10. Business-Centric Charter and Plan

Ensure the initial charter is not too narrow to ensure required business involvement and expected results are aligned. It is often said, “a bad plan well executed will produce less than desired results, whereas a good plan executed half as well will produce more desirable results.”

9. Vision with the Ability to Execute

Identify and dedicate a knowledgeable global design leader who can articulate future business/technology vision and build alignment with stakeholders.

8. Question Traditional Norms

Applying new technologies to old habits, processes, and ways of doing business can do more harm than good. Seize the opportunity to ask how business may be executed differently with the intent to add greater customer value, build greater consistency, and improve business performance.

7. Empower the Field

Ensure a greater balance between what is most accessible and valuable for customer-facing teams vs. the back office.

6. Build Business Acumen

Assess the organization’s competencies and capabilities to perform to the desired level, notably sales/relationship management/project management – process and technology change alone may not achieve the desired result.

5. Be Serious About Managing Change

Have a well-defined and widely communicated plan for organizational change. Identify process owners and establish targets for sustainable execution, including business results and process health indicators.

4. Buy-in from the Beginning

Ensure stakeholders are involved in business design, process design, and technology selection.

3. Eyes Bigger than the Stomach

Don’t try to introduce too much change too soon. Take a holistic view of the scope and the level of change and disruption it presents to business stakeholders. Be pragmatic in your deployment strategy, open to incremental phases, and prioritize early in the program, to achieve expectations and business results.

2. Support with a Human Touch

Regardless of how much training, the ability to talk to a person or have someone walk the user through a particular situation can mitigate hours of self-help research or mistakes

1. Follow Through

Many programs claim victory out of the need to deploy to the business due to extended timelines and overall fatigue. While this is common, leaders and the organization must follow through on originally planned elements to ensure the intended vision and business value are realized. Further, the continued focus is required to sustain momentum and drive continuous improvement.