Why Turnaround Efforts Lose Momentum: A Question of Focus

Nicholas Chamansingh

Most turnarounds do not fail for lack of ideas. They fail because too many ideas are pursued at once. In most organizations facing declining performance, there is no shortage of leadership intent, active initiatives, or organizational effort. Yet outcomes still fall short. After working across multiple markets and businesses, one pattern emerges with striking consistency.

"Too many priorities, pursued simultaneously, is not ambition — it is diffusion."

The Pattern Behind Stalled Recoveries

When performance drops, the instinct is to act on all fronts. Pricing, product, brand, customer experience, cost structure, technology — each one is a valid lever. The problem is not the individual initiatives. It is attempting them all at once. The result is predictable: execution capacity becomes fragmented, decision-making slows, trade-offs blur, and teams lose clarity on what actually matters most. There is plenty of activity — but rarely proportional impact. The symptoms are consistent: fragmented execution across too many workstreams, slowed decision-making with poorly defined trade-offs, and high activity levels with disproportionately low impact.

What Actually Works

A more focused, sequenced approach consistently delivers better outcomes. This comes down to three disciplines. 1. Identify the primary commercial drivers In telecom and digital businesses, performance is typically most sensitive to pricing structure, distribution effectiveness, and product-market alignment. These are not the only levers — but they are the most immediate. Start there. 2. Sequence rather than parallelize Prioritize the highest-impact levers first. Stabilize performance. Then — and only then — expand into adjacent areas like brand, experience, and systems. This creates momentum and organizational clarity instead of noise. 3. Align governance to priorities Limit the number of active strategic initiatives. Link each one explicitly to revenue, ARPU, or EBITDA. Establish clear ownership and measurable outcomes. Less noise, more accountability.

Operating Inside Real-World Complexity

None of this means ignoring the rest. Customer experience issues still exist. Network constraints persist. Competitive pressure does not pause while you stabilize. Leadership must hold both tensions simultaneously — protecting immediate commercial priorities while making deliberate progress on longer-term structural improvements. That balancing act is not a contradiction. It is the actual work of a turnaround.

The Hardest Leadership Decision

One of the most consequential things an executive can do during a transformation is not define what to pursue — it is decide what not to prioritize in the near term. That act of deliberate restraint is often where the greatest impact lies.

"The organizations that regain momentum are those that concentrate effort, execute with discipline, and expand scope only once stability is achieved."

Turnarounds are rarely constrained by a shortage of ideas. They are more often constrained by diffused focus, competing priorities, and insufficient sequencing. Concentrate. Execute. Then expand.

Share this post:

Why Turnaround Efforts Lose Momentum: A Question of Focus

The Pattern Behind Stalled Recoveries

What Actually Works

Operating Inside Real-World Complexity

The Hardest Leadership Decision

Recent posts