Anti-patterns

The recurring failure modes, with their tells and their remedies.

1. Intervention before diagnosis. Tell: the sponsor names the solution at entry — "we need a reorganization", "we need a culture programme". Remedy: contract for a diagnosis phase with a decision point at the end.

2. Solving a transformational problem with a transactional fix. Tell: the third restructure in four years; a new tool announced as the answer to a behavioral problem. Remedy: Burke-Litwin. Name the tier.

3. The training reflex. Tell: every problem produces a course. Remedy: ADKAR barrier point. Training only fixes Knowledge.

4. Surveying without acting. Tell: falling response rates; "we did this last year and nothing happened". Remedy: do not survey unless you will act; cascade feedback locally; publish the action completion rate.

5. Consultation theater. Tell: engagement sessions scheduled after the decision was made. Remedy: say plainly what is decided and what is open. People will accept "this is decided, and here is what you can shape."

6. Abandoning in the dip. Tell: the change is reversed at the point of maximum discomfort, then cited forever as proof that it does not work here. Remedy: Satir. Predict the dip publicly, with a duration, before it starts.

7. Stacking changes. Tell: three transformations running simultaneously in one department. Remedy: one major change per group. Sequence, and say what is being deferred.

8. Values that contradict behavior. Tell: a values page nobody can recite, and promotions that reward the opposite. Remedy: change promotion criteria first. Say nothing about values until behavior changes.

9. Measuring the measurable instead of the important. Tell: dashboards of activity; nobody can say what outcome improved. Remedy: theory of change with named assumptions; outcomes, not outputs.

10. Punishing the messenger. Tell: the last person who raised a serious problem is no longer here, and everyone can name them. Remedy: nothing works until this stops. It is the precondition for the rest.

11. Hero dependence. Tell: the improvement stops when one person goes on leave. Remedy: institutionalize — defaults, onboarding, criteria, tooling.

12. Psychologizing a structural problem. Tell: "resistance to change" applied to people who correctly identify that the plan will not work in their conditions. Remedy: test the objection on its merits before treating it as resistance. Sometimes the resisters are right, and that is the most valuable finding available.

13. Benchmark envy. Tell: "Spotify does it this way." Remedy: ask what problem that organization was solving, in what context, with what constraints — and whether they still do it.

14. The permanent pilot. Tell: three years of pilots and no adoption decision. Remedy: every pilot gets an adopt/adapt/abandon date at the start.

15. Confusing compliance with commitment. Tell: everyone agrees in the room and nothing changes afterwards. Remedy: Lencioni's commitment principle — people will commit to a decision they disagree with if they believe they were genuinely heard. Mine for the disagreement.