How will you know if your business is on the right path to transformation?
In this blog post, we’ll provide you with a business transformation checklist that you can use for each step of your businesses’ transformation.
What’s the Business Transformation Checklist?
Our business transformation checklist is composed of 6 checklists.
There is one checklist for each step of the transformation – focus, control, analysis, evaluation, design and implementation.
In terms of HOBA, discussed in our Business Transformation Playbook here – there’s a checklist for each of the 6 reference models. These models were discussed in our post about the 6 Steps To Business Transformation.
If you need a quick recap, here’s a summary of the reference models found in our book, and our explanation for each of them.
In a nutshell, the reference models answer the following questions:
Now that you’ve recalled the models and steps that we’ve discussed, let’s get right on to the checklist.
The Unconventional Digital Transformation Checklist Walkthrough
Our checklist will give you EVERYTHING YOU NEED to create a FAILSAFE PLAN for your business transformation.
How did I come up with this list?
In 2013, I had been working on a project that the government was spending millions of pounds on.
…but we struggled.
I reached a point where I literally had only 47 minutes to get everyone on board otherwise we would throw in the towel for good.
How did I survive?
I applied some upside-down persuasion techniques and the results were shocking.
People would come out the room cheering.
They were so excited to get the work done.
Soon after, I started teaching these tactics to my peers with different clients and it’s working out for them too!
So, I took nearly a year off and organized all the systems, tactics and strategies into one framework, The Business Transformation Playbook here, which would help revolutionize how businesses start transformation projects.
Here’s an in-depth look at my checklist:
Step 1 – Business Motivation Model Checklist
The Business Motivation Checklist is all about focusing on the vision.
The Business Motivation Checklist is all about focusing on the vision.
Where are you headed?
Do you want to be the best smartphone manufacturer in the world… or in Asia? The answer to this question will lead to completely different courses of action, right?
That’s why this first step is all about figuring out WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO ACHIEVE with your business.
That’s your VISION.
Great. Now, with all your teammates together, ask the group if you have a mutual agreement on WHAT YOUR OPERATIONS WOULD LOOK LIKE and how you would accomplish the Vision above?
Once you got it, let’s call it BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE.
You then need to ask yourself how you’ll achieve that Vision, and the answer is going to be your STRATEGY.
To avoid failure, you also have to agree on how you are going to MEASURE the successes of the actual transformation.
Cool, now look around!
Are all the CONCERNS OF THE RIGHT STAKEHOLDERS captured and documented?
Of course, there will a member that will come up with the whole plan – the Business Architecture Design – the Business Architect.
In our previous blog post, Will The Real Business Architect Please Stand Up ? – we said that business architects are a Subject Matter Expert (SME) who come up with a FRAMEWORK and DELIVERABLES for change that everyone will follow.
Now, a ton of transformation projects fail when it comes to DESIGNING THE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE. You need to give clear instructions and a Project Plan to do this part, too.
Step 2 – Governance Model Checklist
The next step is CONTROL.
You need to control how the work is getting done.
You had your planning meeting where you agreed on what work & tasks need to be done, right?
Well, if you didn’t, JOT IT DOWN, SHARE IT WITH THE TEAM, there’s a high chance that if it’s not written down & agreed upon it won’t get done? Like 93% high.
Next, you need a PROCESS FOR MANAGING THE REQUIREMENTS.
This ensures that all strategic decisions made by senior management are translated into implementation to-dos.
Don’t forget that requirements change all the time.
In fact, lack of the ABILITY TO CHANGE REQUIREMENTS notoriously leads to a 50% chance of transformation project failure. So, everyone on your team needs to know when requirements change, and the processes they should follow.
Now…you need to agree WHO’S INVOLVED IN THIS GOVERNANCE PROCESS?
You need people with the right level of authority and responsibility to complete the work, and be accountable for it.
You need people with the right level of authority and responsibility to complete the work, and be accountable for it.
Next, you need to set up a process for REVIEWING AND APPROVING things like Senior stakeholders for strategic direction, Middle Management for overseeing and reviewing the work and much more.
Create a STAKEHOLDER INFLUENCE MATRIX to determine who will have accountability in each stage of your transformation.
Meet with different teams regularly because lack of communication can lead to missed milestones and loss of CONSTANT BUY-IN.
Your meetings need to be short and focused like the ones in Agile Scrum.
Another tip is to track everyone by setting up a Kanban board which is a visible representation of all the work that needs to be done. You break the board into three (3) columns of To-Do, Doing and Done, making it easy to determine what work is planned, underway and completed.
Step 3 – Current Operating Model Checklist
This step is about ANALYSIS.
You just assign the whole project to your usual team and they get the job done, right? Wrong.
You have to find THE RIGHT STAKEHOLDER WITH THE RIGHT SKILLS in your team even if they are external consultants.
Our book discusses CURRENT USER JOURNEYS in your operations that will save your transformation and help you serve your customers the best way (p.166 of our book).
You also need to identify CURRENT PROCESSES to ensure your transformation project will go as smoothly as possible (p. 171)
Feeling a bit stuck and unsure about who is going to handle things on your project? We’ve got information on how to easily IDENTIFY THE CAPABILITIES of your organisation (p. 183).
Step 4 – Benefits Model Checklist
The next step involves EVALUATION.
Here, you say goodbye to activities that will bring little or no value to your business!
Start with MAPPING OUT ALL THE GOODIES THE CHANGE WILL BRING.
Want to learn the best way to please everyone? In our book, we discuss how EVERYBODY CAN SEE THEIR VESTED INTEREST REPRESENTED (p. 206)
You think prioritising is a constant nightmare. No, not this time!
Learn this method and EVERYBODY WILL CARRY OUT TRANSFORMATION TASKS IN AN ORDER WHERE EVERYONE AGREES (P.213)
Step 5 – Target Operating Model Checklist
This step is about DESIGN.
During this stage, you learn how to ENHANCE OR CHANGE THOSE EXISTING CAPABILITIES to deliver those benefits (p.228).
You organise the jungle of change that needs to be done into TRANSPARENT PROCESSES that give you a level of comfort so that the planned benefits will be realised? (p.238).
You might feel that the IMPACT THAT THE TRANSFORMATION WORK WILL HAVE is dubious and unpredictable – but you can see how the same fear turned into a feeling of a safety net (page 250.)
Once you’ve learned the tricks from our book, THE BENEFITS WILL OUTWEIGH THE COST OF CHANGE (p.261).
Step 6 – Road Map Model Checklist
The last step is about implementation.
Our book covers 6 INSANELY EASY IMPLEMENTATION STEPS that have prevented 6 to 8-figure transformation projects from becoming another failure (p. 274)
Why the last step is the FIRST STEP WHERE YOU NEED TO TALK ABOUT YOUR TECH NEEDS and align it with your business plan is also discussed in-depth (p. 318).
You want to make sure that you COMPLETE THE WORK IN TIME and there are 3 tips in HOBA that ensure you hit your deadlines with the best quality possible (p. 281, 289 and 303).
Thank you for reading this!
Sincerely,
Heath Gascoigne
P.S. If you want to join our Business Transformator community of like-minded Business Transformators, join the community on the Business Transformator Facebook Group here.
P.P.S. If you want to learn more about business transformation, check out The Business Transformation Playbook here.
For more information, visit https://hoba.tech
