Turning a bold vision into reality is one of the biggest challenges for organizations. It’s common to see companies launch ambitious change initiatives – new strategies, restructures, cultural transformations – only to watch them fizzle out or backslide over time. In fact, research by McKinsey has found that roughly 70% of large-scale transformation efforts fail to fully meet their objectives. Achieving initial change is hard enough; making it stick over the long term is harder still. The true measure of success isn’t just hitting a short-term goal or implementing a new program – it’s whether the change endures and delivers sustained value.
Change management experts often remind us that transformation is a journey, not a one-time event. The real test comes after the “launch,” when leaders must keep the organization aligned and motivated so the new ways take hold. As one industry report put it, the ability to sustain change is what allows an organization to realize its envisioned future state. Simply put, without ongoing reinforcement, even well-planned changes can lose momentum, putting the gains (and the significant investments behind them) in jeopardy. A visionary plan without sustained execution is, as the saying goes, just a dream. This article will explore why sustaining change over time is so difficult and outline strategies to bridge the gap from vision to lasting execution.
Every transformative initiative starts with a vision – a clear idea of a better future. Vision provides direction and inspiration: it paints a picture of what the organization could become. However, vision alone is not enough. Many leaders have learned the hard way that vision without execution remains just a dream. The gap between knowing what needs to change and actually making it happen consistently is where organizations often stumble.
Leadership is the critical bridge between vision and execution. Strong leadership translates lofty goals into actionable plans and measurable outcomes. Leaders ensure that everyone understands the “why” behind the change and their role in achieving it. They align teams, allocate resources, and model the behaviors needed to move the organization toward the vision. An article by IMD business school described leadership as the glue that binds vision to execution, turning plans into tangible results. In practice, this means leaders must do more than set goals – they must rally people around the goals and drive the effort forward day after day.
It’s also important to recognize that execution isn’t a one-time phase that ends with a project go-live. Execution must be continuous. Market conditions change, staff may turn over, and initial excitement can wear off. Effective leaders approach execution as an ongoing discipline: they monitor progress, solve problems, and adapt plans as needed to keep the change on track. They understand that declaring victory too early can be fatal – instead, they consolidate gains and push for further improvement until the new ways are firmly established. In short, bridging the vision-execution gap requires persistent leadership attention well beyond the kickoff of a change initiative.
Even with a compelling vision and capable leadership, many change efforts start strong but lose momentum over time. Understanding why this happens is the first step to preventing it. Studies and surveys have revealed several common reasons why organizations struggle to sustain change:
It’s sobering to note that even organizations who achieve short-term wins often fail to sustain them. A Towers Watson survey found that while about 55% of companies initially meet their change objectives, only 25% sustain those results over the long term. In other words, three out of four organizations don’t stick with the change long enough to realize its full benefits. The reasons above – especially lack of leadership support and employee resistance – are frequently cited as top causes of failure. Change expert Lynn Kelley noted that in her 30 years of experience, the two biggest factors in change failure were poor leadership engagement and employees “just not wanting to change” (often due to fear or insufficient training). These challenges are human in nature: if leaders don’t stay committed and people aren’t on board, even the best strategic plan will falter over time.
The good news is that these pitfalls can be avoided. Understanding why change efforts tend to derail allows leaders to take proactive steps to counteract those forces. In the sections that follow, we discuss strategies and best practices to sustain change – ensuring that the initial spark of transformation grows into a lasting flame rather than a temporary flicker.
Successful, sustained change starts at the top. Leaders – from senior executives to line managers – must actively champion the change for an extended period, not just at kickoff. Leading with vision means continually connecting the organization’s day-to-day actions back to the bigger purpose. As months go by, it’s easy for teams to lose sight of why they’re doing things differently. Effective leaders keep the vision alive through frequent communication, storytelling, and showing how the change is contributing to a better future. For example, leaders at one company regularly referenced the aspirational goal behind their transformation in team meetings and status updates, reinforcing why the hard work of change was worthwhile.
Crucially, leaders need to model the change they expect to see. Nothing kills a change effort faster than leaders whose behaviors contradict the new direction. If the organization is trying to become more customer-centric, leaders themselves must exemplify customer-focused thinking in their decisions. This “walk the talk” builds credibility and signals to employees that the change is not just lip service. Additionally, leadership modeling helps ingrain new behaviors into the culture; people take cues from what their managers and executives prioritize.
Another key leadership responsibility is to build a strong coalition of change agents. No single person – not even a CEO – can sustain a large change alone. Successful change programs often involve a guiding coalition or steering committee of respected leaders and influencers who actively support the change across departments. These change champions help spread positive momentum, troubleshoot issues, and keep their teams aligned. By involving managers, HR professionals, and informal leaders early, you create a network of ownership for the change. As Kotter’s change management model emphasizes, a guiding coalition can help maintain urgency and resolve obstacles throughout the process.
Leaders must also be ready to commit resources and remove roadblocks over the long haul. Sustaining change might require policy adjustments, additional budget, new tools, or changes to workflows. For instance, if employees are expected to use a new software system, leadership should ensure ongoing technical support and not cut the training budget after go-live. If certain middle managers are undermining the change, executives may need to intervene, either through coaching or personnel changes, to uphold accountability. Consistent accountability from leadership sends the message that “this change is here to stay.” One common pitfall is leaders declaring victory too soon – perhaps after a couple of quick wins – and moving on to other priorities. Instead, leaders should celebrate progress but also insist on finishing the job. They reinforce that implementation isn’t the end; the goal is to integrate the change into the fabric of the organization.
In summary, leadership’s role in sustaining change can be boiled down to vision and vigilance. Leaders keep everyone focused on the vision behind the change and maintain vigilance in supporting, adjusting, and institutionalizing the change over time. Their unwavering commitment forms the backbone of lasting execution.
Even the best strategy will fail if the people responsible for executing it aren’t on board and enabled to do so. Sustaining change over time requires an engaged, prepared workforce. This starts with open, continuous communication. Employees are more likely to embrace change when they understand the reasons behind it, see the benefits, and feel heard in the process. Thus, communication should not stop after the initial announcement; it needs to continue throughout the change journey. Share progress updates, acknowledge challenges, and reiterate the vision regularly. Encourage two-way communication by soliciting feedback through surveys, town halls, or team meetings. When people feel informed and listened to, they develop a sense of ownership in the change rather than feeling that it’s imposed on them.
It’s also important to address fears and resistance in a constructive way. Resistance to change is natural – people worry about how it affects their roles, their competencies, or even job security. Rather than dismissing resistance, effective change leaders acknowledge it and engage with it. For example, managers can hold small-group discussions where team members can air concerns and ask questions. Often, resistance provides valuable information about implementation issues or blind spots. By empathizing and explaining how the organization will support employees through the transition, leaders can turn skeptics into participants. In some cases, involving resistors in problem-solving or pilot programs can convert them into change advocates. The key is not to punish or ignore dissenting voices, but to understand the root of their concerns and help find solutions.
Another critical factor is training and development. If you expect people to adopt new processes, technologies, or behaviors, you must ensure they have the knowledge and skills to do so. Comprehensive training at rollout is a start, but sustaining change often requires ongoing learning opportunities. Provide refresher courses, quick reference guides, or one-on-one coaching as needed. Some organizations create “change agent” roles or peer mentors – employees trained to assist their colleagues and champion the new methods on the ground. This peer support can be extremely effective in reinforcing learning and building confidence. Remember that learning curves can be long; patience and persistent investment in skill-building will pay off in greater adoption rates.
Empowerment goes hand-in-hand with training. Employees need to feel empowered to work in new ways and make decisions aligned with the change. This might involve decentralizing some decision-making, adjusting policies, or giving teams more autonomy to experiment within the framework of the change. When people have the tools and permission to do things differently, they are more likely to internalize the change. For instance, if a company is trying to become more innovative, it could empower cross-functional teams to pilot new ideas (within guardrails) rather than requiring excessive approvals that slow down experimentation. Celebrating employee initiative and risk-taking (even when everything doesn’t go perfectly) will signal that the new behavior is truly encouraged.
A crucial aspect of engagement is also recognition and reinforcement on the individual level. As the change progresses, call out and reward examples of people embracing the new way. Publicly acknowledge teams that hit milestones or individuals who find improvements in the new system. This positive reinforcement not only motivates those individuals to keep it up, but also demonstrates to others that the change is real and worth the effort. It shifts the narrative from “extra work we have to do” to “new improvements we get to be a part of.” Even small incentives – whether formal (bonuses, awards) or informal (praise in a company-wide email) – can go a long way in sustaining enthusiasm.
Lastly, engaging your people means maintaining a culture of trust and transparency. When employees trust leadership and feel trusted in return, they are far more likely to stick with a change initiative. Trust is built by being honest about progress (including setbacks), sharing results, and treating employees as partners in the journey. If problems arise – say the change isn’t delivering expected results immediately – involving employees in finding solutions can maintain morale and commitment. In contrast, hiding issues or spinning unrealistic positives will erode credibility. People need to see that leaders are authentically committed and adaptable, and that their own voices matter in making the change work. With engagement, communication, and empowerment, employees become allies in sustaining the change rather than obstacles.
For a change to truly stick, it must become part of the organization’s normal way of operating. This means embedding the new practices into the systems, processes, and culture of the company. One of the most powerful ways to reinforce change is to align organizational systems and incentives with the desired behaviors. Consider how performance is measured and rewarded: Are you tracking the key metrics related to the change and rewarding teams who achieve them? If a sales organization undergoes a change to focus on consultative selling instead of volume, but the commission plan still only rewards total sales dollars, reps will likely revert to old habits. To sustain change, your appraisal, compensation, and reward systems should reflect the new priorities. This alignment sends a clear signal that “we mean it” and encourages everyone to continue working in the new way, not just during the official project period but permanently.
Processes and policies may also need realignment. After an initial change implementation, take time to review whether any legacy policies are inadvertently discouraging the new approach. For example, if a company implemented a new collaborative decision-making process, but an old policy requires only managers to make certain decisions, that policy might need updating to empower employees as intended. Embedding change into standard operating procedures can involve updating manuals, checklists, IT systems, and workflow documents so that the path of least resistance is the new way. When the default systems support the change, people are much more likely to continue following it.
Another critical aspect of reinforcement is monitoring and feedback. Organizations that sustain change well tend to establish mechanisms to continually measure progress and flag issues. This could be formal, like a dashboard of post-implementation performance indicators that leadership reviews monthly, or informal, like regular check-ins with teams about how the change is working. By keeping a pulse on how well the change is sticking, you can catch slippage early and take corrective action. If metrics show usage of a new tool is dropping, that’s a cue to investigate why – maybe additional training or communication is needed. Importantly, share these findings transparently. Showing employees data on the impact of the change (e.g. improved customer satisfaction, faster cycle times, etc.) reinforces why continuing the effort matters and builds confidence that the change is yielding benefits. And if the data isn’t positive yet, honest discussion on how to improve will foster a problem-solving mindset rather than blame.
Celebrating short-term wins is a classic change management principle, and it serves an important sustainment purpose. Early victories provide proof that the change is working and help maintain momentum. But even after early wins, keep finding opportunities to recognize progress on an ongoing basis. This might mean setting medium-term milestones (for 6, 12, 18 months out) and celebrating when they are achieved. Recognize that sustaining change can feel like an uphill slog; consistent encouragement and celebration can combat fatigue. As noted in a Great Place to Work® analysis, building in short- and medium-range wins – and celebrating those wins – helps prevent employees from slipping back into old ways, and keeps them engaged for the long haul. A simple “thank you” from leadership, highlighting how a team’s efforts are contributing to the bigger vision, can reignite commitment even a year or more into the journey.
Ultimately, the goal is to anchor new approaches into the culture. In the words of Harvard professor John Kotter, you make change stick by creating a new, supportive culture around it – the change becomes “how we do things here.” This often means that the values underlying the change get incorporated into hiring criteria, onboarding for new employees, and leadership development programs. For example, if your change initiative was about adopting an agile mindset, you might start interviewing job candidates for adaptability and teamwork, reinforcing that these traits are part of the company’s DNA. Over time, as employees who led the change get promoted and new employees are brought in under the new approach, the change loses its identity as a special project and simply becomes part of the organizational identity.
One caution: sustaining change does not mean never changing again. It’s about holding onto the improvements you’ve made while continuing to evolve. In fact, good sustainment creates a foundation for continuous improvement. When people see that this change was handled well – that it was followed through and became successful – they are more likely to trust and embrace future changes. Conversely, if an organization develops a reputation for failing to sustain initiatives, employees will be cynical the next time a big vision is announced. By embedding the change into culture and systems, you not only preserve the gains of this effort, you also build “change muscle” that makes your organization more agile and resilient for whatever comes next.
Sustaining change over time is challenging, but it is achievable with the right focus and persistence. From the initial vision through execution and reinforcement, leaders must treat change not as a one-off project but as an ongoing commitment. This means continuously nurturing the vision, engaging the people, and adjusting the systems to support the new way of doing business. When obstacles arise – and they will – the organizations that succeed are those that learn and adapt rather than revert to old habits.
For HR professionals, business owners, and enterprise leaders alike, the takeaway is clear: lasting change requires deliberate effort long after the kickoff meeting. It demands patience, constant communication, and a willingness to course-correct. The payoff, however, is well worth it. Companies that manage to embed positive changes into their culture reap benefits in performance, agility, and employee trust. They avoid the costly cycle of re-learning old lessons and instead build on each change to become stronger. In a rapidly evolving business environment, the ability to sustain change is itself a competitive advantage – it turns a bold vision into lasting results. By applying the principles outlined above and staying the course, leaders can ensure that their next big initiative doesn’t just achieve a fleeting win, but truly sticks for the long haul.
Sustaining transformation requires more than just strong leadership; it demands a reliable infrastructure to support continuous learning and reinforcement. As highlighted in the strategies above, change efforts often falter when employees lack the specific skills to adopt new processes or when leadership lacks visibility into whether the new methods are actually being used.
TechClass bridges the gap between strategy and execution by providing a dynamic platform for ongoing enablement. With features like customizable Learning Paths, you can ensure every team member receives the specific training needed to navigate the transition, while built-in analytics allow leaders to monitor engagement and identify resistance early. By embedding your change management strategy into a modern learning ecosystem, you provide the continuous support necessary to turn temporary initiatives into lasting organizational culture.
Many initiatives fail due to lack of ongoing leadership support, employee resistance, poor communication, insufficient training, and absence of reinforcement mechanisms.
Leaders should model the desired behaviors, embed new practices into systems and policies, recognize achievements, and align culture with the change values.
Engaged employees are informed, involved, and empowered through continuous communication, training, and recognition, which helps embed change at all levels.
Persistent leadership support maintains focus, provides resources, addresses obstacles, and reinforces the vision, preventing momentum loss and backsliding.
By aligning performance metrics, incentives, policies, and workflows with new behaviors, and establishing monitoring mechanisms to track progress and address issues.
Creating a supportive culture that adopts the new way of operating as the norm, integrating it into values, onboarding, and ongoing development programs.
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
