How should the five pillars be treated to ensure change is successful?

• A. They are interrelated and interdependent, and all five must be aligned
• B. They operate independently and do not require alignment
• C. Only leadership matters
• D. They can be pursued sequentially with no overlap

Answer: (A)

Change is most likely to stick when multiple dimensions are coordinated together, not when one area is changed in isolation. The five pillars are interconnected and influence one another, so they must be aligned to create a coherent path to the new way of working. When leadership clearly supports the change and the strategy guides priorities, but culture, processes, or governance don’t reflect those choices, people experience mixed signals and adoption falters. Likewise, redesigning processes without addressing skills, incentives, or culture leaves people unequipped or unrewarded for the new behavior. Alignment across all five creates reinforcement: consistent messages, appropriate resources, capable people, and structures that sustain the change. In practice, this looks like an integrated plan where leadership sponsorship, strategic goals, cultural readiness, operational processes, and governance/metrics all point in the same direction and are kept in sync through ongoing communication, training, and measurement.