From their extensive years of in business transformation, we asked the Tessiant Team to share their essential steps, to help any organisation navigate a successful business transformation. In this article, we outline the key seven.
In today’s fast-paced business landscape, organisations constantly need to change and adapt to stay competitive. The change focus could be people, process, technology or a combination of all three, to enable the company to operate more effectively and efficiently.
Embarking on a business transformation journey can be complex and as a result, the outcome isn’t always successful.
Research on this topic indicates that less than a third of transformation projects have been successful, at both improving performance and sustaining those improvements over time.
1: Engage your Stakeholders
One of the most challenging yet essential requirements is to get the organisation’s people on board. Be prepared to listen to concerns and suggestions. Spend time explaining why the change is necessary and what they can influence (and what’s not up for debate).
Understand the value you are creating so you can convey this to ensure buy in too.
Failure to get support and wider commitment, has been cited by the team as one of the main reasons why a business transformation could stumble at the first hurdle.
Engaging your stakeholders, the people impacted by the change, in the right way and at the right time (early!) will make or break the transformation.
Having the right support from all levels of the organisation is critical, along with leadership setting the tone, making key decisions and unblocking escalated issues to steer the transformation.
– Charlotte Gledhill, Director
Prior to joining the team, Charlotte spent a decade shaping, delivering and assuring complex programmes and portfolios at Deloitte. Charlotte has first-hand experience of what ingredients are required for a successful and long-lasting transformation.
2: Have a Clear Vision of Success
Without clear goals and objectives, a business transformation can easily lose direction. A well-considered roadmap helps everyone understand and keep track of where they are on the journey and each contributing factor.
You need to quantify the variation between the ‘as-is’ and the ‘to-be’. The difference between these two, is the change. You then need to build your plan from here with actions required now, soon or later.
The change needs to land in increments – the ‘now’ elements should both realise value and manage risk, as soon as possible, while complementing the next parts of the plan, which come ‘soon’ or ‘later’.
Ross McFarlane, Director
Having worked in retail for over 25 years including Tesco and Morrisons as well as consumer goods suppliers and technology providers, Ross has extensive experience delivering results through large change programmes.
3: Find the Right Timing and Budget
Is your business truly ready?
The team has seen a number of transformation projects fail simply because the timing was not right.
Organisations should assess the most appropriate time to transform, how ready they are and plan for how it will be implemented. A comprehensive plan needs to be created, to ensure that all stakeholders are on board and all necessary resources are available.
Similarly, they have witnessed numerous projects flounder straight out of the gate because they haven’t budgeted for the right resource.
Unfortunately, I have come across this too many times, where significant budgeting errors are made, when rates are taken off job boards. Change leaders need to check and double check rates for specific skill sets, process or system specialisms before the project commences.
Paula Keville, Network Engagement Manager
A natural people person, Paula also comes from a specialist recruitment background within change and transformation. She has supported global projects across multiple sectors and is the first point of contact for all Tessiant Associates.
4: Prioritise Change Management
The purpose of change management is to implement strategies for effecting change, controlling change and helping people to adapt to change.
Start thinking about Change Management early. It is often either an afterthought, or the first area that gets cut from transformation budgets and proposals.
However, it is the most cost-effective way to spend your money. Transformation initiatives require effective change management.
Any system change will not work without the supporting people change element.
Don’t skimp on Programme Leadership – your Programme Director/Manager is in most cases, responsible for a multi-million pound budget. On numerous occasions they are all that stands between you and either a promotion, or a P45. Selecting someone based on a difference in day rate of £100 (£23k a year) is a false economy, when they’re in charge of a budget of £mm and your career prospects.
People change is far cheaper and often more effective than systems change. Businesses ‘about us’ web pages always lead with ‘people are our biggest asset’ and yet people change budgets are the first to be cut on a big transformation.
Matt Neale, Partner
With over 15 years of senior level recruitment experience within Project and Change Management under his belt, Matt’s people skills perspective is a powerful string to the Tessiant bow. He has placed teams that have successfully delivered multi-million-pound change programmes.
5: Cultivate a Dedicated Team
Everyone agrees that the most successful transformations hinge around a core group of individuals who make day to day decisions, and drive strategy and execution. These need to be dedicated roles, with often a mix of internal leaders and key external personnel.
Building up the team as you define exactly what you are going to do, and when you’re going to do it. Once you have the right balance of skills, give people the freedom to focus on their areas of expertise.
The importance of having the right skills and right capacity for the transformation team can’t be underestimated.
Alex Ball, Partner
Alex has enjoyed two decades of management consultancy, more recently through the likes of EY and PA consulting. However, his approach is not just to work closely with the client and their stakeholders to develop business and IT strategies but then to follow this through with delivery.
6.Establish a Positive Culture
A positive end result will rarely occur, if there is fraction between consultants and internal staff. Embedding external consultants, where a skills gap exists, can be the key to a successful transformation. Working collaboratively also builds trust and understanding, with everyone striving to achieve a common goal.
The prospect of change can have a negative impact on employee wellbeing, particularly if it leads to an unreasonable increase in workload and expectations.
There is also the added burden of uncertainty about future job security which can have a knock-on impact on workplace productivity, as well as the mental and physical wellbeing of employees.
Ensure that consultants are engaged in a meaningful way and that communication is open and effective. Regular feedback should also be encouraged to ensure that the project is moving in the right direction.
Anna Barsby, Partner
Anna is one of the UK’s top CIOs. A People and Transformation leader, she is used to delivering large scale end to end change across different industries. Most recently the CIO at 888, Asda, Halfords and Morrison’s, she is highly skilled at significantly improving technology capabilities in organisations
7: Compare Progress To Your Goals and Review!
Follow your progress regularly versus your goals and ensure that you remain on the right track.
It’s important to celebrate successes, and recognise areas for improvement. Set deadlines and break them down into smaller tasks. Be realistic about what you can do and seek assistance if you need it.
Regular reviews are necessary to ensure the project remains on track and any issues are addressed quickly. Get to know the project inside out and ensure it works.
Get feedback from stakeholders and clients so you know if the project meets their expectations. Reviewing the project regularly can also help you identify ways to refine it and keep it on course.
Communication is essential. Put in the ‘structure’, whether it’s daily stand ups, weekly status updates or monthly steercos. Picking up the phone is often the quickest way to raise and answer questions.
It’s easy to get side-tracked, or caught down rabbit holes, so have regular check-ins to make sure you’re delivering what you set out to achieve.
Review, Review, Review – know it’s been delivered and make sure it sticks!
Rachael Claridge, Director
Before joining Tessiant, Rachael was an Associate Director at Javelin Group, now part of Accenture Ltd. She provided strategy consulting, commercial and operational due diligence and digital transformation services to the world’s leading retailers, brands and private equity.
SUMMARY
Navigating a business transformation journey can be overwhelming, especially for organisations without prior experience.
Planning and keeping control of the project is everything. The Tessiant strapline is Consulting Reimagined because we truly believe our approach to transformation is different. We are not your standard consultancy.
We are a unique blend of practitioners and high-grade consultants, led by 4 partners with extensive previous careers in industry, recruitment and management consultancy. This distinctive combination enables three different perspectives and diversity of thought to be brought together: The Buyer, The Headhunter and The Consultant.
We have been in your shoes; we have seen the world from your perspective.
Our practitioners are senior industry people with extensive ‘on the ground’ experience leading sizeable teams, operations and transformation programmes. Our style is not just to leave you with a large deck to wade through. We will work with you every step of the way to ensure the vision becomes reality, flexing the level of support as required.
If you would like to discuss your transformation strategy confidentially and objectively, contact us today.
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