The Goalposts Moved (Again). Can Your Leaders Keep Up When Transformation Keeps Changing?

Your transformation strategy is still on schedule, and yet business results are already off course. How can leaders keep transformation relevant when original assumptions no longer hold true?

A transformation program can stay on schedule and still lose relevance. Projects progress according to plan, budgets are closely monitored, and the board receives regular updates. On the surface, transformation efforts appear to be going rather swimmingly.  

Yet customers may want something different from what they wanted when the program began. A competitor may have changed the market economics. A capability that once appeared essential may no longer offer the expected advantage. A new technology could prove so disruptive that the transformation roadmap loses direction completely.  

Carolin Fourie, Managing Partner at Signium in Munich, shares her comments:

“Although the original plan may have been sound, business environments tend to evolve and move on. Much of what an organization needs to learn only becomes clear through and after implementation. We can’t afford to cling to original assumptions for the sake of convenience. Leaders must be able to recognize when what is learned calls for a different approach – then explain the change clearly and redirect people’s efforts.”  

When the roadmap becomes detached from reality 

A detailed roadmap helps leaders coordinate resources, establish responsibilities, and explain what they intend to achieve. However, a roadmap’s precision can also lock in a sense of certainty before key questions have been fully explored and answered: 

• Do customers want what the business intends to offer? 

• Which skills will employees need? 

• Will the proposed way of operating work in practice? 

When on-the-ground realities challenge the assumptions that shaped the plan, pressure to meet the original commitments can make leaders reluctant to change course. They may push teams to deliver faster or take on more work, rather than pause to assess whether the approach still makes sense. Over time, progress slows, employees lose confidence in the plan, and shareholders are left waiting for the promised results.  

In the article Transformation Should Be a Learning Journey, ​​Harvard Business Review compares how Singapore-based DBS Bank and General Electric (GE) responded to findings from early initiatives. 

At DBS, employees discovered that improving internal processes couldn’t solve every customer problem. Management adopted their proposal to examine the broader customer experience, shifting the transformation toward making banking easier for customers. 

GE’s early tests of its Predix industrial software platform revealed that many customers weren’t ready to use the services or did not understand their value. Yet GE continued scaling the platform without substantially revising its approach. 

“Leaders must be willing to say, ‘We know more now than when we agreed on this plan, and we need to adjust,’” says Fourie. “That can be uncomfortable after a public commitment, but employees need to know leaders will take their findings seriously—even when that means questioning an earlier decision.” 

Three ways to develop the ability to keep adapting  

When organizations treat transformation as a continuing capability, not a rigid roadmap, they create regular opportunities to test assumptions and apply what they learn. “Strategic vision gives our activities direction,” comments Fourie. “Ongoing evidence must shape the decisions in real time. Surprisingly, evidence sometimes even reveals that the vision itself needs refining.” 

1. Give each initiative a clear purpose 

Transformation involves several complementary activities: 

• Test assumptions 

Use pilots to examine a customer offering or process before committing more resources. 

• Build capabilities 

Invest in the people, systems, and ways of working needed to pursue promising opportunities. 

• Improve existing operations 

Apply what has been learned to deliver measurable benefits in the current business. 

• Scale validated opportunities 

Expand only when there is sufficient evidence that the approach works and the organization can support it. 

“Assess each initiative according to its original purpose,” urges Fourie. “For example, a pilot that reveals why customers are unwilling to adopt an offering can help prevent a bigger, more costly mistake.” 

2. Connect what the organization learns 

Leaders must ensure that findings and capabilities reach the people who can use them. A lesson from one market may change the approach in another. Skills developed during an experiment may also help improve existing operations. 

This requires teams to share what worked, what did not, and what other initiatives could use. Leaders can then adjust related projects and investment decisions. Without those connections, teams may duplicate work – and even duplicate mistakes – or pursue approaches that conflict with one another. 

3. Review what deserves continued investment 

As evidence emerges, leaders must decide which initiatives to continue, adjust, expand, or stop. An initiative that made sense at the outset may no longer justify its resources. Another may need additional skills or testing before it can progress. 

These reviews should also consider how much work teams can realistically absorb. Combining overlapping projects or stopping less valuable activity creates room for the priorities with the most promise. Continuous transformation becomes more manageable when leaders make deliberate choices about where effort goes, and where it’s reined in.  

​​​How Fujifilm found new value in existing capabilities 

As digital photography eroded demand for film, Fujifilm explored where else its expertise in chemistry, materials, and production could create value. It combined those strengths with new investment to expand into fields including cosmetics and healthcare. 

In the fiscal year ended March 2025, its healthcare revenue exceeded ¥1 trillion for the first time, supported by medical systems and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. 

“Leaders must look beyond improving the business they already have,” says Fourie. “Their people and expertise may open opportunities they hadn’t originally considered.” 

What does adaptable leadership look like in practice?  

Adaptability is often described as a desirable leadership quality, but organizations need to be specific about what it requires. Changing direction is only part of the task; leaders also need to help employees put the revised plan into practice. 

That can be difficult, particularly when teams have experienced repeated changes with disappointing results. Gartner reported in July 2025 that only 32% of surveyed mid-to-senior business leaders said the last change they led achieved healthy employee adoption – meaning timely adoption without undue stress or harm to performance and engagement. 

The finding highlights why leaders need to consider how change will affect the people delivering it. Two practical abilities help them do that: 

1. Clarify expectations as priorities change 

When priorities change, employees need to know which commitments still apply, what can be deferred, and where they have room to exercise judgment. They also need to understand what’s being tested and what’s already decided. Ambiguity becomes harder to manage when everyone interprets it differently. 

2. Understand what is making change difficult 

Managing discomfort is another practical responsibility. A new approach may unsettle established expertise, working relationships, or confidence in the future. 

“Leaders must acknowledge people’s concerns,” explains Fourie. “They must understand whether resistance to the proposed change reflects uncertainty, excessive workload, missing skills, or a more serious problem with the new plan. Each calls for a different response.”  

Look beyond past performance when planning succession 

Succession remains one of the biggest challenges for many organizations. Succession planning should include evaluation of how leadership candidates have handled situations that required them to reconsider an established approach. Useful questions include: 

• What evidence caused them to change a decision? 

• How did they respond when a project needed to be stopped or redesigned? 

• What did they learn, and where did they apply that learning next? 

• How did they help their team understand and implement the revised approach? 

The effect on their teams deserves equal attention. A leader may change direction quickly while leaving colleagues confused about priorities. Evidence of change fluency should include the ability to make a revised approach understandable and workable for others. 

Thinking ahead: How to develop change fluency throughout the pipeline 

Organizations can help potential successors develop this capability by giving them opportunities to: 

• Tackle unfamiliar problems 

Take on assignments that require them to question assumptions and learn as they go. 

• Work across functions 

Lead work that exposes them to different priorities, perspectives, and responsibilities. 

• Make decisions with incomplete information 

Exercise judgment when there is no clear or certain answer. 

• Reflect with support 

Use coaching and structured reflection to examine their decisions, the outcomes, and what they would change next time. 

Managers and project leaders need these opportunities too. They often see first where a plan is running into trouble and what needs to change. Developing judgment and a sense of accountability helps the business respond without waiting for every decision to come from the top. 

​​​Give leaders room to adjust – and expect them to explain why 

Boards must still hold leaders accountable for delivery, financial performance, and risk. They also need to understand whether the transformation remains relevant as circumstances evolve. 

That requires a broader conversation than whether strategic milestones have been met. “Leaders should be able to tell the board what they’ve learned, why the plan needs to change, and what they now expect to deliver,” Fourie says. “Changing course can be the responsible decision. The board needs enough clarity to back that decision and hold leaders to their revised commitments.” 

Develop leaders who are ready when the goalposts move 

For leaders and boards, few things are more frustrating than committing to a transformation only to find that the business needs change before the work is complete. Organizations need people who stay alert to changing conditions and have the courage to act on what they see, as it happens.  

These are the leaders who are able to let go of a familiar approach, make a difficult decision before every uncertainty is resolved, and encourage others to move forward with the same sense of courage. 

“The goalposts will keep moving; that’s a guarantee,” concludes Fourie.

“Developing leaders who can recognize the shift, respond decisively, and pioneer new possibilities gives the business a better chance of actively shaping what comes next – instead of blindly following a roadmap that no longer fits the business.”