The Value of Transformational Planning — Is it Worth the Time?
Contributor:
Geoffrey K. Weiss
Director of Channel Solutions and Transformational Planning
Banking and Credit Services
CSC
The age-old battle between the planners and the doers rages on as we see the financial services sector heal itself from the market meltdown of 2008. One side laments, “If only we had planned better,” while the other urges, “Forget the plan; we need to hurry up and do something.”
What organizations sometimes don’t realize is that planning represents only a small fraction of the actual time spent doing the work. Over longer durations, teams can find it particularly challenging to maintain focus on executing the plan’s intent and can be distracted easily by what I call “the next shiny toy.” Seeking out quick hits and intermediate wins is important to the overall success of the program.
Financial institutions must be cognizant of the evolutionary cycle from strategy to transformational planning to project delivery, and from project delivery back to strategy. All pieces in this cycle rely on superior execution. The question is not ‟Is it worth the time?” but “How do I make the time and is it possible?” I’ve seen organizations commit to transformational planning and accomplish useful intermediate wins such as core system modernization, multichannel integration and organizational realignments.
It’s important to correctly size the effort based on the amount of change your organization can accommodate and understand the capabilities of resources who will be participating in the planning and delivery work. This helps ensure the organization has a solid plan that it can deliver with the people it has to realize the intended value.
Planning cycles tend to be significantly shorter than project delivery cycles. This time tends to be a dimension of the overall transformational change that is desired. Working with clients to develop transformational plans, we have found that planning first significantly reduces the churn in the transformational effort and brings clarity on the business drivers and desired outcomes.
Net-net: designing a right-sized transformational plan reduces rework, limits organizational discord, offers flexibility within boundaries, allows for recognition of incremental benefits, and helps realize strategic objectives.
Do you have a transformational plan in place? How do you see the balance between developing a transformational plan and seizing a unique opportunity that may surface? We know from talking with a wide range of banks, lenders and financial services firms that such a balance can be achieved. Register to read CSC’s new research paper, The Leader’s Guide to Banking Transformation, for more in-depth insights into these issues.
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