I am thrilled this month to have two guests on the podcast talking about making sustainability changes in business. I am thrilled because they use a term we in business are well-versed in: Change Management.

In the pristine world of business literature, change management appears as a sleek, orderly process with neat flowcharts and predictable outcomes. But here’s the truth: real change is messy, unpredictable, and utterly human. No management framework, no matter how elegantly designed, can fully capture the organic nature of organizational transformation. And that’s okay. You’re not alone in this.

I led something close to 30 different change programs in many different areas of a business. (Sales, marketing, IT, admin, operations, purchasing and logistics.) Like every single other person, I failed at the first handful. Because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Plus, change is not only hard; it’s a crap shoot.

Sometimes, you win, and sometimes, you fail. That philosphy is being drilled into me the longer I stand in the green world of climate change, sustainability, and planet first. YES. It IS a good idea, and there is every good chance it will work. Except there are failures we all have to go through first. And failures is what the business world is built on.

When the Maps and Manuals Fail Us

I once watched a multinational corporation spend millions on a change initiative with binders full of processes. Six months later, they desperately improvised as reality laughed at their carefully constructed plans. Their mistake? Believing that change could be engineered like a machine rather than nurtured like a garden.

The truth lives in the spaces between our neat diagrams—in the quiet resistance of a veteran employee, in the unexpected champion who emerges from an unlikely department, and in the sudden market shift that transforms your careful strategy into yesterday’s irrelevant thinking.

The Liberation of Failure

Our first attempt at significant change will always fail in some way. And that’s not just okay – it’s necessary. It’s a crucial part of the journey towards growth and success.

Every stumble teaches what no consultant can. When your communication strategy falls flat, you discover your organization’s real channels of influence. When your timeline proves laughably optimistic, you gain respect for the deep roots of established habits. These aren’t failures – they’re the tuition you pay for actual wisdom.

The most successful change leaders I’ve known share a surprising trait: they’ve all failed spectacularly at some point. Those failures didn’t diminish their credibility – they earned it. They wear these experiences like battle scars that prove they’ve been in the arena, not just studied it from afar.

And that is what is so cool about both of my guests this month. One hails from the Netherlands, the other hails from the United States. One is a change agent in business; the other is a professor with a side business in the green markets. Both have failed massively, yet their failures are now the lived experience from which they both write and speak—brilliantly.

The Permission to Begin

Perhaps you’re standing at the edge, knowing change must happen, but paralyzed by the countless ways things might go wrong. Whatever you are contemplating, whether business or personal, big or small, here’s your permission slip. Start anyway.

Perfect readiness is a myth. The organization that waits until all risks are mitigated and all stakeholders are aligned will watch more nimble competitors transform while drafting their change management charter.

The beginning doesn’t need to be dramatic. Small, meaningful shifts ALWAYS create momentum that larger initiatives can build upon. The courage to start imperfectly matters more than any framework ever will. Here’s what I learned from my lived experience, and I encourage you to take that first step, even if it’s not perfect.

Five Unorthodox Tips for Change That Actually Work

1. Build your failure resilience first. Before planning the change itself, build mechanisms that help you and your organization learn from inevitable setbacks. Create spaces where teams can dissect what went wrong without fear. The organization that can fail productively will ultimately succeed dramatically.
2. Find your organizational translators. Every workplace has natural connectors who speak multiple “languages” – they understand both leadership vision and frontline reality. These translators are worth their weight in gold during change. They’ll tell you when your brilliant strategy sounds like nonsense to those who must implement it.
3. Look for the hidden springs. Beneath the formal structure are informal networks and unwritten rules that truly drive behaviour. Spend time identifying these before launching your change. Please believe me when I say the unofficial leader who commands respect on the factory floor can do more for your initiative than any number of executive mandates.
4. Create emotional bookmarks. Change journeys are long, and momentum wanes. Plan moments that help people feel the progress – celebrations, stories, visible wins. Emotions sustain change when rational arguments fade into background noise.
5. Lead with questions, not answers. The most powerful change catalyst isn’t a perfect plan – it’s curiosity. “What if we…?” opens possibilities that “We must…” shuts down. Questions invite ownership; answers merely request compliance.
   The beautiful paradox of change management is that its greatest successes come when we abandon the illusion of control. The most meaningful transformations emerge when we create the conditions for change, then trust in the collective wisdom of humans navigating uncertainty together.

No matter what change you are considering, consider tuning in this month.