Video playlist: key transformation ingredients

Anushka: Transformation is ambitious and when done right, it promises great benefits for anyone's organisation. However, it's also often complex, challenging, and it can be quite daunting. If you really want to achieve the right outcomes. There are a few key things that need to be considered: ambition and objectives, leadership and commitment, skills and experience and the delivery approach. Successful transformation doesn't need just one, but all of these ingredients to come together. That's building the will and the means, as well as creating the clarity and capability. 
 
Mike: The most successful transformation leaders are the ones that have that rounded understanding and the experience to back it up. When programmes start to fall short of expectation, you often see people hone in on just one of these four ingredients. People are naturally drawn to their own specialism, which is normal, and it's understandable for them to focus on problems in their area. However, in our experience, transformation challenges are often caused because of issues across all four areas. For example, developing a great strategy requires putting people at the heart of what you're trying to achieve. It's not just an academic process. Successful governance of large programmes requires leaders to be bought in, feel accountable, and be prepared to sponsor at all levels. 
 
Anushka: Leaders also need to recognise what their organisation is capable of in terms of people and the skills that they possess. We often see really common challenges, such as a mismatch between the central vision and local implementation, or conflicting goals between transformation measures and individual performance and incentives. But without looking at all four areas together, it can be really hard to understand the root cause of the issue and what actually needs to be done to resolve it. It doesn't matter where you are on your journey, whether you're just getting started or you're well underway. These four ingredients will be key in bridging that gap between ambition and outcomes. 

Neil: Great strategy, whether it's business-wide or function-specific, is about stretching your organisation and setting it up for future success. But once that future vision has emerged, we often find that clients struggle to translate big lofty ambitions into a set of more pragmatic, tangible interventions. 
 
Elizabeth: This really comes down to balancing ambition with realism, creating something that's actionable and fit for purpose, but which still allows you to achieve a set of really impressive outcomes which change your organisation for the better. 
 
Neil: A successful strategy is always deeply rooted in business outcomes. One of the biggest indicators of success for a transformation programme is the extent to which the team is squarely focused on delivering a set of clearly articulated, well understood, business-led benefits. 
 
Elizabeth: But relentless pursuit of a strategic ambition doesn't just mean targeting every single one of those business benefits simultaneously. To progress at pace and demonstrate success along the way, you'll have to prioritise ruthlessly based on concrete evidence of what's going to deliver real value. 
 
Neil: It's often helpful to start with something tangible, perhaps something low risk, or easier to execute. This helps showcase your transformation capabilities and demonstrates to your organisation that you're able to deliver meaningful change. It's also helpful to learn lessons and make mistakes early on before you reach for more ambitious targets. Delivering any sort of change is a social process. If you get a broad range of stakeholders enthused about your ambitions from the outset, you're getting them ready to go on this journey with you and advocate for what you're trying to achieve throughout the organisation. 
 
Elizabeth: The best way to get people on board is to show them the value that underpins your ambitions. Show them evidence of the positive change you're seeking to effect for your organisation and just get them excited. Share your enthusiasm. 
 
Neil: Keeping things practical, it's always important to establish a timeframe for delivering your ambitions. Capital intensive industries will likely take a longer-term view, while more dynamic sectors are more likely to set a three-year strategy, keeping one eye on market developments to ensure their objectives remain relevant over time. 
 
Elizabeth: Your ambitions may be huge; the challenges ahead of you may be even bigger. But as long as you've clearly articulated and evidenced the case for change, have a pragmatic plan in place and can free up the right resources to execute, you can be confident that your ambition remains deliverable.

Simon: Most people would recognise that leadership is key in the success of an organisation's transformation. It seems obvious. So why is it so often overlooked? Well, firstly, building leadership and commitment is hard. People don't appreciate just how much dedicated time and effort it takes. Also, it's the least tangible element of transformation so it's hard to know if you've got it right. 
 
Vicki: Secondly, leaders are often unclear on what's expected of them or not used to delivering a transformation. Transformation requires a different type of leadership. Breaking down organisational silos, overcoming resistance to change, helping people deal with ambiguity and uncertainty, and the list goes on. And some leaders aren't clear on how to do this and feel that asking for help is a weakness. 
 
Simon: And finally beyond this, there are many factors at play that can dissuade individual leaders from truly throwing their weight behind the transformation. For example, enormous business as usual demands, different departmental priorities, and sometimes a member of the leadership doesn't really believe in the transformation. So, given it can be so hard, what can you do about it? The first and the most important point is to consciously invest that time and effort in building a genuine commitment to the transformation. To do this, involve as many of your leaders as you can in shaping the transformation. Don't view this as a one-off event. Building genuine understanding and ownership will require ongoing effort. 
 
Vicki: Secondly, invest in developing all of your leaders, not just the senior leadership team. Not all leaders will have been through a big transformation before, so it's important they are clear on what to do, how to do it, and the behaviours that they need to role model. Thirdly, actively face into the difficult discussions that need to take place. Ask yourself: ‘Do we have the right people in leadership positions? Do we have the level of leadership commitment we need? Are we providing sufficient clarity of direction to our people?’ 
 
Simon: And if the answer to any of these and other difficult leadership questions is ‘no’, and in many cases it will be, don't shy away from them. Because if you can get this right, delivering your transformation will become so much easier. 

Justin: Attracting the right talent and skills for a transformation programme means articulating the ambition in a compelling way. This ambition should align with the values you want to promote within the organisation, and you should be really clear on how you're going to deliver it. You need to truly understand the culture, skills and experience required from both your transformation team and your business sponsors. Successful transformation is owned and driven by the sponsors who carry the confidence of the organisation and can act as role models to embed change. 
 
Tony: Most businesses don't necessarily have the right people in-house. You need to assess the skills you build versus those you buy in. And if you do choose to bring in external support, you still need to retain that right degree of in-house control so that you maintain business knowledge and culture. Your skilled people have day jobs and early on, you might need to think about creative ways to carve out their capacity. It's also worth investing in talent upfront and in the right areas, which includes specialist skills or teams. This investment, whether it's time, effort, costs, or a combination of all three, will pay dividends later.  

Justin: This is equally true for the partner organisations you use. You need to ensure that your contracts and commercial arrangements have the right incentives and are balanced. Operating at speed is dependent on expertise and sound judgement. You may have to iterate as your programme progresses, so make sure you're building in flexibility and the right mix of skills. 
 
Tony: So, in conclusion then, successful transformation requires building and sourcing the right skills, investing wisely in talent, creating the right capacity and ensuring you've got active business sponsorship. 

Ben: Transformation is not just about doing something better. It’s really about redefining and changing how something is done. It's not easy, but the right behaviours and an integrated approach will unlock the desired outcomes. There are many factors that you need to think about when determining the right method for delivering transformation efficiently. This will depend on the work, your organisation's size and culture, and the level of change it can genuinely absorb. Getting the delivery approach right will have a multitude of benefits, including driving the right behaviours from in house-teams, and systems integrators and third-party suppliers, so you'll all be working to a common goal. 
 
Bansri: If you're not clear on the overarching delivery method, team structure or governance, roadmap and pace, then many of the programme management basics that are critical to success, such as plans, controls, toolkits, and decision-making processes, will likely be inefficient and ineffective. Successful transformation programmes take on a holistic approach. You've got to ensure you focus on delivering the right initiatives to maximise value at the right pace. 
 
Ben: Integration’s a key factor, but more integration isn't always better. It's about determining what's right and appropriate for the nature of the change and the initiatives in the roadmap. Methods tailored to the organisation will always work best and a key decision on many programmes is Agile versus Waterfall. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and what's right in one situation may not be suitable in others. For example, some agile techniques can work well when functional decisions can be delegated to a single empowered individual. Whereas waterfall techniques may be better when integrating a complex technology landscape with multiple stakeholder groups. 
 
Bansri: Prioritising and pacing the programme correctly is key to delivering on time. To do that, you'd want to create an overarching roadmap that the business can and is empowered to deliver. Collaborating with business owners to shape a realistic and manageable volume of change, whilst recognising that this roadmap may evolve and stay flexible as the programme develops. 
 
Ben: Many factors can influence the sequence of the work, such as interdependencies, the need to start riskier activities earlier, and competing business priorities. The key is to balance these to ensure the right trade-off between delivery pace and business benefits. 
 
Bansri: Landing team structure, accountabilities and governance are critical success factors. Once you've understood your roadmap and sequencing, you can define your delivery structure and governance, specifying the skills you'll need, who will deliver them, and how to structure team accountabilities. 
 
Ben: It's also important to right-size the delivery team, targeting a lean team structure that will deliver on outcomes and operate within governance without being unnecessarily large and thus harder to manage. 
 
Bansri: This may include third-party suppliers or system integrators, so it's important here to establish the responsibilities upfront and in line with the agreed delivery framework, so that you get what you need whilst maintaining control.