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Innovation, Performance, Human Resources, Strategy, Book synthesis

22 March 2019

Book synthesis

5 things that could doom your transformation initiative

You already know the statistic: 70% of transformation projects are more than likely to end in failure. But the reasons behind this failure are simple: failures in transformation have nothing to do with a lack of collective motivation and everything to do with at least one of these five key points.

Lack of motivation, resistance to new ideas, passivity of the troops. The excuses for explaining why transformation fails lack imagination. Furthermore, these standard pretexts point to an inability to assume responsibility for a transformation initiative and to evaluate our own role in defining priorities and leading the project. They also testify to the persistence of the false belief that change lives or dies by the good will of all interested parties. This is a mistake: change relies, first and foremost, on how perceptive you are when it comes to the following five situations, which can damage your transformation and result in failure.

#arrogant: You settle for sharing a vision and leave its execution to others

It was so beautiful, your vision of a more agile, high-performing, sustainable company. The plan for strategic transformation was carefully prepared and defined; nothing was neglected when it came to creating this shared ambition, including training and motivating the managers and setting up leadership structures and follow-up. But you didn’t follow through when it came time for execution.

A 2015 survey of 400 leaders of large companies revealed that the execution of their strategy was their primary concern among a list of 80 topics. We see here a very common trap: believing that the conception of a project happens on one side and the implementation on another, as if the two processes were completely distinct. But coming up with a strategy behind closed doors doesn’t sufficiently take into account how an organization brings a strategy to life.

The risk of seeing your strategy come to a sudden halt only increases if you mistakenly believe that your status as decision maker absolves you from making the changes you demand of others. It’s like always arriving late to board meetings, even though you say respecting deadlines is one of your priorities; or jealously keeping your files to yourself while calling for the dissolution of work silos; or extolling the virtues of work-life balance and then sending work e-mails on Sunday morning. Your job is to be an example to others.

THE FIX

Focus on performing an internal diagnosis: are your teams — including the governing bodies — in a position (in terms of culture, organization, resources) to implement change?
Ask yourself about your personal contribution to the transformation dynamic: what can you do every day, every week, every month for the collective project?
Take a step back to really look at your attitude and behavior: are they in line with the values that underpin your strategy?

#trafficjam: You initiate conflicting priorities

What if you disregarded the very concept of priority? Deciding the priorities for your transformation project also means deciding what will be a lesser priority, and could be regarded as one of the more basic, necessary objectives of your organization. However, giving something up is a complicated matter. Some managers solve the dilemma by prioritizing multiple objectives. Choose this route, however, and the roadmap for your transformation will look like the Champs-Élysées roundabout at rush hour rather than a well-delineated, smoothly flowing highway. Your teams won’t know where to start.

Excerpt from Business Digest N°294, March 2019

Tagged with: vision, risk, unconscious, engagement, fear, sharing a vision, transformation, habits, position, McKinsey, behaviour, comfort zone, IBM, bias, Allen Construction, change, fail, immunity to change, risk taking

Published by Françoise Tollet

She spent 12 years in industry, working for Bolloré Technologies, among others. She co-founded Business Digest in 1992 and has been running the company since 1998. And she took the Internet plunge in 1996, even before coming on board as part of the BD team. 