Over the past twenty five years, I’ve had the privilege of working with some 400 plus organisations who are going through some form of transformation. And yes I actually counted back through all the ones I can remember right back to my consultancy days at KPMG and through the world class teams I currently speak for.
Some were global market leaders, some were challenger brands, some were scale ups, some were stuck.
They covered every sector imaginable. They had a whole host of different challenges. And of course very different leaderships teams and styles.
I’ve spent much time reflecting though on what were the patterns that they shared in common.
Why Do This?
I observe that the need for transformation is the greatest it has ever been.
Many organisations who would have been more comfortable to not transform are having their hands forced by the market and the world we live in.
Change is no longer optional; it’s mandatory.
Some organisations are natural disruptors and want to go further and faster.
All roads point to a skills gap around how do you drive effective transformation.
I think that my career sitting at the heart of change and transformation both ay work and in my home life gives me a unique perspective.
Your Situation
If you’re reading this, there’s a decent chance you’ve been asked to lead change or you’re grappling with change in your team, department, division and overall organisation.
You might have a clear brief.
More often than not, you might have a blank sheet of paper and a set of outcomes you need to deliver on!
Either way, you’re feeling the pressure to move and to respond to change, to deliver more with less, to manage uncertainty, anxiety, burnout and keep the ship (and yourself) moving at speed.
Overlay that with the context that you’re working in an environment where you control very few (if any of the moving parts), the leadership team may not be completely aligned, the continual shift ing sands of priorities changing, and strong opinions on what you should be doing are two a penny.
That combination creates a very specific challenge. You’re expected to deliver meaningful change, but what’s around you doesn’t always support it.
The very real risk is that these pressures cause sideways drift, misalignment and disconnection. The Transformation project start to lose traction.
What I see across organisations going through transformation
So, what are these patterns?
Pattern 1: There isn’t a genuinely shared picture of the future
Most organisations believe they are aligned on where they are going.
When you dig a little deeper, that alignment is often thinner than it first appears.
Ask a leadership team what success looks like in 12 or 24 months and you will usually hear broadly similar answers, but with important differences in emphasis. Those differences matter. They shape decisions, priorities, and where people choose to spend their time.
Without a shared and tangible picture of the future, teams end up moving, but not always in the same direction.
The work here is not about creating a better set of PowerPoint slides. It’s about taking the time to explore, in practical terms, what the future will look like when things are working. What will be different. What will people notice. What will customers experience. What will we see, hear and feel.
Until that is clear, everything that follows is harder than it needs to be.
Kevin Gaskells work in his book Inspired Leadership paints a brilliant process of what he calls creating “One version of the truth”.
Pattern 2: Misalignment sits just below the surface
In most organisations, people believe they are on the same page.
You hear the same language. They attend the same meetings. They nod at the same points.
And yet, when you look closely, they are often approaching the situation from very different angles.
One of the simplest ways this shows up is in how people relate to time. Some are naturally focused on what’s coming next, others are grounded in what needs to happen today, and others are influenced by what has happened before. These differences are completely normal, but when they are not surfaced, they can create friction and confusion.
What I’ve seen repeatedly is that once these differences are brought into the open, conversations become more productive. People understand each other better. Decisions become clearer and momentum that was previously squandered in unproductive debate starts to be used more effectively.
Pattern 3: Too much activity, not enough focus
When organisations commit to transformation, there is often a surge of activity.
New initiatives are launched. Workstreams are created. Plans are developed.
On the surface, this looks like progress.
In reality, it often creates noise.
Teams find themselves working across too many priorities at once. Attention is diluted. Important work competes with urgent work, and it becomes harder to see what is actually moving things forward.
What tends to make the difference is not doing more, but getting clearer on what matters most.
A simple way of doing this is to get explicit about why a particular goal matters, and then to list out all the reasons it might not work. Writing both sides down creates clarity. It turns what can feel like a complex challenge into a set of specific issues that can be worked through.
From there, it becomes easier to focus effort where it will have the greatest impact.
The book, The One Thing by Gary Keller has superb insights on a process and structure to get clear on this.
Pattern 4: Movement is delayed while people search for perfect answers
Another pattern that shows up regularly is hesitation, dressed up as perfectionism.
Teams spend time trying to fully map out the path ahead before taking action. They want to reduce uncertainty, to make sure the plan is right, to avoid mistakes.
The intention is understandable.
The effect is that progress slows.
The organisations that move more effectively tend to take a different approach. They are willing to test ideas, to run small experiments, and to learn from what happens. They don’t wait for complete certainty before acting.
This doesn’t mean being reckless. It means being deliberate about how you learn your way forward.
Over time, these small steps build momentum. They create insight. And they make it easier to tackle more complex challenges as they arise.
Jason Stockwood at Simply Business succeeded brilliantly in shaping a culture of experimentation at his very rapidly growing scale up.
Pattern 5: Behaviour doesn’t change at the same pace as intention
This is the pattern that ultimately determines whether transformation takes hold.
In almost every organisation, there is agreement on what needs to happen. The direction is clear. The ambition is set.
Where things become more difficult is in translating that into consistent behaviour.
Meetings continue in the same format. Decisions are made using familiar criteria. Time is allocated in ways that reflect old priorities rather than new ones.
Over time, this pulls the organisation back towards where it started.
The shift required here is subtle, but important. It’s about paying attention to the everyday moments where behaviour shows up. What are the most consistent conversations your team has as this shapes culture more than anything. How are decisions made? What gets prioritised. What gets challenged. What gets let go.
When those start to align with the intended direction, progress becomes much more visible and much easier to sustain.
How this plays out across different types of organisations
These patterns are not limited to one type of organisation.
Established organisations often have to work against existing structures and habits. There is more to unpick, and change can feel slower.
Newer or more disruptive organisations tend to move faster, but as they grow, they encounter many of the same issues. Alignment becomes more complex. Decisions become less straightforward. Focus can start to fragment.
In both cases, the underlying challenge is similar.
Progress depends on how clearly people are aligned and how effectively that alignment translates into action.
What this means if you’ve been asked to lead change
If you are in a role where you are responsible for driving or supporting transformation, chances are you are already working hard to move things forward.
The frustration often comes from the sense that, despite that effort, progress is uneven.
In many cases, that is not a reflection of capability. It is a reflection of how the system is currently operating.
Stepping back and asking a small number of questions can help to bring clarity.
Are we genuinely aligned on where we are going, or are we working from slightly different interpretations?
Where do we see differences in how people are approaching the problem?
Are we focusing on the few things that matter most, or are we spreading our effort too widely?
What has actually changed in how we are operating over the past few weeks?
These questions tend to surface the issues that need attention more effectively than adding further activity.
From what I see in keynotes to what actually drives change
In my work as a change leadership speaker, I’m often brought into organisations at a point where the need for change is clear and the pressure to deliver is high.
The keynote creates something valuable. It gives people space to step back, to see the bigger picture, and to build a shared language around what needs to happen.
What determines the outcome, though, is what follows.
The conversations that create alignment.
The focus on the areas that will have the greatest impact.
And the consistency of behaviour over time.
That is where transformation either takes shape or begins to drift.
It’s why whenever I have a briefing call I want to understand the challenges the team are facing, the initiatives already in place and what initiatives are planned. A talk has to fit into your overall context and actions need to be owned so that progress can happen.
Ideas and Inspiration without action is the equivalent of scrolling social media. Gratifying in the moment, but forgotten by tomorrow.
The thread that runs through all of it
Across the organisations I’ve worked with, the common thread is not the quality of the strategy or the capability of the people.
It’s the extent to which the organisation is aligned, focused, and able to act consistently.
When those things are in place, progress becomes easier to see and to sustain.
When they are not, even well-designed plans struggle to gain traction.
That’s what shows up, again and again, when you look across transformation at scale.
The punchline.
It comes down to conversations.
The ones you’re having, and the ones you’re avoiding going deeper into.
So what’s the conversation you need to have next?
Services I Offer
Want to play? Here’s 3 experiments to try with this idea:
Two-minute experiment
Title: The Alignment Check
Ask yourself: If I asked my leadership team what success looks like in 12 months, would we describe the same thing?
Then answer it honestly.
Yes → move on
No / not sure → that’s your problem
👉 That’s it. It all starts with awareness.
Five-minute experiment
Title: The “Why / Why Not” Test
Take one key goal you’re working on.
Split a page in two:
Left: Why this matters
Right: Why this might fail
Write fast. No filtering.
👉 You’ll immediately see:
What’s actually important and what’s getting in the way
Ten-minute experiment
Title: The Conversation You’re Avoiding
Write down:
The one conversation you know you need to have
Why you haven’t had it yet
What you’re worried might happen
Then finish with: What’s the first sentence I’m going to say?
👉 Not the whole conversation. Just the opening line.