Dealing with Technology Shift :: An Organizational Perspective

Technology shifts and evolutions in the past  decade has caused several companies and industries to shift. Sometime the shift has changed companies and shaped up industries in alltogether different way. On occasions companies have been wiped away because of these shifts. And on some other occasions new companies and industries have spawned as a result of these shifts in technology.

So, what makes some companies deal with technology shifts successfully and other ones fail.

• Is it just the ability to deal with new technology?
• It it the ability or inability to change the business model and adopt the one, which will work in a different technological world?
• It it smartness of leaders to deal with new business eco-system?

I would say, all of the above. But for most part, it is the ability of the company to deal with the changed technology (and business model) at an organizational level. Center piece of this organization level dealing with change is people’s feeling, attitude, motovation (or lack of it), incentives (or disincentives) and their understanding (of new world). Changing the business model, processes, support system and operations is the easy part of dealing with the technology shift. Dealing with organizational inability to understand and cope with the new technology is the tough part.

Usually organizations (read people and unit) respond to technology shift in seven distinctive ways at seven stages during transformation.

1. Excitement
2. Expectation
3. Confusion
4. Understanding
5. Acceptance
6. Adoption (or Rejection)
7. Institutionalization

Whenever a technology shift happens, and companies become convinced about the need of changing the core business model, they get on the job of redefining strategy. The strategy gets defined after a series of efforts to analyze and place the current business model in perspective to radical shift in technology. Once companies have the first level of details of new or changed business model, they work on preparation of organizational communication. The strategy and new business model gets filtered and an ‘appropriate content’ gets prepared to communicate the organization about the new business model (along with new strategy of organization). The organization listens to then new business model, which largely is fashioned around new and higher growth in the face of changing technology horizon. Organization listens to new strategy and business model and gets all excited. Everyone loves ‘New’.

Now, organization expects the details to come through and they expect it fast. What comes to them is mostly first set of execution plan, not the detail of new business model. This is where usually the first mistake is made. Organization expects details of new business model in a legible form. What they get to see is high level execution plan. Organization expects the details to be comfortable and convinced with the excitement new model business model created at the first stage. Following up the initial communication about new business model with a carefully orchestrated details will ensure that organizations expectations are responded to.

Now, third stage is execution plan explanation to the organization. The linkage between the execution plan and first communication (of new business model) is the key here. If linkage is not established properly, this stage usually results into massive confusions. Even if execution plan is explained to organization properly, amount of change is too much to absorb for anyone. So, conusion is unavoidable at this stage. How much confusion is created and how quickly it is cleared up, depends on content clarity at these three stages, clarity of linkages between communication content, timing of each of these three stages. Compromise on any one of these fronts leads to massive confusions in the organization. Sometime becoming cause of the failure (or rejection) of new business model and its demands. A carefully thought out detailing of the execution plan and its staged communication to organization can reduce the amount of confusion at this stage. Though nothing can be done to eliminate the confusion all together at this stage.

Once organization gets through the explanation of execution plan and organization has had time to sync that information in, next stage is understanding. This is where organization develops its understanding and interpretation of the execution plan. An organization has to translate a proposed execution plan into something which is of their own. And this translation happens through interpretation. It takes time for organization and people to find interpretations of the execution plan, which can work in the practical realities of their work place. People handling at this stage is key. Leaders of the organization can assist in the process of interpretation here. When people interpret a large execution plan, which is supposed to implement a big change, they need hand holding. A leaders patience and willingness to become a mentor can work wonders with the organization at this stage.

Next stage is usually of acceptance. This acceptance is not adoption. This acceptance is of the new business model and its execution plan. The acceptance happens because organization and its people have found their interpretation of the execution plan and they can look at things more clearly and with more sense of ownership. During this acceptance the key is to let organization gain momentum on the new plan (and its new found interpretation by people in organization). A lot of companies get impatient at this stage and start hard driving of the execution plans. In reality organizations are still not ready for hard driving. They have just accepted the new reality of a changes business mode (and changed world they work in).

Adoption (and/or rejection) is next stage to acceptance. Adoption is a function of organization and its people’s successes and failures. Successes and failures during execution and dealing with them defines adoption cycle. Usually this stage has a cycle of its own. Several successes and failures and finding their way through them leads and organization to adoption of the execution plan, its details and in turn new business model. This is the stage, where leaders are supposed to build momentum. Quick pitching in where people have failed and get them to success points ensures people adopt what they have. Quick recognition of the successes ensures people become proud of their new ownership of changed world. The key here is momentum. Let organization and people get past both their successes and failures quickly. Let new reality get adopted.

Now, the final stage of the change is institutionalization of the change done by technology shift. Usually this is a function of the operational and people processes in the organization. More robust the processes are, more quickly the institutionalization will take place. This is where leaders place organization on a definitive new path. They let process maturiy of the organization ensure that new reality of a new world has been settled in the DNA of the organization.

So, a technology paradigm shift is happening, which will mandate a change in the business model, get prepared. The job is not just to come up with a new strategy and business model. Job is also not to communicate an execution plan to organization. To make the change happen and new business reality get sunk into the organization, job is multi staged and it is complex. Tighten your belts and carefully orchestrate and lead organization through these stages of changes.

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