𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗺𝗶𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝗶𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀’ 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆

I recently attended The Conference Board’s excellent 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚, 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙊𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣: 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝘼𝙢𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 event in NYC. While there were many insightful speakers, one that really stood out was Nanda Burke from Siemens, who shared her company’s inspiring journey to transform into a truly global, integrated solutions organization.

Here were my top 4 takeaways from Nanda’s talk:

1. 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼. When undergoing a strategic transformation, it’s just as critical to explicitly define the areas you will deprioritize or not pursue in the strategy.

2. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 “𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘆.”  Siemens created an internal platform called Cosmos that empowers employees to form ad-hoc, organic groups across the enterprise beyond their direct reporting lines. This enables much greater cross-functional collaboration.

3. 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 “𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀” 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. Siemens did away with traditional performance reviews in favor of frequent, candid 1:1 “growth talks” between employees and managers. This unstructured format provides opportunities for healthier and more timely conversations to support individual growth paths.

4. 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁. Siemens launched their Xcelerator marketplace, which not only offers their own digital solutions but also sells third-party vendor products and services. This demonstrates a deeper understanding of customer needs.

As organizations of all sizes grapple with accelerating disruption, Siemens’ transformation principles offer a powerful model for thriving amid change.

#digitaltransformation #innovation  #strategy