Every transformation programme starts with energy. By month four, the launch excitement has faded, the steering committee has thinned and the plan has collided with the real organisation. This is where most programmes quietly stall.

The three failure points

In our experience the causes are rarely technical. Ownership blurs when initiative leads are promoted or reassigned. Benefits are tracked in a spreadsheet nobody trusts. And leaders stop asking the hard question: what has actually changed for the customer?

What survivors do differently

Programmes that survive month four assign a single accountable owner per outcome, measure benefits in the finance system rather than the programme office, and hold a short monthly review where the CEO asks to see the work itself.