Many companies struggle with change overall and major business transformations bring this to another level. Some companies that have struggled with many failed transformations are reluctant to take on new ones and when they do, they are self-fulfilling prophecies of failure.
There are some companies that have developed specialized muscles for business transformation and are routinely successful. There are 3 elements the best performing companies have established that are responsible for these success stories. First, the top performers recognize the impact of failed changes and treat the capacity for change as a finite resource. These companies learn from and address what led to a previous failed change and educate their employees on what is different. They communicate effectively and adjust the speed of the change as the company has capacity to tolerate and absorb. They understand the capacity for change is a finite resource and if it is exhausted the transformation will fail and adoption will not happen.
Second, these companies have a clear empowered leader. More than a just champion, this leader has a stake in the success of the transformation. They are hand picked by senior leadership with all of the direct authority and resources to not only implement the change, but also transition and sustain the post-change operations. They have to live with the consequences of the change. This sends a clear signal to everyone across the company that the company is serious about the change and everyone needs to be onboard.
Lastly, they don’t boil the ocean. They focus on 1 or sometimes 2 transformation efforts and put all of the resources and focus into achieving them. Company should prioritize their roadmap and resources into the most important and highest ROI transformation. Therefore, why would you devote any other resources or focus to anything else that is of lower value. This only places your high ROI initiative at risk and a poor use of investment.
Companies wouldn’t need to transform if changes were easy. However, by following a simple playbook, leveraging these best practices, and incorporate them into a companies DNA, a company can build a sustainable and success business transformation program muscle.
