5 Keys To Successful Business Transformation

September 22, 2022 | by Ed Hoffman

SOLUTION AREA: Program and Project Management

Organizational transformation is a continuous journey. The destination is the pursuit of perfection. Transformations require commitment, time and effort from all levels of the organization. Most companies begin the transformation process with the end in mind—improved performance, cost savings and engaged workforce—but have they built a strong foundation to ensure success? Read on to find out the key components that can help ensure successful change.

1. Fully Committed Leadership

A ship’s direction is determined by its captain. Without a compass and planned destination, your organization can end up in uncharted waters. Great organizations transform from the top down. Likewise, poor leadership behaviors—or “malicious compliance” erode the credibility of the effort. Training is important at all levels – particularly with leadership. Leaders need to learn and understand these new improvement tools. They don’t need to be experts, but they need to know “what good looks like,” and how to lead in this new environment. Another key to success is to properly incent leaders to support a Lean or Continuous Improvement program. Our experience has shown that setting challenging goals and aligning leader compensation accordingly can reap great rewards.

2. Aligned Strategic and Tactical Plans

Most organizations fail to sustain Lean or Continuous Improvement Transformations. These transformations fail because they don’t adequately link improvement activities to the business strategy. A crew team rows faster when every rower is in sync. One thing is certain: There has yet to be a successful organizational change without an aligned strategic and tactical plan. Why are they mandatory? Because these plans ensure everyone in the organization is rowing in unison. Implementing strategies that produce sustainable results with minimal disruption takes the committed leadership, as well as plans, designed to ensure improvement and, ultimately, transformational results. Proven examples include goal-setting that requires organizational participants to complete a specified number of training sessions or transformation-related projects.

3. Specific Continuous Improvement “Body of Knowledge”

Another critical element to ensure success is to build a “Body of Knowledge” specific to your business. Many transformations have failed because they try to “copy” or mimic other companies’ tools and activities. Instead of creating improvements that are “random acts of management,” your organization should focus on Continuous Improvement that’s highly specified to your company and industry. Armed with this intelligence, the tasks become targeted, identifiable–and relevant to your organization.

4. An Internal Team of Experts to Train and Deploy Improvements

Create an internal team of problem-solvers. This team will “own” the body of knowledge and sustain the transformation. This team will also serve as the teachers and coaches for all levels of the organization. “It’s also imperative to find guidance from internal or external resources who have experienced both the successes and failures of implementing Continuous Improvement tools and programs,” commented Robert C. Krall, Vice President, Competitive Business Solutions. Failure is known as the best teacher. With this in mind, let those who have experienced it inform your organizations of the common traps and pitfalls associated with training for and deploying improvement initiatives.

5. A Culture of Honest, Objective Reflection and Assessment

The sustaining steps in the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust cycle are the Check and Adjust activities. The practice of review and course correction reinforces Continuous Improvement. It will also build a culture of risk taking and honestly accepting failure. Again, failure is the best teacher. Assessing success or failure early and often is necessary to ensure goals are being met, your direction is still precise and key metrics are measured. Improvement is everyone’s job and that begins with a culture of objectivity from top to bottom. Seek gradual, small improvements, question how you do things, revise outmoded internal processes and focus on how to improve performance at every level. Your reward is a transformed organization ready today for anything tomorrow. Ready to optimize the transformation of your organization? We can help. Contact us, to get expert advice today! Competitive Business Solutions assists businesses to create a transition plan that addresses critical strategic business operations.