Reinventing Business for Transformative Growth PMI recently partnered with IMA India to conduct an interview- based research exercise to understand how top managers are handling internal business transformation and reinventing their business models. The study ran in-depth interviews with leaders of 10 prominent foreign and Indian multinational companies to ascertain the internal and external changes they are witnessing, the challenges posed by the changes, and how they have responded. The study aimed to identify the best practices in change management. Besides, it sought to reflect the authentic ‘voice of the CEO’ as it explored the various facets of business process transformation (BPT). Some of the significant highlights from the study are as follows: Simplifying business process transformation: BPT is not just about technology adoption but also a re-thinking of the underlying processes, stakeholder management, cultural change and cross-functionality. There are multiple drivers for BPT, with some important ones being shifting compliance regulations, changes in the broader economy, an evolving competitor landscape, or some combination of these factors. Many companies view business transformation as a route to enhanced productivity and efficiency. Leveraging digitalization: In the last two years, many companies have entirely or substantially reworked their businesses around a new, digital- centric future. Digital transformation must align with a company’s internal processes and business models. It can effectively eliminate any flawed or superfluous processes. Digitalization is deeply inter-linked with improvement in processes, workflows, and factory automation. Organizations that had already started digitalising generally fared better than their peers in the crisis. Reinventing leadership: ‘Agility’ was the one word used by most top managers to describe today’s leadership imperative. Nimble and agile leadership is the need of the hour in an uncertain and fast-changing environment. Leaders must over-communicate to reduce misinformation, practise over-management without resorting to micro-management, adopt a control tower mindset to create robust review processes, decentralize power and decision making, and invest in upskilling employees. Enabling the workforce: One important aspect of internal transformation is the ability to evolve and fully enable and empower the workforce. Companies seek employees who have a learning mindset, a willingness to admit to failure and learn from it, and a strong team approach. With a flexible working environment becoming common, it is prudent to shift to outcome-based productivity measurement metrics. It is critical to upskill and reskill the existing workforce to drive collaboration and productivity in a hybrid environment. Companies are increasingly adopting a culture of continuous learning and training as a part of the business transformation journey. IMA is a niche economic, business and market research firm that provides insights and analysis to top management audiences in India through multiple channels. Read the full report here.