More than 60 per cent of transformations fail, but why should this be a concern for CIOs? The fact is major technology projects are often transformation projects. These projects significantly change the way organisations conduct their business and how work gets done. Unfortunately, the reality is that the success rate of transformations is less than 40 per cent. When these projects fail, the CIOs are often blamed for the failure. So why do so many transformations fail?

There are many common barriers to success. Many organisations have learned to overcome these barriers and improve their success rates, so here are the top 10 barriers to transformation success and strategies organisations have used to overcome them:

Change is not easy. Change threatens our role, routines, work-practices, relationships and sense of control. We react by resisting the change. Many organisations increase the resistance by not having a clear and compelling vision for the change. When the vision is unclear, people are likely to be sceptical about the change in direction.

If people dont understand why a transformation is necessary, they will not join you on the bus. Leaders of successful transformations tell a compelling story that describes why change is necessary, what the future will look like and what the journey will involve. A good vision of the future has to be realistic and attainable. This vision has to be supported by clearly defined one to two year stretch goals and must outline the steps intended to achieve these goals.

One of the single biggest reasons transformations fail is because they do not have a visible and active sponsor. When the top leadership team is not seen to be actively championing the transformation, the rest of the organisation assumes (correctly) that this is just another initiative. As a result, the urgency for the need to change diminishes. Sponsorship is more than just attending the kick-off and occasionally sending memos or emails about the transformation.

When there is a track record of poorly implemented endeavours, people tend to not expect much when new changes are announced. Visible and strong sponsorship promotes a feeling that things are different this time. A strong sponsor will visibly support you, execute change and support you when roadblocks hamper the process. He or she needs to continually offer insight and guidance to keep things moving, and will offer ideas to resolve issues and broker solutions when needed.

In transformations, while there is agreement about the vision, each leader needs to act independently to achieve the vision. Leaders need to know the value of interdependence. When interdependence is not recognised between key players or groups, change in one area will often cause resistance in another.

Interdependence requires all parts of the organisation to act collectively to achieve common goals. Each leader must support the success of others. Leaders must accept that sometimes decisions that are good for the whole can be bad for their unit.

Lack of effective leadership also manifests as lack of middle-management support. When mid-level managers are not enrolled in the change process and lack a sense of involvement and ownership, they resist collective action.

The magnitude of the transformation challenge can be overwhelming for many organisations, resulting in ill-defined plans, priorities and structures.

Originally posted here:
Transformation success