What Leaders Need To Do Before Bringing In External Experts
Why we need to be honest about transformation efforts, and how to best prepare people
The first-time people suggested I write a book, I laughed stating "no one would read it because I'd be too honest about what it takes to transform."
I was a personal trainer at the time for people wanting to "get fit", but largely not trusting the process, or consistently taking action to achieve their goals. The stories unsuccessful clients told themselves about why they couldn’t change to get the results they wanted were the same - too tired, not enough time, or not enough money.
If I wrote a book then the title would have been Fitness for Fat People - The Truth about Transformation. I wasn't being arrogant, or unempathetic. I’d experienced the shame and pain of feeling fat and unhappy too, but I would have been clear on who the book was for and the non-negotiables of the journey they would go through.
Overcoming the psychological and physical challenges to transform is hard work.
I also knew that if the title offended people, they weren't prepared to change. No amount of professional advice from me or anyone else was going to help.
The reality is that we don't like change that pushes us too far out of our comfort zones. Even when we're fit and performing well, old habits can creep back in over time.
I'm no longer in the fitness industry, but the mental and mechanical challenges for people wanting to improve their fitness, and what we experience with organisational change and transformation are the same.
The allure of quick wins
Like those of us who have ever been on a ‘diet’ or part of a ‘gym challenge’, organisations often waste a lot of time and money on external industry experts (personal training), workshops and training programs (diet shakes and pills), and technology implementations that over promise and under-deliver (fancy gym equipment or gadgets).
Our instinct is to avoid or get out of pain as quickly as possible.
The more desperate we are, the harder the pull for what appears to be the easier option. This means that we’re very susceptible to being sold ‘quick wins’, or ‘shortcuts’ to what we want.
The truth and how to prepare
Unfortunately, many of the external ‘enablers’, or resources organisations invest in, aren’t sustainable, don’t fit with who they are or how they work, and certainly don’t meet employee or customer needs.
There are no short cuts to enduring success. We have to commit to some heavy lifting.
If you’re serious about getting high value and long term benefits, internal change, adaptation and evolution is the only way.
When we fully commit to breaking old habits and doing things differently, the hardest part of change is overcoming what we tell ourselves, and managing emotional and behavioural responses along the way.
For some organisations, external resourcing can be incredibly valuable, cost effective, and a great way to build internal capability, provided there is an acceptance that transformation can't be outsourced.
Leaders and teams have to do the work to prepare for the gains the organisation wants to make.
Internal preparation requires:
Building internal trust for fearless, honest, and open conversations,
Understanding what isn’t working for employees and customers,
Adopting an end-to-end, systems thinking and empathetic perspective regarding pain in delivery,
Heavy lifting or business analysis to understand constraining processes and how to minimise or eliminate them,
Knowing what internal resources can and can’t do, and
The ability to articulate what you need, why, and when before outsourcing.
What you need from experts
If you need to go to market, ensure that the advice and support you procure:
Has personal and professional experience in similar cultural contexts,
Will coach people through the psychological and behavioural challenges,
Seeks out and partners with internal operational teams to co-design, test, and implement integrated solutions in a manageable and scalable way,
Provides a solid commitment to growing internal capability and uses this as a key measure of success,
Partners with other industry providers, and
Ensures solutions are operationally viable, internally sustainable and meet employee and customer needs.
Transformation is hard, but when it’s practical it’s achievable.
Want to discuss what this might look like for you?
