creating a programme management office to lead a business-wide transformation
the challenge
Our client, one of the world’s largest retailers, had lost its number one slot in the US and was experiencing extreme competitive and external cost pressure. They needed our help to set up a programme management office to lead a company-wide business transformation and deliver their strategy.
the results
Within two years our client regained their number one slot in the market. The programme management office guided and supported the implementation of a company-wide transformation which delivered a return on investment of 29:1. Capability was transferred to the client team, who now run and track the overall programme and are deployed on the rollout programme. Many of the transformation team members have been promoted to key roles in the organisation.
how we got there
We started by running numerous workshops to understand the scope of the change required and the critical levers to pull, as well as the behaviours that help and hinder the change in this organisation. Together, we then created a transformation map which contained all the key projects, connections, milestones and KPIs. After reducing the number of initiatives in place across the business from 450 to 90, we created a clear, focused picture of the strategy and plan, which was communicated throughout the business. Using the plan, the executive team met monthly to make sure the programme stayed on track.
We created a pragmatic process for introducing new, and exiting non-priority, projects. To ensure the impact and sustainability of the programme, we set up and designed an in-house transformation team. This involved bringing together various parties including Lean practitioners, project managers and change experts to deliver the ongoing transformation agenda.
We adapted our change and project management toolkit to support all the different transformation activities. The work encompassed everything from complex process design to behavioural interventions using psychological tools. This toolkit is now owned and run by the programme team.
The work went beyond the design, set up and training of a programme management office. Our programme management approach is designed to anticipate and manage critical issues, provide focus and clarity and engage the organisation to deliver the changes required. We have learnt over the years that creating the environment for transformation to happen requires a highly visible, transparent and involving process. Actively engaging all the main stakeholders at key points in the diagnostic, design and delivery process is essential. And in a very large organisation, this means not just managing the obvious key stakeholders, but understanding and tapping into the informal network so we can stay in touch with what’s happening on the ground throughout the business. An effective programme management office needs a continuous loop of feedback to know what’s hitting the mark and what isn’t.
