Big changes ahead, but what matters is what gets left behind

Picture the next 12 months. You probably have plans for business improvement. Maybe you’re embarking on a major transformation program.

Big plans, yes! But are you set up for lasting success?

Turning temporary transformation into enduring strengths

Strategic transformation is a significant undertaking with wide-ranging impacts that extend from the systems, structures and operating models of organisations to the hearts and minds of the people involved. When we invest in strategic transformation programs, we need to uplift our capabilities to deliver.  

But while transformation programs are temporary, our organisations are enduring. Without zeroing in on those capabilities that could be carried forward into business-as-usual (BAU), most organisations miss the opportunity to translate their short-term investments into sustainable strengths that help them navigate future change.

Imagine a town’s river is running dry, threatening its survival. Specialist engineers arrive, build temporary systems to restore water, and guide the town through the crisis. But what if before leaving, they teach conservation methods, build irrigation, and empower locals to manage water sustainably? The town not only survives but builds capabilities to thrive into the future.

How do we know where to invest?

If you have plans for a major transformation to your operating model or ways of working in 2025, there can be huge value in benchmarking your current change capabilities against what is desirable for continuing to thrive through organisational change impacts in BAU. This is critical baseline knowledge for achieving return on your investments (ROI) during the exceptional conditions of transformation and returning to a target operating model that has critical change capabilities as a characteristic.

Consider these practical first steps –

1. Identify what change management capabilities are valuable to sustain – the enduring legacies
2. Understand those you are comfortable using only to move forward now – the temporary

At Escient, we use a structured evaluation called the Change Capability Assessment to assess organisational strengths and opportunities and generate knowledge about the enduring capabilities you are likely to require for the future.

The nuances of your organisation and its transformation plans matter in this process, but there are some great examples of enduring change capabilities that make a real difference. Imagine frontline leaders who have experienced transformation through systematic exposures for learning, change management models that have been road-tested, or performance improvement systems that integrate risks and learnings for better organisational change management.

The bottom line

If you’re advancing something big, you will need temporary investment to get through the peak demands of transformation. To achieve better ROI from your program investments, make sure you have the evidence to also determine how to –

1. Recognise and know when to activate the change capabilities you have in your organisation now
2. Achieve knowledge transfer from any short-term investments you make in expertise to deliver your transformation program
3. Systematically optimise capabilities in things like structures, systems and cross-team collaborations to support resilient change practices for the future

What does strong capability for enduring change look like?

• Engagement and commitment from leadership. 
• Processes and governance for managing change. 
• Consultation and communication with impacted stakeholders, with co-design where reasonable and appropriate.  
• Incorporation of outcomes into performance improvement systems. 
• Appropriate skillsets for change and people support.  
• Retrospectives of change efforts with a people-centric lens and appropriate adjustments for continuous improvement.  

Escient’s Change Capability Assessment is a deep dive into your organisation’s capability to manage change effectively – it can help you to invest wisely.