Building Momentum: short-term wins, the J-curve, and the Big Mo

Why this matters

A new program launches at Lodge in September. The kickoff goes well. Brothers are enthusiastic. By November, the enthusiasm has cooled. By January, three of the early volunteers have quietly disengaged. By February, the change leader is wondering if the brothers ever really cared. They did. What broke wasn't the commitment; it was the momentum. The published research is consistent across hundreds of change efforts: month four is where most changes die, because the initial energy has faded and the visible gain hasn't yet materialized. The leader who isn't ready for this dip mistakes it for failure and abandons the work right at the point when finishing would have produced the result.

Momentum is not a feeling; it's a measurable property of change efforts. Significant changes follow a J-curve: performance drops before it rises, often for months, before the new way starts producing better outcomes than the old way did. Kotter named the failure mode at Step 7 — leaders declare victory too early when the small dip looks like proof of failure, or they get discouraged when the larger eventual gain hasn't arrived yet. This chapter walks the published mechanics: the J-curve and how to ride through it, the published criteria for short-term wins that actually build momentum (vs. wins that decorate without contributing), the flywheel concept from Collins's research on enduring organizations, and the distinction between busyness and momentum. Maxwell's Law 16 (the Big Mo) and Law 17 (Priorities) close the chapter: momentum compounds in the leader's favor when he protects it, and activity that doesn't accomplish anything looks like momentum but isn't.

What this chapter is

Change loses or gains depending on momentum. Kotter's Step 6 (short-term wins) and Step 7 (sustain acceleration) are the steps where the project either builds energy or quietly dies. This chapter walks the published mechanics of momentum: the J-curve (every significant change produces a dip in performance before producing the gain, and the leader who isn't ready for the dip misreads it as failure), Heath's bright-spots-as-wins approach, the published distinction between busyness and momentum, and Maxwell's Laws 16 (the Big Mo — momentum is a leader's best friend) and 17 (Priorities — leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment). The Lodge application: most change efforts die in month four when the initial enthusiasm fades and the gain hasn't yet materialized.

How to practise it

A lesson walks the same seven steps every time. Read the intro, study the material, then drill it through Quick Fire, Matchup, Sequence, Flashcards, and the Mix capstone. Each step opens to the next; no choices to make in the middle of the work.