Transforming businesses for market success and growth in uncertain times

Part 1 of 4: Role of leadership in driving change and transformation

"Never let a crisis go to waste." Forward-thinking leaders realize that a crisis provides an opportunity to reexamine the existing business' go-to-market and operating models and refocus the business, for long term market success and growth. As leaders head into the fourth quarter of 2020, it is key that they plan for business success for the coming year.

There are a few critical aspects of a successful business transformation. They are:

• Role of leadership in driving change and transformation
• Transforming business operations
• Transforming the go-to-market strategy and approach
• Tried and tested processes, tools, and techniques to transform the business. 

The role of leadership is critical to the success of any business transformation. Leadership includes members of the C-suite and the Board of Directors. Below is a five-step process for leadership to take to transform their business:

1.Recognize - The need for change. We are currently in a period of unprecedented change in our social, political, and economic environment. In addition, customer needs and how they meet those needs was already evolving but has accelerated due to the current pandemic, with technology enabling the change. Leadership needs to recognize that to continue to thrive in the current business environment, would require a different approach and mindset. "What got you here won't get you there."

2. Establish - A diverse transformation team that is empowered to drive change. Pick a leader with business transformation experience. It has been proven that teams that have gender, skills, and experience diversity tend to perform better than homogenous teams. The team members should be knowledgable in business, innovation, strategy, operations, legal, risk and regulatory, and technology. Bringing in subject matter experts in each of the areas as needed, and thought leaders that understand the industry and business, but are not tied to the current way of operating, can also add significant value to the transformation.

3. Understand - The changes in the business landscape and its impact on the corporation. This includes recognizing changing customer needs, the competitive landscape, traditional and non-traditional competitors, the changing legal and regulatory landscape for the industry, service and technology providers, and the innovation ecosystem.

4. Set "tone at the top"- regarding the importance of the business transformation. Communicate consistently and frequently to both the external and internal stakeholders and obtain buy-in and support. Ensure that other business leaders within the organization support the transformation, provide funding and resources, and communicate it consistently to their teams.

5. Support, Guide, and Empower - The transformation team. Recognize that change is hard and that there is likely to be resistance from leaders within the organization, who want to maintain the status quo. Ensure that the team has the right "air cover" and support to drive change. Guide, empower, and sometimes even push, the transformation team to be more aggressive and innovative, and potentially work on disrupting the existing business. The leadership should provide multi-year funding and support to the team as they drive the transformation.

In conclusion, leadership needs to realize that business transformation is a complex, messy, and iterative process and each organization’s journey is unique. No "one size fits all". The benefits of the transformation could take a long time, during which time the leadership may face some flak from the naysayers. The goal for leadership is to bring others within the organization along on the journey and get their buy-in and ownership to transform the business. In addition, the leadership needs to support, guide, and push the transformation team, to best position the business for long-term growth. No transformation can be successful without leadership that has the appropriate growth mindset.

The next article in the series will focus on transforming business operations.

For more information or to discuss further, please contact me at, [email protected].