While climbing an 8000er, conditions are often against me, preventing me from climbing to higher camps. But there are usually other treks nearby, that can still take me a few hundred metres higher to acclimatise to the altitude a bit more. If I can't climb even a little higher, I can always practise some climbing techniques close to base camp.
Those alternatives are as not as useful as climbing higher or carrying equipment to higher camps. But they are better than sitting in base camp moping about things I Â can't change anyway. Accepting what I cannot change frees up a lot of energy that I can spend on useful things, on things I can change.
After all, there is no alternative to hard work. I can arrive at base camp with the best equipment and the best Sherpas. But in the end, I still have to slog through the deep snow if I want to climb higher. Staying in base camp with a fantastic strategy won't get me to the summit.
Everest is almost nine kilometres high, but I don't climb Everest by the kilometre or in big jumps. Everest is climbed step by step, inch by inch. It is the three steps right in front of me that I have to take first in order to start the next three.
Even transformations that go well are hard work. Even if you create space by cutting out enough other activities, you have to carry out a transformation on top of daily tasks, and that takes its toll. Moreover, the path of a digital transformation is very uncertain. After all, your organisation is moving into new territory. With rapidly changing technologies and new business models, you will have to learn on the go what does and does not work for your business. In such a situation, not everything can be a success.
Everyone will have to take steps in the right direction every day to the best of their ability. Employees may well expect their leaders to take bigger steps. But only leaders' big steps will not get you there.
Unrealistic expectations of giant leaps forward, on the other hand, have just the opposite effect. Then employees no longer see their contribution to the whole, and become disappointed by the lack of progress.
Many transformations get bogged down in fancy slides. The challenge for organisations is to turn a paper strategy into tangible results. This requires a long-term effort and a focus on the end goal with lots of small steps forwards and occasional steps sideways and backwards. If everyone focuses on the big obstacles someone else has to solve, instead of the small steps you can make yourself, nothing will change. If everyone prefers to come up with new strategies instead of bringing their chosen strategy to life with their sleeves rolled up, your organisation evolves from one powerpoint to the next without any real change on the ground.

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