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Engines for the transformation

Nine engines to develop and strengthen a Transformative organization.

The nine engines describe principles and characteristics that are common to organizations that have succeeded in the to build a transformative and learning organization.

Purpose-Driven

Create lasting value and meaning, by letting the purpose guide the strategy and create a clear and value-creating "why" and a shared vision for everything the organization does.

Being purpose-driven means that the purpose, i.e. the organization's why, is at the core of the organization and that the strategy work and everything the organization does is constantly based on the purpose. The organization's purpose creates a stable foundation for the organization's direction for the future. Purpose is the organization's internal compass and is used in all decisions and initiatives.

A purpose-driven organization succeeds by focusing on relationships with the outside world and its stakeholders rather than an internal focus on efficiency, productivity and short-term financial goals. A genuinely purpose-driven organization uses its purpose to create a shared vision, and develops and grows by continuously challenging and redefining the playing field – where, to whom and how can we contribute more value.

Organize for Complexity

Ability to see the organization as a system, how each part affects and works together to create long-term sustainable path choices and priorities

By building the ability to navigate complexity, the organization becomes adaptive and good at quickly adapting to changes that occur both within the organization and outside, in its environment. The organization has the ability to create long-term sustainable change in order to remain relevant in the future and at the same time successfully face the situation here and now. The ability to managing complexity is a prerequisite for being agile.

Managing complexity requires a holistic approach by seeing the organization as a complex system. The organization and the people in it have the ability to see the whole of the "system", how the parts relate and influence each other, and can identify complex relationships both within the organization and in relation to its surroundings.

Customer Centricity

Put the customer at the center, with empathy and sensitivity, in business and product development as well as in internal processes and decisions.

Being genuinely customer-centric means that the organization sees the customer as the heart of its organization. The organization creates a culture around the customer and the customer's needs, and puts the customer at the center of everything it does. The organization's commitment to creating customer value is genuine and passionate. The customer always comes first and the world is seen through the customer's eyes and by walking in the customer's shoes.

In the customer-centric organization, the focus is primarily on what value can be given to the customer during the customer's entire lifetime, instead of how much can be earned from each customer. The focus goes from transactions, i.e. selling products and services, to building relationships with customers. Everyone, regardless of position in the organization, focuses on customer experience.

Transformation of Work

Ability to quickly respond to changes in the outside world with changed and new value-creating working methods, business models and offers.​

Transformation of work includes both changes and innovation, i.e. changing the work to something better or innovating completely new ways of doing the work. There is a culture and a leadership that allows experimentation, that is open to the new and focuses on the useful, ie what value the organization creates.

Organizations that have a strategy for the future of work actively explore new and innovative ways to develop their business. Their focus is on delivering even more customer value and continuously develops new business models and offers. They are good at quickly adapting and developing working methods to fit the new business models. They are also brave enough to let go of what has been, and dare to prioritize and opt out.

Technology Adoption

Ability to accept, implement and use the opportunities of new technology and to use technology to drive change.

Organizations that can explore and drive the implementation and adoption of new technology quickly and efficiently create the conditions for change and innovation using the power of technology. They use the technology in both intended and new innovative ways, exploiting its full potential.  Organizations that are good at adopting new technology use technology to drive change, which is far more than just using technology as a tool.

A key to increasing both the penetration and the speed of using new technologies is to strengthen the technical and digital maturity of the organization. Organizations need to embed digital in their DNA to remain competitive and reap the benefits of the opportunities that technology offers.

Intentionally Collaborative

Design for inclusive collaboration, both inside and outside the organization, to promote multiple perspectives, collective learning, make better decisions, and strengthen innovation.

Intentionally Collaborative, i.e. intentional collaboration is about designing for how collaboration should work within and between teams, functions, business units and with stakeholders outside the organization. Organizations that have designed how to work together and with whom, take advantage of everyone's different perspectives, promote collective learning and will make better decisions, be more innovative and contribute more value.

 An organization that has implemented intentional collaboration promotes diversity and actively chooses inclusion. It takes advantage of collective intelligence and uses the strength of diversity and differences to create innovation and to make the best decisions. Collaboration is conducted thoughtfully and actively within and between teams, functions, business units and with stakeholders outside the organization.

Open Leadership

Open and transparent leaders who provide mandates and work to build the ability and confidence of people and teams to make decisions and to solve complex problems.

In an organization that has developed open leadership, leaders are transparent with both goals and challenges and work to inspire, guide and help others. They believe in and work for trust-based leadership and to create an environment where everyone feels safe.  Open leadership helps to create environment where the social friction is minimal while allowing a high intellectual friction, which is the basis for creating a developing creative and innovative environment.

The attitude of open leaders is that inclusion, community, trust and transparency bring success and that the success of the organization is everyone's concern. They work to create an environment where employees can and want to grow, contribute, influence and be their best self and where teams can and want to develop into a best "we".

Growth Mindset

A Growth Mindset is reflected in a culture where everyone is passionate and persistent in learning, developing and growing together with a focus on seeing opportunities instead of problems and at the same time the ability to question existing assumptions.

An organization with a Growth Mindset dares to try new things, both internally and externally, and learns along the way. It also realizes that nothing is free, but that it takes effort to succeed and that one must not give up, just because the first, or second, third attempt did not go well. But that you probably then need to change something, or take a new perspective. It is also good at critically reflecting and challenging existing assumptions and generalizations about how we understand the world and how we act. 

A Growth Mindset means seeing skills as something that can be improved with effort. A "Growth Mindset", thrives when challenged and sees failure not as evidence of a lack of intelligence but as a springboard for growth and for challenging and developing existing abilities.  This approach can be applied both at individual, team and organizational level. When we talk about Growth Mindset, however, we almost always think of the individual. But, even a team and an organization also need to develop a growth mindset.

Continual Learning

Continuous and dynamic development of strategic skills and collective competence, which is in line with the desired movements of the organization and long-term strategic direction.

Continuous learning is part of how the organization is run. An organization that has established continuous learning at the organizational level has the ability to dynamically develop strategic skills linked to the organization's desired movements and long-term strategic direction. Learning does not stop with the individual but is also created at the organizational level.

 

There is a strategy to how these strategic skills are to be developed, and it is something that is constantly ongoing. Planned learning and development programs are linked to these skills and there is support for adaptive and generative learning, both at team and organizational level.

In an organization that has support for continuous learning, employees and teams build their ability to be "intellectually curious" and together take ownership of their learning. The result is an organization where employees feel better, are more flexible, and at the same time perform better and contribute to the organization's long-term development and success. Cooperation increases within and between teams and the organization becomes more innovative and flexible.

The nine engines include culture, people, way of working and technology and all influence each other and are interdependent.

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