5E Transformation process
How do we proceed in the transformation?
An agile transformation is a big challenge, because you break with proven thought patterns. Our 5-E transformation process shows you at least one way to facilitate this change in thinking patterns. Recognise and reflect on existing patterns and develop new ways of thinking.
An agile transformation is a 2nd order change. It is about a change in thinking patterns. Such a pattern change is very challenging, because we are often not aware of our thinking patterns. In an agile transformation, reacting directly means exacerbating the problems. Obviously, you need a completely different way of thinking and approaching to achieve the goal of being faster to market – not more of the same. As a tool, we have developed the 5-E transformation process for you.
Phase 1: Recognise
The first phase is to recognise that there is a problem. You notice symptoms. The famous sense of urgency arises and you develop the will to address the problem.
Phase 2: Explore
The next step is to take some time to explore your systemic patterns:
- What leads to your problem? What affects what?
- What are the recurring phenomena in your organisation?
- What is the influence of your culture?
- Why do you do things the way you do?
- What are the underlying beliefs, basic assumptions, mental models?
This is about making your systemic patterns visible in the first place and thus making them workable. This means, as I said, switching off the autopilot and observing instead of reacting directly.
Phase 3: Emotionalise
With this, you have given your trinity of body, mind and soul the perfect nourishment to enter the emotionalising phase. This is about going within yourself and finding out what you actually want instead of the status quo:
- Pausing, leaving room for resonance, tracing: emotions, bodily sensations, intuition are further sources you use here, in addition to purely cognitive intelligence.
- sharpen your own Why and enter into dialogue with each other about it
- gain new inspirations
We call this phase emotionalising. Because if the image of the future is to and must break out of the patterns that have now been made more conscious, then you need more than your pure intellect for this. An attractive image of the future, setting out together, acting under uncertainty – sorry dear mind, these are increasingly emotional realms. You sharpen a picture of the future that carries your emotions as well as your thoughts and ensures identification and movement.
Phase 4: Experimenting
In experimentation, you operationalise your vision of the future and put it into practice. You use the agile cycle of forming a hypothesis, conducting an experiment and learning. You go through this cycle as often as necessary until you have found a functioning way to get closer to your vision of the future. Of course, you also have the opportunity to not only regularly check the achievement of your goals, but also to question your vision of the future in the sense of double-loop learning.
Phase 5: Unfolding
In the unfolding phase you consolidate and optimise the path you have found. Even successful experiments do not result in sustainable development. All too quickly we fall back into old behaviour patterns that we have learned over decades. How do you maintain momentum and how do you deal with setbacks? Don’t waste a crisis! This phase is also crucial to reflect in the sense of deutero-learning how you perceived things and learned from them. Because whether you develop at all as a company, whether you come closer to your vision of the future, depends largely on how you learn.
This is only one model
“All models are wrong, some are helpful”, they say.
Anyone who has ever tried to follow a phase model piece by piece in a complex situation has certainly noticed that it doesn’t work. In this respect, this phase model also only offers an orientation framework. But even if the five steps do not necessarily have to be followed in a linear fashion, one thing is clear: if you neglect one of them permanently, it will be difficult to achieve a successful transformation.
Do you have any questions? Feel free to contact Till directly and send him a message via the form.
Tillmann Seidel
Management Psychosoph
+49 221 84 68 10 99