Banking Transformation – The Top 5 Issues & Insights

It is an extraordinary time in banking & finance, with new demands in terms of competition, compliance and technology. How organizations respond is key, yet there is growing fatigue and frustration around change and transformation.

Some organization in banking & finance are bucking the trend. They are putting the super back in change and transformation. That is the story told in Super Projects.

What are the top insights and trends that are revealed in Super Projects in banking and finance? To find out, we asked advance readers for the Top 5 insights & ideas from the book.

Here is the advance reader top 5:

The Business Stack as a means of ensuring IT-business alignment.
Straight-Jacket or Safety Harness – a new engagement with compliance and risk.
The 9 Rights as the source of an extra three percent, five percent, or more for most cross-functional teams.
The Illusion of Alignment – why it is dangerous to assume that everybody is onboard.
Business Unusual – how applying business-as-usual methods to complex projects can result in chaos.

These factors matter because they have a direct bearing on the ability of financial services organizations to adapt to (or profit from) the sweeping changes in competition, compliance and technology.

Number 5:

Many advance readers were intrigued by the idea that to be successful, today’s technical initiatives don’t just need a tech stack. They require a business stack too.

For leaders concerned about connecting banking transformation initiatives to business strategy and success, the six layers of the business stack and their related tools caught their attention.

Number 4:

Is compliance seen as a safety harness or a straight-jacket?

Advance readers were taken by the analysis of attitudes and ownership of compliance, resilience, and risk, including the warning that forward-looking statements of good intention or expectation are not enough.

There was a recognition that, while leaders must demonstrate confidence, the challenge is to balance the need to sell the dream with the requirements of keeping it real.

Number 3:

The shift from hierarchy to a network of teams resonated with many advance readers, who know that banking transformation and other big projects cannot be delivered via silos and solo runs. But cross-functional collaboration isn’t easy.

Not surprisingly, the 9 Rights as a means of optimizing the productivity of cross-functional teams by three percent, five percent, or more caught reader attention.

Number 2:

Number 2 was the warning to those leading and sponsoring banking initiatives about the illusion of alignment.

On the surface, there may appear to be alignment, yet people often say what the leader wants to hear, stay silent, or simply nod in agreement. The illusion of alignment is a cognitive bias and an easy mistake to make.

This leaves leaders asking: Are stakeholders and team members really as aligned as you think?

Number 1:

Is your big project business as usual or business unusual? That question grabbed many advance readers. They were struck by the warning that big projects managed as business as usual will inevitably struggle when it comes to speed and agility, collaboration, and innovation.

Many took note of the finding: When complex and ambitious projects are faced with bureaucratic control, hierarchy, and silos, it typically generates more chaos rather than more control.

That is the top five big ideas from Super Projects Banking & Finance. As a bonus, we chose the mapping of 20 transformation initiatives in terms of confidence and ambition.