DEBATE: Are business transformation programmes a waste of time and effort?
Are business transformation programmes a waste of time and effort?
Scott McArthur, a performance and transformation coach, says YES.
Alarm bells should go off in a leader’s mind whenever anyone claims to offer a silver bullet for improving employee behaviour and transforming a firm.
The best any business can achieve is “promising practice”. Each organisation can only expect to succeed in its transformation if the programme is uniquely designed to match that of its own culture and people.
Additionally, people do not always behave in a rational way. Even if employees are presented with information to offer them an improved way of working, evidence suggests that they won’t change their behaviour.
A study by Said Business School looked at failed transformation programmes, and found that the most common cause of project failure was cognitive bias or issues caused by personal assumptions.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so undertaking a transformation programme which promises everything will deliver nothing if it has not taken the time to understand the idiosyncrasies of a particular business.
Ursula Morgenstern, chief executive of Atos in Germany, says NO.
In a fast-changing world, business transformation can be crucial to make your organisation fit for the future. As long as you stick to some basic principles, you will succeed.
You need close sponsorship from your top leadership team, the right people running the transformation, and a hands-on, no-nonsense monitoring of the programme’s progress, as well as the ability to execute it consistently over time.
Successful programmes also need to incorporate structural change in the organisation to kick-start transformation. Many companies set up their own units to start the process, but the quarrels start if they get rejected by the “old” organisation. They therefore need to think through how that unit will drive change into the rest of the organisation, or run it as a stand-alone business.
If you keep this in mind from the start, these programmes can drive a successful transformation and ensure that, with everything changing, your business isn’t left behind.
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