In today’s fast-paced business world, organizations face unprecedented levels of change and complexity. Markets can shift overnight, new technologies emerge constantly, and customer expectations evolve rapidly. To thrive in this volatile environment, businesses must adapt swiftly, innovate consistently, and respond decisively to new challenges and opportunities.

Many companies seeking significant performance improvements have explored either top-down strategies—driven by senior management—or bottom-up approaches that focus on changing employee mindsets.

However, there’s another powerful method. Our recent experience with organizations across industries and regions highlights that a team-centric approach to transformation can deliver substantial, lasting results. According to McKinsey research, businesses that adopt this strategy effectively can achieve up to 30 percent efficiency gains. This impact is particularly strong when cross-functional teams collaborate to tackle complex challenges.

Most employees are familiar with the experience of being part of a dynamic team working toward a shared goal. In such environments, individuals feel a sense of belonging, are encouraged to experiment with new ways of working, and actively engage in learning and growth. Constructive feedback flows both ways, fostering a positive learning culture that drives both individual and collective performance improvements—benefiting the entire organization.

However, not all teams operate at this level. To unlock better performance, teams need specific operational elements in place, along with support from the broader organization. In this article, we explore four key actions leaders can take to build a strong network of effective teams, based on insights from organizations that have successfully made this approach central to their transformation efforts.

Driving transformation in large, complex organizations requires a strategic, unit-by-unit approach. Each leadership team must design its own change process, ensuring alignment with the organization’s overarching strategy and values. This starts with teams engaging in honest conversations about their performance challenges and identifying what’s needed to overcome them. Establishing this accountability framework enables leaders to drive meaningful change, fostering both high performance and strong commitment within their respective teams.

Once teams have established operational agility, leaders can unlock their full potential by taking four key actions: identify the most high-impact teams, activate those teams, empower leaders to better support their teams, and scale this approach across the organization.

Organizational transformation begins with identifying the teams that can deliver the greatest impact. While some teams may generate quick revenue gains, others may require time to demonstrate significant results. Prioritizing these high-value teams ensures that efforts align with the company's strategic goals and core purpose.

For instance, a pharmaceutical company facing revenue challenges prioritized product teams with the highest potential to achieve key milestones or generate substantial revenue within two to three years. This strategic focus allowed the company to concentrate resources on teams that could deliver measurable outcomes in the short term.

Similarly, a leading Asian bank identified 50 critical teams—including leadership groups and cross-functional units—to drive cultural change across the organization. By empowering these teams, the bank improved employee engagement, boosted productivity, and strengthened governance models.

By focusing on high-value teams, businesses can achieve early wins that build momentum for broader transformation, creating a strong foundation for sustainable growth.

Once high-value teams are identified, empowering them requires clear mandates, well-defined outcomes, and collaborative practices that promote accountability.

A global life sciences company successfully improved its operational efficiency by giving teams greater autonomy. Each team participated in a two-day alignment session involving key stakeholders to define clear objectives and identify essential priorities. This process encouraged teams to take ownership of their goals, ensuring focus on high-impact activities.

During these sessions, teams clarified their value contributions, eliminated non-essential tasks, and aligned their efforts with the company's broader objectives. Engaging other stakeholders was also crucial. For example, legal teams began prioritizing urgent requests more effectively after gaining a clearer understanding of business priorities.

To sustain this progress, teams adopted regular retrospectives to assess performance, address challenges, and refine their approach. These ongoing reflections enabled teams to stay focused on outcomes while promoting agility, continuous learning, and innovation.

By equipping teams with clear objectives, streamlined processes, and supportive collaboration, organizations can unlock their full potential and drive lasting transformation.

Successful team transformation depends on leaders who inspire, guide, and support. While traditional leadership skills are valuable, leaders must adopt new behaviors that focus on purpose, vision setting, and obstacle removal to drive meaningful change.

Research shows that effective change leaders move beyond routine management to inspire their teams, create medium-term strategies, and align efforts with long-term goals—all while being authentic.

For instance, a global life sciences company shifted its leadership approach to empower teams to take ownership of decisions. Leaders became guides rather than directors, supporting teams by setting strategic visions and expanding their areas of responsibility. Over 12 months, the company trained 6,000 leaders to act as vision setters and coaches, ensuring the transformation was sustainable.

In this model, leaders sponsored customer-focused teams, encouraging faster decision-making and resolving concerns about the new approach. They also stepped in to remove obstacles when teams faced resistance from other departments. In one case, a senior leader’s peer-to-peer conversation resolved a major bottleneck, enabling smoother collaboration.

Leaders also played a crucial role in scaling successful practices across teams, sharing success stories to boost momentum and overcome change fatigue. For example, after one life sciences team halved the time needed for regulatory submission, leaders highlighted this achievement across the organization, inspiring similar improvements in other departments.

Embracing a growth mindset is essential for leaders in this context. By stepping into unfamiliar situations and seeking feedback from their teams, leaders model vulnerability and openness to change—key qualities in navigating transformation.

To sustain transformation at scale, organizations must extend new ways of working beyond initial high-priority teams to all value-creating teams.

A global oil and gas services company achieved this by developing a network of over 150 “change agents” who promoted improved practices across departments. These agents drove transformation efforts, introduced new mindsets, and helped teams identify new initiatives aligned with company goals.

The life sciences company expanded its transformation by incorporating teams that regularly collaborated with early adopters. This proactive step reduced friction between teams and ensured smoother adoption of improved practices.

To support this expansion, organizations need a strong network of trained coaches. Using a “see one, do one, teach one” model alongside “train the trainer” sessions helps build coaching capabilities. Combining internal experts with external specialists can further accelerate the transformation rollout.

Key practices like clear decision-making processes, regular check-ins, and open communication help maintain team focus and productivity. Leaders who consistently promote success stories—through town halls, internal blogs, or meetings—help energize teams and reinforce the organization’s commitment to change.

Tracking progress through metrics such as team alignment, mood, and trust levels provides valuable insights. By establishing a clear purpose and adaptable structure, organizations can create an environment where teams form, disband, and reorganize quickly—enabling agility and sustained growth in a dynamic business landscape.