Transform Your Organization's Evolution with the Iceberg Model
Thomas Lim, serving as the Vice-Dean at SIM Academy's Centre for Systems Leadership, is a seasoned AI+Web3 practitioner and the author of Think.Coach.Thrive! Amidst the wave of industry evolution, many enterprises strive to stay afloat or risk succumbing to obsolescence. However, many transformation endeavors fall short of their mark, as leaders often fail to tackle the underlying hurdles hindering their success. Enter the Iceberg Model, a powerful tool designed to dissect problems and tackle their roots for a lasting impact.
Delving Deeper with the Iceberg Model
The Iceberg Model is a straightforward framework that helps organizations maneuver through complex issues by approachably separating them into manageable chunks. It consists of four decisive levels, each more profound than the previous one, guiding team leaders from observable concerns to the deeply ingrained ones.
- Events: These are the observable, surface-level occurrences happening within the organization. As with an actual iceberg, this level is what you see at first glance, such as changes in processes, policies, or employee turnover rates.
- Patterns and Trends: This is the believable sign of repetitive events or behaviors that could indicate systemic tendencies. By pinpointing recurring patterns, leaders can glean insights that will prove invaluable in tackling the deeper problems.
- Systemic Structures: With recurring patterns identified, it's now time to uncover the underlying mechanisms, like processes, policies, and frameworks that create such behavior.
- Mental Models: At this tier, leaders can finally grasp the deeply ingrained beliefs and assumptions that play a critical role in shaping the organization's systemic structures.
Transforming the Iceberg Way
Transformation isn't just a matter of addressing symptoms; it's about addressing the root causes. A manufacturing company I once worked with, grappling with digitalization, supply chain instability, and rapidly evolving market demands, discovered this fact firsthand. Despite its solid vision, transformation efforts were fraught with challenges. By applying the Iceberg Model, we were able to pull back the layers on this seemingly unbeatable foe.
Unearthing Challenges: The Events Layer
A touch of cold, hard reality hit our client's transformation initiative. In its first year, the company wrestled with two pressing issues: high levels of employee turnover and decreasing on-time delivery metrics. As it turned out, these problems stemmed from pervasive frustration among middle management due to their struggle to translate senior-level directives into concrete action plans.
Recognizing Patterns: Root Causes Begone
A closer examination revealed several concerning patterns that led us deeper into the mystery. Employees appeared resistant to change, refusing to adopt new systems or processes. Different teams worked in isolation, making collaboration flimsy and execution fragmented. The challenges of implementing a more adaptable reporting structure added to the murkiness, resulting in confusion. At the core, decisions were frequently delayed due to an overreliance on top-down approvals.
Examining the Base: Breaking Down Barriers
Delving even further, we discovered three foundational issues that perpetuated the troubling patterns. The first problem was communication: The transformation agenda struggled to reach everyone since it wasn't consistently relayed across departments. Communication was usually one-directional, and there were no formal loops to address burgeoning issues.
The second issue was the company's hierarchical culture. Traditional forms of leadership limited cross-functional collaboration and innovation. While introducing new matrix structures to streamline operations for the most part worked, they also created unnecessary complexity.
Thirdly, the company's KPIs placed too much emphasis on short-term efficiency, making long-term adaptability a secondary concern.
Challenging Assumptions: The Heart of Transformation
The last layer of the Iceberg Model, mental models, is the hardiest of them all. Here, we found entrenched beliefs that were contributing to the organization's weak spots. First, leaders uneasily relinquished control because of their belief that personal success is contingent on having control. This created a culture of compliance, where employees were conditioned to avoid risks. A second prevailing belief was that the transformation initiative was temporary, not a cornerstone of the company's operations.
To address these deeply ingrained assumptions, the company embraced a coaching-centric culture. Management worked tirelessly to model new behaviors while encouraging employees to embrace experimentation through structured innovation programs. Narratives of past successes helped bring the transformation vision to life, making it relatable and tangible.
Four Invaluable Lessons from the Iceberg Model
My client's journey offers valuable lessons to organizations seeking to transform:
- Don't Encampment at Symptoms: Surface-level problems may seem insurmountable, but time and effort spent unearthing hidden patterns and structures will pave the way for lasting change.
- Patterns, Guides for the Future: Acknowledge recurring events as red flags for deeper systemic issues. By understanding patterns, transformation leaders can make accurate predictions and prepare strategy accordingly.
- Redesign Foundations, Not Just Strategies: A complete transformation requires refocusing efforts on systems, policies, and processes. Ensure that the new structures align with the necessary future state.
- Conquer Deep-Seated Beliefs, Recreate Reality: Challenging deeply ingrained beliefs and cultural behaviors takes intentional effort. Leaders and employees can work together to build trust, foster innovation, and align values. Reflective discussions can help uncover and address problematic thoughts.
The Depths Hold the Answers
Transformation efforts demand a deep dive into organizational behavior and culture. By exploring the layers beneath the surface, systems leaders can surface the true drivers of change and unleash new potential into their organizations.
After applying the Iceberg Model, Thomas Lim and his team identified several recurring patterns in the manufacturing company's behavior, such as employee resistance to change and fragmented collaboration. By addressing these patterns, they were able to uncover underlying systemic structures, including communication issues, a hierarchical culture, and an overemphasis on short-term efficiency.
Considering the deep-seated beliefs and assumptions within the company, Thomas Lim suggested implementing a coaching-centric culture and emphasizing the long-term importance of adaptability. These changes ultimately led to the transformation of the company, ensuring its continued success in the evolving industry.
