In the past decade we have seen more than a 100 companies trying to enhance their competitive edge in so many different ways. Closer home, we see transformation and change taking the center stage of the financial services industry. Of course, we are also witnessing change in the form of TQM, reengineering, right sizing etc…

Change is inevitable for organization to stay competitive… It is further facilitated by faster and more efficient communication networks that have emerged today. Then there is internationalization and globalization. And of course, there are regulatory driven changes all around us. There is increased consolidation in mature markets. There is exciting growth in newer markets of India, China, Brazil and Russia…so we see we are in dynamic era witnessing a whirlwind of change.

I have spent my entire career in the financial industry. I have had the privilege of seeing transformation from many angles – and more lately in my capacities as the President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group and as Chairman of the Union of Arab Banks.

From my years of varied experience across many shores, I have derived some axioms of thought on Transformation.

• The process is complex and chaotic. Since it is a radical departure from the current state – the desired outcome and the approaches to achieve them sometimes become unclear. Sometimes it is better to experiment than to plan.

• The process takes years to complete – with multiple phases and stages of major changes…control and consistency are major challenges in such instances.

• The rules of the game change, including the norms, guideposts, values, and guides to behavior…challenge in this case in the internal buy in.

• Do not expect people to embrace change easily. We need to get the buy in of the captains of the ship before embarking on any transformational program in any organization. Incidentally, we cannot succeed if the senior drivers do not think and act as a team.

• Very important – pay close attention to the timing of change.

• Systems, processes, administrative guidelines are critical in assuring efficiency and thoroughness.

There is merit in celebrating every milestone in a situation where there are several parallel activities that are on stream.. as there is no concept of a finishing line in a transformation process…it is a constantly evolving process.



Look out for more writings from Adnan from time to time