What does it really take for organizations to move from a successful first wave of transformation to a self-propelling, business-as-usual engine? At McKinsey’s 2025 European Transformation Summit, executives across industries were united: While standardized governance and disciplined execution creates the runway, only agility and pragmatic prioritization, capability building, and durable ownership can keep the plane in the air when headwinds pick up (see sidebar, “About McKinsey’s European Transformation Summit”).
Mastering ‘disciplined agility’
The challenge of striking the right balance between sticking to an agreed plan and pivoting when circumstances change was voiced by many at the summit. The key? Maintaining an orderly approach to running the business while enabling the ability to make changes quickly when needed. For example, a global power-systems manufacturer discussed completing a three-year enterprise transformation nine months early, only to find itself disrupted by tariffs, stretched validation cycles, and finite engineering capacity. The company’s leadership reframed the challenge through two execution machines:
- one to run the business to maintain short-term continuity, fast triage, and cash discipline
- one focused on changing the business to achieve long-term ROI, enable a sustainable operating model, and venture into digital plays
To avoid whiplash from endless reprioritization, the team instituted an approach it called “90 days of certainty” in which quarterly meetings for planning stage gates marked the only time that priorities could change. Between gates, teams executed.
The team also discussed an “MRI” approach. Similar to how a medical magnetic resonance imaging scan creates a complete image by combining multiple layers, an MRI transformation plan is built using several layers of analysis. Each layer tested a different possible scenario in advance. What if demand swings? What if the cost of commodity rises? What if a commercial deal falls through? By examining these scenarios ahead of time, leaders could quickly see how changes would affect the overall picture. This way, leaders could act within hours, not weeks. The payoff was agility without chaos and a culture shift from being married to the plan to being committed to outcomes.
From top-down push to line-led pull
Transformations start with a clear top-down impulse—leadership sets the ambition, direction, and boundaries. However, lasting impact cannot rely on centralized control alone. To make change sustainable, ideas and operational drive need to come from the bottom up. The business units closest to daily operations are best positioned to identify practical improvements, take ownership of performance, and embed new ways of working. Leadership sets the direction; the organization delivers the change.
One powerful example came from a diversified food group facing major price pressure and rising capital expenditures to meet regulatory requirements. The goal was to increase EBIT by €100 million in three years. Early wins came fast on the factory floor, but leaders spotted a sustainability risk: The central transformation office (TO) was operating beyond its designed scope, absorbing too much operational responsibility from the various business units. Leadership outlined four step changes now underway:
- Governance that sticks. A “central” TO sets standards, training, and cadence while business unit TOs own delivery and performance.
- A “train–shadow-own” capability model. Central teams lead the first wave while business teams shadow in the second and own the third.
- Career accelerators. Hand-picked workstream leaders rotate every two years to spread skills and minimize fatigue among managers.
- Beyond TO. By design, the TO has an exit path—evolving into a team that manages performance with a tight link to finance, embedded in the business unit.
Most initiatives at the company now start from the bottom up, with visibility, names on milestones, and celebrated success stories building belief. The result? Ownership rises as external support tapers, and continuous improvement becomes the default.
Mindset, meaning, and mechanisms
Leaders emphasized mindset, meaning, and mechanisms. While mindset change is a critical enabler of overall organizational transformation, executives noted that an overarching purpose for the transformation needs to be clearly articulated, while new guardrails and mechanisms can play a vital role in steering shifts in behavior. Actions include the following:
- Meaning: Tie abstract goals to day-to-day reality, empower teams with latitude within guardrails, and spotlight early exemplars to shift organization norms.
- Mindset: Diagnose the “firefighting reflex”—managers’ tendency to get sidetracked by small “emergencies”—then reframe transformation as mission critical (for example, cash enables supply resilience).
- Mechanisms: Set up a governance body with real authority, make data the default via transparent dashboards, and create constructive competition (for example, by using leaderboards or visible recognition).
What durable ownership looks like
Implementing significant, enduring change requires rolling out new processes throughout an organization so improvement is self-perpetuating. Real-life examples of what durable ownership looks like can take many forms:
- A clear off-ramp for the TO. Define “done” up front by articulating what capabilities will live in the business, what practices will be codified (such as playbooks and cadences), and which communities will sustain learning (such as change agents or forums that develop from specific work streams). The TO can be converted to a business-unit-level team on a set schedule.
- Quarterly flexibility, weekly rigor. Use quarterly gates for reprioritization and target resets while maintaining a weekly operating rhythm between gates for issue resolution, KPI variance, and resource constraints.
- Resource realism. Treat flex capacity as an investment with a return (for example, dedicating a 5 percent flexible-funding pool of transformation budget), and make visible in business cases the cost of change versus the cost of rigidity.
- Talent as a flywheel. Turn transformation roles into career accelerators through measures such as sponsorship and next-role visibility. Rotate workstream leaders to inject fresh energy and prevent overreliance on a few heroes.
- Data-led decisions. Institutionalize scenario simulation and integrate transformation into budgeting and performance reviews so that impact is booked and not just reported.
The leadership shift: From plan compliance to outcome stewardship
The first wave of transformation proves that an organization can execute. The second wave proves it can keep executing while the world changes. Summit attendees agreed that leaders who make that leap do three things consistently:
- Codify the model (such as governance, cadence, and tooling) so it endures throughout leadership changes.
- Tell the story with evidence by celebrating wins, publishing throughput and impact, and making role models visible.
- Shift ownership away from the center, but stay close with data, coaching, and expectations.
When transformation becomes how the business runs, no one needs to ask for permission to change. It’s already been built in.
This article synthesizes insights shared by leaders from industrial goods, food and ingredients, banking, aviation services, and technology at the European Transformation Summit.
