Let's face it, change is an opportunity if managed right. Also is your slow death if you do not adapt. Technology is more powerful than ever changing the market and customers. Businesses that want to see the day after tomorrow are adapting. We provided services to our customers for decades meaning we were changing during that long period. Now is the time to change more than ever before. SAP is investing a lot in the new solutions based on powerful new technologies. The amount of change is tremendous, never seen before and it's raising the question to us: To be, or and how to adapt not to be... Simplified transformation is shown below.
But the real issue is how to upgrade the skillset of consultants that are very experienced in current solutions. They can't just stop doing what they are doing now and stop thinking the way they do. Experience and knowledge that they have is in the same time their advantage and their burden making it harder to adapt than for the new people fresh from the university. It is to be expected that the adoption of new information is much higher for the young. Still there is a huge business knowledge in our consultants that can be reused and applied in upgrading young people's skills. Something like useful or reusable experience transfer. Motivating "the old" to learn new and teach the young ones but as a two-step process could be the answer. Not duplicating "the old" ones to the young ones. Start with the nucleus of new people and new technology and at some point add business experience and "the old". Check the change management process, Leading Change, Kotter’s 8-Step Process. Keywords for the adaptation could be: set vision, set goal, learn, motivate, plan, lead, recruit, hire, replace, invest, drive innovation, transform, free time for, give feedback, listen, discuss, inspire, ...
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