In a previous series of articles, we laid out the foundations for how to assess the various pillars necessary to deliver transformational change within your finance team, how to create a gap analysis and build an action plan based on that. 

Now that your project is underway, you need to make sure it’s actually delivering on your objectives. It’s time to start measuring and managing the process, with regular periodic reports on your progress. This could be weekly, monthly or quarterly, depending on the project and the need. You may end up producing more than one report, aimed at different project stakeholders. This is the M in the GAME PLAN framework and is the third of four sequential steps.

This is not a linear, one-off process; rather – it’s iterative and should be repeated throughout the duration of your project. Essentially, it follows the Deming Cycle, which is a well-proven process improvement model. 

This circular, iterative approach of ‘Plan, Do, Study and Act’ has helped inspire the GAME PLAN framework, and is the core of the ‘E’ of the GAME PLAN framework. It should, at the end of it, result in you revisiting your gap analysis and action plan and adjusting to ensure improvements as your project progresses. This is the fourth of the four sequential steps – how you evaluate and improve your transformation programme.

Measuring and Managing progress (The M in GAME PLAN)

Writing for ICAEW’s Finance & Management magazine back in 2014, Mike Bourne, Professor of Business Performance at Cranfield School of Management, outlined five reasons for measuring performance that are still relevant in 2025:

1. Establishing position
2. Communicating direction
3. Influencing behaviour
4. Stimulating action
5. Facilitating learning

In other words, the status of your project (and, most crucially, its budget); what needs to happen next,; who should be taking action; how they should be doing the work; and what you can learn from your progress so far.

For effective management of your programme, it’s important to set up a programme governance structure so that the data is used to make real business decisions and action to deliver the desired future state. 

Issues are escalated to the programme board from the project teams. The governance structure should outline roles and responsibilities where the programme board is responsible for ensuring the strategic business outcomes are delivered. This will include timely decision-making and support to remove barriers to implementation. For example, this could range from a general ledger process strategic decision to the need for leadership to deal with organisational resistance.

Project and programme boards can work really well at overcoming problems and seeking advice and direction on how to tackle different issues. This needs to be 80% of the engagement with the programme board, not 20%. In other words, focus on the big issues or ‘needle movers’, not the admin and reporting. 

Evaluating and Improving Performance (The E in GAME PLAN)

Continuous improvement is core to any transformation. Transformations by their nature are complex and challenging. We do not know everything when we start the process. Therefore we need to adapt as we go.

Put together a simple analysis with the team using a 2x2 grid. Break it down into: 

• What went well/what could have gone better
• How was it delivered – what went well/what could have gone better

With any feedback and improvement session, it’s important to deliver it within an environment of mutual trust. You should also expect challenges from your stakeholders when you conduct this ‘pause and reflect’ step. Often, the perception might be that you are wasting time when there is so much that still needs to be delivered. You must reiterate that this step is important to ensure delivery of the project. It must be prioritised. 

Continuous improvement tools: fishbone root cause analysis

The Fishbone root cause analysis, created by Kaoru Ishikawa, is a visual aid so called due to its resemblance to a fish bone when drawn out. This is a great example of one of many continuous improvement tools available to help you ‘Evaluate and Improve’. It’s also known as a cause-and-effect diagram, and is a great way to sort ideas into various categories. 

Creating a fishbone diagram is often a team effort. Bring together everyone with the right knowledge of the area you’re analysing. You should determine the statement or effect that you’re analysing. For example, why are our initiatives around improving the finance team’s capabilities behind schedule? This is particularly relevant when it comes to AI skills.

Start with the ‘problem statement’ and put it in a box on the right-hand side, with a right-facing arrow across the centre of the page. With the team, determine the main categories to classify the causes of the problem. Ishikawa created generic labels for these categories, that help if you’re struggling to get started:

• Materials
• Machinery
• Methods
• Measurement
• Manpower
• Mother nature
• Money

You could use these labels, or come up with your own. Draw six lines like fish ribs coming out of the central arrow, and label them with your six categories. As a group, ask yourselves why these six categories are a problem in relation to the problem statement. Any ideas you come up with should be written on a branch underneath the appropriate category – sometimes they might appear under more than one.

Keep asking ’why?’ to go as deep as you can into each of these reasons to determine causal relationships. As you start to fill out the diagram, start focusing on the categories with fewer ideas below them. 

Review what you’ve done and pick out the areas that need to be addressed further. Remember that you’re trying to solve the overall problem, so don’t get too bogged down by certain symptoms of that problem. 

You might want to follow up by using a responsibility matrix to determine who on the team is able to address and deal with the various causes of the problem, including the amount of control each team member might have to be able to solve the problem. ASQ has a complimentary template to download that you may find useful in getting started. 

Moving forward

Now that you have a fairly comprehensive understanding of what’s worked, what hasn’t, the causes of the problems and who can address them, you can evaluate your approach and improve your outputs, ready for your next evaluation. Use this to review your gap analysis and action plan and determine if anything needs to change. Then you can begin the process again. The process is iterative and cyclical, so be prepared to make changes to your approach as the project progresses.