Build better teams for Digital Transformation that delivers
I have spent some 20 years leading change and transformation in large corporates and I recently reflected on the changing nature of challenges relating to transforming any business. I asked myself what the number 1 success factor is for change to occur in a business.
My latest search for the holy grail of transformation is that companies need to focus on building high performing transformation teams capable of delivering quality solutions for complex problems at speed.
Finding the tools, techniques and training to achieve the form of accelerated development typically required during the mobilisation phase transformation is no easy task.
Having tried many different solutions with clients over the years it was exciting to find that the Complete Values Profile offers perhaps the most direct approach to team performance by assessing belief systems. The resulting information provides a map or framework to understand yourself and those around in the context of how you strategise, manage and implement. The resulting improvement in communication and understanding by all parties concerned creates a level of sophistication in team interactions that can drive very visible and practical results in the way the business operates.
Transformation is in the air but the challenges we face are many so transformation teams need to operate with a high level of sophistication as quickly as they can.
Earlier in my career Transformation was all about the Plan & Process. Later we added alignment & focus, building capable transformation leaders, involving cross functional teams, practicing whole system thinking, designing End to End and being customer obsessed. These 6 factors have been core to the way I have approached large corporate transformations over the past 20 years
While all of these are as fundamental as ever to any transformation, they are now eclipsed by either the need to survive or to manage the success of the unprecedented shifts underway in how we do business.
For this reason I have included a 7th factor that must be present for transformation to succeed:
Create high performing transformation teams capable of delivering quality solutions for complex problems at speed.
This is currently my number 1 must have in any corporate transformation. We just don’t have the luxury of a long runway anymore to not get it right more often.
Given our virtual confinement, building transformation teams is an altogether different activity than it was just 6 months ago and building quality solutions fast is an altogether more urgent process.
If we need good people to deliver great solutions and deliver them fast, then we need to create an environment to make this happen. Michaela Lindinger sets out the opportunity very well in a recent Forbes Coaches Council Article endtitled, “How To Lay The Groundwork For Your Organization’s Next Breakthrough Innovation”
She sets out 3 practices for Breakthrough innovation:
Know where you are starting from
Combine teams to improve the knowledge base
Encourage people to collaborate on all aspects of a business
If this level of collaboration is to be effective it is going to need some adjustment of team behaviour in most organisations. Silos and self interest is pervasive in large organisations. Creating a shared understanding of what motivates each individual in a team is an effective way of fostering a broader view of how to win for customers and each other.
The primary drivers of team behaviour are the individual and collective values and beliefs. Of these two, values tend to be a more powerful determinant than beliefs. Many of the tensions that occur in teams, are mistakenly labelled as personality clashes, when they are actually the result of differences in value systems.
Bringing teams together is the first step. Making them effective in their interaction is the second. We can achieve this by understanding the values and belief systems each individual team member operates from. The process is called values profiling and it can really accelerate a team’s development. This is important when teams need to come together quickly to innovate and deliver solutions at speed.
Values Profiling provides every business a tool to improve the quality of the interactions which directly impact the quality of the solutions and the outcomes the team shares in. I tend to use it in the context of business transformation teams but ultimately it is a tool for improving the performance of any team or teams.
By looking at motivational systems through Values Profiling of individuals and teams, we can create an elevated level from which any team can build towards successful transformation.
A values profile consists of a short 15 minute assessment by each individual in the team followed by individual playbacks and a team reveal. An advanced form of perspective taking becomes evident as the 7 levels are used to make meaning, create inclusion and strengthen alignment around shared and individual beliefs.
The values systems are represented as a spiral and the concept of vertical development up the spiral is key to the model.
Dr Alan Watkins from Complete developed the assessment on the back of some exciting work from professor Clare Graves who started the research on motivational systems in human development in the 1950’s. The model has been used in some of the biggest corporates on the planter over the last 15 years and the results can be nothing short of astounding as it exposes the nature of leadership development. Most of us spend our time consuming more content with the belief that we are growing . This creates lateral development…more information but not more growth or clarity. The answer then is Vertical Development which is possible when we understand how our thinking evolves as our values and beliefs change. Understanding why people think the way they day do can be achieved by understanding the 7 most common levels of the values spiral.
Research on the model since the 1950’s shows that the evolution of our values systems travels a predictable path. The model is evolving as humanity evolves and each value systems emerges from its predecessor, transcending and including it. This is what makes understanding vertical development so important. I have thought of the spiral of value systems as the history of human motivation. This constant process, of transcending and inclusion, is the key to the developmental nature of the Value Profile.
Of course, the values profile can be seen as just another assessment and it is possible to assess leaders and members of a team in different ways.
Most assessments use a descriptive methodology identifying personality traits, strengths or a leadership type. Such approaches can provide interesting information but can’t really predict performance. Taking an approach that we see a development and progression and not a static model for each individual, measuring your current and desired values becomes very illuminating for an individual and a team.
This makes values profiling more effective in predicting potential, performance and the ability for transformation teams to lead their organisation to success. It is one of the reasons I think Values profiling is one of the best kept secrets in laying the foundation for successful transformation.
The team at Complete have been sharing these practices with a network of certified coaches, consultants and HR Professionals that are enabling the benefits of vertical development at all levels of the organisations. Y
With so much of business transformation labled as more dark art than science, values profiling gives us targeted and specific input to improve the quality of our interactions thus improving the speed and quality of the solutions we can design. There is no doubt we face some complex problems as we tackle carbon, climate, environment and technology challenges. Our transition to a system that can balance ecology and economy over a multi-generational view is perhaps not beyond us. That no doubt it starts with some new beliefs and behaviours in all of us.
Ralph is a digital transformation leader and certified in values profiling from Complete. Connect with Ralph here
Get the free introductory guide to Values Profiling here
The Complete Academy provides certification in Values Profiling for Corporate Teams, Consultants and Coaches. Find out more here
