Transformation Talk - effective communication

Transformation 

demands 

effective communication






Following is an anecdote by the godfather of modern management Peter Drucker that highlights how easy it is for supposed 'best practice theory' to simply not 'translate' to implementation - the result, a failure to bring about desired change.  


"Until well into the 17th century, surgery was performed not by doctors but by barbers who, untaught and unlettered, applied whatever tortures they had picked up during their apprenticeship. 

Doctors, observing a literal interpretation of their oath not to inflict bodily harm, were too ethical to cut and were not even supposed to watch. But the operation, if performed according to the rules, was presided over by a learned doctor who sat on a dais well above the struggle and read what the barber was supposed to be doing aloud from a Latin classic (which the barber, of course, ...did not understand). 

Needless to say, it was always the barber's fault if the patient died, and always the doctor's achievement if he survived. And the doctor got the bigger fee in either event. 

There is some resemblance between the state of surgery four centuries ago and the state of organisation theory until recently.'' 

Peter F. Drucker - The Practice of Management (Chapter 16).


How easy it is for communication to fail us? "I broadcast ...thereby 'ipso facto' my message is clear"

We should always be critically aware of just how easy it is to get caught up in the fanfare of business transformation as opposed to implementation of the 'new way' at the operational level in the business. The lesson we see here can so similarly be played out with a high profile change programme versus a team of guys who come to work to simply do another days work. They do not operate on the same plane. How do we ensure alignment?

Thereby the open catch-cry:

Transformation + Governance = Value Realisation

a reminder that performance management must be evident at every level in the process.


Alignment to planned objectives is the hardest part in delivery of planned benefits expected from transformation. This cannot be achieved without effective communication with all impacted staff, channels and, not to forget, customers. The change programme will not succeed without a well thought out and executed communications plan.

And remember ...don't be found 'speaking in tongues'. Communication always needs to be a 'two way' process.


Cheers

Grahame J Flynn FAICD CGEIT(ISACA) 




The Ballad of Sweeney Todd

Attend the tale of Sweeny Todd,
His skin was pale and his eye was odd.
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
Who never thereafter were heard of again.
He trod a path that few have trod,
Did Sweeny Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

He kept a shop in London Town
Of fancy clients and good renown.
And what if none of their souls were saved?
They went to their
Maker impeccably shaved by Sweeny,
By Sweeny Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Swing your razor wide, Sweeny,
Hold it to the skies!
Freely flows the blood of those who moralize.

His need were few, his room was bare:
a lavabo and a fancy chair,
A mug of suds and a leather strop,
An apron, a towel, a pail and a mop.
For neatness, he deserves a nod.
Does Sweeny Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.