Where Does Transformation Begin?

When you think about transformation, is your first instinct to solidify the vision?

What if that is not where we should start?

Leaders are often encouraged to begin by looking ahead.

But there is wisdom in first looking carefully at the ground beneath the organization.

A vision can be bold, coherent, and deeply inspiring.

But no vision, however compelling, can compensate for a false starting point.

Reality rarely announces itself in a dashboard.

It appears in the pause before someone answers honestly.

In the workaround everyone uses but no one acknowledges.

In the same person being called whenever the process reaches its limits.

In the difference between how work was designed and what people must actually do to make it work.

These are not inconveniences to move past on the way to transformation.

They are the truth transformation must be built upon.

Vision gives us direction.

Reality reveals the terrain the vision will have to cross.

Transformation does not fail only because the future was not bold enough.

Sometimes it fails because the present was never understood.

A design reflection:

Before asking where your organization is going, what would you need to be willing to see about where it truly stands?