not even know each other. The normal operations of an organisation separate customers and front line staff from back office operations; separate people in different parts of a supply chain; and separate staff in different organisational silos.
People from other industries or even people from other times in history are not usually considered as sources of ideas. An innovative idea has usually been discovered may times before it is adopted and is possibly in use in another industry. Ideas on how digital technology would transform how we work that were part of an innovation centre concept I brought together fifteen years ago are only now becoming main stream; the helicopter concept was evident in an ancient Chinese toy; the source of cholera outbreaks was discovered by John Snow and Henry Whitehead in the mid 1850’s, decades before it was accepted by the “experts” of the time; and dogs have been shown to be able to smell cancer in people.
Bringing people together with different perspectives on an impossible challenge can accelerate innovation and make the seemingly impossible possible.
These three ingredients have been at the heart of my experience in delivering two world-first innovations where apparently impossible results were achieved in impossible time frames and at lower cost than the established solutions.
So how do you want to start making the impossible possible? Maybe you could start by slaying the Jabberwocky before breakfast, just for practice.
Susan Kehoe
Consultant | Mentor | Change Leader
Work with Susan
Susan provides consultancy advice, mentoring, program leadership and interim executive support to leaders and organisations where there is a need to challenge the status quo, engage people, shift culture and lift performance.
In my experience there are three basic ingredients to making conditions right for impossible things to happen. Here they are:
1. A compelling vision for change, and why it matters to me
A clear, simple and compelling vision of what success looks like, and why it matters to people affected, is a critical element in making the impossible possible. An inspiring goal unleashes amazing powers in organisations, societies and people. It gives a focus for people’s energy and imagination; it helps people choose the right path without guidance; and it channels people’s capability and talents to achieving a common outcome.
A positive goal that people buy in to unleashes the vastly underutilised potential of people that exists in all organisations – especially large ones. A vision needs to be something that speaks to the organisation’s heart, its DNA, the reason people are proud to work there. It is often about transforming customer service. It may involve creating a solution that will challenge people's ability and commitment like nothing they have ever done before.
It needs to be a quest that people can relate to and that can be described at gatherings with pride. In Alice’s case, it was simply to slay the Jabberwocky.
2. Leaders who champion the quest
As I wrote in my post on Breakthrough Innovation - The Germ of a Brilliant Idea, it takes a special kind of leader to sponsor impossible quests and create the culture in which they become possible. Such leaders understand the power of creating an inspiring vision of success that people want to commit to. They can see how such change can be achieved and they see the hidden potential of people both inside and outside an organisation to make it happen.
Such leaders create the story, help to break down organisational silos, encourage contribution and collaboration and are resourceful and courageous in overcoming barriers and roadblocks. They empower people to feel safe to bring out their deeply hidden capabilities that are usually only revealed to the trusted few and they value contribution and trial and error.
They understand that talent is not the property of a few special individuals but is held in abundance by most people and found in the most unlikely places. They understand the quest is not impossible as there is so much underutilized talent inside and outside their teams and that other people somewhere have probably solved part of the problem already.
3. Connecting strangers
The third ingredient for exponential performance improvement and making the impossible possible is connecting strangers - people who bring very different perspectives to a problem and who probably do not even know each other. The normal operations of an organisation separate customers and front line staff from back office operations; separate people in different parts of a supply chain; and separate staff in different organisational silos.
People from other industries or even people from other times in history are not usually considered as sources of ideas. An innovative idea has usually been discovered may times before it is adopted and is possibly in use in another industry. Ideas on how digital technology would transform how we work that were part of an innovation centre concept I brought together fifteen years ago are only now becoming main stream; the helicopter concept was evident in an ancient Chinese toy; the source of cholera outbreaks was discovered by John Snow and Henry Whitehead in the mid 1850’s, decades before it was accepted by the “experts” of the time; and dogs have been shown to be able to smell cancer in people.
Bringing people together with different perspectives on an impossible challenge can accelerate innovation and make the seemingly impossible possible.
These three ingredients have been at the heart of my experience in delivering two world-first innovations where apparently impossible results were achieved in impossible time frames and at lower cost than the established solutions.
So how do you want to start making the impossible possible? Maybe you could start by slaying the Jabberwocky before breakfast, just for practice.
Susan Kehoe
Consultant | Mentor | Change Leader
Work with Susan
Susan provides consultancy advice, mentoring, program leadership and interim executive support to leaders and organisations where there is a need to challenge the status quo, engage people, shift culture and lift performance.