Business Transformation
Rebuilding the model when local improvements no longer add up to an overall result. At least one of four things changes: who you sell to, what you sell, how you get paid, how you produce.
Common requests:Improvements in individual functions don't add up to business growth, The company has grown, A competitor with different economics has appeared
Services in this area
1 service
What people come with
Does this sound familiar?
- A model that worked for several years no longer delivers the same results.Situation 01A rebuild starts with the answer to what exactly stopped working.
- Improvements in individual functions don't add up to business growth.Situation 02A rebuild starts with the answer to what exactly stopped working.
- The company has grown, and the old management setup can't carry it.Situation 03A rebuild starts with the answer to what exactly stopped working.
- A competitor with different economics has appeared, and catching up the old way isn't working.Situation 04A rebuild starts with the answer to what exactly stopped working.
The core idea of this area
A rebuild starts with the answer to what exactly stopped working.
The self-assessment for this area looks for the mechanism that failed.
- 01Priorities and refusals
- 02Repeatable processes
- 03Delegation
- 04People and roles
- 05Unit economics
How we see it
The main danger of a transformation is breaking what works before the new thing starts working. So first we find what in the current model still earns money: that is the source of funding for the transition, and it must not be touched first.
A new sign, a new website, a new CRM or reorganizing departments aren't a transformation in themselves. They can accompany one.
When this area won't help
- We don't start a transformation in an acute crisis. Stabilization comes first.
- We don't change the model until it's clear how the business will earn money afterward.
- Without an owner of the change inside the company, a transformation doesn't hold.
Questions
How is transformation different from optimization?
Optimization makes what exists cheaper and faster. Transformation changes what you are paid for and how execution is organized.
How do we know a transformation is really needed?
Three or more signs that the model is exhausted, appearing together over several quarters: improvements don't add up, the cost of a customer rises faster than the average order, customers leave for a different way of solving their problem, the best people leave first.
How long does it take?
The EMET Diagnostic takes from one week to three months; the transition takes quarters, because processes, roles and habits change. A fast transformation usually means only the sign has changed.
How can resistance be reduced?
It can't be avoided entirely. It is reduced by honesty: what changes, what stays, what will happen to those whose work disappears. Uncertainty creates more resistance than bad news.
Related articles and case analyses
When the model stops working
From the inside, it's hard to tell a temporary downturn from an exhausted model, and a mistake either way is expensive. This is a set of signs that help tell them apart.
Which of the four elements of your model haven't you changed for the longest time?
Who you sell to, what, how you get paid, how you produce. The first meeting is free.