Strategy & Transformation: Reflections from a Change Agent
Transformation is no longer a project - it’s a continuous state of leadership. In this exclusive Amrop interview, change leader and CHRO Siri Sandholt sat down with Amrop Norway's Jarle Trandokken, distilling her decades of transformation experience across the telecom, retail, technology, and humanitarian sectors.
Her message is clear: transformation is not about isolated initiatives, but about parallel shifts in business model, technology, culture, and leadership. It is about mobilizing the entire organization to deliver sustainable value for owners.
For CEOs and CHROs steering organizations through uncertainty, Sandholt offers a pragmatic playbook grounded in purpose, trust, and the relentless alignment of people with business value.
Leading with Purpose
Siri Sandholt’s career has been defined by one unifying thread: helping organizations unlock potential through people, leadership, and culture. As a CHRO and change agent across diverse sectors, she has led transformations that went far beyond structural change, reshaping how value is created and sustained.
Her conviction: transformation is fundamental, not incremental. It occurs only when business models, organizational design, technology, and culture evolve together, not in isolation.
The CEO-CHRO Alliance
Central to this transformation journey is the strategic partnership between the CEO and CHRO. Sandholt emphasizes that HR must transcend its traditional support role to become a direct driver of enterprise value. When HR translates business goals into leadership capacity, culture, and organizational agility, it directly influences EBITDA, market share, and long-term competitiveness. For this to succeed, CEOs must provide trust, empowerment, and clarity - acting as cultural role models who make decisive choices in turbulent times.
From Cost Discipline to Cultural Renewal
True transformation, Sandholt says, demands balance and sequencing. Cost discipline funds innovation; digitalization accelerates opportunity; and culture ensures that change endures. This integrated mindset, which she calls “funding the journey”, turns incremental improvements into strategic progress. Even small HR initiatives, such as reducing absenteeism, can free millions for reinvestment while strengthening organizational engagement.
Mobilizing Talent and Leadership
Transformation hinges on moving talent to where value is created. This means dismantling silos, promoting mobility, and integrating recruitment, reskilling, and partnerships into one agile system. Leadership behavior is the catalyst: the ability to communicate a “burning platform,” empower teams, and balance pace with sustainability. Sandholt’s Tight–Loose–Tight framework captures this rhythm: set clear direction, allow autonomy in execution, and ensure disciplined follow-up.
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