Overview

“If you want to learn about a culture, listen to the stories. If you want to change the culture, change the stories.“

Transition to cloud requires changes in behaviours. Teams and the organisation must be open to experiment, creating time and space to get people aboard. The use of rituals and storytelling is very powerful in a change process. It gives meaning and focus. Rituals support adopting new skills, they create involvement, and help mark a new era. Listening to stories in the hallway, on intranet as well as reading the formalised stories in plans and policies gives insight in how people relate to cloud and digital transformation. It will tell, for instance, if there is enthusiasm about upcoming changes and awareness of its benefits, or if there is fear that it will impact the ‘normal’ way of working.​

Stories and rituals found in an organisation can be analysed to assess to what extent they are exemplary for a particular type of culture: family, hierarchical, market or innovative. Depending on the outcome, it can be determined what behaviour is necessary for the transition to cloud and digital transformation in general. The formulated values and vision should be at the heart of the newly crafted rituals and stories. Defining this gap is an important phase because it gives insight into the amount of change that is necessary. ​

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The period ‘in between’ during a change process is called the liminal phase, the phase best used for experiments, trying out new ways, learning and evaluating. Making new rituals and stories ‘stick’ takes time which is why a process is needed. This process will help define when new stories and rituals can be integrated and how to monitor people’s responses and adopt these new ways of acting and language.  A CCoE can be instrumental in the design of new rituals and stories. To make it effective it is best to focus on a few powerful rituals: less is more. HR and communication should be included to spread and monitor the change in order to make it a structural transition.

Activities checklist

Initial:

• Assessing current rituals​
• Assessing current stories regarding cloud technology and digital transformation​
• Formulating desired rituals based on values and mission. Determining gap with current ones.​
• Developing a narrative of change with use of urgency and ambition.​
• Designing a process to make the narrative of change ‘stick’ in teams. ​
• Formulating KPI’s to determine change in rituals and stories.

Recurring:

• Monitoring process and adjust​
• Communicating and activating change agents ​
• Actively identifying and mobilising cloud champions​
• Actively partnering with HR

RASCI