Transformation is a bit like emigrating to a new country – the journey is about getting to a new permanent destination. This is very different to Continual Improvement, which is a bit like staying at home and painting the house – it is about improving what you already have, not a fundamental step change.
With significant experience in both Transformation and Continual Improvement, and with the knowledge of why so many find transformation difficult, BSMimpact developed The Transformation Journey ™, creating a repeatable approach to successful transformation. The Transformation Journey ™ provides a complete methodology and set of materials, which, in the hands of our trained and experienced BSM consultants, significantly increases the chances of success for our customer’s transformation initiatives.
The Transformation Journey ™, like any journey, is focussed on getting to a specific destination for a defined reason. It starts with strategy and vision (reason/need/objectives) and ends with a practical solution (reaching the destination/completion of the journey). Until you decide where you want to go and why you want to go, you can’t start planning.
Whatever the reason for going, and the things you are planning on doing when you get there, you are likely to have a destination and some requirements in mind before you start planning your journey.
Transformation & Continual Improvement
Whilst Transformation and Continual Improvement should be integrated components of your service management capability and strategy, it is important to recognise that they are different, and to understand how they fit together to deliver the required business outcomes and objectives.
Continual Improvement is the process for taking small steps in making thing better, these could be focused on documents, processes, plans, staff or any element of service provision. Its outcomes are typically short term, and not always defined as goals. It is as much about the culture of an organisation and how they support its outcomes. CI can be operated from any level, from operational to strategic. It need have no real boundaries within an organisation. It could be initiated by any person, inside or even outside and organisation, such as a customer driven improvement.
Continual Improvement, in our opinion, should not be approached purely as a program or project; it needs to be embedded in an organisation as a core competency. The CI capability requires business-as-usual staff to be trained, with CI built in to their everyday thoughts and actions. The governance mechanism must support the identification of improvement opportunities, a way of evaluating them and deciding which should be moved forward. There isn’t a defined outcome for CI as a whole which would allow it to run as a program as it is not a temporary construct. An individual CI activity could be delivered as a project, or several grouped within a program. Fundamentally CI should be treated more like a Portfolio, a collection of related activities which may be delivered in BAU, as a project or within a program.
Transformation cannot be sustained as continuous transformation, the pace of change will be too much, causing melt-down and a lack of stability. At some point the transformation has to complete and CI takes over to sustain improvement in the right direction. Hopefully this will mean that there isn’t a need for another transformation initiative, at least not until there is another fundamental step change required, and maybe not required ever if CI is effective.
Keeping the transformation on track
The Transformation Journey ™, consists of a six-stage approach. The strategy acts as an initial trigger and defines a need and an initial set of desired outcomes – facilitating a Strategic Assessment at Phase Gate 0. The following 5 phases each have a unique focus, and between each is a governance point, a Phase Gate, which asks the questions around the five elements: Time, Cost, Quality, Risk and Benefit.
We would be happy to talk to anyone considering or actively involved in transformation, to demonstrate how our approach and experience could help, and share The Transformation Journey ™ in more detail. We’re also often asked to provide a quick external check on existing transformation initiatives, to confirm they are healthy, and provide advice on any potential challenges or issues. Talk to us.