‘Transformation is perhaps the most overused term in business. Often, companies apply it loosely – too loosely – to any form of change, however minor or routine.’

Scenarios and developments in industries that once seemed improbable and far-fetched are emerging as highly possible and menacing in today’s volatile business landscape. The changed moment and milieu of doing business is emerging as one of the compelling reasons for leaders to break away from “routine thinking” and established patterns of behaviour and action. Embracing the T-word, or transformation, is the only way forward in a ‘shape up or ship out’ business climate for many organizations.

The term transformation has ironically been denuded of its meaning due to its frequent, diverse, and indiscriminate use. In most organizations, a transformation initiative takes place around two principal dimensions – organizational transformation (commonly referred to as org redesign) which sees organizations revisiting roles, responsibilities, and predefined routes to achieve their objectives, and strategic transformations that proceed with a change in the very business model. In case of digital reinvention, transformation calls for an organization to rework the way it is wired and how it goes to the market.

In this write-up, the focus is on approaching transformation beyond its narrow definition and restrictive scope. It is a holistic organization-wide initiative to enhance performance and improve organizational health. Research shows, successful transformation programs eventually manifest themselves through business drivers like operational excellence, cost efficiency, and topline growth. Such transformation harnesses an organization’s full potential, aligning its workforce internally around well-defined vision and strategy.

Studies reveal that nearly 70% of major transformation programs fail to work, or generate permanent outcomes. In 2010, McKinsey’s Recovery & Transformation Services (RTS) initiated an intensive study to understand the accomplishments as well as shortcomings of over 100 organizations that had embarked on transformation journeys. This global study, across industry verticals, brought to light the competency gaps and deficient mind-sets behind the failed missions.

It is often found that CEOs and top management teams are more suited to running businesses in ‘steady states’ with regular budgets, incremental targets, standard reviews and rewards i.e. when the business environment and economy are reasonably stable. Though successful in leading their companies, not many leaders are proficient in steering their firms through a fast-paced super-tasking phase of transformation or ‘creative destruction’, a term coined by Joseph Schumpeter. Therefore, the crucial starting point of a transformation initiative is the CEO, who must ardently believe in and champion the process of reinventing the company.

The ‘transforming’ organization must also be ready to shed ingrained habits that inhibit the transition, push past decades of inertia, use expedients that help to overcome obstacles, and willingly embrace empowering practices required for the quantum leap. Some of these practices are as follows:

1. Stretch for the full potential: Typically when annual targets are set, most organizations exhibit atug of war between leaders and line managers, with the former pushing for more and the latter reasoning out why it is unachievable. Transformation efforts also reflect the same dynamic, compromising radical improvements. To counter this, the CEO or the leadership team must play the part of private-equity acquirers – armed with the organization’s “value-creation potential: specific revenue and cost goals backed up by well-grounded facts”, readily taking on people who resist  It is proven that a single large and bold step serves better than a series of incremental steps.
2. Change the cadence: Most leaders have much on their plates and therefore tend to delegateresponsibility to a core body of senior members to navigate the transformation journey. However, when leaders have their minds to other tasks, it isn’t surprising that the so-called change-drivers also decide on their own priorities and allow other work to expand and take up available  The answer to this is the creation of a dedicated transformation office to steer and oversee the initiative to fruition within a predetermined period. Successful transformations change the cadence at which work is accomplished – a week’s work gets done within one week, not a day more. “This faster clock speed is one of the most defining characteristics of successful transformations.”
3. Bring on the CTO: Traditionally, members made responsible for the change are super achievers intheir respective functions or strong in processes. However, not all are suited to pushing the C-suite, taking bold and unconventional decisions, or challenging ossified corporate practices and outdated  Driving a complex multidimensional organization-wide change is a full-time job, and therefore must be assigned to a CTO, a Chief Transformation Officer (heading the Transformation Office), with the authority and brief to push the company to its full potential. His role is to “question, push, praise, prod, cajole, and otherwise irritate an organization that needs to think and act differently.”
4. Reward and communicate: Transformation efforts tend to get an early blow if the leadership teamfails to explain to the workforce the ‘what and why’ of transformation. Communication, an ongoing one, must situate the process in a context, elucidate the vision and its significance, and commence with a call to action that resonates with employees at all levels, making them discover their individual meaning in it

Many organizations perform under potential owing to misaligned incentive schemes and packages too. This may work when it is ‘business as usual’, however, a demanding new order may call for revisiting incentive plans and intangible benefits as these are proven performance-boosters and critical reinforcement tools.

The true test of a transformation is really when life reverts to normal, and despite the initial burst of activity and dramatically improved results, people let themselves slip and the clock turns back all over again. Transformation initiatives usually do not fail, they lose momentum and degrade over time. However, if leaders tap the lessons of transformation – embedding and interlocking in the very fabric of the organization the skills, attitudes, and the processes that helped achieve it – then the change can be a lasting one. For a successful transformation to show, transformation must formally end!