Transformation is a very popular word at the moment.  Every company seems to be transforming.  We transform ourselves, our environment, our homes, our companies; there is no end to the things that you can transform, generally in a defined number of weeks by doing a specified number of things.  At the end of it you’ll have a fit body, a highly functional company, a desirable home, in fact anything you want can be delivered by a transformation programme - it’s magic.

The whole idea is frankly rubbish, it satisfies our desire for excitement and easy solutions. Real transformation is difficult, and you only need it occasionally. It is not something that happens overnight.  What we need most of the time is evolution. Humans evolve all the time to meet the changing needs of life.

Businesses must also constantly evolve, to meet the changing needs of the market, of their customers, of their employees or of their stakeholders.  This is how business evolution happens, small shifts or improvements that can be easily managed in-house, and all that is necessary to make them is a real focus on efficiency.  Nature rarely transforms suddenly, change is slow, almost imperceptible, but it is also relentless, and it never ends.

But just sometimes, generally because of external events, there is a need for transformation.  We’ve had a few of those in the last years, the crash, Covid, Ukraine, events where evolution is not enough and the need to survive drives the need for transformation. There are others, not quite so dramatic: a regulatory change; gain or loss of a major customer; a technological advance; or success that has outgrown the current business model. This sort of transformation must take place as fast as possible to meet the changing circumstances. It is hard because you cannot just stop what you are doing and put all the effort into Transformation.  It has to happen alongside Business As Usual.  Promises to markets, customers and employees must be met at the same time as major change is happening.

When that happens there needs to be major organisational change and this is when you need the Transformational Leader who can lead the Transformation Journey.  The nature of the changes mean that they will affect many areas of the company, they must be carried out while delivering on the company’s existing commitments and they need to be completed with accuracy and speed. 

This is an enormous challenge for any company.  And it goes wrong, it goes wrong a lot.  Big companies with lots of resources create separate teams to transform the company, while everyone else gets on with business as usual.  The result is almost always that the two become disconnected, and the proposed transformation has no champions.  In smaller companies the pressure of business-as-usual on those who are trying to transform it, as well as meet the current business plan, starves the transformation of resources.

Transformation is a journey through difficult terrain. It needs planning and resourcing and must stay connected with the organisation it is trying to transform.  It needs leadership and commitment.  It also, in our view, needs external support.  You are almost running two businesses at once and doing that with existing resources is frankly impossible. If you really want to succeed, then get help from people who have done this before.