Personal Change as a Mirror for Organisational Change
A new year feels like a fresh start. We make ambitious resolutions, convinced that turning the calendar will transform us into fitter, richer or more organised versions of ourselves. Yet research consistently shows that most resolutions fade within weeks.
If you’ve already felt your motivation slipping, you’re not alone.
The reasons personal resolutions fail are strikingly similar to why organisational change efforts struggle. Both often rely too heavily on motivation, underestimate the power of habits and systems and assume that a single plan can survive a complex, unpredictable year.
This article unpacks why traditional resolutions often fail and shows how adopting agile principles can make your goals more achievable.
Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
Psychologists have identified several recurring patterns behind failed resolutions. These same dynamics frequently show up in large-scale change programmes.
1. Relying on Willpower Alone
Willpower is a finite resource; forcing yourself to resist temptations drains your mental energy. In organisations, this often looks like leaders relying on motivation, mandates or enthusiasm to drive change. Instead, they should be redesigning systems, incentives and ways of working.
When life gets stressful, it’s easy to slip back into old habits.
2. Setting Unrealistic or Vague Goals
Grand declarations like “never eat sugar again” or “exercise every day” ignore your existing habits and limitations. Vague goals (“be healthier”) provide no roadmap for success. Similarly, organisational change initiatives often set aspirational but ambiguous goals like “be more agile” or “improve collaboration” without clarifying what will actually change in day-to-day work.
Without clear and achievable steps, people disengage.
3. Trying to Change Too Much at Once
Spreading your attention across multiple resolutions dilutes focus and leads to burnout. Prioritising a few important goals increases your odds of success. In change management, this shows up as change saturation; too many initiatives competing for the same limited capacity.
When everything is a priority, nothing truly is.
4. Ignoring Habits and the Power of the Environment
About 40% of our daily actions are automatic. If you don’t change your environment and routines, your old habits will win. In organisations, entrenched habits are reinforced by structures, policies, performance measures, governance and cultural norms. Asking people to behave differently without changing these conditions is one of the most common reasons change fails.
Willpower alone rarely succeeds and that’s okay!
5. All‑or‑Nothing Mentality
When you miss a workout or have an off‑day and think “I’ve failed, what’s the point?”. This perfection mindset often makes it tempting to declare the resolution a failure and give up completely. Progress is rarely linear; small setbacks are part of the process. Organisations do the same. A missed milestone or failed pilot can result in abandoning the change altogether, rather than learning and adapting.
Setbacks are not failure; they are feedback.
The Fresh Start Effect
Temporal landmarks like the first of January, a birthday or even the start of a new week boost motivation and give us a sense of renewal. This “fresh start effect” can be a powerful catalyst, which is why so many change initiatives launch at these moments. But it isn’t enough to carry you through a full year.
Motivation naturally ebbs and flows. Without mechanisms to sustain change beyond the initial surge, the fresh start effect wears off quickly.
From Willpower to Habits, Designing for Sustainable Change
Lasting change depends less on self-control and more on habit formation. Once habits are established, they require far less cognitive effort.
On a personal level, this might mean:
- Preparing meals in advance
- Laying out gym clothes the night before
- Scheduling exercise into the calendar
In organisations, it means:
- Embedding new behaviours into processes and workflows
- Aligning incentives and measures with desired outcomes
- Making the “right” behaviours the easiest ones to adopt
This shift from relying on individual effort to designing supportive systems is central to agile and modern change thinking.
Applying Agile Principles to Personal and Organisational Change
Traditional New Year’s resolutions resemble waterfall change plans: a single, long-term plan based on the assumption that we can predict our future behaviour and circumstances.
Agile approaches take a different view. They assume uncertainty, prioritise learning and emphasise the ability to adapt.
Here’s how agile principles can be applied to personal goals and what change leaders can learn from them.
Work in Short Iterations (Sprints)
Instead of committing to a year-long transformation, create short, time-bound iterations with clear achievable goals.
Personally, this might look like:
- “Exercise twice a week for the next two weeks”
- “Reduce sugary snacks during January”
In organisations, it means:
- Running small change experiments
- Piloting new ways of working with a team
- Delivering incremental improvements rather than large-scale rollouts
Build Feedback and Learning Loops
Agile teams regularly reflect on their work through reviews and retrospectives, not to judge performance but to learn and adapt. You can do the same with your goals by scheduling weekly or bi-weekly check-ins to review your progress. Ask yourself:
- Did you meet your mini‑goal this period?
- What obstacles came up?
- How do you feel about your strategy?
For change leaders, this reinforces an important mindset shift. Feedback is about learning, not blame! These reflections help you stay aware of your goals and tweak your approach before small issues become major barriers.
Embrace Adaptability Over Rigid Plans
Life (and organisations) are unpredictable. Injuries, workload spikes or family obligations can disrupt your plans.
Agile values responding to change over following a plan. If a morning routine isn’t working, try evenings. If a change initiative stalls, adjust the approach rather than doubling down on the original plan.
Prioritise and Limit Work in Progress
In Agile, teams maintain a backlog of tasks and focus on the highest‑value items first. Apply this to your resolutions. Brainstorm everything you’d like to change, then prioritise the most meaningful, realistic goals.
Limit yourself to one or two at a time. Once you’ve built momentum, you can add another. In organisations, limiting work in progress reduces overload and will increase the likelihood that change actually sticks.
Change as Continuous Improvement
New Year’s resolutions often fail for the same reasons organisational change initiatives do: over-reliance on motivation, unrealistic expectations, too many priorities and insufficient attention to habits and systems.
Agile principles offer an alternative. By working in short iterations, using feedback loops, embracing flexibility and focusing on a few priorities, change becomes a process of continuous learning rather than a once-a-year effort.
Whether you are trying to build a healthier routine or support organisational agility, the lesson is the same. As you revisit your resolutions, pick one goal, break it into a small sprint and set a date for your first review. Use a journal or digital tool to track progress. Celebrate small wins and adjust as you learn.
And most importantly, keep going!
Want to Explore Agile Thinking Further?
Whether you’re leading change, supporting it, or just beginning your Agile journey, the Agile Business Consortium offers resources on Agile fundamentals, reflective practice, and peer learning. These communities and tools can help you build momentum, deepen understanding, and sustain change, long after the “fresh start” effect has faded.