We have been helping ICT organizations that need to change for two decades. In doing so, we try to the best of our ability to get everyone involved in the change on board and make them enthusiastic: after all, change is fun... right?
But to be completely honest: in practice, many people don't like that at all. TransitieProfs 'sells' the transition to—and securing control over—digital innovation. In practice, this turns out to be impossible to sell, because we actually have to entrust each other with this for several years. After all, who are we to tell you that we can or should help with that? Surely your organization can do that itself?
No recognition = no cooperation
Currently, we are invited every week by organizations that are facing the challenge of change: ICT must become the basis for (digital) innovation. Sometimes this is voluntary, but often it is imposed by higher authorities. In practice, the first meeting is rarely pleasant: it's not like meeting each other spontaneously at a party, so to speak. If we try to put ourselves in your shoes as a discussion partner during the first meeting (in order to understand this), we cannot expect you to immediately say: welcome, help us with a transition, because we cannot do it alone. Nor can we expect you to already think that we are the 'formula for success' in the change: and rightly so. We try to learn from every introduction, and when you add it all up, it turns out that sometimes the first meeting is immediately pleasant, with mutual recognition, but often we find ourselves standing outside again after an hour: misunderstood, not a 'match', unbelievable, etc. Not even a chance of working together. Even though we really want to help. Strange, isn't it? Not really, because this seems to be mainly due to 'having to' change rather than 'wanting' to change.
Everything you are ready for is ready for you.
We now understand better why we sometimes find ourselves back outside with our "beautiful story." We talk about this a lot among ourselves, because it's not pleasant for anyone. We think we have an explanation and a solution for this.
It probably all has to do with behavioral change. Personally, I find that a very unpleasant term: as if we need therapy or something similar. Change is difficult enough, let alone when it comes to our behavior: what is wrong with our behavior?
TransitieProfs has an approach that we believe is already reasonably 'tailored' to change, with a focus on behavioral change:
Think together, prove together, secure together: multi-year
However, based on our experiences with introductions that sometimes did not go well, we looked at the "official" stages of behavioral change in combination with our approach, and we arrived at the following:
What do we think the outcome will be? Well, we probably sometimes introduce ourselves 'too early'. TransitieProfs appears to be a particularly good discussion partner when an organization has passed the recognition phase and is ready to explore which strategy best suits the organization's needs. Ideally, we believe this should be an adventure and certainly not an imposed project. And when we meet during this exploration phase, the introduction always immediately generates a lot of mutual energy.
When should we "un-" each other?
"Must" is a nice word: if we don't have to do something, but really want to, that's what it means, right? We think the ideal time to get acquainted is when there are no obligations from management or directors. And that is precisely why we have started organizing Masterclasses for each phase of our approach.
These sessions do not 'force' us to bond with each other, because (as it turns out) anything that is forced immediately causes resistance. That is actually our best learning moment after 20 years of experience:
Masterclasses are accessible, tailored to each phase, and above all, based on what you and your employees have already come up with yourselves.
We supplement these ideas with our practical experiences during the session. This creates mutual trust on a voluntary basis and, above all, it allows you to take control, rather than having control imposed on you.
To be perfectly honest: we at TransitieProfs wish we had thought of this much earlier. Nothing gives our team more energy and inspiration than assisting you and your organization without any obligation.
Author: Dennis Daalhuizen – Director/owner of TransitieProfs
