Sustainment Is Not a Phase. It Is The Strategy.

Most transformation plans follow a familiar arc:

Discovery → Design → Build → Launch → Sustainment.

But in too many organizations, “sustainment” is treated like a trailing phase.

Something to figure out after go-live.

Assigned to whoever is left standing.

In theory, everyone nods when we talk about adoption.

In practice? It rarely gets budgeted, structured, or measured.

Where the Gaps Show Up

In a public health transformation, we trained 900+ staff on a new care model. Launch day went smoothly. The system was live. People attended training. Teams were briefed.

But by the second month:

• New hires had no access to the model

• Team leads reverted to the old KPIs

• Coaching on the new workflow never happened

  
  

The change didn’t fail because it wasn’t clear.

It failed because it wasn’t owned.

Real Sustainment Requires Design

Sustainment isn’t what happens after you roll out change.

It is what ensures the rollout isn’t just a blip.

At IHCP, we’ve helped clients build sustainment into their DNA using the full BRIDGE™ Framework:

Baseline

Audit what’s already anchoring behavior. Culture is sticky—what’s holding current habits in place?

Tool: Sustainment Signals Inventory — flags invisible anchors that might block adoption (like legacy SOPs, peer norms, or incentive misalignment).

Reframe

Link the change to role identity, not just tasks. If people can’t see themselves in the new system, they’ll naturally fall back.

Tool: Capability Reinforcement Map — connects new behaviors to what matters most in each role.

Interpret

Spot early signs of reversion: silence in meetings, stalled metrics, inconsistent language.

Tool: Sustainment Risk Canvas — visual tool for mapping risks before they break momentum.

Demonstrate

Make tools co-owned. Don’t just hand over job aids—co-create playbooks and team workflows.

Tool: Embedded Coaching Kit — enables leaders to reinforce the shift in real-time, not just in one-off sessions.

Grow

Elevate informal influencers as change stewards. In public and unionized settings, trust doesn’t come from the top. It comes from people who’ve lived the work.

Tool: Peer Sustainment Circles — small group learning that makes the change local and human.

Engage

Keep it visible, measurable, and responsive. Sustainment isn’t one direction—it’s a loop.

Tool: Sustainment Pulse Survey — measures friction, fatigue, and belief. Not just completion.

Especially in Public and Unionized Contexts

Most sustainment advice ignores complexity.

But public sector environments come with tight structures, formal roles, and layered approvals.

You can’t just “communicate more.

”You need to embed ownership at the team level, often in systems that weren’t designed for iteration.

That’s why we build sustainment from the start.Not as a task. As a core workstream with its own budget, sponsors, and metrics.

Next Issue

I will share 3 tested sustainment tactics used in healthcare, government, and education transformations, including how to win over middle managers who are still skeptical.

Want to assess your sustainment risks now?

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