Transformation

How do you architect and implement big changes that will be accepted and sustained?

Transformation remains a constant in the current business environment and the world at large, as the pace of change shows no signs of slowing down. For organisations to succeed, they need to be experts at transformation. We help organisations define, design and implement the changes they need to win today and tomorrow.

We do what traditional change managers can’t: we combine an understanding of human behaviour, organisational culture, business context and market conditions to create effective strategies for change and then work alongside clients to ensure the strategies are actually embedded.

We define transformation strategies with precision and care, and create capacity within organisations to accept big changes successfully.

How is our work in transformation differentiated?

We start with the human dimension.

We consider human behaviour and interactions both when we define a transformation strategy and when we work with our clients to implement it in practice. We believe that human dynamics are key to identifying the right changes to make and to having the changes be accepted.

We create custom methodologies.

We don’t rely on standard change management methodologies to drive our transformation work. Instead, we considered each change in its own right. We create custom change plans and fresh supporting tools and methodologies, taking into account each transformation’s culture and content. We draw inspiration from the fields of anthropology, history, behavioural science and neuroscience to inform our transformation work and we incorporate new technology to support our change implementation activities.

We ground our solutions in reality.

We pride ourselves on creating changes that last – and on working with our clients to make sure transformations actually take hold within their organisation. From architecting strategy processes to defining change plans, creating change tools, supporting change ambassadors and crafting key communication, we roll up our sleeve and do what needs to be done to make changes come to life.

Read a case study on our work in transformation

How do you create support and build capacity for an unpopular transformation that is off to a difficult start?

One of our more difficult transformation challenges came about when we were working with a consumer goods company that was consolidating its supply chain and technology operations. The company wanted to gain new capabilities and greater agility, as well as realise significant cost savings. Since the company had previously operated as an independent set of fiefdoms, hardly anyone was looking forward to giving up power and flexibility for the sake of corporate good. To make matters worse, the early roll-out of the transformation programme had been handled poorly, creating a perception that it didn’t work.

We were brought in to stabilise the transformation programme in the country where it was already live and to improve the change management approach for the remaining 20+ countries that were in scope. We quickly pinpointed that the transformation had failed out of the gate because no one had any sense of ownership for it on the ground so they had not done the work to change processes and ways of working to adjust to the new model. It was an uphill battle at first but we were able to convince the country leadership teams and the organisations below them that there was value for them in making this change, and that they would reap more value if they took greater ownership and prepared properly for the transformation. Our interventions got the transformation programme back on track and facilitated its successful roll-out across a large portion of the company.

Results we achieved:

Stabilised a significant transformation programme across a $10bn turnover business

Enabled the supply chain and technology modernisation of an industry-leading company, helping to cement their position in the vanguard

Built change capabilities and commitment across 200+ programme team members, improving their engagement and skillsets

What were some of the unique contributions we made that led to success?

We started with the human dimension.

When we began working on the programme, everyone was focused on the significant process and technology failures that had happened in the initial roll-out. However, we believed the real issue was that the people receiving this transformation had never been brought on side. This quickly proved to be true. We worked to cut through people’s anger and scepticism to get them to be willing to listen again, and eventually to even give the transformation a second chance – with proper engagement this time.

We created custom methodologies.

The programme already had a traditional change management approach and it covered a lot of the necessary bases. However, the plan was insufficient because it didn’t take into account the human behaviours, cultural dynamics and commercial realities that existed within and between the countries that would be making this change. We crafted a tailored engagement methodology, country by country and leadership team by leadership teams, customised to each group’s hopes, fears, requirements and even cultural specificities. After two years of people feeling like they were having this change shoved down their throat, they were grateful for an approach that took them and their businesses into genuine account. We used methodologies from anthropology and history to design listening processes, change tools and executive communication that began quickly to win hearts and minds.

We grounded our solutions in reality.

Part of the reason for the programme’s initial failure was the lack of connection with people’s working reality. In our interventions, we worked tirelessly to define how the transformation was relevant to people and how it would benefit them in their daily work lives, not just at the corporate level. We worked with programme leadership to create a much more robust approach to communicating, tracking and realising the benefits of the transformation, to help build excitement and belief. We also helped revitalise the local change leadership and training elements of the programme, to ensure people could build the capabilities they needed to reap the full benefits of the transformation.

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