Before executing the transformation, it is necessary to reach team alignment regarding the current state, the target state as well as the transformation roadmap. It is necessary to achieve this alignment, as well as to assess the value reaching the target state, and to assess the level of motivation and commitment in executing the transformation.
Current State: Where are we now?
What is our current reality? What challenges are we facing now? Often, the biggest problem faced by the team is that everyone has a different "version" of reality; members don't see things in the same way. Not everyone is aware of current challenges, or there is a mismatch in distinguishing between small vs big challenges, thus there is no clear priority in tackling challenges. The result is that the team may not accept the current situation as is (because they don't see any challenges at all) - thus they will not take any actions; alternatively, the team may be spending effort in trying to tackle superficial problems rather than tackling the underlying root cause problems, because they are not aligned regarding problem priority, there may not be alignment regarding the value of solving a problem. We help the team reach alignment in reaching a common understanding of reality and problems faced, so that we can better understand the most expensive problems and the value of solving those problems.
Target State: Where do we want to be?
What is our desired target state? What improvements are we looking for? Often, the team is stuck in the current state of reality, because "that's the way things are", they lose hope in the possibility of improvement because they see improvement as impossible. The impact is that the team will stay where they are (actually they will stagnate), and the company ultimately falls behind the competition. If you don't improve, if you stay in the same place, you end up moving backwards. We help the team think "outside of the box", to go beyond their current state and to imagine an improved state. We help the team reach alignment regarding their desired target state, so that we all have the same perspective regarding our goal.
Transformation Roadmap: How do we get there?
What steps that we need to take to move from where we are to where we want to be? Simply understanding our current state and our target state is not enough - we need to connect the dots. We need to answer the question: how do we move from point A to point B? Given any constraints that we're facing, what's the most realistic way of moving forward? We help the team reach alignment regarding our high-level transformation roadmap.
The outcomes of the assessment are:
Alignment regarding our current state, target state and the transformation roadmap
Understanding how expensive the current challenges are and how valuable it is to reach the target state
Insight regarding the level of motivation and commitment of the team
To move forward to executing the transformation, there must be a "strong yes" to all the above:
Yes, we have reached strong alignment about current state, target state and the transformation
Yes, the current challenges are really painful and expensive, the target state is high value
Yes, we're really motivated and committed in solving the problems
If any of those is lacking - if there is no alignment, lack of perceived high value, or lack of motivation or commitment, then we do not proceed forward.