The 3 Biggest People and Culture Hurdles in Transformation Journeys (And How to Overcome Them)

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Transformation is not a one-time effort; it is an ongoing journey that every organization must embrace to succeed. It is widely recognized that organizations need to succeed in a constantly changing world, driven by a variety of external and internal factors, including competitive pressures, advancing technologies, and shifts in the workforce.

A recent study conducted by SAP in partnership with Forrester Consulting found that 72% of organizations undertake four or more enterprise-wide initiatives annually. And while processes and technologies are fundamental, company culture is the key differentiator in achieving transformation maturity.

A corporate culture that fosters innovation and adaptability determines the organization’s responsiveness to change, its ability to effectively implement planned changes, and its capacity to build the necessary workforce capability.

What are the top three people and culture-related challenges that companies face in their transformation journeys?

According to Forrester Consulting, the main issues are: poor communication of the transformation vision and benefits (54%), inadequate training and upskilling programs (53%), and employee fatigue from continuous change (52%).

Let’s take a closer look at them.

1) Communicate the Why

Poor communication about the transformation vision and benefits encompasses two critical leadership aspects: the ability to build a vision and to communicate it.

During transformations, leaders are often blamed for not investing enough time and effort in informing the organization of what changes will happen in three, six, or twelve months, how their specific job, roles, and tools will be modified, and most importantly, why the change is necessary, why now, and what the benefit is for them in embracing it. All good questions for which most of the time, leaders don’t have an answer, or they provide generic and vague statements.

The challenge can be solved by enabling leaders at different levels to communicate the change, defining and communicating strategic messaging, training them to have meaningful conversations about it, and creating detailed communication plans and tailored campaigns to ensure the communication cascades correctly throughout the entire organization.

However, the communication effort can yield the expected results only if the vision and strategy for the transformation are clearly defined, and the “why” behind them is stronger than productivity and performance goals.

Leaders must be able to answer the fundamental WIIFM question (“What’s in it for me?”), since the first day they communicated the change. They need to focus on defining the “why” in the two-fold meaning of “why is this happening” and “why we should follow you” before describing the “what” and making any decision related to the transformation.

2) Enable people to change

Most transformation programs, especially those related to implementing new technologies, include training sessions for users to learn how to use the latest tools or to familiarize themselves with new processes and procedures.

Those training programs are often inadequate and ineffective for two reasons. First of all, because most of the time the training is not the result of a comprehensive skills assessment to map employees’ current and future skills needed to implement the changes. So, they are not designed to fill the skills gap but only to provide additional knowledge and teach how to execute new activities.

Also, the training programs often terminate at the end of the virtual or in-person class.

Employees do not have the opportunity to practice and learning by doing in their daily work. They do not have the necessary support to build their knowledge and confidently experiment with the new behaviors and skills to make the changes happen.

Someone said, “To encourage a man to change his behavior, you must convey the message at least three times.

When implementing organizational changes, it is essential to consider not only the duration, format, and scope of the training, but also its content and the areas of intervention. These elements must be thoughtfully designed to facilitate the necessary behavioral changes.

3) Manage change fatigue

On the one hand, transformation is always inevitable for an organization to succeed and thrive; on the other hand, people struggle to keep up with continuous change, which increases the uncertainty and unpredictability of the work environment.

Change fatigue is a state of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion that occurs when individuals experience continuous, rapid, or overwhelming changes, leading to resistance, low productivity, disengagement, and, in some cases, burnout.

Organizational change management best practices recommend assessing employees’ readiness and attitudes toward the change early, before implementation.

Leaders often underestimate this aspect and think they can easily compensate for the additional effort employees put in learning and adapting to change. Unfortunately, people experiencing change fatigue become resistant, complaining about the need for stability and continuity; they tend not to support, and in some cases, hinder the transformation.

Understanding where each group within the organization is in its particular transformation journey and planning future interventions accordingly is the first and necessary step to reduce the risk of change fatigue.

Another aspect to consider is that change fatigue can arise during the transformation, as people struggle to adapt to the new way of doing things or, in some cases, take the change lightly. In these cases, it is necessary for the leaders and the team responsible for managing the organizational change to detect signs of fatigue as soon as they appear, and to provide employees with the support they need to navigate the transition.

Ultimately, because people and culture play a crucial role in a company’s transformation, it’s essential that HR and organizational development teams, along with change leaders, are well-equipped with the knowledge, tools, and expertise necessary to integrate the change into the company culture.

This will enable the workforce to respond to and support the transformation journey effectively.

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