| | AUGUST 20209CIOReviewBut these behaviors are the antithesis of transformation. It is the role of the transformation leader to pick up the binoculars, and peer beyond the horizon, and help the organization look for new lands to conquer.3) From "Lean Thinking" to "Design Thinking". The business process manager in the pre-information era was mainly focused on process improvement or process re-engineering. Lean, or Six Sigma were the tools or philosophies adopted. But in the information era, the transformation leader is now charged with helping the organization shape itself differently. From process level change, the focus is now on the entirety of the organizationits process, purpose, systems, people, and structure. The holistic change is 100x more complex than just process change, even if the process was a top tier (L1) wing to wing process. This is where design thinking comes to play. Design thinking refers to creative strategies designers use during the process of designing. As Ideo, the global design company states, "Design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable". Design thinking is an excellent approach to co-create future solutions that are customer based and human based. It leverages the same principles of LEAN, i.e. respect for people and focus on the customer, but offers an array of facilitation tools that are a lot more applicable to situations where one is looking to find solutions to multiple challenges, and to imagine a new future very distinct from the current reality. Design thinking offers a more multipronged, holistic and conceptual framework than LEAN.4) From process expert to "technology enthusiast". We are in the information era. Technology is the biggest disruptor. Ebay brought a new virtual marketplace to the homes and workplaces of millions of people across the globe. But, perhaps, in the future, maybe the near future, Ebay may not exist, thanks to new blockchain driven models like OpenBazaar. Relentlessly emerging new technologies are the crux of the information era. The constancy of change becomes immediate and permanent with these emerging technologies. The transformation leader must immerse himself/herself in understanding these technologies. He/ she need not be a technology expert, but must clearly understand the implications of those technologies on the business model. How would it impact the revenue model? What would it do to the operating costs?Can it be leveraged globally? What about legal restrictions? How would the approach to talent and culture change with the adoption of new technologies? The transformation leader must be curious to find answers to those questions. 5) The agile, collaborative genius. The strategic transformation leader should be a master at collaboration. Creating webs of networks and communities internally and externally will accelerate the transformation.Governance to manage these communities, without being overshadowing the enthusiasm of participants would be a delicate balance that the transformation leader will have to practice. Injecting ideas and energy in the communities will be a core skill of the transformation leader. And hand in hand with collaboration come agility.The transformation leader should be keenly aware of the accelerators and decelerators of the transformation initiative. Learning from failures, pivoting, bouncing back are part of the transformation leaders daily work. Agility and collaboration are the perfect antidotes to zombie transformation projects. The world is changing fast. Roles we performed in the past cannot be just the same. They need to evolve with the disruption injected with the information era.The business project manager cannot escape this disruption. This role is changing in an interesting and challenging way. In fact, the newly morphed role of the strategic transformation leader is more intellectual and impactful.Embrace and enjoy the new reality. When entire industries and organizations are undergoing deepstructural changes, focusing on business process management is like protecting the grand staircase of the Titanic, when the entire Titanic was about to sink
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