STUART SMITH ’ S TOP TIPS FOR TRANSFORMATION
1 . Discovery and preparation
Don ’ t rush , particularly if you joined an organisation looking for a ‘ transformation ’. What does the transformation mean to the various staff , team , vendors , executive and other stakeholders . Most likely everyone will refer to outputs or KPIs of the function . These are consequences of transformation , therefore your role must be to identify gaps and address opportunities in the fundamental governances and foundation operating model , that will in-turn result in those desired consequences . If you approach a Transformation transfixed on savings or speed to delivery or client relationship scores , then you will likely have short term achievement but with volatile results , and inability to sustain the change .
2 . Balanced and rounded
Your transformation Journey , will comprise many initiatives , each one chipping away at the enormity of the project , and providing manageable pieces for each person to Innovate , own and deliver . Most will be inter-related to other initiatives , and so coordination across initiatives by a formal program is critical . When identifying the initiatives , you need to ensure you have captured capability pillars of people , process and systems to have a rounded and holistic transformation journey .
3 . People - innovation , ownership and delivery
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You might be the lead of the transformation Journey , but its success rests in both the people actioning initiatives , and people accepting the change . You will need to achieve both actioning and accepting the journey , by entrusting and empowering the team to be their own drivers of the journey . You must inspire them to innovate . You must encourage them to be brave to own their initiatives of the journey . You must hold to account the delivery to the standards upon which the next / future initiatives are able to rely on for their own success .
4 . Simplified objectives , with manageable pieces
The objective of your transformation Journey needs to be framed in a way which is universally understood and believed , not just by expertise in your function , but by the entire stakeholder group to the journey and its outcomes .
The idea being to agree the objective , but quickly be able to articulate the journey by a series of initiatives that manage the improvements needed in each pillar ( people , process , systems ), and have a manageable timeframe to each initiative ’ s completion .
5 . Don ’ t forget BAU
All too often the journey is more enticing than business-as-usual ( BAU ). It ’ s exciting , innovation , the buzz topic … but BAU cannot suffer . The journey needs to result in an improvement , but not on the basis of losing further ground on BAU performance .