The reality of business today, across both B2B and B2C, is that most organizations are navigating some form of pivot. Markets shift faster. Buyer behavior changes quietly. Channels that once worked stop delivering. Revenue plateaus even when effort stays high.
A pivot does not mean failure. It means acknowledging that something is no longer working as expected and choosing to respond with intention instead of inertia. When revenue is not hitting targets, whether in early stage SaaS, Series A startups, or more established B2B tech companies, pivoting is no longer optional. It becomes a leadership mandate.
The real challenge is not deciding to pivot but rather setting direction in a way that teams can actually execute.
Setting direction during a pivot is not about writing a new strategy deck or announcing a reorg. It is about removing ambiguity so teams can move forward without guessing.
In my work as a fractional CMO and GTM advisor through Cojoy RevGen, I see the same pattern repeatedly. Leaders know change is needed, but teams are left interpreting what that change actually means for their work, priorities, and success metrics.
Direction only works when it becomes operational. Here is how I approach it.
The word clarity has been overused to the point of meaninglessness, but the underlying work still matters. Before any execution begins, leadership has to be grounded on a few non-negotiables.
What are we trying to accomplish now that we couldn't before?
Why is this change necessary at this moment?
How does this affect our ideal customer(s)?
What does success look like in concrete terms?
This is especially critical in B2B tech growth strategy and GTM systems rebuilding, where teams often keep old assumptions while attempting new motions. If the foundation is fuzzy, execution will fragment quickly. This step is where many pivots quietly fail.
The next place I look is the team. Not to reduce headcount or trigger another round of reshuffling. Most organizations have already endured enough of that.
Instead, I evaluate skills, strengths, and fit against the current direction. The question is simple. Are people sitting in roles that match what the business needs now, not what it needed six or twelve months ago?
If the answer is no, the response should not be replacement by default. Strong leadership means moving people into better aligned roles, developing new skillsets, and providing the tools needed to succeed. People are not disposable. They are the execution engine and the heart of your business.
This approach matters deeply in GTM alignment for Series A and beyond, where teams are small, stretched, and heavily impacted by unclear expectations.
Direction breaks down fastest when work becomes invisible. I do not rely on speeches or one time announcements. I rely on systems. I use project management tools aggressively, and I am partial to ClickUp, because real work should live somewhere the entire organization can see.
Documentation, decisions, priorities, timelines, and ownership should not live in inboxes or private conversations. When questions arise, the answer should already exist in the system.
This level of visibility reduces confusion, limits rework, and builds trust without adding more meetings. It also becomes essential when fixing conversion friction in GTM teams, where misalignment between marketing, sales, and revenue operations quietly erodes performance.
Pivots rarely produce clean performance trends early on, and pretending otherwise creates noise and anxiety. I share reporting early and consistently, even when the numbers are uncomfortable. More importantly, I anchor reporting to company KPIs, not vanity metrics. That means pipeline coverage, revenue velocity, retention, activation, and cost efficiency depending on the stage of the business.
When teams can see how their work connects directly to agreed upon KPIs, decision making improves. Execution tightens. Conversations shift from opinion to action.
This is especially important when addressing challenges like shortening B2B sales cycles in 2026 or reactivating dormant pipelines through B2B lead reactivation strategies.
I have seen brand momentum fail to translate to revenue more times than I can count. The root cause is rarely effort or talent. It is almost always a lack of operational direction during moments of change.
Direction works when it is grounded, visible, reinforced through systems, and tied to outcomes the business actually cares about.
This is how I set direction during pivots. It is not complicated, but it does require discipline.