The Transformation Triangle

Change is hard.

Years of leading transformations has taught me that it’s no easier on the people leading the change. Organizations typically have a playbook for BAU, but there is no playbook on how to change the organization itself.

So, over time, and through many lessons learned, I’ve created one. It’s called the Transformation Triangle.

Person ringing a triangle dinner bell calling for change

A clear structure not only encourages buy-in, it can also provide guardrails for creativity and innovation – even through change. The goal of this framework is to put transformation on tracks and hyper-focused on what matters most.

It looks like this:

Triangle with priorities in the middle, progress, people, and process on outside

We’ll start with the center of the triangle as that’s what everything revolves around.

Center of triangle with Wildly Important Goals called out

PRIORITIES / WIGS

The leadership team must be absolutely clear on their goals, and it’s all about prioritization.

During a large transformation, everything seems equally important. The reality is that just isn’t true.

By forcing yourself, and your team align on one WIG at a time, you will stay focused and keep your efforts manageable.

Person with a box of wigs, and they cant decide what colour so they want to wear all of the wigs; a second person saying one wig is plenty.

Only once your WIGS are clear are you ready engage your people.

If you want to learn more about WIGS, see this great book from which the term came.

PEOPLE

Engaging the organization is not a one-off exercise. It is a constant top-down and bottom-up effort throughout a transformation, communicating the priorities, allowing time and space for dialogue, and ensuring the right team is in place to support the direction.

Top down arrow showing - share vision, share WIGS, case for change competency SWOT, change management. Bottom up arrow sharing input on direction, opportunity identification, change champions, policy and process knowledge, progress and wins

The objective is to make sure the right people are on the bus, they know where they’re headed, and why.

PROCESS

The next step is to tackle the processes critical to the change.

Identify the processes that most impact your WIGS, and conduct an audit.

The goal is to identify the universe of potential changes that can help you achieve your goals, remove the process barriers standing in your way, and then prioritize based on your organization’s capacity for change.

Simple process map with red, yellow, and green strength indicators; there is an arrow pointing to the red process saying "focus here"

You are better off delivering clear wins early. Even small successes can have a big ripple effect that keeps everyone motivated. Don’t try to change everything at once or you will overwhelm the organization – and yourself.

PROGRESS

The secret sauce in change management is demonstrating progress.

If you clearly link your WIGS to measurable KPIs you will find the change starts to reinforce itself.

Don’t fall into the trap of focusing strictly on lagging external indicators (e.g., revenue growth). Those are great, but often the last indicators of progress.

The goal is to demonstrate early wins, and build confidence that the external, long-lead wins are coming.

A true transformation should track KPIs in all 4 buckets:

A simple table, with internal and external on the X axis and Lead and Lag on the Y axis; example metrics included within, but not relevant to story

Don’t over-engineer them. Something as simple as a survey at the end of a meeting can be an effective leading indicator, that demonstrates positive cultural change.