Lighting the first flame: How to spark a transformation that sticks

I’ve always found starting a transformation program to be a lot like starting a fire deep in the woods. You need the right kindling, a thoughtful structure, just enough airflow, and a stubborn streak of patience. You get one shot. A poorly placed twig, a damp corner of newspaper, or the wrong wind can send you straight back to square one. 

Transformation is similar. In my experience, getting buy-in and funding is actually the easy part. Selling the dream is energizing. Pitch decks and executive endorsements come quickly when the upside is clear. But as the saying goes, execution eats strategy for breakfast. 

So, how do you ensure your spark turns into something sustainable? How do you start a transformation once? And right? 

Start by securing leadership skin in the game 

As the tech or digital chief, it’s often your job to establish the vision. You are the torchbearer. But carrying it alone won’t get you far. If the executive team isn’t aligned, the fire won’t light. And I don’t just mean funding. I mean real, consistent participation. 

It’s not enough for the C-suite to add their names to a steering committee slide. They have to show up. Literally. They have to be vocal champions of the work, carve out time between their “day jobs”, and help make the hard calls when resistance inevitably surfaces. And they have to treat this work as part of their job, not a favor to you. 

One Fortune 500 industrial client did this exceptionally well. Despite decades of success, they made a hard shift toward growing recurring revenue. Their entire executive team became transformation leaders: the CFO owned the business model redesign, the CMO ran customer experience, and an EVP from one of the business units led product evolution. These weren’t ceremonial roles; they were accountable for deliverables. They ran check-ins. They drove decisions. And they exceeded the revenue growth targets they promised the Street.  

Anticipate nonbelievers

Then there’s the rest of the organization, the teams responsible for executing the strategy once it’s underway. Even with the mandate, funding, and transformation function in place, you’ll inevitably encounter skeptics. A key leader—or more often, a small cluster of them—will quietly resist the effort. Sometimes it’s subtle: slow adoption of new processes, side conversations that question the direction, or just general disengagement. 

And it matters. Like a rogue gust of wind through a fragile fire, even a few internal skeptics can kill momentum before it builds. 

Some tech executives I’ve spoken to say that in organizations founded before the digital era, as much as 50% of the workforce — leaders included — may need to change over the course of the transformation, which could be several years, to truly reset the culture. That’s not an argument for blanket turnover. It’s a reminder of how disruptive transformation really is, and how much resistance is baked into the status quo.

Coauthor the vision

Transformation doesn’t usually begin with a lightning bolt of inspiration. More often, it’s the byproduct of dozens of distributed insights, ideas buried inside business cases, tucked into pilot initiatives, or championed quietly by teams working in parallel. The challenge isn’t a lack of ambition; it’s a lack of integration. 

That’s where cross-functional visioning becomes a powerful unlock. 

Take one Fortune 500 organization I worked with: They were doubling down on AI, with multiple teams launching bold, well-scoped initiatives. Each one promised value, but no one had connected the dots across efforts. The result? Leaders struggled to describe what the transformed enterprise might look like, let alone align the workforce behind it. 

A unified vision came to be when nearly 100 stakeholders convened for a two-day offsite. Using a shared journey map, they reimagined how customers and employees would experience the business once the AI-driven projects landed. What emerged wasn’t just a slide deck; it was a co-authored narrative, capturing the collective intent of the organization. 

That vision became more than an artifact. It became a catalyst to garner buy-in. And the organization gained a north star to accelerate towards execution.

Over-invest in enrollment

When you’re leading the transformation, you live and breathe the strategy long before the rest of the company catches wind of it. You’ve socialized it with peers, refined it with consultants, and reviewed it through the budgeting process. It’s easy to assume everyone else understands it too. They don’t.

That’s why, after strategy and budget are locked, the real work begins. Go on a roadshow. Segment your audiences — by initiative, function, business unit, whatever makes sense — and engage them in smaller groups. Create a common pitch deck that starts with the “why,” clearly outlines what’s in it for them, and defines what success will require. Rinse and repeat. Send newsletters. Run surveys. Share progress updates. 

A Fortune 500 energy client did this particularly well during an operating model transformation. They rolled out the new model in phases, by cohort. Every cohort began with a two-day, in-person training that connected the dots between enterprise strategy, their role, and the new way of working. It featured industry case studies, tactical role-specific training, and a clear explanation of what was changing and why. 

It worked because it honored people’s time and perspective. Most of the folks you need to execute the transformation already have full-time jobs. Their mindshare is limited. And if you don’t give them the tools and context to understand what’s happening and why, it will take far longer than you think to get traction. 

Dedicate resources or risk running in place 

Last, but maybe most important: transformations require full-time attention. Someone needs to own the work. When everyone is in charge, no one is. Structural redesign, process mapping, change management — these aren’t things that happen in the margins. 

I once heard a chief digital officer describe transformation as “not a part-time job.” I couldn’t agree more. 

Doing the “missing middle” well, the work that turns vision into reality, often means hiring for it. A technology client staffed 6 full-time resources solely focused on transformation. They built the experience and technical architecture, facilitated process design, and drove change management. These weren’t temporary assignments. These were permanent roles, dedicated to helping the fire catch. Cross-functional transformation requires structure, continuity, and ownership. Give it what it needs.

The next time you’re building a fire… 

Remember this: the spark alone isn’t enough. Whether you’re lighting a campfire or launching a transformation, what matters most is what comes next. 

Are your materials dry? Is the wind at your back or in your face? Do you have people tending to it while you step away?

Transformation requires the same care. Plan carefully. Surround yourself with the right people. Get others to buy in, not just sign off. And when you feel the heat rising, lean in. Because once the fire catches, it’s a thing to behold.

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