Maturity level: Caterpillar
Companies that focus on exploiting existing success without taking transformative steps
Now: Drive a cross-organization discussion on responding to disruption, working to instil a sense of urgency to overcome inertia.
Next: Align the C-suite and board of directors to a shared ambition to guide the needed investment, culture change, governance, link to purpose and message to shareholders. Companies can also set a leadership example of experimentation and risk-taking — that is, “walk the talk.”
Beyond: Engage with key investors to discuss disruption and assess appetite and attitude toward investing in innovation.
Maturity level: Chrysalis
Companies that are aware of the impact the forces of disruption have on their business and are taking steps toward creating a strong culture of innovation
- Now: Identify key gaps. It’s also important to recognize your approach to disruption readiness isn’t merely a project, but an organizational transformation touching fundamental aspects of culture, purpose, operations and your current business model.
- Next: Consider aligning rewards, metrics and governance to support innovation objectives. Also make sure the CEO owns the disruption agenda and the board pays frequent attention to determining what’s really threatening or disruptive.
- Beyond: Find the change champions within your company, bringing them together to set them free to drive transformation, whether as dedicated teams or embedded in key functions. Think about using talent transformation to drive culture change, recruiting for diversity of thinking and disruptive mindsets.
Maturity level: Butterfly
Companies that are the most inovative and maintain a transformative mindset across the extended enterprise to successfully execute
Now: Plan for now, next and beyond. As a leader, you can take the opportunity to harness digital by embedding it across the entire value chain, from strategy and design, through to execution and risk management.
Next: Work to develop ecosystems, networks and innovative formats for collaboration, not only within the organization, but from the outside in. You’ll want to consider identifying their exponential opportunities and how you can scale fast to seize them.
Beyond: Ask yourself: What part of my business is already dead? Act on the answer to free up resources for fresh innovation. You’ll also want to “re-strategize” — frequently revisit your plan, redesign the future and repilot concepts.
Companies face a choice in today’s dynamic environment: activate disruption readiness first as chrysalises, then as butterflies, or remain caterpillars, putting both market leadership and market capitalization at risk. Understanding how mature an organization is in its ability to meet the disruptive challenges now, next and beyond allows leaders to confidently chart a course that takes them to the next level in their transformation journey and seizes competitive advantage in the Transformative Age.
Summary
The Transformative Index allows companies to assess where they are on their transformation journey, to help them chart the right course of action to succeed in the Transformative Age.
