Logistics leaders regularly launch transformation initiatives, but a Gartner study shows that 76% of them never fully succeed, instead failing to meet budget, timeline, or key performance indicator (KPI) metrics.
A principal reason for that poor record is that internal change resistance obstructs those projects more than outside pressures, researchers found. So leaders can improve the chance of success if they respond to team resistance and incorporate that feedback into the project.
"Leaders often respond to resistance by ramping up urgency and adopting a directive leadership style, which is not only ineffective, but actually counterproductive," Snigdha Dewal, Senior Principal Researcher in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Instead, leaders should engage their teams from the start of the process, embrace the areas of resistance as a resource, not a problem, and act on feedback to adapt transformation plans and how they are implemented. Harvesting the collective wisdom of their teams can lead to dramatically improved odds of success.”
The results come from a survey of 306 logistics professionals from organizations with $500 million or more in enterprise-wide annual revenues, conducted from November to December 2023. The survey found that more than 80% of respondents had attempted four transformations in fewer than five years, averaging almost one a year.
The survey findings showed that 81% of logistics leaders believe that transformation is critical, yet only 20% adopted the approach of using resistance as a resource to leverage the collective wisdom of their teams to improve transformation outcomes. Adopting this less common approach dramatically improved the odds of transformation success by 62%.
The prevailing urgency approach—characterized by directive leadership, limited stakeholder engagement, and a “get with the program” mindset—led to a 47% decrease in the odds of transformation success.
"Resistance can be productive or unproductive, but leaders must shift from viewing resistance as a barrier to seeing it as a source of valuable insights and learn how to leverage it," said Dewal. "This approach not only enhances project management outcomes, but also boosts staff morale and can help unearth new competitive advantages."
