Failed My Way to Success” Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison, a successful American inventor and entrepreneur, acknowledged toward the end of his career that his path to success was paved with many failures and mistakes. His quote reflects what many organizations and their leaders face when embarking on a transformation process—achieving a successful process is difficult, and in general, there is no guide or preparation to make the journey easier.
Transformations are perhaps the most complex processes that organizations undergo. Despite the fact that more than a third of company CEOs recognize that they are or have been in a transformation process within the past year, only 12% of them report achieving their objectives. What’s more, this percentage has remained unchanged for the past 20 years, despite the vast amount of research and learning generated on the subject.
What Is a Transformation Process?
A transformation process consists of actions, structured through processes, in which a company or organization changes its operations to create value for its customers, enhancing its ability to compete and generate economic results. These processes are generally triggered when a company or organization is not achieving the expected results—either because it has lost its capabilities or because it is struggling to compete successfully.
Transformations are opportunities for organizations to evolve and change to avoid disappearing or diminishing to the point of losing their essence or relevance—they are also opportunities to win. For this reason, transformations are rare by definition. A company or department cannot “transform” multiple times within a short period—it generally has only one chance to succeed. This is why, in the absence of decisive leadership, organizations often postpone taking action, believing that the risk of failure means certain death, while forgetting that inaction also leads to failure—perhaps just at a slower pace.
Based on our experience in over 250 projects across Latin America, the United States, and Europe, we have gathered key insights and reflections on why some transformations ultimately fail.
To put it simply, we have categorized the main causes of transformation failure into seven areas:
- Leadership and conviction
- Clarity: purpose and direction of change
- Foundational (hygienic) factors
- Speed
- Team preparation and resources
- Measurement and indicators
- Quick wins
We will delve deeper into each of these categories in a series of posts, where we will explain their meaning, why they occur, and share our recommendations for successful transformation processes.
We hope this will be an engaging and insightful read, and we invite you to reflect and share your thoughts and experiences.
[1] https://hbr.org/2024/05/transformations-that-work