Jeannie Mok started her career as a solicitor and is now a senior executive renowned for leading large-scale enterprise transformation. Her most recent role was with The Star Entertainment Group as Group Chief Operating Officer, accountable for driving a comprehensive transformation of the company with oversight of key customer, product and corporate functions. She has also worked with other industry giants, including Crown Resorts as Chief Transformation Officer and Lendlease in legal and operational leadership roles.
We asked Jeannie what it’s like to lead enterprise transformations and what it takes to be successful.
Enterprise-wide transformation encompasses every aspect of a company’s operations – it’s a change at scale with major impacts on the company and its brand. This requires every team within that company to do things differently in the future, and to be successful necessitates a cultural shift.
That starts with clarity. Everyone – from leadership to the frontline – wants to know the goals in the short-, medium-, and long-term, and what success looks like.
If leaders can’t articulate the big picture across the executive leadership team, then they won’t get perfect alignment. And without alignment, the executives are likely to start giving mixed signals to the team, which can lead to frustration and fragmentation.
Over the course of my career, I’ve learned not to be afraid to step into difficult situations. Transformation rarely happens in comfortable environments, and to create real value for the company, you have to be willing to back yourself.
Equally important is building a strong, capable team that’s aligned with the plan and absolutely trustworthy. In periods of competing priorities or crisis, that trust becomes critical. It allows me to stay focused on the big picture and strategic priorities, confident that the team is delivering, and together we can push through a massive scale of work in a short space of time.
For me, recruitment is all about honesty. Transformation environments are intense, and every program is different. A candidate may have the right qualifications and experience, but in different settings, especially in highly complex transformations, they may or may not be suitable for the role.
When I’m interviewing, I’m completely honest about what the role truly entails, and I ask whether the candidate is up for it. Without that shared understanding, it could lead to disappointment.
Across several organisations, Allura Partners has been instrumental in helping me identify the right talent and build high-performing teams quickly.
The key to alignment is consistency of messaging and clarity, while always remembering that things change, especially in complex environments. New challenges, new external threats and circumstances can emerge.
Frequent communication is vital. Staff “town halls” where people feel included and comfortable asking questions matter. And when necessary, leaders are empowered to say, “We don’t know yet, it’s an emerging situation, but we’ll come back to you.” That honesty builds credibility.
Of course, there are moments when you can’t be fully transparent due to process or governance requirements. But by and large, you should be able to be honest and transparent with your people.
At the same time, every transformation has a purpose. People are more likely to engage when they understand the longer-term vision. From there, it’s about breaking that vision into achievable goals, realistic timeframes and clear metrics so teams know whether they’re on track.
And finally, it’s important to identify and leverage the influencers early in the process, the people who will genuinely buy in and help motivate others.
Embedding change: Implementation is the relatively easy part, but once that period is over, people who aren’t engaged are likely to slip back into their old ways, especially once the change management team has moved on.
To avoid this, the executive team must use agreed metrics to measure the uptake, 6 or 12 months after implementation, then build ongoing measurement into their day-to-day to make sure the changes are being effectively and consistently adopted by the business.
For example, in a regulatory space, you may want to know if the business is improving in its operational compliance and what trends you may be seeing in terms of any breaches. You may want to monitor the rate of completion of mandatory learning especially around ethics and code of conduct. Are people taking it seriously from a cultural perspective? Are we seeing improvements in these metrics over time?
Seeing change take place. Hearing people talk differently. And motivating them to stay the course, especially when it gets tough – which it does. Then, seeing the impact of the transformation on the company. The ultimate prize is seeing people behave differently and the market perceives your company differently as a result of the change.
It takes time to drive long-term sustainable change; there will be plenty of distractions on the way; and some people will want to give up – so it’s about helping as many as possible stay on course.
Be really clear on what you want to achieve, and make sure you have the right team around you to deliver it. Transformation is demanding, and it will fail if your executives are not genuinely leaning in and taking ownership.
Set common KPIs and metrics that everyone is accountable for within their respective remits. There have to be consequences if things aren’t delivered, and just as importantly, a shared sense of reward when you achieve success together.
Perhaps most importantly, you need the CEO's genuine endorsement. When that alignment is visible from the top, it sets the tone for the entire organisation.
There are many different types of transformation projects, but the common thread for any aspiring transformation leader is strategic clarity. You’ve got to be clear on the organisation’s strategy and where your particular piece of the puzzle fits into that, and be able to articulate that clearly to your team.
Be adaptable, because sometimes things don’t go to plan, and you’ll have to pivot.
Finally, transformation projects aren’t for everyone, but if you’re someone like me, who has a fascination with what makes businesses successful and how things come together, they can be enormously rewarding. There are challenges week in and week out, but it’s the relationships you form along the way, and the transformation you leave behind, that make this work so meaningful.