4.The Focus PhaseThe second major step in the launch of a corporate transformation is theFocus Phase. In this phase successful transformation leaders must workwith their executive team to distill out of the purpose and clear strategicvision developed in the Confronting Reality Phase a limited set ofcoordinated, enterprise-wide initiatives that form the tracks along which thecorporate transformation game plan will proceed. The executive team,working together under mutually agreed-upon ground rules and processarchitecture, must create what we call theTransformation Arrow, a plan-on-a-page that contains the core transformation constructs to which allcomponents and employees of the organization will align.But before we outline how best to do this, it is important to understand whythe Transformation Arrow is so important. It must articulate a new state towhich the organization desires to move. It needs to serve as the burningambition to deliver new value to customers, a better environment foremployees, and greater value for shareholders and stakeholders. It is notsimply a new set of loosely assembled, uncoordinated initiatives that arepancaked on those already operating in the enterprise.Let’s briefly review the challenges of the Gridlock inhibitor totransformation before we lay out its antidote.GRIDLOCK AND THE TASK OVERLOAD EPIDEMICSo much needless complexity has been created in today’s businesses thatmuch of what people are assigned to do could be left undone withoutdamage to the bottom line. Organizations are running on extreme taskoverload. And, in reality, only a critical few initiatives have the potential formaking a big difference. A majority of items on everyone’s to-do lists neverget fully attended to anyway.People and resources have to be more focused on the highest impact areasonly. Those Areas of Focus that can contribute the earliest results and themost to the shift in strategic direction must receive an immediate, unfairlygenerous share of the available resources. Meanwhile, employees need tokeep a steady strain on all the other routine things that involve ongoingincremental improvements as part of their job performance.In the good name of tuning up core processes to drive efficiency, form hasovertaken function in many organizations. People scorecard everything thatmoves, launch multiple process-change initiatives in every business functionsimultaneously, and demand that everything is a priority where “failure isnot an option!” Caught in the clutches of organizational attention deficitdisorder, these organizations need the simplicity of a well-conceived, well-orchestrated corporate transformation.
Gridlock typically starts simply, innocuously. First, the Finance departmentwanted to put new expense management tools and processes in place tobetter control overhead costs and comply with regulations. That madesense. Then Human Resources launched a new employee performance
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Term
Spring
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strategic vision
