Transformation is everywhere. But there’s a hidden cost 

Enterprise transformation is no longer episodic. For many organizations, it has become a permanent operating condition.

In new research with 2,000 leaders and employees in large organizations undergoing transformation, we found a consistent pattern: delivery metrics often look strong, while human pressure quietly accumulates beneath the surface. Over time, that pressure erodes performance.

In this five-part series, we explore how it builds, where it concentrates, and what distinguishes transformations that endure from those that quietly fray.

Enterprise transformation has become the default condition of modern organizations.

Not as a single initiative, but as a permanent state of change – digital overhauls layered onto restructures, operating model redesigns unfolding alongside AI adoption, culture change running in parallel with all of it.

Our research shows the average transformation now lasts 2.42 years, with many organizations operating in overlapping waves of change. What once had a defined start and finish has become sustained pressure.

For large companies, transformation no longer has a clear beginning or end. It is continuous work, happening everywhere at once.

On paper, much of this looks like progress.

Timelines are holding. Milestones are being met. Business cases remain intact. Leaders can point to visible movement and tangible outcomes. By traditional measures, transformation appears to be working.

And yet, when leaders speak candidly, a different picture emerges.

Pressure is rising. Decision-making feels heavier. Managers are stretched thinner for longer.

It’s not anecdotal. 78% of leaders report increased pressure during transformation. Nearly half report rising turnover and more performance issues.

Teams are operating at sustained intensity, with little time to recover before the next wave of change arrives. Stress stops being a survey metric and starts showing up in execution.

Most organizations treat these outcomes as separate challenges.

They are not.

They are connected signals of a deeper issue: the pace of enterprise change has accelerated faster than the human systems designed to support it.

This is where value begins to leak, quietly and cumulatively. Not through failed programs or missed deadlines, but through slower execution under pressure. Through leadership strain. Through avoidable turnover. Through teams running hot for longer than they should.

These costs rarely appear on transformation dashboards. They don’t sit neatly in budgets or business cases. But they shape whether change actually sticks and whether organizations can sustain performance in a world where transformation is no longer episodic, but permanent.

The most important question leaders are now facing isn’t whether transformation can be delivered.

It’s whether it can be sustained – without eroding the very performance it’s meant to improve.

Many leaders are starting to ask this same question.

In our upcoming webinar, we’ll explore what sustained transformation is really costing organizations and where pressure quietly builds long before performance slips.