Its More Than Go-live
Go-live is the starting line, not the finish. The real work begins the morning after.
Go-live days always look like victory. Dashboards light up, the launch cake is cut, speeches land well, and the room exhales. But the pressure to move on starts almost immediately. Six months later, adoption stalls, metrics flatten, and the celebration feels distant. Go-live proves you can deliver. What follows proves whether you can create value — and that’s what endures.
Most programs don’t stumble because of design flaws; they stall because attention moves on. McKinsey calls it the post-transformation dip — that quiet slide when leadership focus disperses before benefits are secured. Gartner describes it as transformation fatigue, when enthusiasm outruns endurance and delivery replaces anticipation. Both are right.
I’ve lived it. After a major platform rollout, executive attention drifted as soon as the dashboards turned green. The system worked; adoption didn’t. We nearly lost momentum until we rebuilt the governance rhythm — short, six-week outcome reviews focused on three questions: What changed? What mattered? What comes next? The format was simple, but the effect was real. Within four months, self-service completion rates rose 22%, and leadership started asking about results instead of activity.
That experience changed how I treat the “morning after.” It’s not a cooldown phase; it’s when the transformation starts proving itself. The strongest programs I’ve led make outcomes visible early and keep them visible long after launch. Every major deliverable has a named owner, a clear target, and a cadence that doesn’t depend on quarterly reviews. Once proof lives inside the management rhythm, momentum stops being a special project — it becomes part of how the business runs.
The best sponsors stay visible, not loud. They don’t give victory speeches; they reinforce principles. Fifteen minutes every other week — one decision, one insight, one ask — keeps credibility alive. That predictability does more for trust than any steering deck ever written.
Transformations aren’t sustained by noise. They last through repetition, clarity, and executive attention that doesn’t fade when the spotlight shifts. McKinsey and Gartner both highlight this in their research, but the truth is simpler on the ground: people believe in what leaders keep showing up for.
Cake is for the party. Proof is for the quarterly review. Every transformation needs both — but only one tells you if the change will stick.
Next insight: Why technology amplifies trust — and what happens when it’s missing.