Years ago I was one of two consultants brought in to review a €50 million software R&D programme at a global power generation business. We had four weeks. On the first morning I sat in the programme board meeting, said nothing and took three pages of notes.
Nobody in the room could say how much had been spent, or when the software would be delivered. But the numbers weren’t the real problem. The developers and the sales team were at war. The developers were proud of what they had built. Sales couldn’t explain its benefit to customers and had given up trying. Each side blamed the other, and management tried to mediate and satisfied nobody.
That conflict was the real risk to the programme, and nobody was naming it. Those three pages of notes covered most of what the four-week review eventually found.
When a change programme stalls, most leaders look first at the strategy. Was the plan clear? Were the objectives right? Did we have the right technology? Did we plan and budget realistically?
Many change programmes don’t collapse under the weight of the strategy, though. They unravel because of the things no one talks about: the silent killers.
These never show up on a PowerPoint slide, yet they steadily wear down momentum, slowing progress, weakening quality and inflating costs, until the programme quietly loses its way.
The five silent killers
1. No early wins
Change requires belief. Without visible evidence that the new way is working, scepticism grows. Quick wins won’t solve everything, but they build confidence and momentum. Without them, enthusiasm fades and resistance strengthens.
2. Unspoken fear
Resistance to change rarely comes from people being “difficult”. It comes from fear: of losing status, competence, relevance, control or even their job. If those fears aren’t acknowledged and worked through, the resistance doesn’t disappear. It goes underground and obstructs the programme.
3. Inconsistent leadership signals
If leaders say one thing but reward another, people follow the reward every time. Announcing “collaboration” while continuing to promote lone heroics creates cynicism. People quickly learn that the words don’t match the reality. Trust erodes, and with it the energy to commit to the change.
4. Change fatigue
Too many organisations launch new initiatives at a relentless pace. Each one may be well intentioned, but together they exhaust people. They stop investing their energy and wait out the latest project, assuming “this too shall pass”. Without the capacity to absorb change, even the best ideas stall.
5. Invisible politics
Behind the organisation chart sits the real network of influence. The respected veteran, the connector who knows everyone and the quiet subject-matter expert can make or break a change programme. Ignore them and you risk being quietly undermined. Engage them and they can become your most effective allies.
What good change leaders do differently
Overcoming the silent killers comes down to how leaders behave and the choices they make in the moments that matter most. A new framework or another slide deck won’t do it.
Here is what effective leaders do.
1. Build early wins
- Deliver quick, visible proof that the change is working. A pilot, a client success or a process improvement can do more than a distant milestone.
- Tell people about these wins and celebrate them, so they can see the momentum is real, and recognise those who made them happen.
- Use the early wins to build confidence and support for the bigger changes that follow.
2. Bring fear into the open
- Create space where people can voice their worries without being judged.
- Admit their own uncertainty. Saying “I don’t have all the answers either” makes it normal not to.
- Give people the training and support they need to succeed in the new way of working.
3. Align leadership signals
- Make sure rewards and recognition match the new direction. If collaboration is the goal, promotions should reflect teamwork.
- Model the behaviours themselves. Leaders are watched more closely than they realise, and credibility comes from consistency.
4. Manage change fatigue
- Sequence change carefully, leaving teams room to absorb it.
- Say no to initiatives that don’t directly support the transformation. Focus creates energy; clutter destroys it.
- Keep an eye on how stretched teams are, and slow the pace if exhaustion is creeping in.
5. Work with the informal network
- Map who has influence beyond the organisation chart: the veterans, the connectors and the respected voices.
- Engage them early, so that potential blockers become advocates.
- Listen to them closely. They usually know where resistance will surface.
Good change leaders know that transformation is about how people feel while things change, as much as about what changes.
The takeaway
Change programmes rarely fail with a bang. They fail with a whisper, quietly and slowly, until one day the momentum has gone.
In the power generation programme, two of the killers were at work: no early wins, and a conflict between two groups that nobody would name. Our recommendations were practical: governance that gave every group a voice, a roadmap with the most valuable features and some easy wins at the front, and direct contact with customers. The hardest one was the simplest. The teams had to stop blaming each other.
Designing the roadmap is only part of a leader’s job. The other part is spotting the silent killers and dealing with them before they take hold.
Look at your own programme and pick the killer most likely to be at work beneath the surface. Then decide on one practical step you can take this week to counter it.
Our Programme Assessment finds these problems early, in two to four weeks, while they can still be fixed. If a programme of yours has lost momentum, book an introductory call.
First published in my LinkedIn newsletter, Leadership & Transformation.