Transformation Delivery: Shifting from a Process to Mindset Change

Amanda Appel de Castro at UXDX Community: LatAm. Video: https://youtu.be/C2pO_yd7RjM

Readable transcript: edited from the recording's captions for readability (fillers and false starts removed, punctuation and section headings added). Wording is the speaker's own. Timestamps are positions in the video. Names marked [?] could not be verified against the audio.

Background and the Via context

[00:00:00] Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to be here. I would like to thank UXDX for inviting me to share a bit of my experience with you all. First I would like to share my background. My name is Amanda Appel. I'm married and the mother of two children. I'm an experienced product leader and executive with more than 10 years working in the finance and retail industries, and I have helped large enterprises accelerate their digital transformation.

[00:00:28] My previous job at Itaú allowed me to participate from the beginning in the digital transformation of a large bank. We started in 2014. I remember when the vice president came back from Silicon Valley and decided to implement a new way of working, agile. We then started working with a few squads. There is no doubt that technology can significantly improve performance, and we know that first movers have an advantage. At first glance it seems impossible to shift a sales-led company to a product-led one, but it can be done.

[00:01:18] Transformations are hard, and digital ones are even harder. You can use a framework to complete it, but you need to remember there is no one-size-fits-all, and because of that I believe it is extremely important for us to be here discussing this topic. In this session I'm going to share the transformation journey of the e-commerce platform of the company where I work [?], and I will cover in this talk the things that I learned through my experience.

[00:01:56] Before I begin, I would like to provide you with the background of Via. It is a brick and mortar retail chain of stores which sells home furniture, electronics, etc. It was founded 60 years ago and has more than 50,000 employees. In 2020 they were in the middle of a company turnaround. The company was focused on increasing its revenue, expanding market share and streamlining its costs. It was trying to play catch-up with its competitors, and was focused on developing and delivering new features for its customers. And the big question for me was: how could I start to implement the digital transformation for this company within this scenario?

Start with people

[00:02:53] One of the first significant things that I learned is that digital transformation is a mindset change, and the mindset change is made by people. So always start with them. Investigate and understand the environment that you are in and the people you work with, and try to create connections with them. I believe that the best way of doing this is, like I did, to jump on a call. I did that on a virtual call, because I was in the middle of a lockdown here in Brazil. Try to get to know your team, your partners and your stakeholders. I believe it's also important to ask them the same questions, to hear their different perspectives.

[00:03:47] I'm going to share with you some examples of the questions that I asked. What are the company goals? Is the company performing well or not? What are the biggest challenges? What works and what does not work in the company? What could we do differently? There are other indirect questions which you do not have to ask; however, through your conversation you will need to try to search for the answers. They are: who are the influencers in the company? What is admired and respected, and conversely, what is not tolerated there? Why do people enjoy working here? This moment of reflection after your onboarding is really important to guide you through your next steps.

Obtain the buy-in where it matters

[00:04:40] What I would strongly recommend, which was the second major thing that I learned, is to obtain the buy-in where it matters. I had seen at Itaú [?] how important it was for the leaders to work on their social status within the company, because when leading a digital transformation, changes are going to be necessary, and they can take a lot of people out of their comfort zone and make them feel uncomfortable. So understand the cultural environment that you are in. You must start to work on social status by showing your empathy and obtaining credibility from your team, partners and stakeholders. You have to conquer the buy-in where it matters, and empathy and credibility are going to help you.

[00:05:33] Empathy, because as a new hire you can't start by criticizing everything and then promoting a lot of change. First you need to try to understand why things work in a certain way, and what paths the company took to bring things to fruition. This is an excellent mindset to pursue as someone who was recently hired, as in my case. And besides that, you have to show credibility, which is the quality of being trusted by the company. I believe that without empathy and credibility you have little chance of being successful in a digital transformation, because you need to remember: you are not trying to change the process you are in, you are trying to change the company mindset.

[00:06:27] So how did I achieve the buy-in where it matters? I understood that in order to prove myself as a competent leader and obtain credibility at Via, I had to show that I was capable of delivering, and I took advantage of a critical moment for the company. The moment was March of 2020. Brazil implemented a lockdown, and now the stores of Via were closed, and our digital channels at that point didn't have many options for exchanges or refunds on purchases. This was my chance to make a substantial change. I gathered all my team and shared with them the context, and how important it would be for the company that we delivered this in the shortest time possible. After one month and a half of really hard work, we released it with great success.

Engage everyone in the future direction

[00:07:27] After understanding the environment and gaining respect from the company, I was able and empowered to work on setting the product vision and strategy for the product. And here is the third lesson: you have to engage everyone inside in the future direction of the company. At the heart of any successful product vision, you must have everyone on board.

[00:07:55] I remember a time at Itaú when we were remaking our product vision and strategy for our mobile app, and my leader completed this exercise without sharing it with other departments and stakeholders. At that time we decided which were the most important products and services for the app that we would invest in. As a side effect, we weren't aligned with other departments, and it caused numerous disagreements for us when we were trying to implement those strategies.

[00:08:31] So for your product vision and strategy to be successful, you must listen to all the key people that you work with. It doesn't mean that you have to pull all the people together in a room, but it means that you have to gather all the information possible from them to establish your product vision. Everyone must be on board for you to be successful. At Via I used that as a learning, and when I was doing the product vision and strategy, I gathered all the information possible from my team, partners and stakeholders, and then shared my evolution with them to see if there was common agreement. Another important aspect of your vision and strategy is to keep it simple. Complexity is the enemy of trust, because it creates confusion, doubts and misunderstandings.

Communication is never too much

[00:09:34] The fourth thing that I learned, and I would say one of the most important ones, is that even if your company is not going through a digital transformation, there is no over-communication. Communication is never too much. Why am I saying that? Because a lot of people are used to working in a certain way, and when you are doing a transformation you need to implement new ways of working, like agile, product management and test-and-learn methods, and people are going to be pushed out of their comfort zone. They are not going to understand why the company is going in that direction, and they are going to feel insecure and afraid. So communication is a key success factor. Be willing to cover the same ground more than once. Not everyone will understand it and support it the first time. At Via I use all the opportunities that I can to share the product vision that we settled on with my team, partners and stakeholders.

No one-size-fits-all

[00:10:50] The final thing that I learned is that there is no one-size-fits-all, even in the same company. You also need to implement new ways of working step by step. As I mentioned at the beginning of my talk, the bank started its digital transformation in 2014, and in 2020, the year I left, they still hadn't completed the transformation company-wide. When I arrived at Via, they were trying to implement the new ways of working for the whole company all at once, and I personally could see why that wasn't a good strategy. Imagine a company over 60 years old, with 50,000 employees and numerous departments, all at a different degree of maturity. You can be assured of failure if you do the whole implementation at once. As a lesson learned, we took some steps backward within the critical departments to allow us to move forward.

[00:12:03] Two years have passed since the beginning of our digital transformation, and I can tell you that we have undertaken and conquered a lot of change, but we are still in the process of becoming a product-led company.

[00:12:20] Finally, I would like to leave you all with the message that transformations are hard, and digital ones are harder. So remember: first, it is a mindset change, so always start by understanding the environment and the people that you work with. Second, obtain the buy-in by showing your empathy and credibility. Third, engage everyone in setting the direction the company needs to move forward in. Fourth, communication is a key factor and is never too much. And the final one: there is no one-size-fits-all, even in the same company. Thanks again for letting me participate, and please feel free to reach out to me through my LinkedIn.