The big question

What to look for?

• ​Deep knowledge of the organization.
  A view across the enterprise and into the deep inner workings of the business is critical for understanding the full impact of transformation and managing the transformation strategy. Why? Because transformation is about optimizing the whole, not just individual pieces.
  
• Solid relationships across the organization and strong political capital.
  Your top transformation executive must understand the political landscape and be able to influence the various key players to get to answers quickly, build consensus, and get all stakeholders moving efficiently down the transformation path. Managing cross-functional conflicts and dependencies can be key to execution—which is one of the most difficult steps of a transformation.
  
• A proven history of getting things done.
  Transformation is about establishing a vision for the end-state operating model, developing a clear roadmap to get there, and then leveraging your team to execute with great efficiency and speed to deliver that end-state vision.
  
• A track record of decisiveness.
  A leader who can make effective and integrated decisions, balancing the trade-offs inherent in any difficult decision. Great leaders make effective decisions and they make them efficiently—this will help you save time, capital, and other resources during your transformation while also positioning your organization to achieve long-term results.
  
• Relevant experience, not necessarily prior transformation experience.
  The ability to lead matters most. An internal transformation center of excellence, Results Management Office or third-party support can help make up for any specific transformation experience your leader lacks.

Why should we pick a business leader?

Strong transformation leaders need to represent the business. No matter the type of transformation, your organization needs a leader who deeply understands the business issues at play and who can build accountability with key business stakeholders. It can sometimes be tempting to tap the CIO to lead a transformation. But that can create big problems. Why? Because to be effective as a transformation leader, the CIO will have to stop being the CIO. Piling transformation leadership duties onto another function is a recipe for failure. You'll require an exclusive transformation leader, and your CIO might be too valuable a talent resource to spare. Keep in mind that anyone who might be perceived as having an inherent bias (departmental or otherwise) might not make an ideal candidate—since building consensus is key to an effective transformation. And if there's an internal battle for resources between two departments, choosing an executive from one of the departments could be a mistake.

How do you hold the leader accountable?

If you have enabled the transformation leader to do his or her job—not piling transformation onto other roles—you've already taken a major step toward accountability. But even the best transformation executive could fail if there is not a critical mass of executives who are aligned on the transformation and supporting the leader. The transformation leader must drive that alignment, with help from the CEO and the blessing of the board. The transformation leader should report to a steering committee, and the leader should also serve on that committee. Don't double-down if you've selected the wrong leader or made the wrong trade-offs while trying to adjust existing leadership roles and responsibilities. It makes more sense to install a new transformation leadership who can get things right—rather than continue with a suboptimal leader. Changing the leadership midstream will be disruptive, but it can be critically necessary. Motivating the transformation leader and the supporting executive team can be a simple matter of tying performance incentives to transformation outcomes—a move that also could help swiftly align all the key players on objectives and strategy.