Lead
In our survey, employees ranked leadership as the top driver regardless of the success or failure of the transformation. Leaders identified its leadership as the number one driver in successful transformations, but underestimated the role that leadership had to play when a transformation underperformed. Those leading transformation need to be completely honest about their fears and self-doubt, and also be open to ideas from others. 47% of respondents in high-performing transformations said that leaders accepted ideas from more junior personnel versus 29% of respondents in low-performing transformations. Accountability is key in all transformations. 52% of respondents in high-performing transformations said that leaders made decisions that were best for the whole organisation, not just their areas of responsibilities.
Inspire
The vision for the transformation needs to come from the top. Nearly half (48%) said the transformation they were a part of succeeded as the leadership clearly articulated why the organisation needed to change. In comparison, only 25% of respondents in low-performing transformations said the same. There needs to be clear communication on why the change is needed, not just what they need to do.
It is important to have clear measures of success identified earlier and KPIs that can be tracked throughout the programme which give confidence that those targets and outcomes will be met. So, it is not just about measuring the outcomes but the indicators of success as well.
Care
To keep transformations on track, leaders need to keep employees motivated and engaged by encouraging everyone to express their opinion. It is important to create a space where people can express their views and also put processes in place to manage concerns, looking for solutions, mitigations and clear actions to help the programme move forward with people’s needs at the centre.
It’s important for organisations to be prepared for transformations and leaders need to harness the right emotions by keeping anxiety and burnout at bay. Our predictive model indicates that providing the required emotional support improved the average likelihood of transformation success by 17%. In the research, employees involved in underperforming transformations said they felt unheard, stressed and unsupported during and after the transformation. Listening, therefore, is essential to any transformation journey. Leaders need to listen to what their people have to say, understand their concerns and address issues in an emotionally supportive and constructive way.
Collaborate
There is great power in co-creation. For transformations to be successful, leaders need to provide a safe space where new digital and agile ways of working can help nurture innovation and employee engagement. According to our research, 44% of respondents in high-performing transformations said that their organisation’s culture encouraged new ways of working, compared to 28% in low-performing transformations. It is important to consciously create interdependencies across teams to foster meaningful change management.
Empower
Our research suggests that transformations are not linear. There are likely to be ups and downs, and stops and starts. It is, therefore, necessary for leaders to provide the required structure to take a transformation programme forward while leaving room for creative freedom. Autonomy to execute is also a critical factor. In our research, 52% of respondents in high-performing transformations said that employees were assigned clear roles and responsibilities. Leaders need to instil the “fail fast” mindset and foster a culture of experimentation to help realise opportunities.
“The upside of maintaining a positive culture in the transformation programme during the delivery is that people see it in a different light after and success is more likely. Transformation programmes can be a great place to shape a career, can be a fun environment, and can help create belief and momentum in the leadership and delivery team. It becomes a virtuous cycle that supports the programme’s success,” Katie Flood elaborated.
During and following a transformation, leaders should empower employees to be part of the change and involve them in the process. Leaders must be accountable and emphasise a “we, not me” approach by fostering collaboration, driving consensus, and creating two-way communication.
Build
Encouraging a digital-first mindset is a step towards seamless transformation. Use of the right technology is critical to facilitating the process of transformation. Respondents to our survey ranked effective use of technology as the number two driver of success and ineffective use of technology as the number two driver of underperformance. While 48% of the respondents in successful transformations said that their organisation had invested in the right technologies to meet their transformation vision, only 33% of the respondents from underperforming transformations said the same. Leaders need to prioritise progress over perfection, and they need to prove the value of new technology-enabled approaches early in the journey.
“Organisations should instil an innovative culture where employees can share their ideas and are encouraged to bring them forward to management. This requires a safe space where new digital and agile ways of working can help nurture innovation and employee engagement,” explained Laura Flynn.