The Power of Small Changes for Sustainable Impact

The New Year feels like a natural time for new beginnings yet many of us find ourselves discouraged—both professionally and personally—when the changes we’ve tried to implement veer off course or in many cases come to a faltering halt.

Interestingly, the successful outcome of both individual resolutions and organisational change initiatives have been suggested to sit at roughly 30%. Organisationally, there is some doubt over the accuracy of this data (Hughes M 2011), although reported by McKinsey and the Harvard Business Review, and we are relying on the British Public self reporting on Yougov, it doesn't seem wildly inaccurate.

The "One Change Strategy," introduced in the The Chief Psychology Officer podcast, provides a practical framework for embedding long-lasting and impactful change into our lives and workplaces. Let’s explore how this approach, supported by neuroscience, psychology, and actionable exercises can transform how individuals and organisations approach meaningful change.

Making More Intentional Choices

Sometimes the changes we think we want are not the solution that provides an outcome aligned with our truest vision of a contented life. Much like the unfortunate dog in Aesop’s fable The Dog and The Shadow, we can let what is precious slip from our grasp in favour of the illusory bigger and better.

It is therefore recommended to spend time reflecting on your goals before jumping in and committing to change. Having a clear vision or purpose both professionally and personally can create the motivation and habits required to make consistent choices for success.

One way to identify your goals is to identify what you ‘want’, and to challenge these wants.

Starting Small with 99 Wants

The concept is simple: first, you write 33 things that you want to change for yourself, then 33 things you want to change for the people you love and finally 33 things for your community, the planet – the bigger picture.

The 99 Wants is effective because it brings clarity. Quite simply, if you would like to have more possessions, you’ll need to work more but if you would like to have more time you’ll need to work less and have fewer possessions. This creates choice and as you populate your list, you find yourself really thinking about what is essential and what isn’t. What do you really want?

While designed for individuals to complete, the practice of setting intention and breaking the process down into smaller more easily achievable goals is a clear winner. One that led to the British Cycling team racing ahead of the competition at the Beijing Olympics much to everyone’s surprise!

Setting Goals for Marginal Gains

Before Sir David Brailsford became the head of British Cycling in 2002, the team had only won one gold medal in its entire 76-year history. His approach was to break down everything you can think of that goes into competing on a bike and improve each element by 1%.

“It struck me that we should think small, not big, and adopt a philosophy of continuous improvement through the aggregation of marginal gains. Forget about perfection; focus on progression, and compound the improvements.” – Sir David Brailsford

From proper handwashing and not shaking hands at the Olympics to avoid illness during competition to experimenting with wind tunnels to improve aerodynamics – each incremental change gave the team a competitive advantage.

But what does the neuroscience say about how we can embed sustainable change?

In the podcast, Dr Amanda Potter highlights how small changes are better aligned with how our brains process change. Here’s the science behind it:

• Small changes activate reward pathways

Dopamine, the brain's "motivation and reward" neurotransmitter, plays a critical role in habit formation. Successfully implementing a small change and celebrating it releases dopamine, reinforcing the behaviour and increasing the likelihood of long-term success. (Graybiel, A. M.)

• Give yourself more time than you think!

Although the average length it takes to form a new habit is closer to 2 months (Lally, 2009)), a month-long focus on a single change instead of a scatter gun approach can help you to get ready to stack a new habit the following month and feel the benefits of both. In this way habit stacking can have a cumulative effect over the course of the year.

• Avoid cognitive overload

Our brains are “cognitive misers,” naturally avoiding tasks that feel overwhelming. Focusing on one small change at a time reduces decision fatigue and builds momentum for sustained transformation.

An Exercise for Your Team

If you’d like to try it personally follow the approach mentioned earlier in this article. To frame the exercise and make it more applicable for business, we’ve adapted the 99 Wants approach to the work environment:

1. 33 things you want for yourself

2. 33 things you want for your colleagues and the organisation

3. 33 things you want to change to make a better impact on the world/community

Start Writing

Your initial list may include surface-level desires like “a promotion” or “new office furniture.” However, as you continue, deeper, more meaningful priorities emerge, such as “more time to mentor colleagues” or “reducing packaging waste”.

Reflect and Prioritise

Once your list is complete, identify recurring themes and focus areas. For instance, if “sustainability” appears often, it could guide future organisational goals.

Turn Insights into Action

Once you have written your list, challenge the items that you really want, and the ones that will make the greatest difference. Ask yourself, Which of these could you focus on? Which of the smaller wants could make the biggest difference?

Use the shorter list to identify actionable changes for home and at work. If “a healthier lifestyle” is a priority think about the small changes you can make each day to create new healthy habits, if at work “improved employee engagement” is a priority, start small—like holding weekly team check-ins or recognising employees’ contributions more regularly.

Hughes, M. (2011). Do 70 Per Cent of All Organizational Change Initiatives Really Fail? Journal of Change Management, 11(4), 451–464. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2011.630506

Lally, P. (2009) How long does it take to form a habit? | UCL News - UCL – University College London

Graybiel, A. M. (2008). Habits, rituals, and the evaluative brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 31(1), 359–387. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.29.051605.112851

Tune into the Chief Psychology Officer Podcast Episode 70: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1946445/episodes/16388865-ep70-from-habit-to-happiness-the-one-change-approach.mp3?download=true