Brandee Fantini – Principal Change succeeds when people understand why it matters and are equipped to make it real. Driving meaningful change in a large organization isn’t just about rolling out a new system or process—it’s about shifting mindsets and behaviors in service of something greater. Behind every initiative is a deeper intention: to improve performance, serve customers better, or create a more resilient business. But even the best ideas can stall if the why behind the change isn’t clear, shared, and embraced.
When people don’t see the purpose, change feels like disruption. When leaders aren’t aligned, teams feel pulled in different directions. And when engagement is missing, even well-planned efforts lose momentum. The good news? These challenges are predictable—and avoidable.
By identifying early warning signs and addressing them with intention, organizations can reduce friction, build trust, and activate their people to drive lasting impact. Because real change isn’t about pushing a plan forward. It’s about pulling people in. Consider some of these challenges, and ways to mitigate them.
Support for a strategy doesn’t equal alignment. Real alignment isn’t just what leaders agree to do—it’s what they’re willing to pause, stop, or shift. That means tradeoffs, reallocating resources, and letting go of lower-priority work. These choices carry weight—and require commitment.
Misalignment often flies under the radar and can look like a skipped meeting, stalled decision, or missing resource. These quiet signals can have loud implications. As change practitioners, we surface these moments. Conflicting messages, leadership gaps, and delays send mixed signals. Uncertainty grows. Silos form. When leaders aren’t aligned, employees hesitate and engagement drops—not from apathy, but from confusion.
Alignment isn’t one-and-done. At TiER1, we help leaders name tradeoffs and commit to unified action.
Ways to Mitigate:
✓ Set Clear Criteria: Base decisions on alignment with strategic goals, impact, feasibility, and ROI.
✓ Use Objective Tools: Apply scoring models, cost-benefit analysis, or prioritization matrices for data-driven decisions.
✓ Facilitate Collaboration: Hold structured discussions, focus on shared goals, and leverage scenario modeling.
✓ Establish Governance: Use cross-functional committees and escalation paths for transparent decision making.
✓ Leverage Data: Analyze portfolios, performance metrics, and budget impacts to guide prioritization.
✓ Compromise Strategically: Explore phased funding, pilot projects, or shared resources to balance interests.
✓ Address Conflicts: Use facilitation, root-cause analysis, and empathy to resolve disputes constructively.
✓ Communicate Decisions: Share the rationale, implications, and feedback opportunities to maintain transparency and trust.
A lack of clear vision can quietly derail a project. Without direction, teams struggle to prioritize, leading to inconsistent decisions and competing objectives. The result? Wasted resources, missed deadlines, and low morale—because team members aren’t sure how their efforts contribute to the bigger picture.
The absence of vision also makes it harder to gain stakeholder buy-in. When people don’t understand where things are headed or why it matters, resistance grows—threatening long-term success.
You’ll see signs like misalignment, conflicting priorities, inconsistent messaging, unclear roles, repetitive questions, stalled work, disengagement, resistance to change, and shifting or unmeasurable goals.
Ways to mitigate:
✓ Pause and Reflect: Step back to assess the current state of the project, identifying gaps in understanding, priorities, or alignment.
✓ Engage Key Stakeholders: Bring together leadership, team members, executives, and other stakeholders to collaboratively define the project’s purpose, goals, and desired outcomes.
✓ Facilitate Visioning Workshops: Use structured workshops or brainstorming sessions to clarify the organization’s priorities and long-term objectives.
✓ Identify Success Metrics: Define what success looks like and how it will be measured to provide a tangible target for the project.
✓ Simplify and Communicate: Create a concise, compelling vision statement that resonates with stakeholders and serves as a guiding “North Star.”
✓ Define What It is Not: Get clear on what is either NOT part of the vision or can come in later phases.
✓ Reassess and Align: Reevaluate current efforts to ensure they align with the newly defined vision and make necessary adjustments.
✓ Engage Change Management: Address any resistance or confusion by communicating the vision clearly and consistently and providing support for alignment.
When teams lack effective ways of working, progress can stall. Without clear roles, responsibilities, or collaboration frameworks, decision-making suffers, deadlines slip, and productivity drops.
Poor communication and siloed habits make things worse. A lack of trust or cohesion compounds inefficiencies, making it harder to align, adapt, and move forward. Over time, these issues can threaten the initiative’s success.
To deliver strong outcomes, teams need clarity, shared accountability, and a culture of open, collaborative problem solving.
Signals that your team is suffering from a lack of cohesion or shared ways of working include:
Invest in defining ways of working: Collaboratively establish clear processes for decision-making, collaboration, conflict resolution, file storage, branding, and communication
✓ Clarify Roles: Use tools like a RACI matrix to ensure everyone knows their responsibilities.
✓ Improve Communication: Set regular check-ins and centralize updates on collaboration tools.
✓ Create a Shared Plan: Develop and regularly update a detailed project roadmap.
✓ Foster Collaboration: Break silos with cross-functional teamwork and workshops.
✓ Increase Accountability: Track progress, set deadlines, and conduct reviews.
✓ Resolve Conflicts: Address issues early through open discussions and mediation.
✓ Run Effective Meetings: Set clear agendas, focus on outcomes, and assign follow-up tasks.
✓ Support Leadership: Assign a strong leader to guide the team and resolve roadblocks.
✓ Build Cohesion: Invest in team building and celebrate successes to boost morale.
✓ Monitor and Adjust: Gather feedback and refine processes to better fit team needs.
When governance is unclear and decision-making slows, teams face bottlenecks, misaligned priorities, and frustration. Without defined roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths, decisions get delayed or revisited—slowing progress and reducing efficiency.
Weak structures for prioritizing and approving decisions lead to competing objectives, misallocated resources, and missed opportunities. These issues impact timelines, team morale, and trust.
You’ll see the signs: delayed decisions, stakeholder conflict, repeated debates, too many meetings, low accountability, and stalled momentum. Clear governance and agile decision-making keep work moving with purpose.
Ways to Mitigate
✓ Define Clear Governance: Establish roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths. Document and socialize them.
✓ Empower Decision-Makers: Delegate authority for routine decisions to avoid bottlenecks.
✓ Streamline Escalations: Set clear thresholds for escalating decisions to higher levels.
✓ Improve Agility: Use tools like decision logs, set deadlines, and periodically review governance models.
✓ Foster Transparency: Document and communicate decisions to build trust and clarity.
✓ Align Stakeholders: Hold regular governance meetings to ensure cross-functional alignment. Provide Training: Train leaders on governance, decision-making, and conflict resolution.
✓ Monitor and Adapt: Evaluate governance effectiveness using feedback and metrics like decision turnaround time.
Successful change in large organizations doesn’t happen by chance—it takes intentional structures, clear alignment, and active leadership. By addressing common pitfalls early, organizations create conditions for sustained outcomes. When people are engaged, roles clear, and decisions purposeful, change becomes more than a milestone—it drives long-term performance and growth.
Ready to Strengthen Change Readiness Across Your Organization’s Systems?
Change doesn’t succeed because it’s well-planned—it succeeds because people understand why it matters and are equipped to make it real. If you’re preparing for a major transformation or navigating a complex shift, we’ll help you activate your people around purpose—not just process. Fill out the form below, and a TiER1 expert will reach out to explore how we can support your organization.