Is Your Transformation Stuck in One Gear?

Large transformations start with big investments and bold promises, but many fail to deliver.

We see two common scenarios:

• Waiting for the big change: Progress stalls while everything is pushed into a future “transformation bucket.” Expectations compound and become unrealistic, while delivery never catches up.
• Scattered initiatives and experiments: Teams launch pilots or small projects without a unifying vision. Lots of work happens, but doesn’t lead to the overall goals.

The challenge with transformation is that it forces us to hold two seemingly opposing ideas in balance. We need the discipline to pursue a bold, long-term vision, while simultaneously delivering tangible value today. We need to think big while acting small.

What is dual-track transformation?

Sustainable change requires two parallel streams of action:

1. The strategic track focuses on your future. It builds capabilities, platforms and ways of working that will define long-term success.
2. The momentum track delivers immediate improvements that solve today’s problems. It uses iteration to keep people engaged and build momentum towards your bigger, strategic vision.

Both tracks are essential. Strategic work ensures you are working toward something meaningful. Momentum-building keeps your organisation engaged and demonstrates value while you build the big changes.

Track 1: Strategic

Objective: Design and deliver the long-term capabilities, platforms, and operating models that will underpin future success.

Why it’s valuable: Strategic changes address root causes, remove systemic constraints, and enable radically new ways of working or competing. They ensure your transformation doesn’t just optimise the current state but also reshapes it for the future.

Examples:

• Enterprise-wide technology platform overhaul
• Operating model redesign
• Organisation-wide cultural change

Track 2: Momentum

Objective: Deliver visible, high-impact changes within short timeframes to maintain engagement, prove the transformation’s value, and remove immediate friction.

Why it’s valuable: Quick wins build belief and energy. They generate financial or operational ‘space’ for the larger transformation and create capability stepping-stones towards the overall transformation vision.

Examples:

• Addressing customer pain points
• Streamlining existing processes
• Training teams in a new capability
• Piloting AI tools across jobs to be done

Five principles for a dual-track transformation

Use these principles to reflect on your transformation. Do you think you have the right structures in place?

1. Clear and transparent roadmap

Each track should be visible on a roadmap with dependencies and connections highlighted. Transparency prevents duplication, clarifies how short-term work supports long-term goals, and helps stakeholders see “one transformation, two speeds.”

2. Well-ordered initiatives that build on each other

Momentum track wins should be chosen to create capability or confidence that accelerates the strategic track. Sequencing matters: misaligned initiatives result in wasted effort and ineffective action, rather than delivering incremental value.

3. Collaboration mechanisms between tracks

Lessons, talent, and tools must move freely between tracks, with rigorous governance, shared infrastructure, and fluid communication. Without this bridge, lessons from quick wins remain isolated and strategic work lacks depth.

4. Strong governance to monitor progress and health

Governance should do more than track milestones. It must actively monitor the connection between tracks, ensuring their individual health and reinforcing nature. Measures should enforce discipline where it matters, including alignment to outcomes and standards, while leaving space for teams to experiment and adapt to changing needs and contexts.

5. Consistent measurement of outcomes

Metrics must capture both tracks: customer or employee outcomes in the short term, and capability or system maturity in the long term. Shared reporting reinforces the narrative that small wins and big bets are part of the same journey.

Ready to get your transformation moving?

Is your transformation on track? We will continue to explore this topic and ways to establish a dual-track transformation delivery model.

Ready to explore how this could work for your organisation? Get in touch or book a discovery call with our team.