Quiz: What's Blocking Your Change Initiative
Your change initiative is struggling.
You're working hard. The team is committed. Resources are allocated. Communications are going out.
But progress is slow. Quality is inconsistent. People are frustrated.
When you look at what's wrong, you see symptoms:
Stakeholders being surprised by things you communicated
Teams making incompatible decisions
Workarounds proliferating
Resistance that won't resolve
You're treating symptoms. You haven't identified the actual blocker.
Take the Quiz - What's Blocking Your Change Initiative?
The Blocker Misdiagnosis Problem
Most change leaders misdiagnose what's blocking their initiative.
They see low engagement with communications and think: "We need to communicate more."
They see teams struggling and think: "People are resisting change."
They see quality problems and think: "Teams need to work harder."
All of these miss the actual constraint.
There are four fundamental blockers that prevent change initiatives from succeeding:
Communication design failures
Coordination infrastructure gaps
Resource inadequacy
Change approach/design flaws
Most struggling initiatives have one primary blocker. Some have multiple.
The blocker type determines what will actually fix the problem.
Why Blocker Type Matters
If your primary blocker is communication design, then:
More coordination won't help (teams already align, they just don't understand what they're aligning on)
More resources won't help (people can't execute well on something they don't understand)
Better change design won't help (even a good design fails if it's poorly communicated)
You need better communication design: targeted messages, better timing, relevance filtering.
If your primary blocker is coordination infrastructure, then:
More communication won't help (people understand fine, they just can't integrate their work)
More resources won't help (teams can't use resources effectively when working at cross-purposes)
Better change design won't help (even good design fails without integration)
You need coordination infrastructure: single source of truth, integration checkpoints, conflict resolution processes.
If your primary blocker is resource inadequacy, then:
More communication won't help (understanding doesn't create capacity)
Better coordination won't help (aligned teams still can't execute without resources)
Better design won't help (even great design fails when under-resourced)
You need adequate resources or reduced scope to match available resources.
If your primary blocker is change design flaws, then:
More communication won't help (clearly explaining a bad solution doesn't make it good)
Better coordination won't help (integrating flawed pieces still produces flawed outcomes)
More resources won't help (resourcing the wrong solution wastes resources)
You need to redesign the change itself.
The Resource Waste Problem
Organizations waste enormous resources fixing the wrong blocker.
They invest in communication improvements when the real problem is coordination.
They build coordination infrastructure when the real problem is inadequate resources.
They add resources when the real problem is fundamentally flawed design.
Each of these investments:
Consumes time and money
Creates the appearance of action
Delays addressing the actual constraint
Sometimes makes the real problem worse
Six months later, the initiative is still struggling despite "fixing" multiple things.
The Diagnostic Challenge
Identifying your primary blocker is hard because:
Symptoms overlap. Communication problems look like coordination problems look like design problems. All create confusion and misalignment.
Multiple blockers coexist. You might have moderate communication challenges AND moderate coordination gaps. Which is primary?
People blame the wrong thing. Teams blame communication when they're actually under-resourced. Leaders blame resistance when the design is flawed.
Solutions mask problems temporarily. Heroic individual effort can compensate for resource gaps—until burnout. Excessive meetings can patch coordination gaps—until meeting fatigue.
You need a systematic way to diagnose which blocker is actually constraining your success.
The Four Blocker Types
Blocker 1: Communication Design Failures
What it looks like:
People ask questions you already answered
Different groups have different understandings of the same change
Stakeholders are surprised by things you communicated
Engagement with communications is declining
Three months in, people still ask "why are we doing this?"
What's actually happening:
You're broadcasting information rather than designing communication that creates understanding. Messages don't match audience needs or timing. Communication is activity-focused (sending updates) rather than outcome-focused (building comprehension).
What won't fix it:
Communicating more frequently (adds noise, not clarity)
Making messages longer or more detailed (creates overwhelm)
Adding more communication channels (disperses attention)
What will fix it:
Targeted messages for specific audiences
Timing that matches when people need information
Format that matches how people will use information
Feedback loops that reveal what's not landing
Blocker 2: Coordination Infrastructure Gaps
What it looks like:
Teams make decisions that create problems for other teams
Integration is painful and reveals incompatibilities
Information doesn't propagate, some teams work from outdated understanding
Rework is common because pieces don't fit together
"We didn't know they were doing that" is a frequent statement
What's actually happening:
You're relying on informal coordination (meetings, relationships) for work that requires formal coordination infrastructure. Teams work in parallel until collision. Dependencies aren't visible until they're blocking progress.
What won't fix it:
More meetings (creates coordination theater, not actual alignment)
Asking people to "communicate more" (without structure, this is noise)
Escalating integration problems to leadership (treats symptoms)
What will fix it:
Single source of truth for authoritative information
Explicit dependency mapping
Integration checkpoints before incompatibilities become expensive
Escalation paths for resolving conflicts
Blocker 3: Resource Inadequacy
What it looks like:
Implementation keeps getting delayed because "real work" takes priority
Workarounds proliferate because proper solutions require resources you don't have
Quality is inconsistent, teams doing "best effort" with inadequate support
Burnout increasing as people compensate through extra hours
Blockers persist because there's no capacity to address them
What's actually happening:
The gap between resources required and resources provided is being absorbed through individual heroics, quality degradation, and workarounds. You're asking people to deliver results without providing what they need to succeed.
What won't fix it:
Better communication (understanding doesn't create capacity)
Better coordination (aligned teams still can't execute without resources)
Asking people to "be flexible" or "work smarter" (externalizes resource problem)
What will fix it:
Honest resource assessment (what's required vs. what's available)
Scope negotiation (reduce what you're attempting to match resources)
Protected time (stop treating this as unpaid overtime)
Adequate expertise (build capability or bring it in)
Blocker 4: Change Approach/Design Flaws
What it looks like:
Workarounds emerging because the designed process doesn't fit reality
Adoption happening (required) but outcomes not improving
Every "fix" creates new problems
People asking "why are we doing this?" because value isn't evident
Early feedback revealing fundamental problems
What's actually happening:
The change was designed based on assumptions that don't hold in practice, or to solve a problem that wasn't the actual constraint, or without understanding how work actually happens. Better execution won't overcome flawed design.
What won't fix it:
More communication (clearly explaining a bad solution doesn't make it good)
Better coordination (integrating flawed pieces produces flawed outcomes)
More resources (resourcing the wrong solution wastes resources)
Training and support (can't train people to make a broken process work)
What will fix it:
Validate design assumptions (what did you assume that isn't true?)
Study workarounds (why are people deviating? what does that reveal?)
Assess actual value delivery (is this making work better?)
Consider redesign (sometimes you need to start over)
The Multi-Blocker Reality
Some initiatives have multiple blockers.
When that's true:
Fix them in sequence, not simultaneously
Start with design (flawed design can't be fixed with better execution)
Then resources (adequate resources enable addressing other problems)
Then coordination (properly resourced teams can build coordination)
Then communication (well-coordinated, resourced work can be communicated well)
Trying to fix everything at once disperses effort and fixes nothing completely.
The Diagnostic Question
Before investing more time, money, or energy in your struggling change initiative, answer:
"What is my primary blocker: communication design, coordination infrastructure, resource adequacy, or change approach/design?"
If you can't answer that question confidently, you're likely fixing the wrong things.
Take the Diagnostic
We've created a diagnostic tool to help you identify your primary blocker:
Take the Quiz - What's Blocking Your Change Initiative?
Eight questions. Three minutes. Clear diagnosis of whether your constraint is communication, coordination, resources, or design...with specific recommendations for addressing it.
Take the diagnostic before investing more effort in the wrong solution.
Your change initiative isn't failing because people won't change.
It's failing because something fundamental is blocking progress and you haven't identified what.
Identify the blocker. Fix the actual constraint.
Then watch your change initiative start moving.
The DANCE System provides frameworks for diagnosing and addressing all four blocker types systematically. Learn more about systematic change communication
