How one turnaround specialist inspired change and transformed a struggling sales operations team
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events, or incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
It was like walking into a graveyard; the silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Vacant desks gathered dust while a handful of wide-eyed employees jumped at the slightest noise, flinching like rabbits startled from their burrows.
The sales operations division at GenMaxCorp had become a wasteland, a shadow of its former productive self.
The steady stream of new deals had shrivelled to a trickle as inefficiencies multiplied like weeds overrunning a garden.
And the mood? Well, it hung heavier than the stale office air—a perpetual storm cloud of cynicism and fatalism that seemed to sap any last flickers of motivation.
Enter the Turnaround Specialist
That’s where she came in. Nina Reyes, the so-called “Turnaround Specialist”—a phoenix summoned to rise from these ashes of despair and reignite the dying flames of this battered division.
With a reputation for fearlessly piloting even the roughest corporate shipwrecks to calmer waters, she was GenMaxCorp’s Hail Mary for restoring their sales operations team to fighting form.
Talk about your heroes’ welcomes! Her first team meeting was met with enough eye rolls and scowls to curdle milk.
From the outset, the air was thick with scepticism, their resistance as palpable as the stifling summer heat outside.
Fading memories of better days flickered behind the deadened stares fixating her way—maybe they used to believe in rainbows and unicorns too, before the brutal slog of daily firefights and disappointments snuffed that youthful spark.
Now, any whiff of “change” just triggers subconscious panic attacks.
Assessing the Situation
Undaunted, Nina waded into the quagmire, putting in some serious time in that rickety old department.
- Observing the dysfunctional processes that had calcified into “tradition”
- Embedding with different teams to witness the cultural rot firsthand
- Really listening to the frustrated troops, conducting tonnes of “stay” interviews to hear the unvarnished truth about their world
Identifying key issues
Pretty quickly, the toxic rubble obscuring this division’s potential came into focus:
- Lack of clear goals or accountability: Projects were chronically delayed since no one could agree on priorities or ownership. Every workstream was someone else’s problem child.
- Communication breakdowns galore: This place embodied the proverb about the left hand and right hand operating in separate galaxies. Constant dropped balls and crossed wires.
- Outdated tech, archaic workflows: Phil from IT literally had to blow dust off some of those creaking old systems. Process Land was more like Jurassic Park.
It was the perfect storm of misalignment, mistrust, and yearlong technical debt—a triple threat of suckage strangling the life out of the place.
But from the ashes of this dumpster fire, we would spark their glorious rebirth. Just like Mum used to say,
“First, you got to break some eggs…”
Developing a Strategic Plan
Nina’s first priority was to rally the troops, and that meant involving them directly in the turnaround strategy from Day 1. No instituting her personal playbook as some heavy-handed coup.
- She handpicked a “SWAT team” of linchpins from every level and function to steer the transformation as stakeholders.
- They locked themselves in the dingiest conference room imaginable for days-long marathon sessions, breaking through roadblock after roadblock until the big-picture plan crystallised.
No idea was too small—Nina wanted to crowdsource every voice. Because this time, buy-in wouldn’t be an empty mantra.
Defining a clear vision and objectives
With her ragtag team aligned, Nina turned that inchoate cloud of frustrations into a sharp North Star:
“To become GenMaxCorp’s most agile and high-performing enablement engine, empowering sales with streamlined processes and cutting-edge technologies that accelerate revenue.”
Lofty? Sure. But behind that vision lived cold, hard targets codified with the fight song:
- 75% reduction in order fallout and pricing errors
- 60% boost in overall team productivity
- NPS score climbing from a tragic 12 to at least respectable 55
Mapping out initiatives and changes
With their “why” carved in stone, they baked the “what” strategies into a detailed roadmap of initiatives:
- Establishing rigorous Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and KPIs to drive accountability
- Standing up a new workflow automation and CPQ platform to eliminate manual toil
- Cross-functional SWAT teams tackling hairy cross-departmental breakdowns
- Standardised training and skills certifications to up level the team
It was ambitious—an overhaul of people, processes, and technologies. But with their embedded SWAT team activating as advocates and champions, that roadmap wouldn’t be another rehashed wish list left to rot.
Leading by example
As the head turnaround artist, Nina had to embody the mindset metamorphosis she was demanding of the troops. They fed off her energy and conviction like a roaring ovation, fueling an actor’s performance.
Nina’s personal Kamikaze schedule of manically sprinting between war rooms left them no choice but to get swept up in the frenzy. If that meant getting her hands dirty, coding proof-of-concepts, or QAing releases herself, so be it.
She had to become the living, breathing personification of their new machine-like DNA: efficient, bold, and driven.
She could have sworn her eye twitched a few times.
Effective communication strategies
Changing humans is one thing. But transforming hardwired processes and cultural behaviours is like remoulding concrete—it takes relentless communication and storytelling to make it stick.
Nina branded their mantra of “Zero Drag” across everything from their new knick-knack-filled funboard to bathroom stall memes.
And she became a Vassar Girl, cascading their progress down through ritualistic weekly team syncs and fireside chats.
Her soapbox speeches invoking their rallying cry kept the FOMO engine humming with folks wanting a piece of the action.
Empowering and motivating the team
Although sceptics grunted about drinking the Kool-Aid, Nina won some allies by empowering their informal leaders early.
She decentralised decision-making, giving agile squads full autonomy over their domains. No micromanaging—she aimed to be an enabler coach.
And boy did they celebrate the hell out of every freakin’ win, no matter how small!
Month 1 felt like one big rager, with high-fives and free lunches galore. Her goal was to create a real movement, not just another top-down decree.
Identifying sources of resistance
Even with that tidal wave of positive energy crashing down, Nina wasn’t naïve to the forces pushing back.
For some, it was the fear factor. Changing habits as comfy as that tattered old bathrobe requires resisting one’s reptilian aversion to uncertainty.
For the old-timers, ego prevented them from pivoting from mastery of the archaic ways. Pride is one feisty bugger.
And inexperienced sceptics just lacked faith, playing the cynic because replicating disappointments was safer.
Addressing concerns and objections
But Nina didn’t just plough ahead, pretending no friction existed. Instead, she listened with empathy, pulling resistors close and walking the metaphorical miles in their shoes.
Change-fearer: “I got you—trying something new when you’re underwater can feel like another risk. But look how miserable we are now! The only real risk is staying stuck.”
Ego-clinger: “Hey, you’re a rockstar, no doubt. But think about how much adrenaline and new challenges you’ll get by cracking the code this new way.”
Sceptic: “First, just give me 2 weeks of trusting the process. If after that time you still don’t see things getting better, then come yell at me, k?”
Validating their concerns and offering compromises diffused most resistance before it could fossilise into an outright mutiny.
Overcoming roadblocks
On the rare occasions where sticky detractors refused to bend, Nina had to get creatively interventionist.
Some got relocated to make room for willing participants. Probationary “show me” periods got rolled out to those teetering on the edge.
And the worst offenders faced progressive disciplinary actions until they capitulated or moved on.
But she balanced that tough love with creating plenty of “exhaust valves” for the doubtful to vent pent-up grievances directly to her.
Therapeutic office hours and staunchly confidential “bitch sessions” proved to be critical safety valves.
Early wins and momentum
The first few months were like defibrillating a flatlined heart—tons of jolting shocks sparking activity.
SLA implementation brought structure and accountability back from the abyss.
Standardised training re-qualified the team overnight.
And collaborative workflow sprints utterly recalibrated our most dysfunctional processes.
As those “quick wins” stacked up and eroded scepticism, giant leaps followed:
- Pioneering pilots with new technologies that turbo-charge productivity
- Ground-breaking SalesOps projects co-led with Sales, breaking down their tribal barriers
- Streamlining toil out of clunky tasks, freeing up capacity for higher-impact work
People inched out of their cubicle bunkers, blinking in the sunlight of this new environment.
The pit crew became a buzzing hive of energy, smiles, and laughter, slowly displacing the once ubiquitous scowls.
Continuous improvement and adaptation
No operation goes flawlessly, of course. So we baked in rituals of continuous realignment:
- Data, data, data! We measured every hair on every initiative, enlisting the Scout squad to proactively shout issues from the mountaintops.
- Biweekly Retrospectives & Roadmap Refinement: We regrouped constantly, inspecting our outputs and adjusting plans to reflect learnings and new priorities.
- Cross-Team Calibration: All squads became tight-knit through ritual in-person collaboration, best practises and progressing together.
And with Nina acting as the durable thread tying it all together, no wildly veering tangents or shiny objects could derail their momentum. This wasn’t a flashing fad—it was a full-blown cultural renaissance embedded in their DNA.
Measurable results and impact
Fast forward 18 months, and the metrics boggled even Nina’s jaded eyes:
- 83% reduction in order errors triggering pricing rework (exceeding their moonshot goal!)
- Productivity improvements average 72% across all teams
- And a resurrected NPS of 62—the definition of a Phoenix rising!
But those were just the hard KPI numbers. The softer “count on it” feeling permeated the building.
Customers raged about our newfound responsiveness.
Previously missed commits were now reliably made with breathing room to spare.
Revenue enablement had ascended to a respected offensive line, no longer the defence’s punching bag.
Reflections and lessons learned
My Swan song ultimately came in a tear-jerking standing ovation, celebrating our triumphant turnaround—a stark contrast from the cold reception of Day 1.
Looking out at the previously despondent souls now bubbling with enthusiasm, I wiped happy tears from my eyes.
Their reawakened spirit was proof of that universal truth: No individual, process, or technology alone can salvage a struggling team. PEOPLE catalyze the real transformations when impassioned and empowered to drive change.
My role was just to ignite that spark of belief. But they took that flicker and nursed it into an inferno, through resilience and sheer force of will.
Witnessing eye-rolling cynics metamorphose into our biggest zealots, I preached a final lesson:
If you never lose faith, no turnaround mission is ever too far gone. Success just requires the audacity to scrape away all that crusted negativity — and let the light shine through again.
Thanks for reading…
If you enjoyed reading my story, please highlight any parts you think other readers would find interesting.
Don’t forget to leave your comments about what you thought of this story.
Consider following me here on Medium and subscribing to my stories.
nom@d learning 
Leave a comment