By Amna Zaidi, FCA, CMgr, MCMI, Leading Transformation Consultant
In today’s corporate and business environment standing still is no longer an option. Whether you’re a seasoned industry leader or a startup, stagnant growth or market disruptions are clear warnings that means for many businesses it’s time to act. However, it’s much harder as a business to respond effectively if you’re not ready or ill-prepared, with little or no warning.
Examples include the arrival of new technologies, competitors, or social or market trends which can all be a huge threat and have serious implications on a business model. With the cost of taking no action being far greater, a consideration should be to enlist a transformation specialist. Equally, if a company’s growth has plateaued or is in decline for any reason, a transformation consultant could help. Here, Transformation Consultant, Amna Zaidi discusses why being prepared isn’t just a strategic choice and how it’s imperative to business survival.
The uncertain journey
Imagine you’re embarking on a business journey; you know where you intend on going and your vision for the company is clear. However, the way you’re getting there is less so. It’s imperative that you set strategic goals for direction, as for many businesses it’s here when challenges arise, whether that’s during strategic planning, innovation initiatives or process improvements. It’s when as a business you’re aware of the goal, but the optimal path remains elusive.
In such a fast-paced world priorities shift like sand dunes which also means that customer demands, market trends, and external factors are constantly reshaping the landscape so business agility is vital. Doing this will enable leaders and managers to recognise when priorities shift, when unforeseen obstacles arise, and how the landscape evolves. Instead of rigidly adhering to a plan, businesses should adjust direction according to the changing business needs and a transformation expert is your ideal partner in driving this, alongside business as usual.
Complexity
Leaders with longstanding business experience will know that complexity is a constant companion. When embarking on transformative journeys, there can be many business changes spanning technology, processes, culture, and strategy. Touching on every corner of an organisation, ‘transformation’ is likely to impact on areas including upgrades to legacy systems, streamlining workflows, fostering a growth mindset and encompassing people and organisational change. A good transformation consultant will manager such complexities and rather than seeing the negatives, will turn the chaos into a business opportunity, preventing paralysis from these complexities when they arise.
Accelerating change and navigating resistance
Helping to accelerate the transformation process, external support is crucial for those businesses operating in rapidly changing industries, when fear and uncertainty can present as a barrier to moving forward. With proven methodologies, ‘transformation’ involves reducing disruptions and devising strategies to overcome resistance, ensuring for much smoother processes. Aligning the company culture with a new direction is also critical, and consultants will facilitate this. Whether it’s communication gaps, fear of job loss, or attachment to the status quo, they will tailor strategies, communication campaigns and pilot programs, while engaging stakeholders at every stage of change.
Ensuring sustainability
Creating a sustainability strategy that ensures long-term success beyond the initial transformation is key, as is focusing on building internal capabilities to manage changes independently in the future. A transformation expert will be your ‘architect of resilience,’ and empower your team, enabling your business to adapt and thrive.
Improve financial return
Engaging a transformation expert not only enhances the financial returns created from business improvement projects but it also ensures efficient project execution, through monitoring performance rigorously and implementing cost-saving measures. According to Project Management Institute (PMI), organisations with project management practices spend twenty-eight times less money than those without such practices (Project.co).
What’s more, according to surveys, around 70% of business improvement projects fail to deliver the expected benefits or outcomes, all largely due to inadequate project management practices, poor planning, and lack of stakeholder engagement.
Enhancing leadership and governance
If your competitors are a step-ahead, an important way to counter this to adopt the perspective that only an external consultant can offer. In doing so, they will identify how to address any underlying issues by taking a holistic view, looking at solutions and insights from within the industry and by acting as a business ‘interior designer’ for projects to ensure the best outcome.
So when every second counts and traditional strategies are no longer working during critical situations, time is of the essence. Transformation experts will identify problems, discover the root cause and re-establish a new direction for the business.
Finally, always remember as with any personal journey, it is the same for that of a business -and it’s the journey that matters as much as the destination.
