Case Study
Stabilising a Finance Team During a System Transition
What I Witnessed Inside Organisations
Over the past several years I have worked in a number of temporary senior finance roles, often stepping into organisations during periods of transition or operational pressure. These roles have given me the opportunity to see how teams function from the inside during times when systems are changing, workloads are high, and leadership structures are under strain.
One experience in particular became a turning point for me.
I joined an organisation as a Senior Management Accountant on a temporary maternity cover contract shortly after the company had implemented a new finance system. During the recruitment process the situation was described as a team still adjusting to a recently introduced platform and needing support as they worked through the transition.
However, once inside the organisation it became clear that the challenges ran far deeper than a typical system implementation.
In the months leading up to my arrival the finance team had experienced significant leadership disruption. Two senior roles had left during the implementation period and the remaining team members had been navigating the transition largely without consistent direction or structured support.
At the same time part of the accounts payable process had been outsourced to an external provider, adding another layer of complexity to an already unsettled operational environment.
The result was a team that had been trying to keep the department functioning while dealing with a system they had not been fully trained to use.
Working Towards Stability
Although my role had been to provide technical support during the maternity cover period, it quickly became clear that the situation required more than simply processing transactions.
Over time I began working with members of the team to introduce greater structure around how the backlog was approached. This included identifying priorities, clarifying ownership of tasks where possible, and creating visibility around the work that needed to be addressed.
In December 2025, together with two colleagues, we focused intensively on resolving the accumulated backlog in accounts payable. Through sustained effort and careful prioritisation we were able to clear the outstanding work and bring the backlog down to zero.
For the first time in many months the department had a clean operational starting point.
It created a genuine opportunity to begin introducing clearer processes and to move forward as a more collaborative and structured team.
When Culture Determines Whether Change Lasts
However, this moment also revealed an important lesson.
Operational progress alone is rarely enough to sustain change if the wider environment around the team remains unchanged.
Shortly after the backlog had been cleared, the two colleagues who had been closely involved in that work both handed in their notice. Their departure removed a significant amount of the stability that had briefly been established.
Within the existing communication culture of the team, and without consistent leadership to reinforce new working practices, the department gradually began to slip back into earlier patterns.
Workloads began to build again and the progress that had been made became increasingly difficult to maintain.
My temporary contract came to an end in February 2026, and I left the organisation shortly afterwards.
The Lesson That Stayed With Me
This experience stayed with me because it highlighted something I had begun to notice across a number of organisations where I had worked in temporary roles.
Operational problems are often treated as technical challenges. Organisations introduce new systems, redesign processes, or push teams to work harder in order to resolve backlogs.
But the deeper issue is frequently how change is managed and communicated within teams.
Without clear leadership, open communication and a sense of shared direction, even capable and committed people can find themselves struggling to maintain progress.
When those foundations are missing, teams can easily fall back into patterns that create stress, frustration and operational inefficiency.
Why I Created Renascence
Experiences like this played a significant role in my decision to create Renascence.
Working inside organisations during periods of pressure allowed me to see how profoundly management style, communication and team culture influence whether change succeeds or fails.
I had witnessed the consequences when those elements were missing.
But I had also seen how different the outcome can be when people are supported through change with clarity, structure and thoughtful leadership.
Renascence was created to help organisations approach change in a way that supports both the systems being introduced and the people responsible for making those systems work.
Because sustainable change rarely happens through processes alone.
It happens when teams feel supported, communication is clear, and leadership creates the conditions where people can move forward together.