Transformation Needs a Strategy, Not Just a Plan

For transformation to succeed, it must be directly connected to the organisation’s strategy.

And by strategy, I mean the real foundation of choices, design principles, targets, and conditions that shape the future. Transformation is at its best when it doesn’t float separately but is guided by that compass.

1. Strategy as the Anchor

The most effective transformations are those that are visibly linked to strategy. That connection gives transformation the necessary clarity and backing to achieve the conditions of success. Leaders know what matters most. People understand why the transformation is happening. Resources are aligned, and momentum is easier to sustain.

2. Why Transformation Sometimes Misses the Connection

In many organisations, transformation is not fully tied to strategy. Instead, it tends to show up in two ways:

• ❌ Strategy hasn’t been fully defined. Often, there is intent, a sense of direction, followed quickly by a plan. What’s missing is the step in between: the actual strategy. That critical step is where choices are made, design principles are agreed upon, and conditions for success are set.

• ❌ Transformation is positioned as a project or initiative. It sits in the initiatives layer, measured by time, scope, and budget. While discipline is valuable, this view keeps transformation at arm’s length from strategy, limiting its ability to take root and deliver real shifts.

World-class practice looks different. Here, transformation is seen as the bridge between strategy and outcomes, not just another initiative. It’s what makes choices real, what translates principles into practices, and what creates momentum that can be scaled. Transformation is a practice of depth, interconnected multi-disciplinary angles, rooted in change adoption and business agility.

3. The Distinction Between a Plan and a Strategy

A plan is about coordination – laying out the steps, responsibilities, and timing needed to move things forward. It answers the questions of who does what and when.

A strategy, however, is about intent and design. It sets the direction through the choices an organisation makes, the principles it follows, and the reasons it believes those choices will work. It explains where to focus, how to compete, and why that approach will deliver. And probably the most critical aspects of strategy are what we will NOT be or do and how that maintains or evolves the organisation's identity.

Plans put actions in motion. Strategy provides the logic that makes those actions meaningful. The two work hand in hand, but transformation must be tied to strategy first if it is to have a lasting impact.

In saying that, Transformation itself has its own strategy that defines it, shapes it and guides it before it is broken into targets, actions and plans.

4. Strategy Expressed Through Different Intensities of Change

Strategy doesn’t come to life through transformation alone. It is expressed through various intensities and dimensions of change.

• Some will be continuous improvement.

• Some will be facelifts and upgrades.

• Others will focus on automation.

• Some will be about mindset and culture.

• And others will be full transformation or innovation carried forward through transformation.

A best-practice approach is to be mindful of how many of these are running across the organisation at once, and at what intensity, quantity, and toward which outcomes. This is what I call the Change Master Map: a layered, circular view that, when visualised, brings clarity on what can truly be done and in what order.

This is not about prioritisation or budgeting, that comes later. The Change Master Map comes before, giving leaders the insight needed to understand the full landscape of change and transformation in play, and how it connects back to strategy.

5. Why This Works

When transformation is anchored in strategy, and when the full spectrum of change is mapped with clarity, organisations benefit from:

• Greater alignment between strategy and execution.

• Clarity on how different types of change combine to advance the future.

• The ability to pace, sequence, and scale change in a way that sticks.

• Confidence that transformation is not an isolated initiative but part of a coherent whole.

This is best practice, and it’s what world-class transformation leadership looks like: aligning the logic & choices of strategy with the discipline of transformation (to shape, design, deliver, and adopt), and connecting all forms of change back to the future the organisation is creating.

Because at the end of the day, strategy sets the future, and transformation makes it real. The real impact occurs when the two are connected, and when the many layers of change are viewed as a single, comprehensive map, rather than just separate activities.

The question I want to leave you with:

👉 Is your transformation truly anchored in strategy or is it still sitting in the land of plans and initiatives?

Want to read more of these blogs? Visit https://www.transformationleadership.institute/blog

Till next time,

Jess Tayel

Founder of the Transformation Leadership Institute and People of Transformation membership & community.

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