Distinguishing between Transformative and Incremental Change Initiatives

By Patricia Koopersmith, Rockwood Company Founder and CEO

The fact that only one-third of organizational change initiatives succeed can discourage even the most ambitious of leaders from making significant changes.[1] Consultants and researchers often attribute this abysmal success ratio to a lack of investment in change management support. They argue that such efforts don’t succeed because the organization’s leadership does not adequately support efforts to align stakeholders, manage resistance, elevate team performance, integrate activities, create buy-in, monitor and respond to the environment, measure performance, or adapt accordingly.

Although a lack of change management support certainly can play a role in a change initiative’s failure, the story tends to be more nuanced. It is perhaps equally as detrimental when leadership does not fully understand the type of change it is about to initiate. Therefore, before an organization embarks on its change initiative, its leaders and managers must first understand the distinction between transformative change and incremental change.

Over the past two decades, I have had the privilege of working with leaders across the federal government to support many transformative change initiatives. Transformative change requires a coalition of visionary leaders willing to invest time to understand the possibilities in the future operating environment and then operate in ambiguity and take risks to design a future state that is based on an uncertain future context. These leaders define a vision of the future that is completely new and unconstrained by today’s policies, structures, or authorities of the past or present. Transformation requires a great deal of an organization’s resources, including the time and energy of its leaders and workforce. It can also serve to inspire the workforce to commit time and energy to help realize the vision. Transformative efforts are most appropriate for addressing complex problems, or those that require a completely new system to achieve leadership’s intended outcomes. If successful, transformative efforts will positively alter the course of the organization forever.

I have also supported incremental change initiatives across government agencies. These changes do not require the horsepower of leadership, but rather the planning capabilities of managers to balance capacity with demand and ensure predictable value is created using an efficient system. Managers of such initiatives seek to implement finite changes that will improve service to users or customers, create process efficiencies, or make an existing system more effective. The focus of an incremental change initiative is executing a well-defined shift in the way things work today. Incremental change is the right path when a problem is relatively isolated, simple, and the current system needs a “tune-up.” This type of initiative requires managers to become familiar with the past and current situation and work to make it better. History judges the success of these initiatives by the efficiencies and economies they produce (as compared to the baseline measured at the start of the initiative). In other words, we can evaluate the success of an incremental change initiative by the extent to which it yields a better version of today.

The next time you launch a “change initiative,” first consider the type of change you intend to make: Are you incrementally changing your organization or are you transforming it? Are you simply improving upon the existing system or are you working to design and create a completely new system, unconstrained by the past and informed by the future context? Understanding the distinction between transformative and incremental change initiatives will enable you to determine the best approach. It could mean the difference between your initiative’s success and failure.

[1] Nick Tasler, “Stop Using the Excuse ‘Organizational Change Is Hard,’” Harvard Business Review, July 19, 2017, https://hbr.org/2017/07/stop-using-the-excuse-organizational-change-is-hard.

[2] Charles Duhigg Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business (Random House, 2016).

“Are you simply improving upon the existing system or are you working to design and create a completely new system, unconstrained by the past? Understanding the distinction between transformative and incremental change initiatives will enable you to determine the best approach.”