From Plans to Action: Why Most Change Initiatives Stall at the Last Mile

 by David. Hermann , CEO of hermanngroup

You’ve rallied the team, sold the vision, and mapped out the change. But six months later, nothing's changed. Why?

Let me take you back to a client engagement that taught me more than any playbook ever could.

They were a $60M services company led by a visionary founder. The strategy offsite was electric. Sticky notes covered the walls. The whole exec team aligned around the transformation agenda. Everyone nodded vigorously as we walked through execution priorities and timelines.

Fast forward 90 days, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that session had never happened. Momentum faded. Leaders retreated to old habits. The CEO was frustrated. His people were discouraged. The “big change” fizzled into background noise.

This wasn’t a strategy problem. It wasn’t a resource problem. It was a last-mile problem. And most organizations never see it coming.

Here’s the brutal truth: the biggest risk to your transformation isn’t resistance. It’s drift.

The team doesn’t actively oppose change. They just…don’t do it. A few weeks go by. Then a few months. Other fires take priority. Old patterns reassert themselves. Leaders assume someone else is “owning it.”

And the change dies not with a bang, but a whimper.

Most strategy execution frameworks are heavy up front:  alignment, communication, planning.

Very few equip you to manage the last mile. The final 20% that turns intent into traction.

This is where most change efforts collapse. Not because people are incapable, but because we grossly underestimate how much infrastructure change really requires at the tactical level.

Want a playbook that works?

Stop asking, “How do we get buy-in?” and start asking, “How will we operationalize follow-through?”

Change doesn’t fail because people say no. It fails because no one says “I’ve got this part and here’s how I’ll measure it.”

Let me show you what works, because I’ve been there. The companies that do pull it off? They sweat the mechanics:

They make the invisible visible by turning goals into trackable behaviors. They assign clear owners with permission and teeth. They overcommunicate micro-wins so people see that progress is real. They don’t treat accountability like a four-letter word, they treat it like a team sport.

One organization I worked with did something simple but genius: They turned their strategic pillars into rotating monthly themes. Each month, one leader owned the spotlight with weekly team standups, visible metrics, and small incentives tied to progress. No one could forget the strategy because it showed up in their calendar, their team chats, even in the factory break room.

Execution moved from “someday” to “this week.”

Here’s what I want you to take away from this:

You’re not crazy if you feel stuck. You’re not failing if your transformation hasn’t taken off yet. But don’t keep adding more vision decks or leadership memos. That’s not what’s missing.

What’s missing is a gritty, granular, often unsexy system of doing and redoing until the new behavior becomes the norm.

Operationalize the last mile. Make it visible. Make it owned. Make it repeatable. And you’ll start to see something powerful: momentum.

Not the flashy, all-hands-launch kind. But the slow-build kind. The kind that compounds.

Because change doesn’t live in announcements. It lives in Tuesday afternoons when no one is watching.

Let’s make this real: What part of your change initiative is still a slide instead of a system? What part needs ownership rather than consensus?

Drop it in the comments. I'd love to hear what you're wrestling with.

A special thanks to Michael Clark for a great conversation that inspired this article.

David. Hermann is a transformative healthcare executive and strategist with a remarkable ability to catalyze organizational growth and efficiency. As a trusted advisor to C-suite executives, David has led initiatives resulting in more than $500 million in documented financial improvements for his clients. A recognized thought leader, he has delivered 60+ speaking engagements, authored numerous publications, and ranks in the top 1% of Consulting Voices on LinkedIn, making him a go-to expert in strategy, change leadership and operations.