Most transformations focus on what needs to change—structure, systems, technology, products, capabilities or capital. But in my experience guiding transformations, the factor that often determines whether those changes actually take hold is the one that’s hardest to put on a spreadsheet: people and the culture that shapes how they behave.
When an organization announces transformation, employees tend to fall into three broad groups. Advocates embrace the change and can become powerful change agents. Followers are willing to come along, but they’ve seen transformation initiatives come and go and need to see evidence before they commit. And then there are resisters and destructors—people whose status, influence or livelihood may be tied to the current state and who can make transformation disproportionately difficult.
This isn’t simply a change-management issue. The organizational friction created by resistance can materially affect the economics and timing of a transformation, an acquisition or a major strategic reset. The transformation that looks compelling on a spreadsheet can look very different when the human transition hasn’t been properly accounted for.
The real question isn’t just “What needs to change?” It’s “Who needs to change—and what will it take to move them?”
Read the full piece how to ensure a Transformation succeeds.
