Volume 1 | Issue 1
October 2024
Are you Hiring and Staffing Right for The Roles That Make or Break Transformation?
Self-limiting beliefs
and self-imposed
mental barriers might
be holding you back
Transformation is often framed as an organisation-wide effort. In practice, its success is far more concentrated.
Research from McKinsey shows that organisations where around 7% of employees actively own transformation initiatives are twice as likely to outperform peers.
Yet most organisations operate closer to 2%.
This is not just a participation gap. It’s a gap in where ownership sits.
The data points to a clear threshold: at around 7%, transformation begins to sustain itself. Below that, it struggles to gain traction.
Research from McKinsey shows that organisations where around 7% of employees actively own transformation initiatives are twice as likely to outperform peers. Yet most organisations operate closer to 2%.
It’s Not About Influence. It’s About the Actual Roles
“Influence” is often used to explain why some transformations work. But influence in organisations is not abstract—it is structural.
In practice, transformation tends to hinge on three types of roles:
- Execution-critical roles — where strategy becomes day-to-day decisions
- Connector roles — where information and alignment flow across boundaries
- Credible role models — where behaviour is observed, tested, and replicated
These roles exist in every organisation. But they are rarely identified with precision.
Instead, transformation ownership is often assigned based on hierarchy or availability—neither of which reliably maps to impact.
“Influence” is often used to explain why some transformations work. But influence in organisations is not abstract—it is structural.
Why Most Transformations Stall Early
It’s rarely due to lack of intent.
More often, organisations:
- over-index on senior leadership
- underweight frontline roles
- overlook informal networks where behaviour actually spreads
The result is familiar: strong messaging, visible effort—and limited change in how work gets done.
How to Identify the Critical 7%
If transformation depends on a small set of roles, the question becomes practical:
Which roles actually shape behaviour at scale?
In practice, four signals matter:
- Decision centrality — who shapes how work gets done
- Network reach — who others rely on to solve and align
- Behavioural visibility — whose actions are noticed and repeated
- Execution leverage — where small changes have wide impact
These are observable patterns—not assumptions—and they often sit beyond the formal org chart.
A Shift in How Transformation Is Designed
This reframes the leadership challenge.
Not:
“How do we align the whole organisation?”
But:
“Have we identified and enabled the roles that actually move it?”
Increasingly, organisations are focusing here—on:
- how critical roles are hired
- how leaders in those roles are developed and coached
- how organisational insight is used to map influence and decision-making
In other words, transformation is becoming less about broad mobilisation and more about precision in talent, leadership, and insight—areas central to the work of Bricoleur Consulting.
You don’t need everyone to drive change. You need the right 7%—and the discipline to recognise them.
Final Thought
Transformation doesn’t stall for lack of intent. It stalls when ownership sits in the wrong roles.
You don’t need everyone to drive change. You need the right 7%—and the discipline to recognise them.
#TranformationThatLasts
Sources:
- McKinsey & Company — How many people are really needed in a transformation?
- McKinsey & Company — The science of organizational transformations
- McKinsey & Company — The four building blocks of change
- MIT Sloan Management Review — Research on organisational network analysis and informal influence
- Harvard Business Review — The Hidden Power of Social Networks (Rob Cross & Andrew Parker/Prusak)
- Gartner — Research on change management and employee influence
Anu D’Souza is the CEO of Bricoleur Consulting — insight-led leadership recruitment and transformation. She has spent her career at the intersection of business growth strategy, brands and leadership, working with and within companies including Unilever, Ogilvy and BBDO across multiple markets and cultures. Bricoleur works with senior leadership teams across APAC who are navigating AI and digital transformation — from readiness assessment through to placing the permanent and fractional leaders who make it stick. Anu is also the author of Aligned: Why CEOs Need Company Brand Alignment in the Age of a Questioning Workforce.
Connect with Anu:
insight@bricoleurconsulting.com · calendly.com/bricoleurconsulting/30min