June 12, 2025
Transformation success is always about the people, whether they adopt a change, embrace a change, champion or resist a change its always about the people. The Culture of the Industry, the Business or a particular Office team will have to be understood and acknowledged if you wish to successfully change them.
The Guru's of Personal Development and indeed the Professionals of Psychology will tell you that you cannot change a person who does not want or is not ready to change. It is into such an environment that most Transformation Leaders will thread at some point in their careers. Yes there will always be the Businesses who embrace change either out of desire or necessity and who will work with you to accomplish it but that is not the norm.
So what do you do? Its always about the people. We get that but what do we do? Its a Cultural thing. We get that but what do we do...on and on the conversation goes in circles.
If you walk into a Business for the first time as a Transformation Leader you need to wear two hats just don't wave one more than the other. They are your Cultural hat and your Numbers hat. The Culture you face will drive rate of change and its chances of success but the Numbers should ground every single decision you make in the right direction.
Your antenna is always on and alert for the Cultural signs in every meeting, every handshake, every encounter. This is subliminal, you are absorbing it at every hands turn, whether you notice it or not. You may think this is hard to measure and quantify but is it really? You walk into a Business for the first time and your view of the Business is in 'neutral' it is fair to say at this point.
As you go through the first week, the first month and I would say the first 6 weeks is enough, you know its Culture. You MAY not have been captured by that Culture but you know what it is, you can feel it. What gear do you reckon it is in? First, second, fifth or reverse? You can tell which by that point, I know you can but you may seldom stop to consider it and what it means.
I suggest a Cultural MOT after 6 weeks with whomever is your Project Sponsor. Leave the facts and figures aside, don't talk about Deliverables or Project Plans just take a breath and talk about the atmosphere. You have taken 'the feel' of the place over 6 weeks and you want to sense check that and its potential ramifications with the Sponsor.
I suggest 6 weeks as it avoids the knee jerk or isolated initial reaction. You should have been onsite or interacting with the Client Teams on a regular basis by now to have formed an opinion. It is also the mid point in the majority of instances for a Feasibility Study into...whatever Project you were engaged to deliver.
A Feasibility Study, a Strategic Review, a Target Operating Model or a Business Case takes on average 12 weeks allowing for variations in Business and resources deployed. It is a fair rule of thumb. You are half way there so it stands to reason you have a 'feel' for the Business you are aiming to change, doesn't it?
I have seen this done more formally and an 'Audit' of the Business Culture performed. I only use the word Audit because you are primarily a Finance audience but the process isn't the same, I just couldn't think of a better word. If I told the average team member in any Business this is an Audit the drawbridge goes up faster than the above speedometer. Please do suggest a better word, we are a team after all, I do the writing and you do the critical thinking.
I was watching Jim Rohn yesterday in a video, he is a famous American Speaker who is very interesting to listen to for both the subjects covered and his delivery. If you need to deliver a speech effectively the 'cadence' of your delivery is what sets the greats apart and our Jim has it in spades.
He mentioned that what you track improves or words to that effect. Actually, he said it much better than that but my memory is off which I can only assume is due to the flu. It sounded better than the 'Measure to Manage' by Peter Drucker, because it went beyond Measurement and went to Tracking, which is constant Measurement and for some reason sounds better. Hearing the word 'Tracking' invokes a different feeling to 'Measuring'.
Tracking like a hunter is far more powerful than Measuring like the Accountant in Dickens. I want to be a Tracker not a Measurer I can hear you all shout in unison.
But we digress. Our second 'hat' involves the numbers. All our decisions need to be grounded in reality. Typically, this has involved Baselining the Business to get map out its Current Operating Model and I am fascinated to see at the moment how much AI can speed up this process. The sooner we are 'armed' with all the relevant facts and figures the sooner we can layer that across the Culture and develop appropriate Options to deliver change.
The 2 hats are worn everyday just tailor your headgear attire according to your audience.
For all else check out my new Book 'How to Transform Finance'.
Best Regards,
Michael Ryan.