The Biggest Barriers To A Successful Organisational Transformation

by Nicki Carruth | Dec 2, 2021 | Project Assurance

It can’t be overstated just how hard it is to affect change in a large organisation. While small businesses also have their work cut out for them to influence change, it’s much simpler to make change when there are less people and well-trodden paths in place. As we work with public sector organisations as well as private enterprise, we understand that influencing change isn’t down to one person, one team or one project. In fact, a change management programme of any kind requires a solid plan, but with the open-mindedness of the leadership team and stakeholders to adapt along the way. There are simply too many unknowns when planning for a big change. Those changes could be technological – is the organisation looking to change the way it delivers its services to clients to be digital-based? Or is the transformation more related to the very structure of the business, its teams and people? Whatever the case, there will be certain obstacles presented throughout this period. In this article, we’ll offer some of the common barriers we’ve seen in our work with organisations during moments of major transition. While you won’t avoid these completely (and we’ve yet to see a business that does), staying cognisant of these can help to jump on issues early and resolve them before they threaten the programme’s chance of success.

So, what do we mean by ‘organisational transformation?

When an organisation’s leadership, including a board or ministerial mandate, requires a change from the status quo to a new way of operating, this process is commonly referred to internally as ‘change’. And that’s really what organisational transformation means. But in this context that change fundamentally transforms how the business works. It affects all parts of the business (albeit to varying degrees).

Lack of governance around the programme

Before anything can change effectively, a business must have its governance in place. Governance for any programme demands that the following are in place:

Reporting mechanisms
Roles and responsibilities
Risk identification and mitigation strategy
Key stakeholders
The methodologies on which the programme will be delivered
Associated projects and how these will be delivered in relation to each other

Think of programme governance as the playbook – or even the ‘rule book’ of how things should work. The governance around a programme needs to be clear enough that they instill confidence in the leadership team, whilst not providing unnecessary restrictions around staying dynamic and open to pivoting if this is required throughout the duration of the programme.

Proceed without a clear vision and direction

The programme will experience many struggles along the way if it’s mobilised before the organisation has properly captured the purpose and end result of such a transformation. Without some anchoring principles such as the organisational benefits, the new structure of the business or positive outcomes for the customer, those involved with rolling out a programme will oftentimes struggle to make key strategic decisions. A transparent, accessible vision of what a transformation should deliver can help prioritise projects and support those involved to deliver their best work within clearly defined parameters. But then there’s the very real roll-on effect of a fuzzy vision; governance of projects becomes increasingly difficult as PMs lack the cohesive reference point a vision or direction offers. This may cause inefficiencies in resource utilisation, wasted budget and even steer projects into failure. Simply put, a vision is far more than a well-worded statement, but a core strategic document that will guide the business towards the desired outcomes.

Vague milestones or timelines

Milestones and timelines are typically more the domain of a project manager and their team, but change programmes also need set milestones – even if this starts with the completion of each project in series. Often these projects will be dependencies for the next project in line, meaning that the programme manager needs to ensure that there are clear expectations set for each project.

Having a long-term date in a place where the transformation will be completed is crucial for building any compelling business case. The timeline will need to set the month and year at which certain outcomes will be realised, such as:

New technical infrastructure designed and platforms qualified
Build Of Phase 1 internal systems
Build of Phase 1 customer-facing
Pilot stage of new system
x% of users onboarded to new platforms
Website update
Phase 2 of internal systems
And so on…

Even in the above example, there are dozens of projects that could contribute towards these outcomes. A leadership team will be looking for a programme to be demonstrably rolling out each of these milestones through effective coordination of projects and BAU initiatives.

Unrealistic expectations

When an organisational transformation doesn’t meet the needs of a leadership team and key stakeholders, the question needs to be asked; are the expectations reasonable considering other factors at play. For instance, a total organisational shift in a very short period of time is almost impossible when budgets and project dependencies are considered.

Expectations need to be managed at every stage of the transition – and organisations must not make strategic moves based upon the opinion of only one leader or stakeholder. If the consensus is that an outcome is not possible, this needs to be communicated and recognised by the leadership team.

Programme managers have a big job; to manage ‘up’ to the senior leadership team and ‘down’ to project managers tasked with delivering components of a programme accurately and on schedule. Ultimately a programme manager needs to be good at pushing back when needed.

Not having sufficient resources to deliver the programme

Programmes don’t just need a budget; they need projects. That means a transformation programme needs adequate resources to facilitate BAU work and every project team that will help deliver components of the plan. And it’s not just people resources that are needed; vendors and platforms come with costs that need to be factored in. It’s no surprise then, that a programme will be associated with millions of dollars of expenditure.

When a programme is laid out, the programme manager and leadership team will often task project managers or business analysts to build a picture of what each part of the process might cost and require. Programme managers should be largely thinking strategically vs. daily concerns around the budget. If the organisation doesn’t unlock enough resources to deliver a transformation, it’s bound for failure. And when a programme fails, it’s often far more costly than the required budget was in the first place.

It’s also worth noting that programmes may deliberately start with a core set of projects and budgets, with the understanding that there will be future phases of budget planning. And in the case of a digital transformation – the technology available changes over the period of a long-term programme, meaning that a certain level of flexibility might need to be built-in.

https://iqanz.com/project-management/not-enough-people-and-too-much-to-do-are-you-being-too-ambitious/

Tight budgets preventing complete delivery of the change

Tight budgets can come about in a myriad of ways – and we’re not ones to simply advocate for continually increasing budgets. But the reality is that when a budget limit is set at an arbitrary amount, the transformation may not be able to deliver completely the outcomes desired. As the old business adage goes, you can pick only two of these three:

Fast
High Quality
Low cost

Opt for fast and lower budget activity? Expect the quality of outcomes to suffer. Want high quality without the big, concentrated budget? Expect to be waiting years for outcomes.

All this should reinforce the importance of budgeting with as much detailed planning (and a healthy level of contingency) as possible.

The leadership team is going through a transition as well

Transformations require strong leadership teams. This doesn’t simply mean having talented individuals at the helm, but a structure that supports change properly. When a leadership team experiences multiple personnel changes, it’s natural for the key organisational programmes to be slowed down in the process. But people leaving and joining an organisation at the C-suite level is just part of life. A well-planned transformation should be delivered agnostic of what’s happening at the highest level, but this is not always the case. In fact, some transformations are mistakenly too connected to one or two leaders, as opposed to being embedded across all functions of the business. This again returns us to the topic of governance; with the mechanics of a transformation programme set clearly, new leadership can pick up and carry on this process with relatively light impact to those responsible for executing. New leaders can also help to improve a transition with fresh ideas and ‘clean-slate’ perspectives.

Culture and values are misaligned with the change

Is the business actually ready for the change? Does the organisation run on a certain set of values and principles that don’t reflect the new look organisation of tomorrow? A programme’s strategic imperatives rely upon people to buy-in. If there’s a ‘way of working’ that the business is used to, a concerted effort is required to evolve this thinking in line with the transformation. Staying aware of the current organisational climate helps plan change that doesn’t derail day to day operations during each stage of the programme rollout.

Communication of the programme is poor

Big change will come paired with loss of staff – even the most considerate of transformation plans see some people leave. And while we don’t suggest you’re able to retain everyone in the organisation, there are ways to keep the majority of your people with effective communication:

Take the whole organisation on the journey of transformation – don’t simply deliver it with projects in among the BAU operations.
Include continual feedback and ideas as part of staff surveys and engagement practices.
Empower people in all teams across the business to participate in the transformation programme.
Upskill your people to be more comfortable with new platforms and processes – gradually.
Roll out transformation piece by piece at a reasonable cadence.
Include projects or initiatives in the programme that help evolve culture from set ways of thinking and culture.
Be clear on the benefits of change.

There’s a reason large organisations prioritise internal communications as much as external ones. Don’t neglect this key component of delivering a successful transformation.

It’s not the right time

Has the transformation programme started at a time where the business and its users are ready? Is the business even ready? In our experience working with our clients, there are many programmes that get put into practice during a period of turmoil such as restructure or other environmental upheavals.

Leadership teams need to be comfortable to ask the question of why a programme should happen, but as importantly, when. It’s rare that holding off a programme or a particular phase would be detrimental to the organisation, but there’s plenty of examples of a transformation getting underway before the groundwork has been done.

Part of our work with clients is not simply providing assurance of projects and programmes, but taking our assessment a level high by helping leadership teams prioritise their entire portfolio of initiatives. We’ll ask (and help you answer) when to put various activities into play.

Progress and achievements aren’t being celebrated

Acknowledging progress at each step of the way will help to ensure support and understanding of a programme through its lifespan. . This may be directly aligned with the completion of projects that sit under a programme, but can also talk to broader business strategic objectives that are achieved. Showing appreciation to project teams, programme managers, and the business as a whole helps to build a positive association with change. When a programme represents a fundamental shift in how the business operates, positive reinforcement is absolutely critical. Humans aren’t wired to like change arbitrarily, and many will see this as a threat to their stability and security. Alleviate these concerns with a proactive approach to celebrating the programme at logical but frequent moments.

There’s no backstop of quality assurance in place

A transformational programme is a key factor of success to a large organisation. Good quality assurance (QA) surrounding the programme that sits external to the business is a worthwhile measure. When businesses are in the middle of a complicated programme, it can be hard to have a clear and unfiltered view of the risks or issues that are presenting barriers to progress or indeed completion of a transition in the business, such as digital transformation. QA will help the leadership team and programme manager keep momentum and avoid a great deal of issues long term.

Need help removing barriers to programme success?

We support the public and private sectors to deliver significant change in their business. We’re able to draw upon our personal organisational experience as well as a host of proven strategies to support a successful outcome. Chat to our team of programme assurance experts for an initial chat – the coffee is on us!