Whilst our research concurred with the popular findings of mass value-destruction, we went further to identify a major cause.
Our research over the past 18 years into why this happens, how attempts to remedy the problems can, at times, make things worse and, importantly, how most organisations are leaving at least half of each project’s potential value ‘on the table’. This research:
- Identified the drivers and destroyers of value from change projects — why some projects succeed yet so many fail to deliver the results and benefits expected; and
- Practically defined maturity - Found that each organisation’s capability to successfully direct, manage and deliver change ‘matures’ through five levels with the business results and returns increasing exponentially at each level, from negative at level-one, breakeven at level-two to a ratio of 3-to-1 at level-four. Many organisations today are at levels one or two.
Research by others, including Standish Group, UK’s Office of Government Commence, Gartner, BCG, KPMG, PwC and alike have consistently concluded that organisations today destroy or lose value. No one has claimed the contrary.
A primary conclusion of our research was that a major cause of value loss at each step in the change project delivery process. Through deficiencies in each project delivery process a project’s value is cumulatively lost. For example, poor business cases can, of themselves, leave 25% of the project’s value ‘on the table’. Common faults include:
- Business Case Failure - Conventional business case approaches this missing value is not identified, quantified or planned to be delivered; and
- Change Planning Failure - If the benefits that are identified and quantified but then don’t make it to the project plan due to change planning process deficiencies, the value of the project is further compromised.
With so much value being lost, the cause must be early in the investment lifecycle
