Win in Waves means designing change in cycles—push, stabilize, recover, then push again. Leaders are intentional about pacing, recognizing that sustainable performance depends on rhythm, not intensity alone.
This approach keeps teams energized. They build skills gradually, absorb lessons between waves, and maintain resilience during transitions. Instead of one exhausting uphill climb, the team experiences a series of achievable, confidence-building wins.
Teams overload, lose motivation, and regress into old habits. Burnout rises, coordination breaks down, and customers see inconsistent performance as change outpaces the team’s capacity.
Change compounds. Teams maintain energy, experimentation increases, and innovation throughput rises. Leadership modeling scores improve as leaders demonstrate sustainable ways of driving progress.
An executive team attempted to overhaul multiple processes at once, overwhelming staff. A new leader shifted to waves—focusing on one domain, stabilizing it, then moving to the next. Experimentation doubled, and throughput improved steadily without burning out the team.
See Resilience 300: Mine Adversity for Assets for building capability from strain, Coaching 300: Act and Audit for sustainable pacing, and Innovation 200: Test Cheap, Learn Fast for learning between waves.
