Case study Tesco – Business transformation programme
Value realised
Having a well-structured business transformation programme, with the projects organised to give rise to the necessary business changes, and led to the earlier release of benefits and a quicker embedding of operational improvements. The structuring dealt directly with the problems that the four-quadrant management style, which while so effective in optimising the operational capability of the organisation, had stalled progress in delivering change.
Engagement focus
Six months into the business transformation programme progress was stalled and dissent among stakeholders was growing. Projects were competing rather than collaborating in bringing about the necessary changes, with sponsors focusing narrowly on achieving their project’s purpose.
CITI analysed the business transformation programme interdependencies that existed within the programme and was able to demonstrate that the approach to sourcing and funding, which ultimately derived from the four-quadrant model used by Tesco was artificially creating interdependencies and it was these that were causing the programme to stall.
By taking a pan-quadrant approach we reduced the number of interdependencies from 54 to 11, and introduced two types of business transformation programme interface management meeting (PIMM No.1 and PIMM No.2) to address these irreducible eleven.
Approach to solution
With the focus now exclusively on the delivery of business change and the benefits they would bring about – progress was rapid. Using a number of CITI consultancy tools, we shaped and restructured the projects and what they produced into tranches so that the organisation could step from one transition state to another. One of the tools that starts ‘with the end in mind’, called BIP (benefits – impacts – projects) was used to create a clear route map – showing what was necessary to achieve the changes required – and in what order.
This led to significant modifications to the resourcing, the sequencing and the governance of the projects – and all were seen as positive gains by the Board as the momentum of the programme, measured in terms of delivered value was visibly increased. By taking this approach, we reduced the interdependencies between projects, realigned business sponsorship to focus on organisational gains rather than functional ‘wins’ – a problematical approach when large-scale cross-functional change is the outcome sought.
Lessons learned
Programmes are sets of projects that are interlinked and therefore have interdependencies. However, good design finds ways of reducing the number of interdependencies to an irreducible minimum and that is one of the keys to releasing the extraordinary power of business transformation programmes to bring about complex organisational transformations.
Models / tools used
Business transformation programme management evaluations
Business transformation programme consultancy
Benefit – impact – product modelling
Tranche construction
Programme management toolkit
RACI
Value proposition
You can read more about the strategies used during this engagement here:
Further reading
We also discuss business transformation programmes here:
http://www.citi.co.uk/orange-merger-programme-delivery/
Your thoughts?
What are your thoughts – do you agree with our approach, or do the symptoms sound like the ones you are experiencing in your organisation? We would love to hear from you either by adding a comment at the bottom of the page or by emailing one of our consultants at consultants@citi.co.uk – or call +44(0)1908 283610
PAshton
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