Know where your organisation and your transformation stand.
Two questions: how capable is the organisation, and how well is this being run?
The model
Transformation runs on two layers. Layer one is architectural coherence: whether the business, the enterprise and the transformation architectures agree with each other. The layer above is the five factors that decide whether a change is implemented well. The lower layer sets the ceiling, which is why a well-run programme can still fall short of its objectives.
- Business architecture
- What the organisation does, what it is good at, and who gets to decide.
- Enterprise architecture
- What it runs on. Systems, data, and the limits those place on what it can credibly become.
- Transformation architecture
- How it gets from one to the other. Order, timing, and how much change people can absorb at once.
- The five factors
- Leadership engagement, stakeholder management, communication, governance, and a data-driven approach. The things that decide whether a change is implemented well.
The ladder
Level 1 Reactive
Priority: Stabilise
What it looks like: No systematic approach to transformation.
Level 2 Structured
Priority: Integrate
What it looks like: Basic processes are documented, with some consistency achieved.
Level 3 Integrated
Priority: Optimise
What it looks like: Cross-functional integration is now established.
Level 4 Optimised
Priority: Extend
What it looks like: They have embedded a culture of continuous improvement. The organisation benchmarks externally and performs in the top quartile of its industry.
Level 5 World-Class
Priority: Sustain
What it looks like: Excellence is self-sustaining and self-evolving.
A level is not a score out of five. Each one describes a different way of working, and the step between two levels is a change in kind rather than a change in degree.
Your lowest dimension sets your level, not your average. An organisation strong on five dimensions and weak on one is held at the weak one.
The readiness diagnostic places you on the first three levels. The top two require evidence beyond a self-assessment.
Levels cannot be skipped, and each one builds on the one below it.
The instruments
Which one?
- If you do not know where the organisation stands, start with the readiness diagnostic.
- If a transformation is under way and you want to know whether it is being run well, take the Five Factors Assessment.
- If you suspect the problem is structural rather than behavioural, the Architectural Coherence Assessment is the one, and it is run with a leadership team.
Readiness Diagnostic
Where does this organisation stand today?
21 statements, about seven minutes. You get your level on the five-level model, the dimension most likely to be holding you back, and what tends to move an organisation up a rung.
For anyone. No account, no email required to see the result.
Five Factors Assessment
Is this transformation being implemented well?
36 statements, about ten minutes. You get a profile across the five implementation factors, and you can invite one colleague to answer the same questions and see where the two of you diverge.
For anyone inside a transformation. The comparison needs both people to agree to it.
Architectural Coherence Assessment
Do the business, enterprise and transformation architectures agree?
35 statements across seven dimensions. Involve your leadership team in this process instead of doing it alone. The misalignment in the responses is a valuable insight, in addition to the scoring.
Delivered inside an engagement. Individuals can request a single code to try it.
How to connect?
- For organisations
- Janovis applies this in advisory, consulting and interim work. Basel. janovis.com
- For individual leaders
- Coaching for leaders and teams, under a separate practice and a separate agreement. srpartridge.com
- The argument in full
- The Transformation Architect series, and the framework written out. itxf.com