Don’t Underestimate The Environment Required to Sustain Change

The Environment Required to Sustain Change
Initiating change is challenging, but we know from project postmortems that sustaining it is often even harder. Many change management experts agree that without the right environment, progress quickly stalls. Consider a common personal change challenge — weight loss. Success isn’t just about motivation or willpower; it depends heavily on creating an environment that supports new habits. From the food in your kitchen to the social cues around you, every element either reinforces the change or undermines it.

Just as in personal habits, change management simulation data tells us that organizational change demands deliberate design of surroundings, systems, and culture to ensure new behaviors endure.

Creating the Environment to Sustain Change: A Weight Loss Example
Every January, gyms fill and diet products fly off the shelves, fueled by a surge of New Year’s motivation. For the first couple of weeks, enthusiasm runs high — workouts are consistent, meals are measured, and progress feels tangible. But soon, old habits reassert themselves. Attendance wanes, indulgences creep back in, and the scale begins to climb again.

Changing habits ingrained over a lifetime is far harder than short bursts of motivation; without the right environment and routines to support lasting change, even the strongest intentions often falter.

Succeeding at lasting change is rarely about willpower alone — it requires an environment that actively supports and reinforces the desired behavior. A striking example is Michael Ventrella, the Season 9 winner of The Biggest Loser. Michael lost a record 264 pounds, over 50% of his starting weight. Yet this was far from his first attempt at weight loss; previous efforts had failed. What made the difference was the high-performance environment meticulously designed to sustain change.

Michael’s success was built on several critical elements that change leaders can learn from:

• Selective entry and commitment: He endured a rigorous audition and onboarding process, ensuring he was fully invested from the start.
• Structured, proven routines: He followed a carefully designed diet and exercise regimen.
• Expert support: Doctors, trainers, and nutritionists guided his individual plan.
• Continuous measurement: Weekly weigh-ins and progress tracking, both individually and within his team, kept accountability front and center.
• Healthy competition and benchmarks: Competing with others and seeing where he stood relative to goals provided motivation and clarity.
• Role models and mentorship: Access to those who had successfully navigated the same path reinforced belief in the possibility of change.
• Environment tailored to success: Living in a private, remote location minimized distractions and created a setting entirely aligned with his goals.

In short, Michael was immersed in an ecosystem that demanded commitment, provided coaching, measured outcomes, fostered healthy competition, and offered visible examples of success. Every component of the environment reinforced the change, ensuring that new behaviors could take root and flourish. His story demonstrates that lasting transformation isn’t just about desire — it’s about designing conditions where change can thrive.

The Lesson for Change Leaders: People Change When Their Environment Changes
Even after the intense environment of The Biggest Loser, many contestants regain a significant portion of the weight they initially lost. Scientific studies reveal that the body actively resists sustained weight loss, adjusting metabolism and hunger signals to return to its previous state. For change leaders, the takeaway is clear: initial success is just the beginning.

Lasting change — whether personal or organizational — requires an environment designed to reinforce new behaviors over the long term. Without ongoing support, change management training, accountability, and structures that sustain momentum, even the most dramatic early gains are at risk of slipping away.

The Bottom Line
Achieving lasting workplace change is not about hitting the target once — it’s about creating an environment that continuously reinforces and supports the desired behaviors. Change only sticks when systems, culture, and daily routines align to sustain it over time. Ask yourself: have you built the conditions necessary for your change to endure, or are early wins at risk of fading once the initial momentum passes?

To learn more about the environment required to sustain change at work, download The 5 Lenses of Change that Must Be Addressed to Sustain Change at Work