🏠︎ | Past Sessions | The Transformation Journey What I’d Do Differently Next Time
- Event: Finance Forum 25
- Date: 7 October 2025
- Speakers
- Oliver Deacon, Executive Coach, Oliver Deacon Consulting
- Funto Agbeniga FCCA, Head of Finance, GB Railfreight
- Lubnah Alam FCCA, Director of Financial Operations, EG Group
- Estimated read time: 8-9 minutes
Quick summary
Finance transformation rarely fails on technology. It fails on people, scope, and leadership attention.
This session explored what experienced finance leaders would do differently if they were starting major transformation programmes again. The discussion focused on practical realities, from unclear scope and underestimated change management, to stakeholder resistance, fatigue, and leadership disengagement.
The shared conclusion was clear. Successful transformation depends less on tools and plans, and more on how leaders define the problem, involve the right people, manage emotions, and stay actively engaged throughout the journey.
Transformation starts with clarity, not ambition
When asked what they wished they had known earlier, the first lesson was simple but often missed. Transformation programmes frequently begin without a clear definition of scope.
Lubnah Alam described walking into programmes where objectives sounded compelling, but boundaries were vague. Without a precise understanding of what will and will not change, delivery becomes unstable and expectations drift.
Change management was the second blind spot. The effort required to help people adapt is consistently underestimated, even by experienced leaders. Systems can be implemented on schedule, but behaviours take longer, and without focused attention they can derail outcomes.
“Have you really defined the scope of what it is that you want to deliver. The devil is in the detail.” Lubnah Alam, Director of Financial Operations, EG Group
People are not an afterthought, they are the constraint
Funto Agbeniga reinforced that transformation often starts with urgency to fix problems, but not enough attention to the people expected to live with the solution.
Finance leaders know the answer they are trying to reach, but teams experience the change very differently. Carrying people through the journey, rather than pushing solutions at them, was described as a decisive factor in whether programmes stick.
This becomes harder as teams grow. Lubnah shared experience of leading large shared service teams, where not everyone wants to be part of transformation. Some want stability, others actively challenge change, and both groups matter.
The practical lesson was not to avoid sceptics, but to include them deliberately. Naysayers often surface risks early and force better design, while problem solvers help turn ambition into workable reality.
Balancing business as usual with transformation is unavoidable
Few finance teams have spare capacity to remove people from business as usual work. Most change therefore runs alongside day jobs, increasing pressure and risk.
The panel emphasised the importance of clearly defining who does what, when, and for how long. Transformation work cannot simply be layered on top of existing roles without trade offs being made explicit.
Funto described the need to plan continuity alongside change, ensuring BAU does not collapse while improvement is underway. Lubnah added that leaders must accept transformation as continuous, not episodic. The question is not whether change happens, but how deliberately it is managed.
Where internal capacity is insufficient, short term external support can help. However, consultants should supplement teams, not replace ownership. The organisation must remain close enough to the work to adopt it fully.
Resistance is emotional before it is rational
One of the most candid parts of the discussion focused on winning over resistant stakeholders.
Lubnah described working with stakeholders who focused intensely on small imperfections while overlooking progress. Her approach combined data with persistence. Regular engagement, active listening, and returning with evidence built trust over time.
However, the panel agreed that logic alone rarely works. Finance leaders are trained to persuade with data, but change is experienced emotionally. Stakeholders may feel threatened, frustrated, or unheard, even when the solution is objectively sound.
Oliver Deacon highlighted the importance of understanding problems in the stakeholder’s own language, then framing solutions around those concerns. Without trust, people will not share what is really blocking adoption.
“It doesn’t matter what data you’ve got. If they’re not feeling happy with the solution, you won’t move them.” Oliver Deacon, Executive Coach, Oliver Deacon Consulting
Momentum fades when progress is invisible
Long transformation programmes create fatigue. The panel suggested that length alone is not the problem, silence is.
Teams disengage when they cannot see progress or understand impact. Leaders often move quickly to the next objective without recognising what has already been achieved.
Breaking work into smaller phases helps, but only if progress is communicated clearly to different audiences. Senior sponsors, delivery teams, and frontline users all need different messages, tailored to what they care about.
Listening loops were described as essential. Feedback rarely arrives through formal channels, but leaders who actively seek perspectives across levels can surface issues early and adjust course before burnout sets in.
Sponsorship fails when leaders stay distant
Another recurring failure point was leadership sponsorship.
Sponsors often support transformation conceptually, but underestimate the time, cost, and disruption involved. When programmes deviate from plan, disengaged sponsors can become a source of friction rather than support.
Lubnah stressed that sponsors must be visible, active participants, not distant approvers. Effective sponsors attend governance forums, help resolve political barriers, and intervene when resistance stalls progress.
Strong sponsor relationships are built by aligning transformation outcomes with the sponsor’s real priorities. When leaders clearly understand what problem is being solved for them, engagement improves significantly.
Skills that matter most in finance transformation
When discussing the qualities that make transformation leaders effective, the panel moved beyond technical expertise.
Curiosity and energy were highlighted as critical. Transformation demands constant questioning of why work is done a certain way, and sustained momentum through ambiguity.
Common sense was also emphasised. Teams benefit from combining people who know the work deeply with those who challenge long standing practices. Experience and fresh perspective are both required.
Knowing your team matters. Leaders who understand individual strengths, motivations, and communication styles can deploy people more effectively across different phases of change.
AI and agile change the pace, not the fundamentals
AI and new ways of working were discussed as accelerators, not shortcuts.
Lubnah described frustration with organisational resistance to AI, often driven by control and risk concerns. While individuals use AI tools daily, workplaces struggle to integrate them meaningfully.
Funto shared examples of AI being used to reduce manual effort and improve insight, particularly in commercial finance. The opportunity is not automation for its own sake, but freeing capacity for analysis and decision support.
Agile ways of working were framed as helpful when combined with clarity of purpose. Without clear scope and ownership, faster delivery simply amplifies confusion.
What good looks like, practical actions for finance leaders
This session translated into clear guidance for leaders preparing for, or already in, finance transformation.
Questions to ask before you start- Have we defined what success means, and what is explicitly out of scope
- Who will be most affected by this change, and how will they experience it
- Do we have the right mix of sceptics, problem solvers, and subject experts involved
- Is our sponsor clear on the effort and disruption required
- Whether stakeholders raise issues early, or only after decisions are made
- Whether teams talk openly about fatigue and frustration
- Whether progress is visible and acknowledged
- Whether BAU pressures are crowding out improvement work
- Treating change management as a communications exercise
- Assuming data alone will persuade resistant stakeholders
- Allowing dashboards to stay green while problems remain hidden
- Expecting technology to fix behavioural issues
What effective transformation looks like
Strong finance transformation is grounded in clarity, led visibly by engaged sponsors, and paced to sustain people as well as delivery. Leaders stay close to the work, listen actively, and adapt based on feedback. Technology supports change, but people determine whether it succeeds.
Conclusion, transformation is a leadership discipline
The most consistent message from the session was that transformation is not a project phase. It is a leadership discipline.
Finance leaders who succeed treat change as ongoing, invest in relationships as much as plans, and remain personally involved when delivery becomes uncomfortable. The next transformation will not be easier, but it can be more effective if these lessons are applied early.
Speakers
Executive Coach, Oliver Deacon Consulting. Former finance leader turned coach, supporting CFOs and finance directors to futureproof careers and build high performing teams.
Head of Finance, GB Railfreight. Finance and change leader with experience across multiple sectors, specialising in planning, commercial finance, and transformation delivery.
Director of Financial Operations, EG Group. Award winning finance transformation leader with deep expertise in shared services, ERP implementations, and global change programmes.