McKinsey recently reported that less than 30% of transformation programmes succeed, with employee resistance (39%) and management behaviour (33%) highlighted as the main root causes.

To reinforce this, a recent study by SchellingPoint of over 450 projects globally, highlighted that just 8% of projects delivered to time, cost and quality.

The direct and indirect impact on customers, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders is inordinate! This level of failure is set against the backdrop of a world where resources are limited and change is now very much a constant. Multiple billions are being invested in pursuit of the game-changing transformation, often to no avail.

So why is this happening? Common factors leading to failure include:

• A lack of strategic alignment, with project success, benefits and value to the organisation not clearly defined up front.

• No personal goal alignment to forge consensus and ‘line of sight’ across the organisation.

• A lack of project prioritisation leading to initiative overload, capacity constraints and resourcing challenges.

• Poor or non-existent sponsorship, with project teams often left to ‘go it alone’.

• Major misalignment in the Boardroom or C-Suite, with personal egos allowed to get in the way of ‘corporate wellbeing’.

• A lack of capability to lead the change across the organisation – often including the teams and sponsors tasked with designing, planning and delivering the change.

• Insufficient governance, risk management or timely oversight of the projects and programmes.

• ‘Lip service’ paid to people engagement – failure to ‘tell stories’ and help stakeholders get ‘the why’, not just ‘the what’ and ‘the how’ of the change journey.

• A failure to ‘build planes in the sky’ – losing sight of the customer during the transformation as all eyes turn inwards!

• Not knowing ‘when to stop’ or slow down projects that are clearly struggling.

It is therefore important that organisations embarking on a major change or transformation journey spend sufficient time in planning mode. The inability to plan, execute and sustain change will inevitably lead to failure and unintended consequences!

At Devereaux Kelly Associates, we pride ourselves on learning from the past, using the collective experience gained delivering highly complex and multi-faceted business transformation to guide, support and advise organisations on how best to avoid the pitfalls, ensuring that you optimise your chances of success as you embark on your journey of change.

To find out more about how we can help you, please contact us at devereauxkellyassociates@gmail.com