SMP7
German SMEs have a better handle on their change projects than many global corporations. Yet most are not yet true high performers. Our study on implementation projects in SMEs also shows that the longer a change initiative lasts, the lower its success rate becomes—by 19 to 24 percentage points as the duration increases. Here’s what it takes to ensure your plans don’t fizzle out halfway through: SMP7.
Nearly three-quarters of all implementation initiatives—whether restructuring or turnaround efforts—do not succeed. Yet this is due neither to a lack of expertise nor to a lack of innovative concepts. Based on our experience, what are the reasons for this?
Implementation processes are successful when the entire team works together. In practice, however, the opposite is often the case. Implementation often fails due to a lack of convincing motivation or poor communication.
Defined implementation measures are essential in transformation or turnaround processes. The challenge lies in prioritizing these measures based on their potential to add value. In practice, implementation strategies often fail at this stage. Instead, many companies operate under the motto “the more, the better.”
If you want to achieve a lot, you set the bar high for performance improvement. In our experience, these targets are usually set too high. As a result, even halfway through, the defined projects can no longer be pursued with the necessary energy and discipline because the desired results have not been achieved.
Implementation requires a strong start. And this is precisely where companies often underestimate the importance of the initial phase of the implementation process. Instead of providing guidance, defining milestones, and establishing monitoring tools, many companies follow the strategy: “Let’s just get started; the rest will fall into place.”
The business analysis, the development of a transformation strategy, and the design of the implementation plan require three distinct success factors. Only then is it realistic to achieve the goal in a sustainable manner.
During the analysis phase, a company’s core strengths should be identified and evaluated to ensure that its offerings are tailored to customer and market needs.
The key question when developing restructuring, turnaround, or transformation strategies is: Which value drivers (processes, products, services) ensure optimal value creation?
An effective and successful implementation program also addresses the question of how to maintain the focus of all stakeholders on the defined targets throughout the entire implementation period.
“We’ve come to know SMP as a consulting firm that excels both in analysis and in execution. Clear recommendations for action—even in difficult situations—a 100% commitment to the shared challenge, and a complete lack of any pretentiousness on the part of the consultants are why I wholeheartedly recommend SMP.”
CFO, Healthcare Services
We do not view implementation expertise as an art form in which genius is revealed, but rather as a craft. Implementation expertise can be described, developed, and learned through specific methods. Our approach deliberately focuses on the triad of structures, people, and performance.
- Our project organization (team, tasks, tools, steering meetings) has been defined. Capacities, resources, and responsibilities have been established.
- Our organizational design was developed in collaboration with the team, accepted by the team, and approved.
- Our implementation roadmap and action plans have been derived from a transformation concept, prioritized, and scheduled.
- Our implementation team is assembled with a focus on performance: based on technical expertise; commitment to the task; personal capacity; and potential for talent development.
- Regular communication of purpose, goals, and project progress plays a central role in the company and takes place across departments.
- Management demonstrates commitment, speaks with one voice, and maintains the necessary focus on implementation goals; in doing so, it establishes mechanisms to keep attention on the implementation process.
- The effects of the measures are evaluated (quantitatively in euros, qualitatively in milestones), and their measurability is clearly ensured.
- The project is structured so that project management and the methodological expertise applied empower employees in the long term. Standardized reporting forms and tools for monitoring measures are used.
- Monitoring of the measures is a standard part of regular meetings and serves primarily to measure project progress.
Whether it’s a turnaround or transformation project, there are always clear goals, a dedicated project manager, and a team behind it. Building high-performance teams is the cornerstone of our implementation methodology.
Organization is not just about assigning responsibilities, transparency, and schedules. It’s also about leadership and decision-making processes, role models, support systems, and the nature and extent of communication. The goal is to make processes more dynamic and work environments more inspiring.
The action plan and prioritization of measures begin in the conceptual phase (quantifying measures and developing a timeline) and must be operationalized in the initialization phase. For example, this involves specific subprojects and work packages that are translated into responsibilities and timelines and made manageable.
Timelines and milestones must be defined during the conceptual phase in order to allocate financial resources, materials, and staff. They are finalized during the initialization phase. They realistically map out the action plan on the timeline while also setting clear target dates, serving as a framework and basis for decision-making.
Regular progress reviews are necessary—through consistent monitoring of initiatives. This process tracks the progress of a wide variety of projects and subprojects. It provides transparency regarding the impact on financial metrics such as the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow.
The most important factor for successful implementation: high levels of buy-in for the project goals.
To generate and maintain high levels of buy-in, it is particularly crucial for leadership to remain consistently attentive to questions, concerns, subtle tensions, emerging unrest, and hidden or overt resistance.
Constantly evaluate your program for practicality! It serves as the overarching framework that encompasses all stages. Practicality is the most important measure of a set of measures’ prospects for success. Practicality means keeping people—their strengths, weaknesses, needs, and abilities—in mind.
To ensure this theory is put into practice, company leadership, employees, and external consultants follow this comprehensive, seven-step SMP7 ROADMAP.
It combines a transformation strategy based on solid analytical findings with a review of the business model from a value-creation perspective.
Learn more about effective implementation management in our guide.
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The key to successful implementation strategies—ones that work not only on paper but also in practice—lies above all in the people involved. This success stems from the synergy between leaders who offer more than just persuasive arguments, employees who are fully committed, and consultants who are more than just external auditors.
The main problem with failed implementation initiatives: communication.
No matter what metrics or approaches are chosen to achieve goals or milestones, they usually seem arbitrary and abstract to the team. The solution: include motivating milestones in the action plan. This provides direction, strengthens a sense of unity, and makes changes tangible in everyday life.
Anyone who wants to implement transformation, turnaround, or disruption strategies must be open to change. For example: changing habits, routines, and processes. And this doesn’t come naturally to us humans until we understand the reasoning behind it. Four guiding principles can help with this; they not only make the necessity clear but also ensure that employees themselves want to do their part:
- Honesty
- Realism
- Respect
- Ambition
Effective leadership means taking responsibility. And the best way to do that is by connecting with employees, leadership, and stakeholders not only on a rational level, but also on an emotional one.
So it’s about facts and feelings when you want to do the right thing. Our consultants rely on the psychology of success—using a mix of motivation (leading by example) and measurement (objective success metrics). This combination inspires people to align ambitious corporate goals with their personal aspirations.
