Leading transformation a CEO’s agenda

As the uncertainties brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic are gradually dissipating, companies worldwide are reviewing and revising their strategic priorities. Business leaders are increasingly changing their stance from managing crises to seizing new opportunities. Under these circumstances, the time has come for business leaders, more specifically the CEOs of companies in Bangladesh, to review their strategic priorities as well.

According to the 26th Annual Global CEO Survey 2023 conducted by PwC, CEOs in Bangladesh cited highlighted inflation as their top business risk. They also highlighted supply chain disruptions as one of their major business challenges. 

Despite such headwinds, leading organisations have successfully grown their businesses in the recent past. Export revenue grew 33.4 percent in 2021–22 and continues to grow, albeit at a lower rate of 9.8 percent in 2022–23, according to the Asian Development Bank.

With the objective of reviewing and revising their strategic priorities regularly, CEOs should start weighing in the choices between managing uncertainties and investing for the future. Many leading organisations in Bangladesh are successfully transforming themselves with enterprise-wide digital solution implementation and process re-engineering. It's time to make a choice between cost-cutting exercises vis-à-vis allocation of resources for the initiatives of the future.

While investing for the future, a CEO must lead from the front by fostering a culture of innovation and willingness to adopt changes which come with it. Innovation can happen anywhere and everywhere within an organisation. 

The CEO of an organisation can foster a culture of innovation by supporting the incubation of innovative ideas and rolling out the successful ones. Organisations that are culturally ready to embrace and adopt new solutions across all their functions are more likely to witness successful rollouts of innovations in which they have invested.

Investing for the future also means undertaking a few bold transformation decisions.

A CEO should be mindful of the fact that any transformation must address a few hard questions. First, the transformation should be able to show measurable value for the stakeholders. Often, an organisation embarks on a transformation journey by implementing a new technology. However, sometimes it's not easy to determine and identify quantifiable outcomes of such endeavours. The CEO should lead discussions on measurable outcomes and encourage each executive of the organisation to participate in determining the measurable value of a programme.

Next, the operating model of an organisation is likely to undergo changes during the transformation journey. The CEO should stay focused on aligning the new operating model with a renewed vision, revise strategic priorities and guide the transformation team to successfully implement the operating model.

Additionally, no transformation can succeed without the successful participation and contribution of an organisation's workforce. The CEO must understand the necessity of upskilling the organisation's workforce as part of the transformation agenda. 

Finally, it should be noted that no business is immune to climate risks. While an organisation's transformation agenda continues to focus on delivering measurable value, the CEO should take a long view and lead the conversation on the risks arising due to climate change. Such a holistic approach is likely to make the transformation successful as well as the organisation fit for the future.

The author is a partner at PwC. The views are personal