In Only Fools & Horses, Trigger the local road sweeper is in the pub celebrating being given a medal by the council for using the same broom for 20 years.  He then says,” mind you the broom has had 17 new heads and 14 new handles”.  When asked how it can be the same broom, Trigger produces a picture of himself and his broom and asks, “What more proof do you need?”

When we refer to change, we really mean improve, adapt or modify. Tigger’s broom changed over a long period of time, elements of the broom being replaced as they wore out or became no longer fit for purpose. Some of the replacements may have been an upgrade on the piece they replaced, a more efficient brush, a sturdier handle. When organisations evolve they change over time. Yes, they are very different to how they were 20 years ago. Chief executives have come and gone, the vision altered, the strategy adjusted, the structure modified and the workforce reorganised many times but it still feels like the same organisation.

However if an organisation is merged or taken over the changes are swift and dramatic. Overnight your chief executive and the whole or most of the senior management team goes. A new structure to remove duplication and improve efficiency quickly follows. Previous ways of doing things are refers to as the old ways and employees are expected to do things the new way. It no longer feels like the same organisation. This is the equivalent of Trigger being given a new broom. It’s different to his old one, it feels different although his supervisor says it’s the same.

So what is the significance of Trigger’s broom in the transformation of organisations? Post pandemic the pace of change which was already fast has got quicker driven by a greater sense of urgency. Organisations are required not just to change and adapt but to transform themselves over a very short period. Employees experience this as more like a takeover or merger the changes are so quick and dramatic. They complain it’s no longer feels like the same organisation.

This has implications for how “transformations” are managed. The first thing is to be up front and recognise that what is being created is a new organisation, something different, something that is meant to feel different like when the Labour Party became the New Labour Party. The same but different.