[LEAD STORY]
Demonstrate Quick Wins
One needs to spotlight examples
of actions they hope to see more
of within the culture. Sometimes,
these examples already exist within
the culture, but at a limited scale.
Other times, they need to be created.
When Mr. Prasad and his leadership
team launched projects across key
divisions, those projects served to
demonstrate the effi cacy of a nimble,
innovative, and customer-centered
way of working and of how pursuit
of purpose could deliver outcomes
the business cared about. Once these
projects were far enough along, the
Dr. Reddy’s leadership used them to
help communicate their purpose and
culture change ambitions.
Harness Networks
Leadership at Dr. Reddy’s did
not hide in a back room and come
up with their purpose. Over the
course of several months, people
from across the organisation
were engaged in the process. The
approach was built on the belief
that people are more apt to support
what they have a stake in creating.
In addition, during the organisation-
wide launch event, Mr. Prasad
invited all employees to make the
purpose their own by defi ning how
they personally would help deliver
‘good health can’t wait.’
In my previous organisation,
with the change of management, the
Head offi ce was looking at ‘digital
transformation, nothing is closer to
the truth.’ At the management level,
the new leadership was struggling
to facilitate an effective workplace
culture that allowed each employee
to fl ourish.
One of the diffi cult challenges
faced by the leadership was that of
the parent company changing the
culture of the workplace. People
14
felt stuck in their ways, responded
harshly to sudden call for change.
However, this resistance to change
may have been what led the
company astray in the fi rst place.
‘Culture eats strategy for
breakfast.’ While this may
be something of an overused
cliché, when it comes to digital
transformation, nothing is closer to
the truth.
Culture is not something to
change by decree, but by changing
the prevailing conditions within the
organisation that will, over time,
lead to an evolution in culture. The
trouble is transformation means
change — usually lots of it. In
addition, that means culture — the
sum of the values, behaviours, and
‘norms’ of those in the organisation
— which supports today, may end up
inhibiting tomorrow.
A good vision is an eloquent
storytelling if your workforce is
confronted by processes, behaviours
and ways of working that get in the
way of the proposed change, rather
than enabling it. These are the same
processes, behaviours and ways of
working that support today’s system
and status quo, instead of the
organisation you’re trying to create
for tomorrow.
It is not enough for leaders to set
the vision. If they do not create the
environment for it to thrive, your
workforce will not adapt. It means
missed opportunity, wasted effort,
and a disengaged workforce. This is
where culture truly comes into play.
A number of imperatives
emerged for those hoping to
infl uence cultural change in
support of a digital transformation
initiative.
| Vol. 9 Issue 6 • Sep-Oct 2018, Noida / Pre-Event Edition
Bureaucracy
The real-time nature of digital
initiatives means organisations
are empowered to make changes
after minutes and hours, not days
or weeks. Leaders need to challenge
‘decision rights’ and empower those
with the insight to take choices
in the here and now, not in three
weeks after submitting a report and
escalating an issue through ranks of
ineffi cient bureaucracy.
Digital Maturity
Iteration: In today’s world of
rapid prototyping and immediate
feedback, it’s often better to release
something quickly with a test-
Established
organisations, no
matter their size or
sector, are competing
for talent with
supposedly cooler
organisations such as
Silicon Roundabout
startups. The culture
and environment in
these organisations
is generally accepted
as more appealing to
millennial-minded
individuals.
and-learn mentality. You can then
garner immediate feedback to help
iterate, rather than spend months in
development and testing only to fi nd
yourself outplayed by a competitor,
or dealing with failure after a much
more resource and time-intensive
development timeline.
Agility: Many organisations
are accustomed to monthly and