Planning enterprise transformation initiatives is a rare skill, both an art and a science. But actually delivering the expected value from those initiatives? That’s even rarer. Bain & Company found that only 12% of businesses undergoing transformations achieve their original expected business value.
To help companies not just start, but also execute and optimize initiatives and programs successfully, Strategy and Transformation Offices must implement strategies to help transformations stay on track—or get help rerouting. Here are some guidelines to help organizations plan and execute transformations successfully.
Invest Upfront in Governance and Planning
Staying on track has more to do with governance and proper scoping than execution. The more planning you do upfront, the smoother your transformations will be.
A critical aspect of transformation governance is having the right project mix. CTOs must be realistic about their resources and timelines to hit milestones on schedule. Transformation leaders must also acknowledge the culture in which they operate; as one client recently shared with us, while it might be possible to execute many changes at once, doing so wouldn’t work in a business where customers change behavior slowly.
Leaders must balance short-term wins with long-term successes. You don’t have to transform the entire company at once. It’s OK—healthy, even—if your project mix includes small, quick, and easy wins alongside longer-term, foundational initiatives. Whatever the right balance is for you, ensure all initiatives align with business goals and have clear, measurable benefits. Proper governance includes proper, real-time risk assessments. The better you understand your dependencies and risks, the better chance your initiatives have of success.
Use Data Every Step of the Way
What does leading with data look like? One key aspect is defining key outcomes and metrics for short- and long-term initiatives. CTOs must envision what success looks like, choose which metrics to prioritize, and align the entire team with their goals and objectives. Leading with data also means meticulously planning for and tracking resource usage as programs progress. Scope creep is a real concern: Forbes listed overconsumption of resources as one of the top reasons executives may need to rethink a program.
When an initiative hits roadblocks, data once again provides a gold mine of information. If a milestone is missed, data helps CTOs forecast the downstream implications and plan accordingly to get the initiative back on track. With data, decision-makers gain clarity on what worked and what didn’t, and they can confidently make future investment decisions. Even better, with the right data, it is possible to get ahead of challenges before they translate into missed deadlines or milestones.
Use Automation to Streamline Workflows
Automation can speed progress, eliminating manual tasks and maximizing productivity. Look for areas that have repetitive actions or can be streamlined. (Do eight people really need to approve this request?) From there, deploy automation to streamline your workflow. Automation can also help codify and benchmark data related to various parts of your transformation program, from the average time to approval to the volume of requests sent to various teams.
CTOs must keep a close eye on how transformations are progressing. If you’re a transformation executive concerned about how an initiative is (or isn’t) advancing, visibility will be your best ally. Locate your bottlenecks and identify what’s slowing workflows. Streamlining processes will not only help you reach your goals on time; it’ll also set you up for more successful future initiatives, help your teams work better together, and boost morale when employees see the company hitting milestones on time.
Know Your Dependencies
Strategy and transformation leaders know their objectives inside and out, including dependencies. By planning for contingencies, you can often avoid problems before they occur. It’s wise to prepare for a few bumps along the way and build in cushion time and resources. Transformation software can also send alerts before a milestone is missed.
If an initiative does experience a delay, contingency planning has you covered. You already have the resources reserved to get it back on track and still achieve your goal on time.
How Shibumi Helps CTOs Deliver Value
Shibumi’s platform helps you identify issues before they arise. With Shibumi’s unique dependency forecasting capabilities, you can understand how your initiatives are linked and how to best support them as a whole. As you measure progress, Shibumi marries your proposed benefit timeline with your execution timeline, so you always know where you stand.
If an initiative is delayed, rather than missing timelines, Shibumi can help you adjust timelines not only on the delayed initiative, but also on all other initiatives that connect to it. This helps you get ahead of future issues, mitigate risk, and reallocate resources to get back on track.
If you need help rerouting your project, Shibumi proactively highlights changes to your plan that impact your ability to hit your goals. While other platforms treat objectives as static and binary (i.e., achieved/not yet achieved), Shibumi also flags changes that impact value creation at every level before they become problems, so you can course-correct.
You can learn more about how Shibumi helps you plan delay-resistant initiatives by reading this blog post or watching this YouTube video.
To see how Shibumi can change the way you plan for effective transformations, schedule a free demo today.