Keys to a Successful Transformation

As all these new possibilities pop up around us, many organisations approach transformation differently. Some organisations come to us trying to emulate or repeat a previous success, some trying to do something very different but only really playing around at the edges, and some just feeling stuck and don’t know where to start.  

Whether you're considering a whole-organisation overhaul, a business unit revamp, or a team-level change, understanding the critical ingredients for successful and sustainable transformations is crucial.

Our recent Future of Transformation session tapped into the wisdom of our Sprouta partners to understand what makes transformation successful. Here are the highlights!

Tap into Play, Purpose and Potential  

Vega Factor's research on motivation across thousands of people and hundreds of companies reveals a powerful insight: When you motivate people with play, purpose, and potential, you get much better outcomes than when you motivate them with emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia.  

Play refers to the curiosity that people feel when they're doing their actual job. Purpose is that feeling of “if I don't show up to work today, something I care about isn't going to happen." And Potential is about long-term impact – "This will eventually help me accomplish my mission, values, and identity. I believe in what this company will accomplish 20 years from now."  

In many organisations today, people feel increasingly replaceable. We need to foster an environment where individuals know their presence makes a difference even in large teams.  

Let's learn fast rather than fail fast. Cherie Mylordis, nextgenify

Understand how the decision to transform is made.  

Context is decisive in decision-making. We know that Transformations don’t happen overnight—it's a journey, and the first step is examining how the decision to transform was made. If that decision is well made, so you can see why you’re making it and that it is driven by purpose, you’ll increase engagement across the organisation and align your people with why you're transforming.  

Paul Gordon from Catalyze advises, that even if you're midway through a transformation, it's worth pausing to reassess the decision that led to it. This creates an everyday basis for day-to-day decisions, ensuring consistency with the overarching transformation goal. Without this clarity of purpose, you may be flying the plane in the wrong direction.  

In the world of decision making, we say context is decisive. Paul Gordon, Catalyze APAC

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Get everyone on board – especially the nay-sayers.  

Transformation success often hinges on ownership. Rather than focusing solely on innovators, it is essential to find those who will challenge or oppose it and get their buy-in.  

Nay-sayers often have valuable insights into challenges and potential roadblocks, and getting their voice in early can help you plan and navigate some of the snags your transformation project will inevitably hit.  

To approach nay-sayers, Angus Stevens from Start beyond says to confront the issues head-on. Ask them, “What's the problem? Why don't you think this will work?”  Drill down into it and allow them to get it all off their chest - all the things wrong with this idea and why it will fail. Then, pivot to problem-solving by asking: "Now we know everything that could derail this. What are we going to do to make sure that they don't?"  

Transformation is about ownership, Angus Stevens, Start Beyond

Get Alignment  

The people element is fundamental in transformation. Creating a sense of agency – "I can contribute to an outcome that might seem impossible to me" – is crucial. However, it’s essential to recognise that the corporate blowtorch often kills innovation. Cherie Mylordis’s advice here is to have that clarity of purpose instead of just simply rushing to mobilise resources. 

The challenge lies in creating an environment that supports innovation and leads to the transformation you want. This is where maintaining alignment between corporate objectives and your transformation outcomes becomes crucial. Ensure decisions in the innovation pipeline align with corporate goals. It sounds obvious, but this is a crucial step that is often forgotten. Innovation gets treated as its unique island.  

We do need to acknowledge that there's going to be times when we feel like we're in the trenches and that's okay. Paul Gordon, Catalyze APAC

Create a checklist of problems, not a checklist of to-dos.  

Avoid the pitfall of treating transformation as a 3000-line Excel checklist to be ticked off. This approach can lead to what Lindsay McGregor from Vega Factor calls "watermelon meetings” - in which everything on the status tracker is highlighted green. Yet, once out of the meeting, the consensus is that the project won’t have the impact it’s supposed to.  

Instead, make sure that everybody understands the problems they need to solve for this transformation to work. Make teams accountable for solving sets of problems, not just executing pre-existing to-dos. Implement routines where they look at the five problems their team owns every week and think about what ideas they have to solve them.  

Watch out for blame bias.  

We are wired to blame people for results, not systems. Lindsay McGregor, Vega Factor

We blame the player. We don't blame the game. Be aware of this tendency to attribute transformation failures to individuals or departments being "wrong" or "foolish." Instead, strive to understand different perspectives and consider systemic issues.  

Get a common framework for cross-functional problem-solving  

Implement a simple problem-solving framework that everyone can quickly understand. The first part of that problem-solving framework is to appreciate the problem and really understand its root causes, what's driving it, and the perspectives from all the different functions. Then, go through an ABCDE problem-solving framework.  

Shift from task lists to problems to solve, and ensure you're building systems for the new world, not the old one.  

‍Be really thoughtful about what you measure

While measuring business outcomes like speed of processes and revenue that end up on your financial balance sheet is important, it's equally vital to measure the input metrics, too. These include motivation, the quantity and velocity of ideas that are being created, the velocity of problems that are being identified, and the motivation of people that are solving these problems.

People know that change is hard, and it's a very good opportunity to help your organisation tostart paying attention to some of those input metrics, not just the outcomes. Lindsay McGregor, Vega Factor

Nailing a successful transformation requires many different layers. As a CPO, you can guide organisations through meaningful and lasting change by tapping into intrinsic motivation, getting broad buy-in, maintaining alignment, focusing on problem-solving, and leveraging new technologies.  

Remember, transformation is not just about checking boxes – it's about creating an environment where innovation thrives and every team member feels empowered to contribute to the organisation's future.

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