What to do when your prized transformation programme threatens to derail

First up: you’re not alone. Some 96% of change projects veer off course (the euphemism is reach a “turning point”) or threaten to, not least because of today’s unpredictable business environment. When that happens, the answer is to put the humans first.

Instead of worrying about the dashboard and KPIs, pay attention to the emotional energy and reactions of the transformation team - the Key Behavioural Indicators or KBIs. They are your early warning signs of trouble ahead.

Company leaders tend to place great priority on change projects - it’s a way to make their mark and a key part of the job. So how a CEO deals with a transformation in trouble can make the difference between success and failure. Not paying attention to human emotions - aka the CEO blind spot - is a big mistake according to new research from EY and Saïd Business School, Oxford University.

The organisatons talked to leaders about why transformation programmes derail and what can be done to stop the failure. Errol Gardner, EY’s Global Vice Chair, Consulting: “Leaders who focused on human emotions - not dashboards - were better able to predict and spot the need to make a change to keep a project on course than those who didn’t.” In other words, the KBIs were just as important as KPIs - and will tell you if there are issues ahead more accurately than KPIs, which often lag behind.

“It’s critical that leaders get in tune with their team’s emotional energy and behaviour within the context of the transformation programme. This means being able to observe, sense and feel, which is quite different to the traditional rational, results-focused approach that many leaders still adopt and promote”, says Gardner.

The results from this approach are clear: CEOs who take an adaptive, people-centred view to a turning point are more likely to steer their change programme back on course. Furthermore the research found they can potentially double the speed of the change programme (2.1x), as well as improve the wider programme performance against KPIs by 1.9x. Overall, the researchers found that this approach increases the chance of a transformation programme’s performance by up to 12 times.

Read more about how to make your transformation programme work here: https://www.ey.com/en_gl/insights/consulting/threats-to-a-business-transformation-can-define-its-success