Leading change is one of the most important – and challenging – senior leadership responsibilities.
Unfortunately, research shows that most change efforts fail.
While having a “sense of urgency” is widely regarded as important to a successful change effort, ironically – many efforts fail when a change is launched too soon. It takes a wise leader to balance the tension between “urgency” and “being ready.”
Following is some guidance to help you with balancing that tension, with ideas taken from a recent Harvard Business Review article.
Many change efforts fail due to preventable patterns that drain an initiative’s energy at the point of launch. These include:
- A “Moral Authority Gap”: A lack of trusted, values-based leadership that fails to convert simple compliance into true conviction.
- Underestimating the Status Quo: Grossly miscalculating the resilience of existing routines and structural inertia.
- Perverse Incentives: Failing to align middle management’s incentives with the new priorities, leaving them tied to old habits.
- The Over-Hasty Launch: Rushing into execution without a detailed plan, often mistaking recklessness for healthy urgency.
Here are some strategies to increase your chances of success:
- Perform the “Awful Triage”: Change capacity is a finite resource. You must be prepared to say “no” to secondary projects to ensure your mission-critical initiatives have the focus they need to succeed.
- Conduct a “Do-Nothing” Analysis: Bring stakeholders together and ask: “What happens if we do nothing?”. Surfacing the real costs of inaction builds the urgency and alignment needed for a successful launch.
- Build a Guiding Coalition Early: Assemble a diverse group of influential stakeholders—from senior experts to respected frontline managers—who can scale influence and help refine the roadmap.
- Plan for Early Wins: Create concrete, visible milestones that can be achieved within the first 30 to 90 days. These “proof points” help bridge the “span of uncertainty” where employees are watching for evidence that the change actually works.
Nothing will derail your leadership momentum more than a “false start” when it comes to leading change. It is nearly impossible to recover from it. Use these ideas to lead your team to sustained Mission Impact.
*Ideas for this blog taken from: Clark, T. R. “How to Avoid a False Start When You Are Leading a Big Change,” Harvard Business Review online, February 10, 2026.
