Transformation tactics to successfully ruin your business

Operation successful, patient died

Let’s start with a thought experiment. Imagine you are a leader. You have just received the task of transforming your organization. The company is in trouble and change is overdue. What do you do?

I expect some of you will be excited about this opportunity. Others might be overwhelmed, scared even. Where to begin? What happens when you fail? How will this impact your career?

Suppose you want to take this opportunity to show your talents and put yourself on the map. How to avoid disaster? I highly recommend following established change management approaches, like Kotter’s Change Management Model.

I also highly recommend reading this article, because I will present transformation tactics I have seen applied to ruin the chances of any success.

Follow your guru’s writings as scripture

Reading leadership books to learn and grow is a great practice. It stops being great when you start seeing the book as scripture and the writer as your guru. The advice may be great, and the lessons may be valuable. However, no book on business strategy and no management guru holds the absolute truth to be copied/pasted on an organization.

Following the guru’s writing as scripture without holding into account how it applies to your organization sets the stage for changes that will not have an impact or even make things worse.

Ignoring survivor bias

Another pitfall is to follow the example of a successful company without a critical inspection if these companies were successful thanks to or maybe despite the practices they preach. Who knows, maybe 10 other companies failed by doing the same as this one shining example.

It is kind of like picking up smoking because your aunt of 95 has smoked 20 cigarettes a day and she is as healthy as a 60-year-old.

Apply Dunning-Kruger

Beware when you learn about a new topic. You may be unaware you do not see the total picture yet. Having a shallow understanding of a topic and being overconfident about it is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. Don’t land on Mount Stupid! You may bring havoc by your ignorance.

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Appear strong and decisive

A common pitfall for so-called leaders is mixing up strength and decisiveness with being an impactful leader. My first argument against it is that it shows courage to say you don’t know and need help. It also shows a sign of respect towards your people. You show vulnerability and also value their contribution.

Also, apparent decisiveness can lead to making decisions while not everything is known. As a short in the dark when you could ask for help to have some light or wait a bit for the light to come.

Personal goals before the organization’s goals

While the reward of leading a successful transformation can be great for your career, it should follow the organization’s goals. As soon as your personal goals are more important than the organization’s goals, you will make decisions that make you look good but may be bad for the company in the long run.

Ignore earlier organizational gains

A “great” way to demoralize people is to ignore the gains the company has made before you were put in charge. I have seen people brush aside the things that were working extremely well, replacing them with something worse. I have even seen how a well-working practice was replaced by something very similar. This was not only a waste of time, but also a firm dismissal of the people who created and worked with that practice.

Bring high-paid outsiders, ignore internal talent

Organizations are bound to have great talent in their midst. People who can coach, teach and can facilitate the changes. People who can bring the perspective of the teams in play.

A real power move to destroy the trust in the transformation is ignoring the talent in the organization and rely on high-paid consultants or other outsiders. Ignoring your people does a lot to destroy their trust in the endeavour and you as a person.

Impose change

A well-functioning transformation relies on people who find improvements in their way of working that help achieve the transformation goals. People that have years of experience of what does and what doesn’t work, are aware of the culture and embrace the company goals.

It is bad practice to only rely on yourself and your guru and impose the changes. They may not fit every part of the organization and they also are a smack in the face of your people.

Micromanage

Another way to show distrust is to micromanage, ensuring everything happens according to your desires. It is another way of ignoring the professionalism of your people and bringing the message they are merely cogs in a wheel.

Expect changes generate the desired outcomes

A final insult to your people is to expect that the changes you enforce will bring the desired outcome. In other words: when the changes don’t bring these outcomes, it is the fault of the people.

This kills trust, creativity and initiative.

What have you experienced?

I listed practices I have witnessed duri g decades of living transformations. They might be mindboggling, but also real.

Do you recognize these bad leadership practices? Do you know other examples? Please let me know in the comments!

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