Overview

The way organizations measure transformation success has fundamentally shifted. This brief synthesizes a cross-industry dialogue among transformation executives exploring how ROI definitions have evolved from hard dollar savings to encompass behavioral change, organizational agility, and strategic capability building. Leaders share battle-tested methodologies for capturing value that traditional finance metrics often miss.

This roundtable was held on November 6th, 2025.

Roundtable Participants

Led by Brittany Gunter, Chapter Lead

• Ajay Chaturvedi, Boeing - Head of Transformation

• Amisha Kapoor, Biogen - Global Finance Transformation Leader - Payroll Strategy

• Amy Pickel, Enterprise Change Management Lead 

• Andrew Spector, Senior Director, Change Management

• Anurag Chaturvedi, Kyndryl - Vice President Operations Strategy & Transformation

• Bill Munley, Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Leader

• Brencis Stanford, World Wide Technology - Senior Digital Transformation & AI Strategy Executive

• Bruce Prince, HCA Healthcare - AVP, Change Management

• Carol Shields, Community Health Network - Director of Performance Excellence

• Christie Subirats, BP - Business Agily and Strategic Change Lead

• Christy Didion, Crawford & Co - Organization Change Management and Transformation Lead

• Cleat Jerden, Amgen - Executive Director, Business Performance

• Dane D'Alessandro, Bank of America - SVP, Change Management

• David Kaempf, Enterprise Transformation Leader

• Emily Barrett, Crete Professionals Alliance - Chief of Staff 

• Evan Piekara, Director, Change Management 

• Hayk Grigoryan, Abbvie - AD, Factory of the Future of Transformation

• Jackie Cazar, Moody's - SVP Process Excellence

• Javier Berrellez, EP - Senior Director, Enterprise Excellence

• Jeanette Portzer, Belden - Director Change Management

• John Williams, Meta - Change Manager

• Julie Whitten, Vice President, Change Management and Communications

• Karen Paff, Viatris - VP, PR & Communications | Corporate Branding, M&A Integration, Data Analysis & AI Campaigns

• Karthik Ramamurthy, Veritas Technologies - SVP, Integration & Separation Management Office

• Katy Liddell, Liberty Utilities - Senior Director, Organizational Change Management

• Kitty Deshmukh, Daimler Truck North America - Director of Continuous Improvement, PMO

• Kristi Bulnes, Gap - Director, Change Management | TMO

• Michael Wiersma, Carrier - Enterprise Transformation Leader

• Paul Anderson, Element Consulting - Organizational Change Management Lead

• Paul Ruggier, Helios Towers - Group Head of Business Excellence

• Rachael-Linn Spooner, Northwell Health - VP of Strategy and Business Development 

• Scott Sheinbaum, Wipro Limited - Partner and Practice Leader - Talent & Change

• Sharan Sethuraman, Johnson Matthey - Global Business Transformation Lead

• Stephanie Coleman, Sodexo - Program and Transformation Office, Senior Director

• Steven Jo, First Citizens Bank - Executive Director Human Resources

• Sundeep Thusoo, Vice President - AI & Business Reinvention 

• Tiffany Snyder, JCI - VP, Global Transformation

• Vanessa McDonald, WNS Global - SVP Change Management

The Evolution of Transformation Metrics

From Hard Dollars to Holistic Value

Transformation success measurement has shifted significantly over the past decade. Leaders reported moving away from purely financial metrics toward a more balanced approach that includes:

• Behavioral change indicators as primary success measures

• Cross-functional collaboration improvements

• Strategic alignment with long-term organizational goals

• Employee engagement and sentiment tracking

• Adoption rates and proficiency levels for new systems and processes

  
  

Javier (EP - Senior Director, Enterprise Excellence) noted the progression from direct dollar savings to measuring behavioral changes that drive strategic company goals. Michael Wiersma (Carrier - Enterprise Transformation Leader) emphasized the importance of measuring and managing key behavioral indicators (KBIs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) rather than relying solely on annual engagement surveys.

The Storytelling Shift

Several participants observed that executive resonance allows for both hard metrics and compelling narratives. While financial impact remains important, the ability to tell a story about transformation outcomes (including leadership behavior changes and cultural shifts) has become equally critical for securing continued support.

Finance as a Strategic Partner

Current State: Downstream Engagement

The consensus revealed that finance teams typically engage too late in transformation initiatives, focusing primarily on:

• Budget tracking and cost reduction

• Bottom-line P&L impact

• Hard dollar savings validation

  
  

This downstream involvement limits finance's ability to influence transformation design and outcome definition.

Desired State: Upstream Strategic Partnership

Transformation leaders advocated for finance involvement from day one, with finance serving as:

• Strategic advisors on business blueprint development

• Outcome measurement architects rather than just cost trackers

• Capability builders who help non-finance leaders think critically about financial implications

• Long-term value assessors who look beyond immediate budget impacts

  
  

This partnership enables transformation leaders to connect the dots between their work and true business impact. 

Addressing the Cost Reduction Paradox

The Challenge

When stakeholders focus exclusively on cost reduction while real value lies in revenue growth or risk mitigation, transformation leaders face a critical decision: give stakeholders what they want to hear or shift their perspective.

Recommended Approaches

• Context-Dependent Strategy: Leaders acknowledged that external factors (economic conditions, market pressures) sometimes mandate a cost reduction focus. The key is ensuring transformation financial metrics align with overall organizational strategy.

• Stakeholder-Specific Communication: Different stakeholders care about different outcomes. A strong stakeholder engagement plan ensures HR receives people-focused metrics, finance sees financial impact, and operations understands process improvements.

• Business Case Examples: Shifting perspectives becomes easier when internal examples demonstrate how transformations affect multiple value dimensions beyond pure cost reduction.

• P&L Positioning: Relating cost objectives to specific P&L areas (margin expansion, organic revenue growth, market share gains) helps broaden conversations beyond simple cost cutting.

  
  

Systematically Undervalued Outcomes

Hard-to-Measure Transformation Benefits

Participants identified several transformation outcomes consistently undervalued due to measurement challenges:

Behavioral and Cultural Shifts

• Change agility and organizational adaptability

• Leadership development for transformation participants

• Trust between teams

• Cross-functional alignment on strategic priorities

  
  

Capacity and Time Savings

• Employee time freed from manual processes

• Capacity creation (soft dollar savings)

• Skill development pace

• Process improvements with long-term impacts (especially in industries with long product development cycles)

  
  

Progressive Multi-Year Outcomes

• Incremental progress toward long-term transformation goals

• Sustained momentum after consultant departure

• Embedded change capability building

  
  

The Employee Redeployment Question

A recurring challenge emerged: organizations save significant employee hours through transformation but struggle to articulate what employees do with reclaimed time. Leaders emphasized that capacity creation only delivers value when paired with employee redeployment strategies:

• Upskilling for higher-value work

• Redeployment to growth-focused activities

• Strategic initiative participation

• Enhanced customer service delivery

• Innovation and business development

  
  

“When you know that a transformation will save hours out of someone’s work, you don’t want to get to the end of the transformation and have someone say ‘great, now we’re going to reduce headcount.’ You can’t expect excellent adoption if people are afraid that they will work themselves out of a job. If a transformation saves time, you’ll want to consider from the very beginning: what will workers be doing with that time? Can they be redeployed? Where should they be redeployed within the business?” 

Emily Barrett, Crete Professionals Alliance - Chief of Staff 

ROI Methodologies and Best Practices

Four-Step Financial Validation Framework

Jackie Cazar (Moody's - SVP Process Excellence) shared a comprehensive methodology that she has successfully used across multiple transformations:

Step 1: Baseline Measurement

• Measure current state costs (process, initiative, department)

• Include all relevant factors (hard/soft costs, risk, capacity)

• Establish the "value destruction" currently occurring

• Secure finance sign-off on baseline

  
  

Step 2: Mid-Project Financial Check-In

• Monitor specific expected metrics throughout transformation

• Conduct financial validation at project midpoint or two-thirds completion

• Adjust ROI projections based on actual progress

• Increase confidence level as more data becomes available

  
  

Step 3: Pilot Validation

• Test transformation on smaller, less disruptive segments first

• Measure pilot effectiveness rigorously

• Refine total ROI projections based on pilot results

• Secure CFO sign-off on updated projections

  
  

Step 4: Post-Implementation Production Measurement

• Measure actual production results 

• Obtain final CFO validation

• Document lessons learned for future initiatives

  
  

OKR-Based Approach

Amy Pickel (Enterprise Change Management Lead) and David Kaempf (Enterprise Transformation Leader) reported success using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to:

• Align transformation projects from inception

• Identify where value will be gained in key results

• Create common language across stakeholders

• Enable monthly measurement with quarterly check-ins

• Allow for pivoting if projections miss their mark

  
  

Leading vs. Lagging Indicators

Transformation leaders emphasized the importance of balancing indicator types:

Lagging Indicators:

• Ultimate outcomes (capacity increase, cost reduction, revenue growth)

  
  

Leading Indicators:

• Mindset shifts evidenced through behavior changes

• Real-time sentiment and commitment levels

• Adoption patterns and system usage

• Process adherence and workaround avoidance

  
  

Capturing leading indicators at scale requires the right infrastructure. Tigerhall's change activation platform enables transformation leaders to track both leading and lagging indicators in real-time through its analytics dashboard. The platform's sentiment analysis, always-on feedback loop process, and engagement tracking provide immediate visibility into mindset shifts and adoption patterns. 

Measurement Philosophy and Principles

Core Principles

• Measure What Matters: Not everything requires ROI calculation. Focus on metrics that matter to the specific process, product, or business outcome.

• KISS Method: Avoid over-engineering measurement. Use accessible, available information aligned to what matters.

• Behavioral Observation: The most leading indicator is behavior itself. Mindset change manifests through observable behavioral shifts.

• Standard Metrics at Scale: Large organizations need simple, standardized metrics that all levels understand and can embed into leadership habits.

• Three Success Dimensions: Evaluate metrics through stability, trend, and rate of improvement.

Common Measurement Categories

Michael Wiersma (Carrier - Lean Transformation Leader) noted that manufacturing and other related industries commonly use frameworks like SQCDP (Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, People), which can adapt to any function or process with level-appropriate specific measures.

Organizations should establish:

• Hard cost savings (direct financial impact)

• Soft cost savings (capacity creation, time saved)

• Lives/employees impacted

• Risk mitigation and cost avoidance

• Revenue growth and market share metrics

  
  

Critical Success Factors

Early Change Management Integration

Leaders emphasized that change management must have a seat at the table from the beginning, not as an afterthought. Implementation is relatively easy; driving adoption and realizing value is the challenge.

Focus on Adoption, Not Just Implementation

Measuring actual system utilization and identifying workarounds provides critical insight into transformation success. Are people using new tools as intended, or finding ways to maintain old processes?

Disruptive Experimentation

Attendees shared a "pin drop/scream test" approach: stop doing activities to see if anyone notices or complains. This helps identify truly value-added work versus legacy activities that continue simply because "we've always done it."

Continuous Retrospection

Organizations often fail to systematically review program results after completion, immediately moving to the next initiative. Building in formal retrospectives ensures learning capture and prevents repeated mistakes.

Long-Term Perspective

Transformation leaders must balance quick wins with realistic timelines. The pace of visible change often slows over time, requiring patience and clear communication about long-term value realization.

Key Takeaways

1. Transformation metrics must evolve from pure cost reduction to holistic value measurement including behavioral change, capability building, and strategic alignment.

2. Finance must engage upstream as strategic partners, not just downstream budget trackers, to effectively define and measure transformation outcomes as strategic partners.

3. Soft dollar savings and capacity creation only deliver value when paired with explicit employee redeployment strategies that must be defined at project inception.

4. Baseline measurement is non-negotiable—without it, proving transformation value becomes impossible.

5. Leading indicators (behavioral shifts, sentiment, adoption patterns) enable proactive course correction, while lagging indicators validate ultimate success.

6. Standardized ROI methodologies with multiple validation checkpoints (baseline, mid-project, pilot, production) increase confidence and enable coursecorrection.

7. Context matters. Measurement approaches must align with organizational strategy, stakeholder needs, and external market conditions.

8. The most undervalued transformation outcomes are those hardest to measure: trust, agility, collaboration, and cultural shifts that compound over time and shape future transformations.

9. Change management must be embedded from day one to drive adoption, not just implementation.

10. Transformation success requires balancing multiple metrics across financial, operational, and human dimensions. No single measure tells the complete story.

The Executive Council for Leading Change

The Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC) is a global organization that brings executives together to redefine the landscape of organizational change and transformation. Our council aims to advance strategic leadership expertise in the realm of corporate change by connecting visionary leaders. It's a place where leaders responsible for significant change initiatives can collaborate, plan, and create practical solutions for intricate challenges in leading large organizations through major shifts.

In a world where change is constant, we recognize its crucial role in driving business success. ECLC’s mission is to create a community where leaders can excel in guiding their organizations through these dynamic times.