Before changing a Mobility programme, diagnose what it really needs

I spend quite a lot of time helping companies change their Global Mobility programmes, which means I regularly find myself in conversations about new policies, new technology, different operating models, vendor changes, cost reduction, employee experience and, increasingly, how Mobility can become more strategic.

There is rarely a shortage of things that could be changed. The harder question, and normally the much more interesting one, is which of those things actually should be changed.

AIRINC’s new advisory approach has three stages: Diagnose, Modernise and Sustain. The order is deliberate. It can be hugely tempting to begin with Modernise, because that is where the visible change happens: new policies, better technology, a different operating model, redesigned processes or a new approach to employee experience. All very exciting stuff! 

However, sometimes the proposed answer arrives before the problem has been fully understood. A new technology platform will improve the employee experience. A policy rewrite will reduce exceptions. A vendor change will solve service problems. A new operating model will make the function more strategic. Perhaps. But it is also possible that the technology is fine and the underlying process contains 27 unnecessary steps. The policy may be reasonable, but responsibilities between Mobility, HR and the vendors are unclear. Employees may not need more information; they may simply need the right information at the right time.

So, before deciding how to modernise a Global Mobility programme, you need to be certain that you know what actually needs to change. For me, getting to the heart of why change is needed is crucial. It’s the bit I love best: understanding the context, learning the culture, identifying the challenges and digging into the root causes is often fascinating. It is also essential. It can also help avoid a monumental misstep - modernising the wrong thing can be an expensive way of discovering what the real problem was. Diagnose is intended to prevent that.

What does it mean to diagnose a Mobility programme?

At its simplest, Diagnose provides an objective, fact-based view of what is working, where the gaps exist and where the organisation should focus next. That sounds straightforward, but it normally requires looking at the programme from several different angles.

Benchmarking can show how policies, practices and operating models compare with those of peer organisations. Stakeholder interviews reveal how the programme is experienced by the business, HR, employees and internal partners. Operational analysis identifies where processes, governance or responsibilities are creating unnecessary effort. Programme data can help separate isolated frustrations from recurring patterns. Together, these perspectives provide a much more useful picture than any one of them could offer alone.

Benchmarking provides context, not an automatic answer

One of the most common diagnostic questions is: How do we compare with other organisations? It is a perfectly reasonable question, and benchmarking can be extremely useful. It identifies where a programme is aligned with the market, where it is more generous or restrictive, and where its practices differ from those of its peers. The interesting part comes next. Suppose a company discovers that its temporary housing benefit is more generous than the market. Does that mean it should be reduced? Maybe…

However, perhaps that additional generosity supports a deliberate talent strategy. Perhaps the company regularly moves employees into very difficult housing markets. Perhaps the additional support plays an important role in attracting or deploying talent. Perhaps employees rarely use the full allowance anyway. Or perhaps there is no particular reason for the difference and the policy has simply not been reviewed since 2009! The benchmark tells the organisation where to look. It does not make the decision on its behalf. A diagnosis places the benchmark in the right context.

Sometimes the best thing to do is ask people

This is where stakeholder interviews can be particularly revealing. Mobility teams naturally see the programme from the inside. They know which processes create work, which exceptions are difficult to manage and which parts of the policy regularly cause confusion. HRBPs, Finance, employees and business leaders may experience the same programme rather differently. Sometimes asking people what is getting in their way is remarkably effective.

To bring that to life a bit, the Mobility team at one client believed the business was unhappy with assignment cost. However, interviews with business leaders revealed that they were willing to pay to have the right talent in the right place to drive their growth strategy. The real frustration was not the total cost, but the length of time it took to receive an estimate. Leaders couldn’t make decisions quickly because they did not know what an assignment was likely to cost. That required a very different solution. The actual priority was faster indicative estimates, simpler approvals and better access to data. Once the underlying issue was properly understood, a completely different transformation priority emerged.

Different questions require different diagnostic lenses

Not every organisation is trying to answer the same question, so Diagnose should not be a standard review applied in exactly the same way to every programme.  Some organisations need a broad view of programme health. They want to validate their priorities, understand their most significant gaps and decide where to focus first. A Mobility Compass Assessment can provide that overall direction.

Others already have strong operations but want Mobility to create greater strategic value. They may be asking whether the function is sufficiently connected to talent, whether it is influencing business decisions and whether its people, partnerships and capabilities support long-term effectiveness. The THRIVE Assessment examines the programme through that wider strategic lens.

Technology may be the main priority for another organisation. Before investing, however, it is useful to understand whether policies are clear, processes are consistent, governance is defined and data is reliable. A Mobility TechReady Assessment helps establish whether the programme is ready to get real value from technology, rather than simply automating existing complexity.

The key is to diagnose the true problem. Once you know what you’re up against, everything else will fall into place

It is also possible that the programme is working quite well

This is an important possibility, although admittedly it does not always make for the most dramatic consulting conclusion!

A diagnostic exercise should not begin with the assumption that everything needs fixing. A programme may compare well with peers, employees may be having a positive experience, the operating model may be efficient and the policies may remain broadly fit for purpose.

That is good news. The next question is then not “What is broken?” but “What will the organisation need from Mobility next?”. A useful diagnosis should therefore prioritise enhancements, not simply identify problems. Which changes would make the greatest difference to the business? Which would most improve the employee experience? What would remove unnecessary effort from the Mobility team? Which actions are foundational because other improvements depend upon them? And what can wait?

That final question matters. Transformation is not improved by attempting everything at once. It is also entirely possible that some parts of the programme do not need to change at all. A diagnosis should confirm strengths as well as gaps, because there is little value in replacing something that is already working simply to demonstrate activity.

So, is your Mobility programme still fit for purpose?

Perhaps it is. Perhaps parts of it are working exceptionally well, while a small number of issues are creating disproportionate effort or frustration. Perhaps the programme is operationally strong but needs to develop a more strategic role. Perhaps the policies are competitive, but the supporting processes no longer reflect how the business operates. That uncertainty is exactly why an objective diagnosis is useful.

By combining benchmarking, stakeholder interviews, operational diagnostics, current-state analysis and programme data, an organisation can establish a fact-based baseline and distinguish between the things that are genuinely holding the programme back and those that are simply different from market practice. Most importantly, it gives Mobility somewhere sensible to start.

Transformation does not have to mean changing everything. In many cases, the smartest first step is understanding what needs to change, what is already working well, and which action is most likely to make the greatest difference.

Diagnose first… and then decide what to do about it.