Business Transformation Series: Where is the Accountability for Failed Strategies?

A Reflection from the Front Lines of Transformation

Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege (and sometimes the burden) of observing many strategies move from inception to execution and ultimately to outcomes, whether good or bad.

I’ve seen inspiring successes where smart thinking, disciplined execution, and a learning mindset delivered tremendous results.

But I’ve also seen the opposite.

I’ve watched strategic programs designed to increase revenue, optimise costs through process reengineering, and enable digitisation fail spectacularly. Not because the ideas were bad, but because they weren’t executed properly, weren’t grounded in reality, or lacked real ownership.

And here’s what troubles me the most:

In many of those failed cases, no one was held accountable for the strategy itself.

The responsible people like project managers, delivery teams, operational staff were often the ones to take the blame. In some cases, they were let go. In extreme cases, significant redundancies followed due to overspending with no real outcomes.

Yet the leaders and sponsors who signed off on the strategy, who championed it in board meetings and town halls, quietly moved on to their next initiative. Lessons were not captured. Root causes were not publicly acknowledged.

Strategy Is a Leadership Accountability - Not Just Execution

We must face a hard truth:

Strategy without accountability is just wishful thinking.

When a strategy is put into motion:

• Who owns the why and what?

• Who takes responsibility for ensuring that assumptions are validated, risks are surfaced early, and course corrections are made?

• Who stands up and says: “If this doesn’t deliver, I am accountable not just the project team.”?

Too often, the answer is: no one.

Why Does This Pattern Persist?

Through my observations, I’ve identified several contributing factors:

1. Lack of Clear Ownership Structures

In many organisations, strategy development and execution are separated by layers of management, handovers, and siloed functions. Strategy teams or external consultants design the strategy; operational teams are expected to execute it. The gap in between is often unowned.

When execution challenges arise, this structural gap allows strategy owners to distance themselves from the operational realities.

2. Culture of Blame Deflection

In some corporate cultures, it is politically easier to blame execution teams than to question leadership judgement or flawed strategy assumptions. Project managers and delivery teams become the convenient scapegoats.

This leads to a dangerous dynamic: strategy can repeatedly fail without triggering reflection or accountability at the leadership level.

3. Inadequate Feedback Loops

Many transformation programs lack effective feedback mechanisms that surface execution insights and strategic risks early. By the time issues become visible, they have already caused major damage and the response is often reactive rather than adaptive.

4. Overconfidence and Poor Assumption Testing

At the strategy stage, there is often overconfidence in the expected benefits and underestimated complexity of execution. Key assumptions are not stress-tested rigorously.

When reality challenges these assumptions, leaders may be reluctant to acknowledge flaws in their original strategy, preferring instead to focus blame downward.

Real-Life Example: An Organisation that Paid a High Price

This is a pattern I’ve seen across several organisations including one entity where I observed the dynamics very closely.

The organisation launched an ambitious transformation strategy aimed at digitising its services, improving customer experience, streamlining costs through process redesign, and building scalable capabilities for future growth.

On paper, it was a strong and well-intentioned strategy. It was championed by senior leaders and approved enthusiastically by the board.

But here’s what unfolded:

• The strategy’s assumptions about cost savings and digital readiness were never fully validated.

• Execution was handed off to project teams without sufficient capability uplift or cross-functional support.

• Leadership engagement tapered off once the project launched and sponsors became less visible as challenges emerged.

• Project managers and delivery teams were left to manage escalating complexity and risks with limited strategic guidance.

• As key outcomes failed to materialise and costs blew out, the response was reactive and focused on short-term damage control.

The outcome was painful:

• Delivery leaders, project teams and Scrum Masters were made redundant.

• Broader staff cuts were implemented to offset financial losses.

• Leadership accountability for the flawed assumptions and strategic disengagement was never addressed openly.

• The organisation’s transformation culture was damaged, with teams less willing to raise risks or speak up in future initiatives.

The core issue wasn’t execution failure alone. It was a strategy without ownership and a leadership culture unwilling to learn from failure.

What Could Have Been Done Differently?

Reflecting on this case, several lessons stand out:

1. Rigorous validation of strategy assumptions should have been built into the early stages before large-scale execution began.

2. Ongoing leadership ownership and visibility should have been maintained throughout execution, especially as delivery risks emerged.

3. A strong feedback and adaptation loop should have been created, encouraging teams to raise concerns early and adjust course as needed.

4. Finally, post-failure reviews should have included leadership accountability not just delivery accountability to enable true organisational learning.

Without these disciplines, even well-meaning strategies can cause lasting organisational harm.

Three Principles to Drive Real Strategic Accountability

Here are three principles I now champion in every major transformation I support:

1. Explicit Strategy Ownership

The person (or leadership group) that defines the strategy must stay connected and accountable all the way through execution. Strategy is not “fire and forget.”

Ownership means standing behind the strategy during execution reviews, being open to challenge, and being prepared to pivot if evidence shows the need.

2. Transparent Outcomes and Metrics

Strategic success must be measured not only by activity but by actual business outcomes. These metrics must be visible and reviewed at the right leadership forums not buried in project steering groups.

Leaders must own the story of these metrics and participate in interpreting and acting on them.

3. Balanced Accountability Across the Chain

Delivery teams are accountable for execution. Leaders are accountable for both strategy quality and outcome realisation.

Both sides must stand together when outcomes fall short and both must participate in the learning loop.

Broader Implications: Why This Matters Beyond a Single Project

This is not just about “fairness” to project managers or delivery teams (though that matters).

It is about building a healthy transformation culture one where:

• Leaders think more deeply about the quality of the strategies they sponsor.

• Teams feel empowered to raise risks and insights without fear of blame.

• Learning from failure is encouraged and institutionalised.

• Organisational memory improves, so repeated strategic mistakes are less likely.

Without such a culture, organisations will continue to waste millions on poorly grounded transformations and the human cost in morale and trust will remain high.

Finally,

As transformation leaders, architects, and change agents, we must not shy away from raising this issue.

Blaming delivery teams while shielding leadership from accountability is not only unjust, it is toxic to transformation culture. It also guarantees that the same strategic mistakes will be repeated.

In a courageous and honest transformation environment, where everyone celebrate learning, own outcomes together, and hold everyone to a higher standard of accountability, good things happen.

Connect with Mobin Barati for Business and Digital Transformation content.

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