30 percent…and I think that’s generous.
That’s the success rate for digital transformation noted in a recent BCG study. Using that as a benchmark, let’s talk about a tip that can help you improve those odds, and in fact, the odds of completing any significant organizational improvement work.
Before we get into the specific coaching, let’s take a minute to think about what this really means for us at this point in time and business. We are in the midst of the largest mass vaccination in recent history, we are getting ready for the great business reboot and (in many cases) redefining what work even looks like. We need to build firms that can provide rich options for investors, leaders, stakeholders and their communities. Vibrancy in business needs to carry a heavy load.
Just when we are being asked to build our firms back to the new model of work, our isolation could stop us mid-flight.
If when we set agendas, build a team, and establish an execution engine we see success only 30 percent of the time, it means close to two-thirds of our team’s best efforts are not yielding results.
It means that business case benchmarks are missed.
It means the P&L’s are under pressure.
It means reduced investment is made in our firms and our communities.
And it means we are all stakeholders in getting that number up.
One Tip to Get a Better Plan
In our work, we drill into exactly what leadership styles are attracted to this category of projects, and how the very characteristics that make them very good at initiating this work are also paired with corresponding challenges. We also talk about how we can stack the team makeup to increase the odds significantly.
For today, let’s assume that you are a transformational leader or sponsor. You are known as intuitive, charismatic, and able to communicate in strong and visionary ways. You have an intense and specific passion for the project.
One of the things we also know is that this leadership style likes to project their intuition and control their destiny. They have a tendency to ideate with their close teammates and have a strong desire to recreate not only those items on the transformation path but those items that touch it, as well.
A very common outcome of this is that just when the group would benefit from stronger collaboration, they can (inadvertently) turn the team inward. They don’t do this consciously – it’s just an outcome of the things that make them a successful team leader.
You can see what happens here. Lots of internal work followed by an intense need to prove it out locally and then “push” it to scale.
Here’s the tip: When you are tempted to go deep in your team, find an adjacent peer leader to have coffee with and ask one question: “If we complete this, this, and this, are we ready to move to scale?” If you’ve asked the right person, what they will likely say is, “Yes, maybe, but if I were you, I’d solve this {one item} first.”
Boom. You’ve received two very valuable things. The first, and obvious, is a priority from a trusted outside viewpoint. Secondly, and more subtly, you also have a work partner with a (small but growing) stake in the outcome.
Looking across the bridge of success and finding objective partners is one tip from the workshops we do with cross-functional team leaders and sponsors.
Research by McKinsey points to the positive outcomes and the relative scarcity of executives that actually take the effort to make it work. In their survey, 80% of the executives saw it as valuable but only 25% report their firms are effective at it (link).
Building it Into Your Firm
We have a well-developed approach that’s been used by dozens of firms to help leaders capture precisely the right project, the right team, and the right plan to move forward toward success.
If you’d like to hear more about that, reach out via email, or put an appointment on the calendar using this link.
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