Organizational change is hard - here's the proof

In this post, we have gathered key statistics about change and transformation. The numbers speak for themselves - managing change in organizations is hard, very hard. 

Change is necessary, and it’s happening: 

• Worldwide spending on the technologies and services that enable the digital transformation of business practices, products, and organizations is forecast to reach $2.3 trillion in 2023
  
• The typical organization today has undertaken 5 major firm-wide changes in the past 3 years — and nearly 75% of organizations expect to multiply the types of major change initiatives they will undertake in the next three years
  
• 70% of HR executives surveyed recognize the need for workforce transformation that includes new skills and processes

Most change is failing:

• 70 % of complex, large-scale change programs don’t reach their stated goals 
  
• 1 in 3 CEOs say their organizations have failed to achieve the value they anticipated from previous transformation initiatives
  
• 84% of companies fail at digital transformation
  
• 67% of well-formulated strategies fail due to poor execution

Leadership is not optimistic about change:

• 31 % of executives say their organizations are incapable of implementing formal innovation processes, management, and budgets
  
• 47% of executives say they can realize sustainable value from business transformation
  
• Only 51% believe they can create short-term transformation wins
  
• 28% of executives say their existing organizational culture is a barrier to execution
• 30% of executives say their organizations’ legacy technology/systems are a barrier to success. Transformations that begin with a specific technology (rather than with strategic objectives) are twice as likely to fail

So there you have it. Change and transformation are both the biggest opportunity and the biggest risk businesses face at the moment. One thing is for certain; avoiding change isn’t an option. The only way to succeed is to make change everybody’s business.