Have you ever made a suggestion for a new process, a new tool, a better workflow or actually implementing the tool as it’s intended—only to be shut down with ‘It won’t work, we’ve tried it before?’

These might be the most dangerous seven words in any organization. This resignation kills innovation. 

In “Small Changes, Lasting Impact,” we talked about how impactful small changes can be and why iterative improvement is more sustainable, but we haven’t yet talked about why change is often impeded.

The Real Blocker Isn’t What You Think

Fear? Sometimes. But here’s what I’ve learned after 25+ years in operational excellence: the biggest perceived risk is lost productivity. Research confirms that fear of lost productivity, not change itself, is the primary barrier to organizational transformation—costing organizations $36 billion annually.

I know it sounds counterproductive but I often have to explain to my clients that in order to work more efficiently, you have to slow down. It’s a principle I’ve proven across dozens of implementations: You can’t see where there are bottlenecks, inefficiencies, manual steps that can be optimized unless you slow down and examine your workflows and ways of work.

A Harvard Business Review study of 343 businesses found that companies that “slowed down to speed up”—pausing at key moments to ensure they were on the right track—achieved 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating profits over three years compared to organizations that embraced a grind mentality.

Finding a leader who is willing to slow down, be less productive for the long term benefit of efficiency takes real leadership courage. The risk comes when you venture in to make big sweeping changes. That creates ramifications that reach everyone touched by the system, process or workflow you endeavor to improve. I don’t say that to discourage you, I say that to highlight why making changes on a smaller scale can be so transformative.

In “The Just 1 Challenge,” we explore improvement through iterative change. Often changes that are small enough they won’t require budget or committee approval. It’s crucial not to go rogue and make changes in secret, that can do more harm than the existing broken system.

I can confidently say more than half of the improvements I introduce for my clients have been brought up before.

This isn’t unusual. I find that past suggestions typically fail for three reasons:

Time: The Currency We Underinvest

“The slower you go, the faster you get there.” – Taoist proverb

Time is our only currency and we have to invest quite a lot to make change big or small. If you decide to tackle one of the “it can’t be done” tasks, you have to dedicate time. First, to get context. You have to understand what is required and what has already been attempted before you can dream of reengaging the impossible.

Maybe it’s an integration between two tools that are already in your eco-system; a functionality in a system no one is an expert in, or modernizing a workflow that has gone unchanged for far too long. By slowing down to get context, you get the necessary background to make realistic proposals.

The Missing Ingredient: Respect

Understanding the circumstances help you gain respect for those who tried before. Just because you know a better way to implement something that has remained out of reach, you can’t discount the effort, time and energy of those who’ve nurtured and maintained the process. Respect will get you a long way when you are proposing shifting the way people work. This connects to what we discussed in “Here! Present and Accounted For” – being truly present and listening to understand the full picture.

Expertise (And Knowing When You Need Help)

You’ve done the background work, honored those who struggled before you, and now you want the satisfaction of finding the solution. The solution and your organization will be better served if you’re willing to share that success.

You have to know your strengths and limitations.

Maybe you are a tech whiz but struggle to talk to people, then get support from a peer who will benefit from the improvement who is great at presenting or selling an idea. You may not be technical but you are a great detective. Use your skills to dig and uncover connections and opportunities that have been missed and collaborate with the people who have the knowledge and expertise.

Whatever the improvement, it won’t benefit just you, so you might as well start sharing now.

Hint: I would suggest keeping your collaborative team small. When there are too many voices, it can get unwieldy and delay decisions, putting you right back where you began. Most importantly, keep it small so there is a clear owner of the solution who can inspire, provide accountability, and is ready to celebrate the little wins.

A Real-World Example

Recently, I helped an organization finally implement a system integration that had been attempted years ago with IT support. The difference? I spent the time to play detective—poring over documentation, system files, and error logs before engaging IT support again. My technical acumen helped me identify root causes of the issues: a configuration setting that was disabled and a version compatibility issue. Armed with these specific findings, we collaboratively implemented the fix. What seemed impossible for years now eliminates manual tasks and enables direct client communication from their system.

The Ripple Effects of Success

If you are able to identify a problem, discover a solution and collaboratively solve it — you can end up with some really great results.

• You become the expert: You know your organization, processes, and systems better
• You build bridges: You’ve built or strengthened a relationship
• You deliver results: You’ve made a meaningful improvement
• You shift culture: You made change feel a bit less scary
• You inspire action: You may have inspired others to tackle “it can’t be done” tasks or find an executive sponsor

Any of the above are a win.

Remember, change can start with you. Just show up, listen and you’ll find ways to help. And the next time someone says “It won’t work, we’ve tried it before,” ask them to tell you more about what happened instead of walking away defeated. In my experience, that’s when the real work begins. And suddenly those seven dangerous words become words of valuable intelligence.