Half of all underperforming transformation initiatives appear green on the surface but are actually red at their core. The watermelon phenomenon.
Here are three red flags you should never ignore:
- Early financial underperformance
- Managers often forgive a slow start, but early financial struggles usually indicate deeper issues. Data shows that if you achieve less than 70% of your targets in the first three months, your project is 4.6 timesmore likely to underperform.
- Missed KPIs and non-financial metrics
- If your leading indicators fall behind, treat them as red flags. Missing critical metrics could mean you’re tracking the wrong aspects of your transformation.
- Falling behind on milestones
- Delays happen, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly. The further behind you fall, the higher the likelihood of underperformance. If an activity is delayed by more than six weeks, your project is nearly twice aslikely to fail.
To prevent your transformation from becoming a watermelon, here’s what we do:
- Assign no more than 3 initiatives to an owner
- Make finance part of an initiative’s core
- Work plans should have clearly defined milestones
- Remove blockers in 7, mobilise in fewer than 45 days
- Report weekly
- Adopt a “red is good” mindset
- Identify and focus on your star initiative owners