Beyond Top-Down Change: How Network Analysis Saved $10M and Halved Transformation Time

Cutting Transformation Time in Half

A global Fortune 500 financial services company successfully halved its projected transformation timeline, achieving in just 2.5 years what consultants estimated would take 5-10 years. Using Organizational Network Analysis (ONA), the company doubled adoption rates across its 15,000-person workforce while transitioning from centralized operations to a decentralized, product-centric model.

What happens when you're able to halve your transformation time without sacrificing your goals? Several significant benefits:

Time Savings: Completed the transition in 2.5 years instead of the projected 5-10 years
Direct Cost Savings: Over $10 million saved in additional consulting fees
Productivity Protection: Millions avoided in lost productivity during the transition
Employee Well-being: Reduced change fatigue and employee anxiety
Talent Retention: Maintained key staff typically lost during transformations
Strategic Agility: Achieved greater responsiveness to market changes

"The approach was revolutionary. By leveraging key influencers—something no traditional consultant had shown us—they accelerated our change from the bottom-up! We halved our transformation saving millions in consulting fees, lost productivity, and increasing employee morale." - Joe M, Head of Strategy and Transformation

The ONA Difference

Traditional transformations fail at alarming rates. Research by John Kotter indicates that 70% of strategic change initiatives don't succeed, and recent studies suggest this hasn't improved in nearly half a century (1,2,3).

Organizational Network Analysis made the difference. By applying mathematical graph theory to the company's social and political landscape, we helped the firm take a data-driven approach to:

Identify Internal Influence: Pinpoint which employees held natural trust and social capital within the organization
Track Sentiment Evolution: Monitor how communications and attitudes spread, allowing for adaptive messaging and execution
Amplify Trust: Utilize these influencers to build organic trust in the change

When an organization can identify who wields political influence, decision makers can invite those leaders into the transformation and leverage their organic power to accelerate change. Combined with the science of psychological adoption and traditional change management techniques, this firm tapped into their influencers to propel the change from the bottom-up!

Multi-Disciplinary Implementation

The ONA approach complemented traditional change management tactics with targeted, psychologically-informed strategies:

Employee-Led Learning: An in-house academy created "for employees by employees" ensured comprehensive understanding of new methodologies and technologies
Distributed Ownership: Natural leaders emerged through the ONA identification process, extending strategic vision throughout the organization
Gamified Learning: An economics-derived incentive structure accelerated learning and maintained engagement

"We weren't just accepting the transformation; we were defining it!" noted one employee involved in the transformation.

The Science Behind the Success

ONA eliminated guesswork by scientifically identifying internal influencers. According to Prosci, leveraging effective influencers can boost change success by 58% compared to an average change leader (4).

Our support of this F500 firm demonstrates that successful transformation isn't about top-down mandates but about understanding and activating existing social networks. By addressing the fundamental psychological aspects of why employees resist change they don't understand or can't control, organizations can dramatically accelerate adoption from the bottom-up.

Looking Forward

The traditional approach to transformation—often led by management consulting firms charging $500,000+ monthly fees—frequently fails to deliver. This case offers a clear alternative path: leverage internal influence networks, build ownership through participation, and create culturally-informed transformation strategies (5, 6).

Organizations facing similar challenges can learn from this example by aligning strategy with execution, mapping their internal social dynamics, and developing transformation approaches anchored in their unique organizational culture.

Kotter, J. (1995): Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review
Ellmer, et al. (2024): How to Create a Transformation that Sticks. Boston Consulting Group
Maor, D, et al. (2021) Losing From Day One. McKinsey and Company
Creasy, T (2025). Best Practices in Change Management. Prosci.
Greiner, L. (1972): Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow. Harvard Business Review
Nohria, N. & Beer, M (2000): Cracking the Code of Change. Harvard Business Review

References: