It’s a sobering truth: most operations transformations fail to deliver meaningful change—either never taking hold at all or quickly losing momentum. Our responsibility is to make sure our clients don’t add to that statistic. That’s why we created McKinsey Implementation, a specialized group with broad Operations expertise that helps turn recommended solutions into concrete performance improvement. Working directly at client sites, across all levels of the organization, our implementation consultants build the capabilities, systems, and processes needed to deliver long-term impact.
The right approach: Start-to-finish transformation
Our approach is based on the largest research program ever conducted on transformational change, involving more than 650 companies, 850,000 employees, 900 leading books and articles, and 30 CEO journeys. The resulting insights have allowed us to develop a core set of principles, which we have applied in over 1500 projects in industries ranging from mining and manufacturing to banking and retail sales:
Build for implementation, right from the start
Anticipating how the client will implement the changes is an essential step in designing the solution—not a separate stage that gets tacked on at the end. From day one, we pressure-test all proposed solutions for feasibility, looking at costs, timeframes, and possible risks that could jeopardize the transformation.
Focus on sustainability
The ultimate test of a transformation’s success is whether the changes endure and produce long-term benefits—something that can only occur when clients have the capabilities and resources needed to lead the transformation on their own. We help build their skills by empowering front-line staff at all levels. They drive the initial design, lead the transformation efforts, and gain hands-on experience while we provide sustained coaching.
Strong management support
Our experienced teams understand that client managers face a daunting task: embedding transformation efforts through all levels of the organization and making them part of the corporate identity. To reach this goal, our consultants help the managers develop strategies for changing employee mindsets and behaviors, using time-tested techniques for influencing people. The result of these efforts: a change program that produces faster, larger, and more lasting changes in performance.
We are flexible and adapt our approach to suit our clients. In some cases, we may only supply one or two people to provide coaching, but if clients need more assistance, a large McKinsey team will work on site. During busy times, we may increase the team’s size and then shift to a smaller group or part-time support when work slows—a model that keeps projects on track and within budget.
The right people
Our implementation consultants are seasoned professionals who have worked in the field for years before joining McKinsey. They come from virtually every industry, giving clients the benefit of their deep expertise. Many have previously facilitated or led large-scale, complex operations transformations.
That background means our consultants know how to recognize patterns that warn of impending problems or that show the transformation is on the right track to deliver high impact results. If obstacles do arise, our consultants will help solve them. In addition to being outstanding analysts, they are pragmatic and empathetic people who will listen to your concerns, connect with your team members, and bring out the best in your staff. These are the qualities you need in a coach who will be working directly with front-line employees each day as they grapple with change and learn new skills.
Our consultants focus on impact and remain onsite for the long haul to ensure success. After a project, one client remarked, “One of the best things was how practical everything was—no fancy solutions. I could tell your guys had done this many, many times before.”
The right tools and capabilities
Over the years, we have built a large library of resources to assist with transformational change, including:
- The Mindset and Capability Intervention Catalog, which contains more than 450 tested and proven strategies to promote cultural change
- WordViz, an advanced analytical tool that helps companies analyze language, such as from call-center conversations, and identify prevailing mindsets
- The Next Generation PMO toolkit, which contains detailed field guides describing how to manage every step of a transformational change program
- Wave, a program-management platform that supports transformations and improvement programs by connecting management and individuals across an organization
These tools are only a start, however. As valuable as they can be, we use them only when the client’s unique situation calls for them, selecting those that will provide the deepest insight in developing a customized solution.
The right experience
Over 30 percent of McKinsey’s work is in Operations, supporting numerous Fortune 500 clients through large transformation programs that have ranged in length from a few months to several years. Recent examples of our work include:
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Mining
A 12-month project to stabilize a mining operation with a legacy of poor accountability—reducing underperforming shifts by 80 percent, increasing productivity by 24 percent, and shifting the company’s culture to promote lasting change
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Healthcare
A 2-year transformation of a hospital network with 30 facilities and about 35,000 beds that involved over 250 separate projects; we helped the client reduce its costs by 2 percent and its deficit by 20 percent
Our clients report high satisfaction with their results. One manager noted, “It's one thing coming in and doing a bunch of analysis and telling us where the problem, but it's another thing then helping us drive to execution, and I think that that is what McKinsey did very well on that for me.”