The Science of Transforming Organisations (SOTO)
The SOTO is a framework of what are the different areas that we need to pay attention to in order to help a person operate in an effective environment. In our research, we have found that as we take care of an individual’s development – the leader (through SOBL), we also need to ensure the infrastructure around them is taken care of to assist them in their journey.
Our Research Methods
Literature Review
of existing studies.
Interviews / discussions
with a variety of leaders.
Data analysis of information from participants
through the different programmes that Leaderonomics runs (mostly strategic review sessions).
Making sense of SOTO
Resolving Organisational Constraints
ALIGNMENT
A key part of an organisation’s success is alignment and clarity. In fact, many problems of the world are related to the lack of alignment. This applies not only to leadership at the upper echelons of power, but across the organisation. Great leaders and managers are needed at every level, and having alignment among all individuals that make up the organisation is critical.
Most importantly, our research points out that one key aspect of leadership is critical – clarity. Above all, a leader must be CLEAR. Clarity is hard. Leaders find it hard to build alignment in their organisations in this ever-changing VUCA world. Yet, this is a key secret sauce for successful leadership – to ensure every member of your organisation has clarity of vision, clarity of reality and clarity of mission. Everyone should be aligned to this one common vision and understanding of what it takes to get there.
BUSINESS MODEL
An obsolete business model will create significant frustrations amongst employees. If your business model does not work anymore, regardless of how talented an employee may be, they will not be able to sell products or drive execution. Examples of incredibly successful companies that failed to look at the relevance of their business model and paid the consequences dearly are many – Nokia, Kodak, Yahoo, Sony, Borders and many others.
An organisation’s business model and strategy is the cornerstone of its success. When your sales people start agitating for change in products or sales strategy, you may need to relook at your business model.
CULTURE
Culture is the cumulative beliefs or mind-sets of an organisation, manifested in actions. These actions ultimately drive a result. But the “mind-set” each of us has is deep-seated. So are organisational beliefs.
The hardest part of any change or growth initiative is to ensure it does not become a fad or a “flavour of the month” but to ensure that it becomes part of the organisational DNA.
People and organisations are creatures of habit, and changing habits is harder than changing structures or systems. So, how do we change culture? By instituting new rituals that drive new experiences. These experiences will slowly change beliefs.
STRUCTURE SYSTEMS
One of the biggest mistakes organisations make is to focus on people. Yes, you read that right! The key to successfully getting employees to achieve high performance is to focus on “process.” An organisation can still care and love them, but the emphasis must be on building institutional processes.
Structures and processes drive the behaviours and performance of your employees. You want to change their behaviour, change the structure.