The Harvard Business Review’s The Secret Behind Successful Corporate Transformations article suggests that transformation is even harder than we think.
Of the companies they studied, over 81% transformed successfully but from a financial standpoint only; only 22% successfully managed to achieve both financial and reputational success through their transformation.
It seems that judging transformations as either successes or failures doesn’t give us the full story – sometimes they succeed technically and/or financially but fail to deliver the change that’s really needed.
What that must mean is that a great deal of time, money and energy is being spent on transformation programs that will not improve the experience of customers.
So how do we make sure that our investment in transformation is worthwhile? Here are some suggestions:
✅ Focus on people and the planet throughout change programmes (not just profitability)
✅ Don’t neglect business change – all types of transformation also need the business to prepare for and adapt to a new future
✅ Make sure the right questions are being asked from the outset – find the big questions that the new solution needs to be able to answer and keep these central
✅ Aim to deliver futureproof solutions rather than just fixing today’s issues
✅ Give your people every opportunity to get involved and whatever support they need to flourish through change.
What else can we do to safeguard our investment in transformation programmes?
Cara Halliwell is the Director of CE Change Ltd, a consultancy that specialises in helping businesses solve their people, process and technology challenges. For further information about the services we offer, click here.
