Being Arthur

Strategy is important. Without a process, strategy means nothing

In this the third blog in the series about a transformation framework that forms part of my PhD thesis, I discus the importance of “the process”. The process of making transformation happen. In the first part of this series, I discussed importance of leadership efforts to transform and influence stakeholders internal and external to organisations.

In the second part of the series I presented the importance of culture to successful transformation efforts. The focus was not only on the need to understand and transform culture within the organisation, but also understand the culture external to the organisation, but will be impacted by the transformation.

The Strategic Elements: Leadership and Culture

Having leadership is critical. Leadership should be visible, responsive, awareness of the risk associated with transformation, and how to mitigate the risk. Leadership is also vital in development of strategies and the monitoring the execution of those strategies. Without leadership the risk of the transformation efforts failing increases significantly.

Without appropriate activities to address and influence culture, even with strong leadership, the transformation efforts will fail. Leadership and culture are considered strategic themes.

An Operational Element: Process

The focus of the remainder of this blog is now on the operational theme. The operational theme consists of processes and technology. This week our focus in on process. On the next blog I will cover the final piece of the transformational framework: technology.

About Process

Even with the most articulate, well considered strategy, that is driven by strong leadership, a keen awareness of internal and external cultures, good processes are essential to ensure you transition from your current state to the desired state.

Process in Context

To put process in context, I will use the chaos we are seeing in parts of the world today, the pandemic.

You may have a strategy to eliminate the COVID-19 virus. You have world leading health experts advising you what needs to be done, you have world class communication tools to share your intentions, to influence attitudes and actions (e.g. to wear face masks… or not to wear face masks). You have allocated human and financial resources to hospitals; significant funding will be available for the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and ventilators. These are all good strategic actions to fight the virus. However, but to convert the current strategic actions to the desired state oh having a sufficient stock PPE and ventilators, comprehensive processes need to be in place. These processes can range from the simple, to the more complex processes.

The simple processes may involve the ordering of the PPE and ventilators. The process may be more complex when suppliers do not have sufficient stock to meet the demand from hospitals. Furthermore, ventilators may need a process for storing them, a process for allocating them to the appropriate hospital, a process to ensure ensuring that staff are properly trained to use the specific brand of ventilator, and a process to ensure the ventilators are cleaned and maintained properly.

The above example illustrates the importance of processes and how they are needed to support strategic activities.

Therefore, the statement “Strategy is important. Without a process, strategy means nothing” – without appropriate processes the strategies will fail.

Concluding Remarks

Recent studies in academic literature has found that over 70% of digital transformation initiatives fail. Some fail due to a lack of leadership; some fail because culture and culture change has not been properly considered and influenced. Other projects fail because of inadequate processes. Next week the blog will present how transformation fails due to issues relating to technology.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. I really appreciate it. Please share with your friends and colleagues. Also, feel free to drop me a line I look forward to hearing from you.