Failure to evolve

When you’re building a company - especially an innovative one - things change all the time. Sometimes, those changes are positive. Successful funding rounds, product launches and big customer wins, for example. At other times, they’re more challenging. Downsizing, lost accounts and failed projects all occur on the journey. The good transitions usually mean growth, and the bad ones mean doing more with less. Whatever type of change you’re experiencing, your objectives shift, the stakes increase and you’ll bring in new people with different skillsets and perspectives.

Naturally, this has a significant impact on your culture. And if your culture is a key strategic driver of your performance (which it is), then it must evolve and adapt as your circumstances change.

Companies suffer because they fail to evolve. They cling to old ways of working that feel comfortable, but aren’t suited to their new reality. The approaches that worked when there were four people around a table trying to win their first customer are ineffective when a team of 100 are going global. It’s like trying to win a Formula 1 race with a souped-up Golf - it used to be the fastest car on the track, but now it’s getting blown away by the competition.

I regularly encounter the opposite issue, too - companies that change so much, they lose their soul. When key transitions occur, especially if they mean expanding your team, your culture will inevitably change. Without deliberate, proactive guidance, it may change in ways you don’t expect or like. The results can be disastrous - politics, underperformance, retention issues, failure and saddest of all, leaders who find themselves trapped running a business that they wouldn’t have chosen to be part of.

When you’re heading into or navigating your way through a transition, there are four things you can do to make the voyage successfully. Focusing on them will help you evolve deliberately, in a way that moves your organisation forward but preserves the DNA that made you successful.

The first step is to renew your vows to your Mission and Vision. It may be that they’ve changed, and that’s okay, but most of the time, if they’ve been set correctly, they probably remain relevant. Refocusing on where you are in the journey towards your bigger picture outcome is crucial. Reflect on why that Mission and Vision was important to you in the first place, and why it still matters now. Find your passion for it again, even if the nuance is different. Building a business is a long and arduous road, and it’s normal to lose your connection to your purpose from time to time. Locating it again is essential.

Then revisit and, if necessary, refine your Values. Start by reviewing the Values you currently hold, and whether they remain relevant. Think about and investigate how well you and your team currently live up to them, and where the gaps are. Assess which elements of your Values need to change in order for you to complete the next stage of your organisation’s adventure. Be deliberate about what you’ll keep, and what you’ll amend. Sometimes, you may need to change the Values themselves, and sometimes it may be about tweaking the meaning, or the associated behaviours, or the way in which they’re embedded into your culture. By being intentional, you’ll set the stage for success without losing your identity.

Once these foundations are in place, the next priority is to tighten your performance management cycles. At most points of transition, you’re required to start moving faster and towards bigger goals, either with less resource than you had before or with a resource gap that you need to fill. As a result, you need more from your people. The answer isn’t working them harder. Instead, sharpen your approach to performance management to give you tighter alignment and faster cycles of iteration. Don’t start micro-managing, but do raise the temperature. Think about how you set objectives, how (and how regularly) you coach and review, the levels of performance you expect and tolerate, and the level of support your managers provide to their teams. Any or all of these things can be a source of more productivity and greater results. It’s very rare that there’s not an extra 5-10% to be gained from better performance management without running your team into the ground.

The counterbalance to that is to up your game when it comes to developing your people. The best way to improve your results is to increase the capability of your team, and if you’re demanding more from them, it’s essential to help them grow. Tie development plans to individual, department and company objectives, invest in training and coaching, and give your people a sense of forward momentum. The best way to engage anyone in major change is to indelibly connect it to their personal, professional and career growth.

Change, even positive change, is difficult. We’re creatures of habit and we prefer things to stay the same. However well you manage a transition, you’ll experience a bumpy take-off. If you’re deliberate and proactive about shaping it, though, you’ll be in for a smooth flight.

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