Salt & Light Case-Style Insights

(Issue #2 – October 2025)

Editorial Note

In our first Case-Style Insight, we explored how alignment can appear solid on paper yet unravel in practice. This time, we examine another silent threat to transformation success — the illusion of capacity.

When Capacity Is Assumed, Not Proven

The hidden risk of stretching teams beyond their sustainable limits.

The Case

A financial-services company prepared to launch a new digital platform. Leaders expressed confidence in their staffing and budgets, citing “full teams” and “ample coverage.” Yet within weeks of launch preparation, exhaustion set in. Key contributors were splitting time between transformation activities and “business-as-usual” operations. Deadlines slipped, quality dipped, and morale waned.

Only then did leaders realize their teams were managing competing priorities with no true buffer. The organization had headcount on paper — but not the capacity in practice.

Key Insights

• Headcount ≠ Capacity Assigning people to an initiative doesn’t guarantee they have the bandwidth or cognitive space to deliver.

• The Dual-Role Drain Transformation often expects teams to do both — sustain operations and drive change — a structural setup for burnout.

• Invisible Workload Without transparency into competing demands, leaders unintentionally over-promise what their teams can sustain.

What Leaders Can Do Now

1. Audit the Real Load Look beyond org charts to where time, attention, and decision-making actually flow.

2. Set a Priority Hierarchy Clarify which initiatives truly move the needle — and give teams permission to pause or slow others.

3. Protect the Change Agents Guard the time and energy of those leading transformation. Don’t drown them in operational noise.

Closing Note

Capacity gaps rarely appear in kickoff decks — but they always surface in execution. Leaders who distinguish between headcount and true bandwidth create the conditions for transformation that endures rather than exhausts.

Call-to-Action

Curious how your organization can balance operations and transformation more effectively?

Explore Salt & Light’s Clarity Accelerator programs [here].

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