How do you generate 100X the return from change initiatives?

Clients often ask, “How can we maximise and measure returns from our change and transformation programmes?” It’s a fair question - many initiatives fail to achieve the desired impact.?

But here’s the wildly simple reality: you can often drive incredible results with the right focus, principles, and measurements.

We’ve seen the power of a targeted behavioural approach while working with a major bank facing severe loss of customers. By going back to the drawing board and looking at some root causes, the product team realised that reducing attrition by just 5% would enable them to hit revenue targets.

We designed an exceptionally simple programme marketing just three key conversations and behaviours to the 5,000 frontline product sales staff. One behaviour we emphasised was encouraging new customers to immediately deposit salaries at the time of opening their account.?

Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, we looked for a simplified and applicable solution. In this case, it was focusing on just three consistent, priority client-facing interactions.

The results were outstanding. Within 8 months, there was a 918% year-over-year increase in new customers setting up salary deposits. This generated a R222 million return - a true 100X return through a targeted change programme.

The team won the internal innovation award and shared a R250,000 bonus - an incredible reward for their hard work and dedication to achieving the revenue targets.

So what’s the main idea? The above case study shows a few powerful lessons:

1. Conduct thorough root cause analysis before designing interventions. This ensures your programme addresses core issues rather than just symptoms. Because when interventions are thoughtfully crafted to address underlying issues, they tend to be more effective.
2. Establish clear behavior-based metrics aligned with business goals. This enables you to set and track clear goals - rather than blindly trying to increase revenues.
3. Design focused and simple interventions tailored to behaviours. Complex interventions often fail - concise, consistent messaging drives impact. When you can focus on driving the right behaviour to get desired results, you will be more successful.
4. Rigorously measure impact on behaviours and business metrics. Continually refine your approach based on findings. This drives optimisation and will supercharge your efforts simultaneously.

Follow these principles, and you, too, can achieve outsized returns from change programmes. Even simple initiatives can drive lasting 100X level impact.