Is 7% the magic number?

McKinsey published an article recently revealing their research stating: “at least 7 percent of employees owning part of the transformation”.

Got it? 7% of workforce engagement is required to deliver successful transformation.

So… should you, as a CEO or corporate innovation leader, engage at least 7% of your organizations head-count in order to lead a transformation in you innovation-capacity?

The answer is probably NO.

A critical mass of the innovation-competent employees is surely required to lead a valuable transformation in any organization. Yet the exact figure depends on several variables such as the velocity of the strategically-relevant markets, the business operations maturity, type and availability of resources and more.

In short, 7% is a great average. But your particular figure should be derived from your organizations Innovation-Strategy, which by itself is derived for your Corporate-Strategy.