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Knowing you need to transform your organization is the easy part. The real challenge is understanding how to make change happen—and stick.
We understand that organizations may understand the why and what of strategic change, but often struggle with how to implement it and who should lead the effort. Even the most comprehensive transformation vision fails without leaders who can decode complex change, align teams around new directions, and sustain momentum through inevitable resistance.
The transformation leadership questions we help you answer
Leaders consistently face the same fundamental dilemmas when driving organizational transformation. These challenges require more than traditional strategy consulting—they demand leadership-led solutions that address the human dynamics of large-scale change.
Through our advisory partnership, we help you answer these critical questions that determine whether your transformation succeeds or stalls:
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Which leaders have the transformation capabilities needed, and where are the critical gaps?
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How do I ensure my leadership team can lead others through significant change?
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What leadership behaviors and decision-making processes will accelerate transformation progress?
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How do I create alignment around our transformation vision without losing organizational momentum?
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How do I build organizational confidence in our ability to navigate complex transformation successfully?
Transformation success demands leadership excellence
Transformation touches everything you do: your people, processes, technology, and culture. Each layer adds complexity, and a misstep in any area can derail years of effort and investment. The leaders who succeed recognize that transformation activation is fundamentally a leadership challenge, not just a strategic planning exercise.
We help you develop the leadership capabilities that successful transformation demands. Rather than imposing external frameworks, we work alongside your team to unlock the insights, alignment, and performance needed for business transformation success.
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Transformation leadership clarityWe don't just guide transformation—we accelerate it through partnership. By engaging in thoughtful dialogue with your leadership team, we uncover cultural strengths and growth opportunities. Our experienced consultants serve as thought partners, sharing frameworks and collective wisdom that create momentum for transformation at scale. |
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Organizational alignment through changeTrue change happens when transformation becomes part of your DNA. Through focused conversations and collaborative discovery journeys, we help your leaders and teams find their voice and build internal capabilities. You'll gain not just tools and methods, but the deeper insights and mindset shifts that drive continuous innovation long after our engagement ends. |
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Transformation that actually succeedsWe believe lasting change starts with understanding your unique context. Rather than impose pre-packaged solutions, we ask questions, listen deeply, and share relevant experiences. This collaborative approach allows us to align our methods with your culture and capabilities—creating transformations that deliver lasting value that genuinely sticks. |
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Over four years that included a pandemic-driven slowdown, the client transformed their executive committee into a cohesive executive team that redefined collaboration and development to lead the enterprise through strategic, operational, and cultural shifts. Drawing on previous experience leading companies with strong founders, the CEO leveraged organizational strengths while encouraging new mindsets and behaviors. The CEO sought external guidance on designing and deploying a large-scale change strategy.
How we worked together
Russell Reynolds Associates quickly built a trusted advisory relationship through intensive executive team development work, one-on-one coaching, and a disciplined change process designed to build understanding and alignment across the enterprise. Our approach began with regular Elevate, Develop, and Align (EDA) sessions with the executive team, designed to build trusting, collaborative relationships among team members and align on strategic and cultural priorities. In parallel, we led targeted interventions in key regions and functions. This strategic approach created consistency in messaging and methodology that built on the organization's strong heritage of innovation, employee development, and customer focus.
Results and impact
The partnership resulted in a more effective and collaborative executive team, enhanced leadership bench strength, greater strategic alignment across the enterprise, and improved engagement survey results. Several regional and functional leaders applied the methodology to their teams to accelerate change initiatives. Many strategic initiatives launched as part of the process generated marked improvements in core processes and systems.
Testimonial
Over the past three years, we successfully navigated the transition from a founder-led to a founder-inspired organization. This was a catalyst for the executive leadership team to transform and work together as 'one team.' We set a clear vision for the future, embraced a distributed leadership model, empowered leaders to work in new ways, and successfully reimagined our future while staying true to our mission and values. Bob and his team have been part of this journey since 2018, helping facilitate the conversations, planning, and shared experiences that enabled our leadership transformation."
- Former Chief Executive Officer
A Chief Finance Officer at a manufacturing firm knew their global, 4,500-person team needed to change to better support the enterprise and drive the organizational strategy, but how to undertake the effort was less clear.
How we worked together
Our team of transformation advisors partnered with the finance leadership team to rapidly translate the organization’s strategic goals into clear projects and deliverables for which the entire finance team would be accountable for.
We then asked the finance team’s best and brightest leaders to design solutions to these challenges in under 100 days. During this structured process, we partnered with these leaders to enhance project team effectiveness, coach individuals, and support the teams' efforts to draft detailed recommendations and implementation plans.
At the end of the process, the finance leadership team made decisions on the teams' suggestions and put in place operating mechanisms designed to ensure consistent execution and strategic alignment globally.
Results and impact
The partnership resulted in major upgrades to core finance systems, improved collaboration between makers and sellers, millions of dollars in productivity improvements, and a deeper bench of finance talent. Participants met quarterly in subsequent years to track progress, celebrate successes, ensure organizational alignment, and continue each leader's development.
Testimonial
When we embarked on our finance transformation, we engaged with Bob and his team to help us think about the best approach for execution. We would not have made the progress we have made without their support. They provided invaluable insight on how to build alignment and support from the entire team and a structured process for execution. Simply put, we could not have accomplished what we have without Bob and his team."
- Former Chief Financial Officer
Bob and his team quickly developed a pragmatic framework to facilitate change in areas which historically had been difficult to improve. On my project, we moved from an 'aspiration' to change in culture over a two-year period."
- Former Group Chief Financial Officer
The client, a second-time CEO new to the retail industry, wanted to take a measured approach to changing the enterprise strategy. As a first key step to understanding their new context, the CEO chartered a team of trusted leaders from across the organization to ask questions, develop insights, and make suggestions for change—which significantly impacted the course of action the leadership team ultimately took.
How we worked together
Our engagement began with an Elevate, Develop, and Align (EDA) process, which entailed a series of offsites designed to rapidly build a high-trust, high-performing leadership team with a common purpose and understanding of their roles and responsibilities.
Early on, our transformation experts helped the leadership team scope and select a discovery team tasked with identifying the forces helping and hindering the organization's growth. Over 90 days, 10 highly respected leaders from various functions partnered with our experts to gather data via interviews, synthesize findings, and draft recommendations. We also helped accelerate team development as well as provide individual coaching. The discovery team then met with the leadership team to share its readout and iterate solutions.
Results and impact
The discovery team's insights significantly shaped the new CEO's change agenda and strategic plan, which led to skyrocketing growth for the business. The leadership team's collaboration on scoping, selecting, and engaging with the discovery team accelerated their effectiveness and cohesion. Discovery team members also came out of the experience with new skills, confidence, relationships, and prime opportunities to support the transformation that followed.
Testimonial
Bob and his team helped me with a very customized approach to crystallize my leadership philosophy and expectations, ensure that my senior team was aligned, and drive this throughout the organization. We applied our aligned leadership approach to the creation of an enterprise strategy that has driven industry-leading results. Bob is not a consultant who tells you what to do; nor does he bring a 'cookie cutter' approach. He is truly a thought partner who leverages a wide depth and breadth of knowledge and experience across industries."
- Former Chief Executive Officer
September 15, 2025 4 min read
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Frequently asked strategy decode and activation questions
What is strategy decode and activation and why is it essential for transformation leadership success?
Strategy decode and activation is our leadership-focused approach to transformation acceleration that helps senior leaders translate transformation vision into executable change plans. Unlike traditional strategy consulting, we focus on developing the leadership capabilities needed to drive successful transformation. This approach recognizes that transformation success depends more on leadership performance than strategic design.
How does leadership-led transformation strategy differ from traditional transformation consulting?
Leadership-led transformation strategy addresses the human dynamics of organizational change, not just the analytical frameworks. We partner with leaders to build their confidence, alignment, and transformation capabilities rather than simply delivering external recommendations. This collaborative approach ensures transformations succeed because leaders truly own and can execute them.
What transformation leadership challenges do CEOs face when implementing large-scale change?
CEOs consistently struggle with building genuine leadership team alignment around transformation vision, developing change execution capabilities across the organization, and sustaining momentum through complex transformation journeys. These challenges require advisory support that focuses on transformation leadership development and organizational dynamics, not just change management processes.
How can organizations accelerate their transformation execution timeline?
Transformation acceleration happens when leaders have clarity on their transformation roles, confidence in their change capabilities, and alignment around shared transformation priorities. Our advisory approach helps leadership teams decode transformation complexity quickly and build the relationships and processes needed for faster, more effective change execution.
