Lost in Transformation
“Transformation” is an overused piece of business jargon. Even worse, studies show that most transformations fail.
The biggest risk is that transformation is treated as an end in itself, rather than as one of a range of strategy execution options available to leaders.
Successful transformations are holistic, pragmatic, inclusive, and driven by strategy.
“Transformation” must be one of the most over-loaded, over-used terms in discussions about organisations. Countless books, articles, think-pieces, lectures, tweets, conference talks, podcasts (and now ChatGPT answers) all pronounce ‘new’ ways of thinking about transformation, claiming to have finally unlocked the key to success.
Of course, most people will also have their own definition of what ‘transformation’ even means in the first place. These tend to contain terms and themes like ‘fundamental change’, ‘redesign’, ‘restructure’, ‘realignment’, ‘culture’, ‘systems’, ‘digital’, ‘operational’, ‘whole business’.
So, essentially everything could be in scope, which is not particularly useful in helping to shape or guide thinking.
This is further exacerbated by the ever-growing number of “transformation experts”, some of whom seem primarily interested in creating a complex, jargon-laden web of terms and techniques as part of an ever-growing industry of transformation.
The upshot of this seems to be that transformation is now all too commonly treated as an end in itself, rather than as a means to an end.
The aim of this article is to look at the dangers of that way of thinking, suggest some alternative ways of thinking, and hopefully help simplify, demystify, and put “transformation” back in its box.
Failure to launch
So, amongst this deluge of discussion and exponentially expanding field of experts what do we find? Study after study concluding that most transformation initiatives end in failure.
Of course, a wide range of reasons are given for these failures, including areas such as: a lack of leadership and sponsorship, ineffective communications, a lack of engagement, too much focus on technology, too little focus on the people, insufficient support across the organisation, over-ambition and under-resourcing. The list goes on.
Looking across the huge volume and variety of reasons, a theme begins to emerge. The reasons tend to group into areas around how the transformation was delivered, what the organisation was missing in order to deliver the transformation, who was leading or executing the transformation, and where in the business the transformation was happening.
The road less travelled
Clearly these areas play a role in failed transformations, but there often seems to be one key avenue that gets less attention: why transform in the first place?
In some cases, the ‘why’ is discussed, but it is often given underweight consideration compared to the mechanics or mystery of transformation. Or, in the worst cases, it is considered but only seemingly as an afterthought.
A particularly risky example of this kind of ‘afterthought thinking’ is reflected in statements that take a form such as 'transformations fail when they aren’t properly linked to the organisation’s strategy’. These sorts of statements put the cart before the horse, by potentially implying it is the transformation that is linked to the strategy, rather than it being the strategy and its execution that need to drive the transformation.
A transmogrification: from transformation to strategy and execution
There are plenty of thinkers and practitioners who have recognised the importance of the why and of the need to start with strategy and execution, but unfortunately these insights tend to become buried beneath the large body of transformation ‘thinking’ summarised above.
So, in support of adding one more think-piece to help redress the balance, here are some thoughts and reflections about how we at Firetail believe in supporting clients to navigate this debate.
1. If transformation is the answer, then what is the question?
Having a definition of a term that can include pretty much anything is not particularly helpful.
In truth, ‘transformation’ is likely to mean something different for each individual organisation, based around their own organisational and operating context. Don’t be baffled by the jargon.
Rather than starting with transformation, instead think about strategy and execution. The need to ‘transform’ your organisation’s capabilities, composition, and culture is just one option when considering how best to execute your strategy. This way of thinking helps to create a meaningful definition of transformation that is specific to your organisation’s strategy and execution plan.
This then helps to provide a relevant, pragmatic definition which can be used to help individuals and teams understand the context, purpose, and strategic drivers of a transformation initiative. This also helps to ensure that you have a definition that is specific to the scope, and suited to the scale, of your particular initiative, rather than feeling that ‘transformation’ always needs to be an all-encompassing, all-consuming endeavour.
2. Put in the hard yards to do strategy properly
When we say: ‘think about strategy’, we mean the kind of strategy discussed in Firetail’s previous series on the topic, where we reflect on the Rumelt view that strategy is ‘coherent action backed by an argument’.
Whilst a simple statement, doing this kind of strategy requires hard work and deep reflection on the organisation, its environment, ambitions, and target end state. This is critical to diagnose the challenge and the guiding policy for addressing that challenge.
Doing this hard work also helps to inform a clearer picture of what success looks in terms of strategy execution, and subsequent transformation. This is always important, but especially so for organisations in the social progress sector where there can be multiple measures of success, and where the ultimate successful outcome is often systemic change beyond the scope of the organisation itself.
Techniques such as Theory of Change (more on Firetail’s approach here) can help to provide structure to this thinking.
3. Take a whole organisation view
When transformation is viewed as an end in itself, it can drive a myopic focus on the transformation and areas of the organisation directly impacted. This can lead to a disconnected, disjointed approach to developing the organisation as a whole.
One of the most common places this issue shows up is with ‘digital transformation’. All too often, huge programmes of activity are put in place to refresh or redesign an organisation’s digital infrastructure without sufficient consideration of what this means for the wider organisation.
When you start to think instead about strategy execution, this starts with a whole organisation view of capabilities, context and landscape, customers and stakeholders, culture and composition. This allows for the development of the coherent set of actions across the organisation to execute the strategy’s guiding policy.
4. Beware of champagne dreams and lemonade budgets
Strategic intent must be matched with execution ability.
This is why the reflective aspect of strategy is critical to understand the organisation’s capabilities and its place in its operating environment.
This helps to ensure that the ‘coherent actions’ for execution aren’t just coherent as a set of actions, but - most importantly - are coherent with the organisation’s ability to execute those actions successfully.
This is especially important in mission-driven organisations, where passion and vision naturally drive stretching ambitions. This is an obvious strength but also needs to be tempered with an honest appraisal of whether the organisation has the capabilities and competencies to successfully execute the strategy or whether it is affordable to do so. A more pragmatic approach is sometimes called for.
5. It’s never too early to think about managing change
One of the biggest sources of change fatigue for individuals is the near-constant cycle of disconnected, dysfunctional, and failed transformation initiatives that many experience. All too often, change management is something ‘bolted on the end’ of a transformation initiative, or worse, something that happens only when programmes go wrong.
Where strategy and execution will lead to some change required by individuals in the organisation - which is almost always the case - an early and proactive approach to support people through the change is critical.
Rather than it being something bolted on at the end, take a structured approach to thinking about what the strategy and its execution will mean in terms of a change journey for individuals and the organisation, and how to take an active stance in shaping and managing that change journey as part of the execution.
6. Be ready to respond
Strategy, and strategy execution, should be a process not a product. As the environment changes and organisation develops, the strategy and its execution must also develop. Inflexible, static approaches lead to failed delivery or delivery of old ideas into a new operating environment.
‘Strategy-as-process’ should factor this in; through considering the evolution and future development of the operating and organisational context. Techniques such as scenario planning (covered in our article here), horizon scanning, and organisational capability mapping can help with this.
The investment in doing this is worthwhile, as it gives the opportunity to move from tactical reactions to strategic responses when executing. This helps to inform dynamic strategic decisions such as where to pivot to take an opportunity versus staying the course.
Putting transformation back in its box
To emphasise again: none of this above contains anything particularly original or ground-breaking. Only that it hopefully adds one more voice of support to not treating ‘transformation’ as the end in itself, or as an impenetrable concept accessible only to outsiders. Instead, it is better thought of as just one means available to leaders when considering strategy and execution.
If you recognise some of these challenges from your experience or are interested in exploring some of the above thinking further, then please reach out to ben@firetail.co.uk.