Video
By putting in place a Results Delivery® Office, leaders can successfully manage the what, who and how of a change program. Phil Barton, a partner with Bain's Performance Improvement practice, outlines how companies can focus resources to build momentum and deliver full benefits throughout the process.
Read the Bain Brief: It's 8-to-1 against Your Change Program—How to Beat the Odds
Read the transcript below.
PHIL BARTON: Change has always been hard. We find that 90% of change efforts fail to deliver the benefits they set out for. Those that do succeed focus on the what, the who, and the how of change. So let me talk about the what first.
We find that you hear 80:20. Triage is the most important thing in a change program. What can we focus our resources on to deliver fast, to build momentum, to drive through and deliver those full benefits? Then on the who, so critically, who are the owners of the initiatives? Who's going to be responsible, the single point of accountability for the change? And how do you support them to deliver for using what we call a sponsorship spine, making sure there's alignment from the top of the organization through to that critical initiative owner.
Finally, the process, the how? We find you need a fast metabolic rate in an organization to deliver change. We instill that through what we call the results ribbon. It's a process based on daily huddles, weekly sprints—really increases the organization's heartbeat, and gets it to deliver.
Successfully managing the what, who, and how of change is best done by putting in place what we call a Results Delivery office. It can make sure the program is focused on the value, the what. It can monitor the sponsorship spine, the who. And it can run the process, the how.
Read the Bain Brief: It's 8-to-1 against Your Change Program—How to Beat the Odds