So we had some more questions, enough to make a further two editions! Here’s the next set of questions you have about transformation
HOW MUCH TRANSFORMATION CAN AN ORGANISATION REALISTICALLY DELIVER AT ONCE?
Usually less than it initially wants to. Every organisation has a finite capacity for change, and transformation has to happen while customers still need serving, services still need running and colleagues still have day jobs.
That’s why we don’t think transformation planning should start with “How quickly could we deliver all of this?” It should ask “At what pace can we deliver this successfully?”
Too fast and operational performance, colleagues and ultimately customers can suffer. Too slowly and benefits are delayed and momentum disappears.
A good transformation plan therefore considers benefit alongside capacity, dependencies, risk and business-as-usual commitments, and makes deliberate choices about what happens when.
HOW TO DYOU STOP TRANSFORMATION COMPETING WITH BUSINESS AS USUAL?
You plan them together. One of the biggest mistakes we see is transformation being planned in one place and BAU somewhere else. The same people inevitably appear in both plans, with the same hours in the day.
We advocate creating a single organisational view of significant activity, whether you call that a Master Schedule, portfolio plan or something else. It should bring together transformation, major improvement activity and significant BAU commitments so you can see capacity pressures, dependencies, milestones and competing priorities before they become problems.
Transformation shouldn't compete with running the organisation. The plan needs to recognise that running the organisation is part of the constraint within which transformation must be delivered.
HOW INVOLVED DOES THE EXEC TEAM REALLY NEED TO BE?
Very. You can delegate programme management, analysis, process improvement and much of the day-to-day delivery. You cannot delegate ownership of the transformation.
Senior leaders need to provide direction, make decisions, resolve barriers and, importantly, make some difficult choices about priorities.
Transformation inevitably challenges existing structures, responsibilities and ways of working. If every difficult decision has to wait three weeks for an Executive meeting, or gets endlessly deferred because there isn't agreement, the programme will slow very quickly.
Executive sponsorship isn't simply turning up to the Steering Group. It's actively enabling the transformation to happen.
WHEN SHOULD YOU START PLANNING IMPLEMENTATION
Oh much earlier than you think. Don't spend six months designing a beautiful future state and only then ask who is going to deliver it.
As the design develops, you should already be thinking about capacity, capability, dependencies, governance, sequencing and the impact on BAU.
For us, a future operating model isn't the end product. You need to understand the gap between today and the future state and turn that into a roadmap, workstreams or project mandates that can actually be mobilised. Otherwise you risk producing a very good description of an organisation that never exists.
CAN PEOPLE DELIVER TRANSFORMATION ALONGSIDE THEIR DAY JOBS?
Yes, but only if something gives. Putting someone's name against a transformation workstream doesn't create additional capacity.
Some transformation activity can absolutely be delivered by operational colleagues, and we actively encourage that because the organisation needs to own the change, but you need to understand how much time will be required and either protect that capacity, provide additional resource or consciously deprioritise something else.
One of the biggest risks we see isn't a lack of ambition or ideas. It's underestimating how much work implementation will actually require.
Got any additional questions? List them in the comments and we will include in our future editions.
And if you want to know more about our transformation model send us an email on hello@ad-esse.com and we'll be happy to walk you through it.