4 Roadblocks That Can Slow Change Initiatives to a Crawl

The following is adapted from Change (the) Management.

We’ve built the vehicle that will transport our organizational change from ideas to practice. We’ve topped off the gas, put on fresh new tires, and mapped out the destination. 

We’re ready to embark along with our executives, but the long road to major organizational change is littered with roadblocks that can slow our initiative or even stop it in its tracks. If we’re not prepared to deal with these obstacles, our change vehicle might wind up in a ditch. 

Fortunately, as we’ll explore here, we can protect against these roadblocks so our change initiatives maintain their momentum from start to finish. Let’s break down four of the most common issues that can slow our projects’ progress and discuss effective ways to combat them. 

Roadblock #1: New Data

Imagine that our company is at the start of a major change when our CFO announces improved near-term performance. Sounds good, right?

While the new data is likely a good sign for the company, it can be disastrous for a change plan by distracting from the need for change. Now, skeptics have more ammo to say, “See? We don’t need to change after all.” Alternatively, supporters might think, “What we’re doing is working! Maybe we can let off the gas a bit…”

New competitive data can also cause doubts about whether the change we’ve chosen is the right change. “Our competitor just went in a different direction. Maybe we need to slow down and see how their change works out.” 

To combat new-data distraction, we should focus on our core plan--our company’s True North--and commit to not letting extraneous information get in our way. Let’s stay the course.

Roadblock #2: Lack of Clarity or Alignment

Another slowdown-causing roadblock: lack of clarity around what exactly we’re going for and why. This can result when some leaders simply aren’t aligned with the change.

To avoid this roadblock, we should build consensus around the need for change—the why—and a vision for the new future, including a specific set of goals. This often involves seeking and taking input from dozens or hundreds of employees—or even the whole organization—and using their ideas to inform our plan.

People need a clear direction and an exciting future to get on board with the leadership’s plan, but without all members of senior leadership aligned, able to easily speak about the challenge and to model the future in the same way, confusion can abound.

Employees don’t naturally want to change; if they detect uncertainty or a lack of clarity about what the change is, they can be as confused as they choose. In other words, lack of clarity is one more excuse they have to not change.

Roadblock #3: Digestion Time for New Information

When leaders come to terms with all that’s involved in a change—how much is prescribed for us, just how different certain things will look—it takes time to digest it all. This “getting our heads around it” process can cause inertia.

Just as it takes frontline employees and middle managers time to come to terms with how their work lives will have to change, it can also take executives time to understand the change and communicate the change properly.

“Wait. Time out,” I’ve heard executives say. “If we’re going to do this thing we’ve always done but do it to match the change we’re going for, how should we do it going forward? Do we need to change anything? Or is this process in sync with the change?” 

Everyone deserves time to digest, but if it’s allowed to run amok, it can cause change-damaging or even change-killing inertia. Avoid this roadblock by setting clear deadlines and dates for project milestones, and hold the leadership team to them. This will ensure that the process keeps moving forward, even if someone tries to drag their feet. 

Roadblock #4: Fatigue Caused By Too Much Change

Change is now a constant in organizations, which means we’re very likely to confront change fatigue within our employees. Even though our change effort is the most important challenge our organization has faced, our people may lack the energy to drive it.

According to a recent targeted study by Gagen MacDonald, a firm focused on driving the cultural (or heart) aspects of change, navigating change fatigue is the single biggest challenge executives face.

Gagen MacDonald makes the argument that the enemy of fatigue is energy. What drives passion and energy? Certainly, the absence of support from leadership won’t bring energy.

Instead, passion from leaders—where leaders show employees the way, where they communicate and celebrate successes and milestones with the team along the way—plus engagement of the team during the planning process—can make a huge difference in attitudes. It’s about getting our people to want to change, not forcing them to change. 

Steer Around Our Roadblocks

I’ve listed some of the top change-disrupting roadblocks. Now, it’s our job as leaders to keep our eyes open and steer around them.

We must be vigilant for distractions caused by new data, confusion, or misalignment among employees, our own timeline as we process information, and fatigue caused by the disruption.

Each of these issues has the power to slow or crash our change project, but if we’re able to stay ahead of them, we’ll be able to drive our change home without having it break down along the way.

For more advice on leading a company change initiative, you can find Change (the) Management on Amazon.

Al Comeaux, a former executive at Travelocity, GE and American Airlines, is a decorated corporate pioneer and global authority on change from inside organizations. His career championing change as a senior leader at uber-disruptive dot-coms as well as established, world-renowned companies—and his 20-year journey researching why so many change efforts fail and what’s needed for success—make him one of the world’s most forward thinkers on what leaders must do—and how they must think—to succeed at change. In 2019, Al founded Primed for Change, a disruptive new project created to prepare leaders to take organizations successfully through change. Al and his family live in Ft. Worth, TX, where he is deeply involved in his family, faith, and community.