Pursuit of the New World. How do you get there?

Be the bridge. Not the destination.

Be the bridge. Not the destination.

We are in a new world. Everything is new. New supply chains. New markets. “New is already here.” “New is now.” Everything is developing at such an exponential rate that there is already a ‘new’ new.

In ‘The Meltdown of Silos’ and in other articles in ‘Future of HR’, this exciting arrival of the ‘new’ is well acknowledged. It is real. And, we love it.

But, how do you reach it if you live in a world that does not have any characteristics of the new, yet is currently generating decent cash and funding the payroll?

The answer lies in the same principles of physics that underlie the building of a bridge. You must start from both ends. Equally and simultaneously. Visualize your ‘change management effort’ as building a bridge.

This is different from visualizing change management as ‘showing the way’ or being on ‘a journey.’

Below are steps that will help.

Value the current world. Don’t abandon it.

Your current world is the result of all your past decisions, it is the reason that you are here in the first place. Regardless of how fast the world is advancing, or how far you must transform, it is vital to value your current world. If it is profitable, it is valuable to the world, and it should be to you.

It is important to continue to maximize the potential of the current world. A belief in the notion of a ‘cash cow’ vs. ‘star’ is the start of under-valuing your current world. The current world is a star which is already burning bright. Stay invested in its people and processes.

New numbers, new world.

Everything communicates. This is true for all areas of our lives. In this new world, using the language of numbers is far more powerful than the language of words. Can you create an image of your new world using numbers?

Here is an example: We are a beverage company. If we look at the number of cups of tea we sell, we are the biggest beverage company in the world. If we look at revenue per serving, we are not even in the top 25.

If we find a way to ramp up our revenue per serving while remaining the biggest beverage company in the world, this can lead us to another world.

What does such a change mean for us? How do we go to market differently? How do we manage our brand? Do we need new product development? What is the role of digital in brand and product development? Do we need a new organization design? New talent?

Numbers will provide a solid foundation to construct one side of the bridge.

Reach Deep Inside

Some of your best material to build the bridge is sitting buried in the bottom layers of your hierarchy. It is but natural, isn’t it? These materials are people who have come from the new world into a traditional hierarchy. Given current world structures, majority are at the bottom. Identify these valuable assets and accelerate their growth.

As mentioned in ‘Data and Technology plots the end of experience’, this buried talent is ready to add many multiples of value per person than it is delivering at it’s current level.

Provide them the resources necessary to thrive. Deploy them to develop a framework of the new world. By maximizing the contribution of your new resources, you will commence building the bridge from the new side.

Most change management efforts fail because they focus on the destination. They view change as a journey and reference change in terms of: ‘From’ here ‘To’ there. They undervalue the ‘From’ and over-value the ‘To.’

Try thinking of change as a building a bridge. Try valuing the ‘From’ as much as the ‘To.’