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Abstract
Ask any CEO who has overseen a corporate transformation what should have been handled differently, and you are likely to get this answer: 'We should have - and could have - moved faster.' Such executives have a long list of regrets: They wish they had unified the leadership team right away. They wish they had quickly drummed up support for the new vision. They wish they hadn't waited so long to test their assumptions and refine their key initiatives. And they wish they had generated visible returns early on. Transformation launches must be bold and rapid to succeed. Yet embedded in most organizations are six kinds of 'speed brakes' that can slow things down to a grinding pace. During business-as-usual periods, these brakes may be irritating, but their effects on performance are reasonably benign. When a bold transformation is required, however, any one of them can derail the larger effort. To accelerate transformations, managers need to release each of the following brakes, in this order. Speed Brake number 1: Cautious management culture-To address this problem, compel all executives to confront reality and agree on ground rules for working together. Speed Brake number 2: Business-as-usual management process-Run a no-slack launch on a parallel track with other systems; secure early, visible victories. Speed Brake number 3: Initiative gridlock-Limit the company to three or four initiatives. Speed Brake number 4: Recalcitrant executives-Compress launch to quickly engage key executives and to identify and confront those not on board. Speed Brake number 5: Disengaged employees-Rapidly cascade the changes to all employees to boost engagement. Speed Brake number 6: Loss of focus during execution-Anticipate and defuse postlaunch blues, midcourse overconfidence, and the presumption of perpetual motion. As the new year dawns-and as businesses crawl out from under the weight of the global recession-our focus is on reinvention. This HBR Spotlight examines that theme from various perspectives: how to manage corporate transformation, what we understand about personal resilience, whether the United States can reclaim its leadership role in innovation and invention, and how executives in strategy and marketing are reconceiving the work they do.
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Abstract
Ask any CEO who has overseen a corporate transformation what should have been handled differently, and you are likely to get this answer: 'We should have - and could have - moved faster.' Such executives have a long list of regrets: They wish they had unified the leadership team right away. They wish they had quickly drummed up support for the new vision. They wish they hadn't waited so long to test their assumptions and refine their key initiatives. And they wish they had generated visible returns early on. Transformation launches must be bold and rapid to succeed. Yet embedded in most organizations are six kinds of 'speed brakes' that can slow things down to a grinding pace. During business-as-usual periods, these brakes may be irritating, but their effects on performance are reasonably benign. When a bold transformation is required, however, any one of them can derail the larger effort. To accelerate transformations, managers need to release each of the following brakes, in this order. Speed Brake number 1: Cautious management culture-To address this problem, compel all executives to confront reality and agree on ground rules for working together. Speed Brake number 2: Business-as-usual management process-Run a no-slack launch on a parallel track with other systems; secure early, visible victories. Speed Brake number 3: Initiative gridlock-Limit the company to three or four initiatives. Speed Brake number 4: Recalcitrant executives-Compress launch to quickly engage key executives and to identify and confront those not on board. Speed Brake number 5: Disengaged employees-Rapidly cascade the changes to all employees to boost engagement. Speed Brake number 6: Loss of focus during execution-Anticipate and defuse postlaunch blues, midcourse overconfidence, and the presumption of perpetual motion. As the new year dawns-and as businesses crawl out from under the weight of the global recession-our focus is on reinvention. This HBR Spotlight examines that theme from various perspectives: how to manage corporate transformation, what we understand about personal resilience, whether the United States can reclaim its leadership role in innovation and invention, and how executives in strategy and marketing are reconceiving the work they do.