The Transformation Office’s do-to list is longer than ever before. According to Harvard Business Review, about half of executives interviewed said their company has undertaken two or more major change efforts within the past five years, with nearly 20% reporting three or more.
With so many transformations already underway — and more being proposed all the time — members of the Transformation Office must strike a balance between helping the company innovate and not tasking the workforce with more than they can handle. Prioritizing projects requires foresight into the timeline of the initiative, resource allocation (financial and non-financial), and expected costs and value.
The success of a major transformation is determined long before the project is ever started. To set companies up for success, here’s a guide to help strategy executives navigate the process of gathering ideas and determining which ones to move forward with.
Step 1: Gather All Your Ideas — Before You Invest in Them
Success doesn’t come from just jumping into an idea; it requires strategic planning and brainstorming. One major advantage of transformation software like Shibumi is that it enables users to capture ideas from across the enterprise and conduct scenario-planning prior to committing resources to an initiative or program.
Invite ideas from everywhere. Vueling, for example, invited ideas from executives, groundspeople, and even from flight attendants and pilots in the sky. Every idea listed could spark more ideas. Keep track of all your ideas so you don’t miss innovation opportunities.
If you temporarily table a proposal or scratch it entirely, that’s okay, too. Catalog ideas that don’t move forward instead of keeping them in siloed “parking lots.” This way, regardless of personnel changes, you’ll have a record of all ideas considered, and save valuable energy avoiding circular conversations. Keep notes on transformation ideas so you don’t have to rehash the same topics over and over.
Step 2: Build Business Cases Aligned to Overarching Strategic Priorities
When promising ideas start to gel, the next step is to build business cases for each idea. The business cases should include the goal of the initiatives, key deliverables, milestones, and how to measure success in the near and longer terms. A strong business case should also include dependencies and detail any resource needed to execute the idea.
Business cases should ladder up to your larger organizational strategic goals. Once business cases are fleshed out for each idea, transformation teams can realistically compare sets of initiatives to see which will deliver the most value and when. You will also see which ideas sound interesting, but don’t move the needle on your larger goals.
Step 3: Dig Into Value Estimates Over Time
After creating foundational business cases, it’s wise to go deeper in your value forecasts to see how they impact the organization–and when. The best transformation tools will let you see impact over time. For example, a certain product launch may promise to deliver a ton of value, but not until Q3, and you have a cash flow issue in Q1. Or an initiative may require an initial investment of $10M, but can deliver $50M in ARR next year. Depending on your organization’s situation and stakeholder commitments, one basket of initiatives will be a better fit than another.
It’s important to consider the downstream impacts and cost of proposed initiatives, as well. Beyond initial implementation, how much would it take to keep this initiative running? Will you need to hire new headcount to manage the initiative? Will there be ancillary costs required to keep a new technology secure? Transformation platforms like Shibumi help strategy executives ascertain what costs they’ll incur – financial and non-financial – and track outcomes to inform better decision-making.
Step 4: Know Your Dependencies
Transformation and strategy teams can plan for the best, but they also have to prepare for the worst. A less glamorous, but still crucial, part of the selection process is understanding dependencies. To determine which initiatives will be best for your organization, you’ll have to discuss scenarios in which plans don’t go perfectly. The Transformation Office needs to think through implications if development is delayed, if revenue forecasts fall below a certain threshold, or other roadblocks are encountered.
Shibumi has Dependency Forecasting built in, giving teams an advantage to anticipate and head off risks.
Step 5: Select Your Portfolio of Initiatives
Now that you’ve fleshed out your transformation ideas, built business cases, and dug into dependencies, you can select which set of initiatives will deliver maximum value to your business–today and in the longer term. With the information gathered in the previous four steps, you’re prepared to build detailed business plans, proposals, and secure buy-in from executives and team members alike.
Let Shibumi Transform Your Transformations
Shibumi helps business leaders executives gather ideas and identify which will yield the most benefits — before investing valuable resources into them. Shibumi provides a collaborative environment in which team members can capture ideas, build business cases, rank and prioritize options, perform basket-level scenario planning, understand dependencies, and get a detailed view of expected value over time. Once your portfolio of initiatives and programs is set, Shibumi helps you manage and optimize execution.
For example, Shibumi’s transformation platform helped Arizona Public Service (APS) gather ideas and identify which would be most impactful. APS implemented Shibumi to track the status, scope, and potential impact of opportunities across 13 different business units that had historically operated in silos. As a result of the idea gathering and refining process, APS now has 7.5x more initiatives in its strategic pipeline than originally anticipated.
Ready for a brainstorming session on how to transform your transformation? Get in touch with us.