An organizational transformation is a challenging undertaking to even the most seasoned of Executive Teams. Few organizational transformations are deemed ‘successful’ and the majority are a far cry from their intended potential.

A 2015 global survey conducted by McKinsey & Company, with over 1600 Executives from a broad range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties and tenures – the vast majority of whom have been part of at least one transformation in the past five years.

The study suggests that guesswork does not work and that there is indeed a science (or art) to successful transformations, in that there are some common traits among them. The most effective transformations involved 4 key actions: (A) role modeling (B) fostering understanding and conviction (C) reinforcing changes through formal mechanisms (D) developing talent and skills. Furthermore, those that used all or most of these actions had greater success compared to those that employed only a few.

The results also indicate that while it may seem obvious that a successful transformation would involve multiple stakeholders from across the organization, that it is not always common practice. For the more detailed survey results and article click here.