The difference matters because, from the outset, a strategic change brings greater challenges that are not major features of BAU change. This means mis-diagnosis of your situation can be an early mistake and cause of the low success rate
We then found that people wrestle with common problems relating to strategic change:
- Unclear ambition
- Inadequate planning
- Lost momentum
- Capability gaps
- Change fatigue
The good news is that straightforward solutions exist. The trick is that almost 90% of the solutions to the most common problems are best addressed near the start, before detailed planning.
This sequencing means that a good start is pivotal, which implies that the cause of inadequate planning is ‘rushing at it’ before you have created the conditions for success.
And for those of you who may have felt ‘soft skills were for the weak’, we found that just over 40% of solutions relate to soft skills.