Steph is presenting us how he sketched the vision of his department post-transformation, and how he embarked his team.
The process
More precisely, the approach is as follows:
- clarify the existing situation, in terms of activities
- position the activities on an ecocycle, to see their maturity, obsolescence, and emerging one.
then same exercise for the envisaged future: -
we imagine obsolete activities as gone, emerging ones as developed or even mature,
-
and what does it look like in terms of activities? it is a mirror exercise of 1.
we then have the target vision for the future services. -
The transition path is worked out,
by discerning between evolutions and breakthrough:- Evolution: an existing activity changes
- Breakthrough: a new activity emerges ( or an existing one disappears)… or a new way of doing it.
This generates a différent level of stress for the team members, and a require a different accompaniment.
When the target vision and the transition path are available, the change management at the human and organizational level is prepared:
This vision of activities is reviewed by sharing it with a greater number of employees and related services (“customers” and “suppliers”).
Their feedback allows: - to raise blind spots, see what had not been seen so far.
- to measure their level of engagement (motivation, and antagonism)
then we can refine the transition path,
- Those who are most willing to project themselves and contribute are identified, with the help of sociodynamics. (avoiding the mistake of forcing the passive , or wasting time and energy convincing opponents)
-
Finally, we concretely identify the brakes to the transition and the motors,
and then find out what could be done to bypass (eliminate, neutralize or reframe) the obstacles, and engage the motors.
The point of view of Stephan
How about making a video?
When Luc saw the first work I had prepared in order to communicate more widely our team transformation process, he suggested that I share this work and especially the approach, on a video.
After giving a little empathy to my stage fright, I accepted this new challenge (it’s not in my comfort zone)
This interview and the presentation of this video made it possible to bring clarity and sense to the approach initiated 2 years ago, aiming at the DevOps transformation of the entire IT Operations and Infrastructure Department.
The primary intention is to convey a way of using the tools and patterns studied and applied in a concrete way to contribute to the transformation for all.
Win-Win: Of course, in the transmission, the interest is twofold because it contributes to engage everyone in this beautiful story, and also to anchor this knowledge, these tools and these new patterns in my new work habits.
H1/H2/H3?
Horizon 1 (H1): the inventory of all our activities today, our daily lives, what we know, but which not everyone sees fully.
Then, via a TRIZ, the team was able to project itself into the Horizon 3 (H3) (post transformation) and draw the vision of our future missions.
Thanks to the ecocycles, I was able to identify in a very visual way the path and breakthrough that are emerging to move from H1 to H3, i.e. draw the H2, the transitional horizon.
Indeed, the future is not just about doing more of the same thing, faster. In a transformation, we are not building an extension of today!
The interest of building this H3 with the team and is to agree on where we want to go,by consent, and then our vision becomes common, which brings “common sense”!
We can identify what is not working today, put it on the table and share it.
We can also invent new activities that currently have no anchorage in our daily lives, we highlight what we will have to create, and we see better how we will be able to achieve it.
We are beginning to become aware of the adaptation efforts that will have to be made, rather than denying them and remaining in the comfort of the daily life we master.
The Ecocycle on the H1 and H3
This exercise allowed me to become aware of the activities we master, but also of what is becoming obsolete, or what is in the just an idea, yet, or what is emerging, and which has not yet been initiated in concrete terms.
Doing this exercise on the H3 allows you to see the effort to be made, and the trajectory from the H1 which will draw the outlines of the H2 roadmap.
We see better where we should invest, or on the contrary where not to exhaust ourselves, just as we highlight what we find difficult to bring out (which makes it possible to decide whether to abandon an activity or whether we should ask for support to develop or maintain it)
Sociodynamics, or the awareness of employee discomfort
"it'll never work your thing."
"I don't see why we should change, it works well that way"
"yes, but what do I actually do tomorrow?"
"do I have to find another job?"
…
After the first workshop to visualise the team’s todays and tomorrows missions, some employees immediately embraced and imagined new activities and other ways of working. Later, I understood that they were my early adopters.
However not all of the team members found enough clarity, or motivation, to make sense oo the vision, and therefore remained in the comfort of everyday life.
Some others were in a real discomfort that has manifested itself in their activity and mindset. They were positioning themselves in opposition to the project. Consciously or unconsciously, the question was not there. I had to identify why I couldn’t climb the next step with the whole team!
During a coaching session where we discussed with Luc the sociodynamic approach and the necessary change of strategy, I became aware that I had to find a new approach to bring on board a larger part of the employees to build these new activities, so they can project themselves into this “tomorrow”. I couldn’t rely on the simple enthusiasm of the first members!
Sociodynamics is a tool that makes it possible to become aware of these different behaviours, and offers assistance in implementing these strategies to advance in our projects.
It does not judge people but observe their behaviour when facing the projection in a new situation.
We can thus highlight which are our key employees that would lead the majority of the team towards what we are aiming for.
Brakes and Motors
My intention: to see the blind spots, and obstacles that might prevent us from going where we want.
But also, the fuel that will move us more easily toward our target.
The identification of these brakes and motors in a session with some employees created more engagement, seeing and facing the necessary breakup that will have to be created.
Peer sharing
Sharing the vision with my peers helps me :
– to give meaning to local initiatives,
– and also raise the blind spots, unseen originaly because of the reduced scope .
– and projecting the transformation of my department into a more global approach
Allows to connect and move forward collectively and contribute to the overall dynamics of the project
Related:
Motivation
principles – concepts
technical – practical
## Tags: #transformation, #ecocycle, #sociodynamique
Main Reference:
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Stéphan Boulinguez.
