Strategy Execution: Kicking Off Your Transformation for Success

Introduction

Transformation initiatives require a rigorous process to align a company’s future strategy with customer needs and market dynamics. Securing the budget and gaining executive approval is just the beginning. Now, with expectations high, the journey begins to mobilize your team and execute your delivery framework, starting with the pivotal Day 1 kick-off. This article outlines how applying simple, proven principles from the outset can guide your delivery planning to create a program framework for success. An incremental approach that manages risk and allows for course corrections based on tangible outputs and lessons learned is essential.

The Challenge

In a previous engagement with a South African media and entertainment company, we encountered the challenge of a large-scale digital transformation without a standard blueprint for success. The initiative required delivering over 3,000 requirements over three years. With a presence in 15 countries and approximately 20 million subscribers, the company needed a comprehensive overhaul of its operational platform to remain competitive and expand into new markets and demographics.

“Transforming Challenges into Success with Strategic Planning and Agile Execution.”

Implementation

The Day 1 kick-off should distill the transformation initiative into manageable phases. As the saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” This approach helps the team understand and engage with the problem incrementally. The key tenets for building a successful management and implementation framework are:

1. Prioritize Your Battles:

   Assign priority to outputs and measure delivery to stay aligned with the overall strategy. We implemented 8-week iterations focused on delivering prioritized Proofs of Concept (PoCs) that formed the foundation of the digital transformation. Each PoC delivered a complete operational process, combining technical components and process enhancements, instilling confidence in the realized benefits.

2. Assemble the Right Team:

   While the ideal team is rare, leveraging available resources ensures the solution fits its purpose and meets executive expectations. We utilized internal staff and industry SMEs to create a high-performing delivery team. Various program streams had dedicated teams working in parallel within a unified agile framework. Recognizing that dedicating internal team members solely to the transformation is often impractical, we adopted a mixed model. Agile bursts of work were performed when internal staff were available, balancing transformation tasks with ongoing operational activities.

3. Embrace Agile Governance:

   Adopting agile principles is crucial for efficient delivery. Agility ensures focused direction over fixed periods. We applied standard metrics to monitor and manage business risks, ensuring outputs were delivered during each iteration. Good governance was maintained for execution transparency and audit purposes. Establishing a Program Management or Transformation Office as the single authoritative body to manage delivery across all streams is essential.

Conclusion

By applying these principles, the media company achieved significant results after each program iteration. In the first year, several operational processes demonstrated the intended benefits to all stakeholders. This success increased the program delivery team’s confidence and validated the incremental approach. Key issues were identified and addressed, improving processes and performance in subsequent iterations. Iteratively applying these principles gives you immense control over your transformation initiative. You can pivot if outcomes do not meet expectations and learn from mistakes to enhance your delivery method.

“Empowering Teams and Driving Change through Incremental Innovation”

Recap

Prioritization ensures you focus on the right tasks at the right time. Your execution team must have the right skills and be augmented appropriately. Agile governance principles provide program-level monitoring and control, ensuring planned outputs are delivered and key learnings are incorporated into continuous improvement.