Exe­cut­ing Sus­tain­able Change Successfully

Busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion is about chang­ing an organ­i­sa­tion on mul­ti­ple fronts so that it can adapt to shifts in the mar­ket and remain com­pet­i­tive and rel­e­vant to cus­tomers. There is nev­er a per­fect time to trig­ger trans­for­ma­tion — the best time is always now.

Ten years ago, trans­for­ma­tion was typ­i­cal­ly some­thing that com­pa­nies ini­ti­at­ed when rev­enues dropped, mar­ket share erod­ed and share prices tum­bled. In today’s com­plex and fast-moving world, busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion has become a con­stant and con­tin­u­ous process.

Research in 2016 found that recent­ly list­ed firms were dying more quick­ly than ever. For com­par­i­son, firms list­ed in the 1970s had a 92% chance of sur­vival, where­as firms list­ed in the 2000s had a 62% chance. Today, the aver­age lifes­pan of com­pa­nies has shrunk to 10 years.

Some for­mer pow­er­house com­pa­nies have fall­en in rel­e­vance because they failed to inno­vate con­sis­tent­ly or quick­ly. They are sober­ing reminders of what hap­pens when com­pa­nies do not trans­form to adapt to new markets.

It takes courage to ini­ti­ate busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion, espe­cial­ly when a company’s per­for­mance seems sol­id, and the busi­ness mod­el is deliv­er­ing steady prof­its. Exec­u­tives are aware that com­pa­nies should con­stant­ly rein­vent them­selves to sur­vive long term. How­ev­er, two-thirds are not con­fi­dent that they can suc­cess­ful­ly trans­form the busi­ness in five to 10 years.

The key fac­tors that dri­ve busi­ness transformation

Busi­ness trans­for­ma­tions are often multi-year projects that demand high mag­ni­tudes of effort and resources. They may involve simul­ta­ne­ous changes to strat­e­gy, process­es, struc­tures, tech­nol­o­gy, and culture.

Some com­pa­nies may not be ready for this com­plex under­tak­ing as they lack the nec­es­sary strat­e­gy, plan, frame­work, resources, momen­tum, and sus­tain­able change approach. These are some of the more com­mon rea­sons behind unsuc­cess­ful busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion initiatives:

1. Aligned strat­e­gy
   More often than not, com­pa­nies might not have a clear mis­sion and vision, nor the goals and ini­tia­tives to deliv­er them. Some­times, a CEO does have a vision, which is the dri­ving force for the trans­for­ma­tion pro­gramme. How­ev­er, the vision may not be aligned or under­stood across the organisation.
2. Exe­cutable plan
   Some organ­i­sa­tions have a strat­e­gy. How­ev­er, they may lack the skills or expe­ri­ence to trans­late strat­e­gy into real­i­ty. Cre­at­ing the trans­for­ma­tion roadmap through tri­al and error may end up wast­ing pre­cious time and resources. Bring­ing in an expe­ri­enced trans­for­ma­tion part­ner can accel­er­ate this process and increase the chances of success.
3. Sus­tain­able change
   The dan­ger of posi­tion­ing trans­for­ma­tion as a tem­po­rary inter­ven­tion is that after com­ple­tion, old ways might creep back when it’s time for busi­ness as usu­al. As a result, the work done dur­ing the trans­for­ma­tion pro­gramme is undone, and the new way of work­ing is shelved.

Imple­ment­ing busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion successfully

Exe­cu­tion is the most dif­fi­cult part of busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion. But exe­cut­ing it suc­cess­ful­ly require out-of-the-box think­ing. Most of all, they require a “top-down, bottom-up approach” because while man­agers or lead­ers at the top can set the direc­tion top-down, trans­for­ma­tion must be from bottom-up.

There­fore, it is cru­cial to fac­tor in the input and expe­ri­ences of the peo­ple at the low­er ranks of the com­pa­ny because they will be the ones that will be exe­cut­ing the pro­gramme. With a top-down, bottom-up approach, exec­u­tives can:

1. Ensure clear com­mu­ni­ca­tion and under­stand­ing about the trans­for­ma­tion and what it means for every employee.
2. Cre­ate buy-in and reduce resis­tance to change.
3. Iden­ti­fy poten­tial risks and issues and min­imise them.
4. Devel­op an exe­cutable plan.

How Renoir helps organ­i­sa­tions exe­cute sus­tain­able change successfully

Busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion should nev­er end. There should always be con­stant activ­i­ty to change and improve. The best per­form­ing com­pa­nies make it a per­ma­nent, reg­u­lar prac­tice to review their align­ment to the mis­sion and progress towards the vision. Com­pa­nies that con­tin­u­ous­ly find ways to raise the bar to become bet­ter are the ones that remain com­pet­i­tive and rel­e­vant in the marketplace.

Sus­tain­able change hap­pens when mind­sets are ingrained with a cul­ture of change so deeply embed­ded that it becomes sec­ond nature. That is the lev­el of matu­ri­ty we aim to bring our clients to.

Renoir’s method­ol­o­gy is cen­tred around this phi­los­o­phy. Our busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion frame­work, which is divid­ed into two stages, is designed to tack­le the major prob­lems that hin­der success:

1. The strat­e­gy and trans­for­ma­tion plan­ning stage ensures that the jour­ney moves in the right direc­tion and is set up for suc­cess. Align­ment is achieved and an exe­cutable plan with effec­tive gov­er­nance is put in place.
2. The trans­for­ma­tion exe­cu­tion stage ensures that the pro­gramme is exe­cut­ed suc­cess­ful­ly by using a tai­lored change man­age­ment approach.

Renoir brings:

1. Help for our clients to build and define their trans­for­ma­tion strat­e­gy and roadmap.
2. Sup­port to ensure that the busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion is imple­ment­ed suc­cess­ful­ly. We part­ner col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly with our clients by work­ing with peo­ple at all lev­els of the organ­i­sa­tion to ensure that the busi­ness plan is realised.
3. Knowl­edge and exper­tise in exe­cut­ing busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion suc­cess­ful­ly in com­pa­nies from var­i­ous indus­tries around the world.
4. A deep under­stand­ing of the process and meth­ods that leads to success.
5. Bespoke solu­tions that are tai­lored to a business’s needs and goals.

If you’re ready for the next step, con­nect with us for more information.