Why do some companies succeed at transformation while
others fail? Is it the methods they choose, such as lean
manufacturing, Six Sigma and business process
reengineering? Maybe it's that old bugaboo, a lack of
"leadership commitment." If so, then why has no one come
up with a way to measure, predict or replicate the
critical factors that make transformations succeed?
Our research into change management has yielded an
explanation for why some companies succeed at
transformation while others fail—one that surprised us
by being both simple and overlooked: Success at
transformation is determined largely by an
organization's capacity for change. With such capacity,
a company can tackle its transformation challenge
head-on with confidence. Without such capacity, not only
does the change effort risk failure, but also people
wrongly label the corporate leadership as failing.
