Team Formation and Stacking in Transformation: Breaking Down the Silos

How the granularity of teams’ structures, while helpful in operations, is not helpful in transformation

Hello Change and Transformation Leaders,

One of the biggest reasons why change and transformation efforts often fail is due to the mindset of practice silos.

Practice Silos - What are they?

• Change is seen as the job of the change team
  
  
• Transformation is the job of the program director and the delivery team
  
  
• Culture is the job of the people and culture team
  
  
• Technology is the job of the IT team
  
  
• Installation is the vendor team
  
  
• And so on…

When exactly do we come together at the initial program design to ensure success? Here’s what needs to happen:

1. Form a Unified Team: Assemble a team with the talent needed to deliver the program end-to-end, where change adoption is the measure of success. (most programs do this step at some degree of depth.. However, this is not enough, read on...)
   
   
2. Define Success for Team Collaboration: Establish team norms, values, culture, guidelines, and create a cadence for the necessary conversations to ensure smooth teamwork.
   
   
3. Build on Each Other's Work: Clearly define roles and responsibilities and forge strong team commitments to create a cohesive working environment. Team commitments includes other teams you are dependent on and who depends on your work. This goes beyond the core delivery team.
   
   
4. Emotional Culture Definition: Engage in exercises to define the team's emotional culture, solidify commitments (those agreed at step 2), and eradicate assumptions and causes of friction.
   
   
5. Clarity on Design Principles: Decide collectively on what is in the best interest of the program, the customer, the company, and the organization. This should have a direct line of sight to the program outcomes, integrated success definitions (beyond performance KPIs), and the customer promise.
   
   
6. Support Systems: Establish support systems for when the team is down, feels defeated, unclear, confused, or is facing anxiety or stress.

For transformation to truly work, this exercise is essential. Without proper team formation and stacking, we face issues such as engagement problems, disempowerment, friction, negative culture impacts, and unmet outcomes.

In saying that, there are sometimes other forces at play that dismisses or underestimates the importance and the depth needed for the Team Formation & Stacking exercise. Common dismissive attitudes include:

• "All transformations are stressful."
  
  
• "That’s why we hired you."
  
  
• "We’ll cross that bridge when we get there."
  
  
• "Let’s Agile it."
  
  
• "We have already decided the team members, there is nothing else to do. Let's move on"
  
  
• "The team will self organize, it is on them now"
  
  
• "That’s why we have a governance structure in place."

These reactive responses add unnecessary stress, burn people out, and divert time and energy from high-value activities that lead to higher-quality outcomes.

A New Perspective

In any given program, there are three parallel structures at play:

1. Team Formation and Stacking: Building a cohesive and collaborative team from the outset ensures alignment and shared goals.
   
   
2. The Work Itself: Executing tasks efficiently and effectively with a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities.
   
   
3. The Emotional Journey and Transitions: Navigating the emotional landscape of change to foster resilience and maintain team morale.

Transformation leaders of the future need to harness these capabilities to remain relevant and evolve their impact.

Focusing solely on delivery schedules and go-live dates is no longer sufficient, especially in large-scale, high-profile programs.

Let’s break down the silos and create a more integrated and effective approach to transformation.

Event & Exclusive Invite [LAST CALL]

🚀 Event Alert: Embedding AI as a Strategic Business Capability

As organizations rapidly adopt AI, it's crucial to go beyond treating it as just another add-on. The true value of AI lies in its potential to enhance experiences, support decision-making, and create a genuine competitive advantage.

However, achieving these benefits requires more than technical expertise. It demands an elevated level of change and leadership practice to:

• Foster the right environment for AI adoption
  
  
• Understand AI's role in the broader business landscape and its success factors
  
  
• Integrate AI with other business capabilities to maximize value
  
  
• Design and deliver AI initiatives that drive transformational change
  
  
• Develop a future-fit roadmap that positions AI as a core business capability

I'm excited to announce that I've partnered with global thought leaders from leading brands and organizations to bring you an exclusive event focused on these critical aspects.

This event marks the beginning of a groundbreaking partnership program launching in October. This program will uniquely combine AI with Change and Transformation practices, offering depth and practicality in AI capability adoption.

If you're interested in exclusive access to this free event, Register today using the link below