Practice 4

Reinforce the Change

Change that doesn’t stick isn’t really change. This practice separates temporary initiatives from lasting transformation.

Why This Matters

Our teams have watched initiatives come and go. They’ve seen strategic priorities fade. They’ve experienced the gap between what leaders announce and what actually sustains. Every abandoned initiative teaches them that change is temporary, that waiting it out is a reasonable strategy.

When change actually sticks, it rebuilds trust. It teaches people that leadership means what it says. It creates the credibility that makes the next change possible.

Leaders who worked through this practice in Think Tank sessions reported a consistent discovery: they had measurement systems but no measurement rhythms. One city manager said: “We collect quarterly data religiously. We just never look at it until something breaks.” Three months after building a monthly review rhythm, her leadership team caught and corrected drift before it became crisis.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s detection, noticing when things drift and having a rhythm for bringing them back.

The Core Challenge

Every organization has a graveyard of abandoned initiatives. Programs that launched with energy and died quietly. Strategic priorities that faded. Systems that worked for a while and then didn’t.

This practice prevents our changes from joining that graveyard. It builds the rhythms that detect drift, celebrate progress, and correct course before initiatives quietly die.

What This Practice Looks Like

Measurement Rhythms

What gets measured gets managed, but only if someone’s actually looking at the measurements. Build regular checkpoints where the data gets reviewed and acted on, not just collected. The rhythm matters more than the metric.

Drift Detection

How will we know when things are sliding? Define the early warning signs before they happen. What does drift look like in week one versus month six? Make it visible before it becomes a crisis. Small corrections early prevent major rescues later.

Celebration and Correction

Both matter. Celebrating progress reinforces the behaviors we want to see more of, people need to know when they’re getting it right. Correcting drift before it compounds prevents small problems from becoming systemic failures. Neither alone is sufficient.

Diagnostic Questions

Five questions to identify where reinforcement systems need to be built:

  1. When was the last time we reviewed whether previous initiatives are still working?
  2. How would we know if a priority had drifted from its original intent?
  3. What regular checkpoints exist for examining progress on strategic priorities?
  4. When did we last celebrate progress on something that mattered?
  5. What past initiatives have quietly died, and what allowed that to happen?

One thing to try this week: Pick a change initiative from the past year. Ask two people involved: “Is this still working the way we intended?” Their answers, and especially their hesitation, will tell you something about drift you might not have noticed.

The Continuous Cycle

This practice isn’t the end, it’s the rhythm. As we reinforce change, we’ll discover new truths that send us back to Face the Truth. Priorities will need refinement through Define What Matters. Systems will need adjustment in Make It Real.

The shift that sticks isn’t a destination. It’s a way of operating, continuously seeing clearly, choosing deliberately, building systems, and sustaining what matters.

Continue the Methodology

Previous

Make It Real

Return to Start

The Full Methodology →

Put This Into Practice · Join a Think Tank

Related Reading

More on sustaining change and building lasting culture.

More articles coming soon. Browse all insights