Benefits Realisation – Building on (un)Safe Foundations or Planning for Success?

Research consistently finds that organisations struggle to demonstrate a return on their investments in change – for example, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) report that, ‘Deficiencies in benefits capture bedevils nearly 50% of government projects’. ¹ The issue is not peculiar to the public sector – Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman notes that, ‘Most large capital investments come in late and over budget, never living up to expectations. More than 70% of new manufacturing plants in North America, for example, close within their first decade of operation. Approximately three-quarters of mergers and acquisitions never pay-off … And efforts to enter new markets fare no better’ (Lovallo and Kahenman 2003). Similarly, change management ‘guru’ John Kotter says, ‘Up to 70% of change initiatives fail to deliver on the benefits that they set out to achieve.’ ²