Why Most Change Efforts Fail – and the 4 Things Leaders Forget

For nearly three decades, it has been widely believed that approximately 70% of change programs implemented by most companies fail. A Harvard Business Review article cited recent research conducted in late 2023 by Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, which surveyed 300 large companies that had attempted transformations. They repeated a survey they had conducted 10 years earlier.

The findings show two key trends that have not changed significantly since 2013.

1. The companies surveyed experienced fewer failures than they did 10 years ago (defined as achieving less than half of what leadership aimed for), but did not attain greater success.
2. The companies surveyed that found success (defined as achieving more than 50% but less than 100% of their targets) settled for mediocrity. Improved performance, rather than exceptional performance, was deemed good enough. Once the change was implemented, hitting their original goal mattered less than it did when the change effort was launched.

Based on my research and 40 years of experience in global companies, the reasons most organizational change efforts fail fall into four main categories. These reasons primarily, but not exclusively, stem from a lack of communication and engagement with and among employees.

The main reasons that change efforts companies attempt to implement fail are:

• Lack of Understanding: There is a lack of clarity about what the change entails, why it is necessary, its impact, and what the future state will look like once the change takes effect.
• Lack of Transparency: Leaders who do not openly share with employees what is happening in the company lack an intentional connection with their team and miss opportunities to engage them in finding solutions and securing early buy-in for change.
• Unreceptive: Leaders who are not caring and lack concern for a change’s impact on employees and the disruption it can cause risk losing employee support for the change and their willingness to adapt.
• Fear: Unlike leaders, employees often fear the unknown, avoid stepping outside their comfort zones, and lack the courage to take the necessary risks to implement the changes they are being asked to adopt.

Broadly speaking, when these conditions exist in organizations, whether individually or collectively, they signal a breakdown in communication across multiple levels. In my experience, change efforts are much more likely to fail when several of these conditions are present than when only one or two are.

Nichelle Howe, former chief people and equity officer at Great Oaks Legacy Charter School, shared her perspective on these conditions. “The four Cs [clarity, connection, caring and courage] put a name to the behaviors we see when things work and when they don’t. For example, I find that leaders fall short when they lack clarity of purpose and cannot articulate it effectively. What is the message we’re trying to communicate? What is the expected outcome of the change?”

She continued, “Another example is a lack of courage. While the purpose or goal of the change might be clear, I find that when leaders want to avoid conflict, communication becomes vague because they don’t want to address tough issues. The change efforts I’ve seen falter stem from a lack of clarity about the change itself, the outcome you expect, and the courage behind it. Where a decision was made, but the backbone was weak. You’ve made a decision. You now have to implement it. It has an impact. How are you standing in that clarity and delivering that message, standing tall?”

According to Darren Wallis, senior vice president of communications and community relations at ONEOK, “Where companies and leaders both fall short is underestimating how much time it takes to really implement change. Underestimating the impact a change can have. Underestimating the degree of emotion it can create and leaving space for knowing that people deal differently with change.”

He added, “Leaders need to make space for that and ensure their plans accommodate that, because you can really only go as fast as the common denominator in your organization allows you to move. That doesn’t mean you need everybody, but you need the majority.” He stressed, “What might look terrific on a spreadsheet, a Word document, or on a nicely organized timeline sometimes just doesn’t work. So, you have to be flexible and humble enough to acknowledge when it’s not working the way you want and adapt as you go.”

It stands to reason that a failure in any of the four conditions we’ve been discussing could significantly undermine the success of the others, since they are interconnected. They coexist as a communication system within organizations. Making change work in your personal life has an even worse track record!

Revealing the Common DNA

You will have noticed the emphasis on these four specific words, all beginning with the letter “c”: clarity, connection, caring, and courage. They are closely linked to the four reasons most organizational or personal change efforts fail. Here’s a chart for visual learners:

Interestingly, the same four reasons that cause change efforts to fail can be flipped on their heads and used to yield more successful outcomes. When viewed from a different angle, the problems that often lead to failure can become solutions! The failures can be overcome.