The first step is to be totally honest about where you are because it’s from here that you plan your transformation journey from here you can establish just how far you have to travel and acknowledge just how long it is likely to take and which obstacles you are likely to encounter on route.

This assessment should include: How open is the culture of the organisation to change? Do managers, particularly middle managers have people skills to match their technical knowledge and experience? Do digital skills exist outside tech teams? What is the state of the relationship with the TU’s and how does the organisation consult those not union members?

How would you assess the general levels of trust within the organisation? Is the concept of transferable management skills, essential for an agile organisation, reflected in appointments? Is HR is at the top table ,does it influenced thinking and is it making a convincing business case for change and the importance of a complete rethink of how the organisation attracts , develops, retains and redeploys talent to remain competitive and future-ready.

Does the board recognise that workforce transformation is a strategic imperative, far beyond traditional concepts of restructuring? Do they have a realistic time scale for change on this scale?

Quick wins (on the Transformation agenda)

Small changes that can be achieved quickly improve the credibility of senior managers, reduce resistance to change, increase confidence in the agenda and boost morale. Examples

Remove unpopular and time consuming management tasks like annual appraisals ,streamline the recruitment process, more controversially ditch the compulsory unconscious bias courses.

Recognise the organisation has hidden talent which needs to be released one way of doing this is introducing a mentoring scheme initially aimed at middle managers.

Youth needs to be developed and given an opportunity, only by gaining experience will youth flourish. Use acting up and secondments plus membership of corporate working groups and project groups to creat opportunities for development.

Don’t give up on existing managers who show no ambition and are coasting and have a tendency to cynicism these are the very people who must change if the organisation is to be transformed. Instead win them over by showing them they have a positive role in the future of the organisation as demonstrated by your willingness to invest in their development through executive coaching and learning sets.

Organisations will start the transformation journey from different positions and will progress at different speeds but all will follow the type of road map described.