Stuck in Your Swim Lane?

In every transformation, we break the effort into workstreams: Commercial, Tech Ops, Finance, HR, Portfolio... it gives structure, clarity, ownership.

But structure can quickly become a trap.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve challenged a team on a critical topic, say, a portfolio decision, and the answer comes back:

"That’s not us. That’s another workstream." 

As if responsibility can be delegated by org chart. As if the business cares who owns the slide.

That’s when I pause and remind them: the real issues don’t fit neatly into boxes. The toughest, most strategic decisions always cut across functions. Portfolio? It’s Commercial, Tech Ops, Finance, all at once. Customer experience? That’s Sales, Ops, and IT. Profitability? Everyone’s in.

Workstreams (swim lanes) are supposed to help, not to become polite excuses for staying in your lane.

Transformation requires looking beyond your remit, resisting the comfort of “not my area,” and asking: what’s the right thing for the business? 

The space between workstreams is where the magic, and the mess, happens. That’s where transformation gets real.