Why transformation programmes in Indian mid‑market firms quietly die in month nine

Nobody cancels a transformation programme. It is renamed, de-scoped, or absorbed into business-as-usual - and the moment this happens is remarkably consistent: somewhere around month nine.

The pattern is structural, not motivational. Months one to three run on novelty and leadership attention. Months four to six run on the external team’s energy. By month nine, the consultants have thinned out, the founder’s attention has moved to the next fire, and the programme is being carried by middle managers who were never given the decision rights to carry it. The first serious conflict between the new way and an old customer commitment is resolved in favour of the customer - quietly, sensibly, and fatally. Every subsequent conflict cites the precedent.

The fix is unfashionable: decision rights before process maps. If the people running the new system cannot overrule the old one without escalating to the promoter, the programme was never real. It was a pilot with a press release.

The test we apply before any engagement: name the three decisions the new operating model will change, and name who makes each one today. If all three answers are the same person, the constraint is not process. It is architecture.