The lightbulb and the mainstreaming of transformation

Last week I ordered a single refrigerator light bulb for delivery to my home.  At first it felt wrong somehow, maybe decadent, but I reasoned that the daily flow of home deliveries through my neighbourhood now is such that this likely wasn’t an optimization challenge for them.  

I was late to the game on home delivery.  A year ago, my fridge would have been dark for a week and a half until I found the time on a Saturday afternoon to get to the hardware store.  Now that suddenly seems old fashioned, like a story my dad would tell about the 1950s.  

We’ve each had our own experiences like these, probably many.  These personal examples of the broader digital acceleration of the past year were galvanizing, and a topic of mainstream discussion.  (It didn’t take long for Executives to realize that “burning platforms” were also now delivered right to the home).

With most of our clients this took just a matter of weeks.  They entered the pandemic with a focus on cash preservation, operational resilience and efficiency but as they caught their breath and took stock, they realized the fundamental re-invention required in large parts of their organizations.  

Digital technologies are having a moment, with many transformational opportunities suddenly seeming obvious. Meanwhile, functions and firms that serve mainly as intermediaries are reflecting on where, how (and sometimes whether) digital technology can best reinforce the value they offer, or if something more radical is in store. 

In a series of short blog posts, we’ll outline how we’re helping our clients chart their course out of the pandemic through a revival and into their next version of normal. We’ll take it in four parts:

1. Scenario planning your pandemic exit. Define a few “focal questions” and construct relevant scenarios, data driven analytics (waypoints to know if the context is stable or changing) and concrete resource allocation choices. Prepare to move with or ahead of change -- more “situation room” less “management retreat”.
2. Prioritizing adaptability in revival. In line with your scenario plan, prioritize the operational and market facing tactics available to you as customers and suppliers make their way back to pre-pandemic activity. This potentially means new sourcing, production and go-to-market models.  
3. Executing on re-invention. For all the importance of experimentation and agility, there remains a premium on architecting and successfully executing the bold transformation, particularly in a changing environment.
4. Making re-invention a core competency. We know that change is constant and accelerating, we’ve also shown we can be resilient in the face of it. Now we need to embed a culture of lifelong learning to make sure our teams and our organizations continue to thrive.

As the pandemic recedes, we’ll all be glad to get to our next normal whatever that looks like, but the lessons from our coordinated plunge into digitally assisted lives won’t be unlearned and yesterday’s approaches to large scale change require updating. Organizations need to be both ambitious in their aspiration and thoughtful in action.

As in the lightbulb order, I’m taking a fresh look at how I frame and respond to situations and that’s equally applicable at the corporate level. As Drucker pointed out, it’s not the turbulence itself that puts us at risk but acting on it with yesterday’s logic. 

Watch this space for more to come on the collective intelligence from across EY. For a deep dive into these ideas, download our paper on Business Revival: How you can plan with confidence for the unknown and contact our professionals to discuss how you can take these ideas further.