Launch Hangovers
Launch Hangovers are rough
You know the feeling: the launch was a couple of weeks ago now. The excitement and shine has worn off and now the questions start. What is this new strategy - I'm not sure I really understand it? What is it you want us to do? Why do we think this will work? What do you want me to give up so I can do this? What's in it for me?
Worse still is the inertia. Nothing changes at all and the senior leadership is beginning to question why it's not working. The teams are beginning to revolt - at least privately questioning why we needed this change at all.
The launch hangover is real
It's not unusual. As the reality of post-launch settles in, it becomes clear to everyone that they're going to need to do considerable work to make it real and actionable. And for most teams and organizations, doing something new and different is really hard. Let's face it, most teams are already fully occupied with the current plan of record. So resistance is normal. In fact resistance to change is an entirely human response. We thrive on order. On normalcy. On habit.
The issue is for most companies and teams, we're in deep trouble when the market is changing faster than we are.
Regenerative Loops - how to recover from the launch hangover
Our experience suggests that there isn’t a silver bullet, but a series of well-coordinated actions that are required to make strategy stick.
It begins with understanding how people engage with (or react to) any new strategy. Habit loops form easily and we tend to recoil, and look for data that supports the behavior we know. This leads to justifying existing strategies even if they are becoming less effective. It takes a degree of self observation to our habits in order to break the pattern and consider potential new options. This regenerative loop is essential if we're ever going to learn and take in something new - and even change our behaviors. The unfortunate truth is this is almost never considered in any new launch roll out. We expect teams to pick up the new thing; be instantly great at it having had no prior practice and absorb it into their already stretched workload.
It's no wonder 90% of all new initiatives fail.
So if you're considering a new launch, start with how to get your team in the right mind-frame to welcome the new directions and create new habits.