How Chiefs of Staff Ignite Desire and Unite Thinkers & Doers
I came across a post from Mike Burrows recently, where he raised a model of thinking about your organization as a set of thinkers and doers.
He referenced it for the sake of argument (and as a bad idea), but I couldn’t stop thinking about it in reality (and as a good idea).
Because as Chief of Staff, your role is about turning strategy into execution. It’s about making sure a plan doesn’t just exist but actually gains traction. That only happens if people want it to happen.
ADKAR, a framework for change management that’s used for such a purpose, breaks transformation into five stages: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement. Most companies spend their energy on Knowledge and Ability—training people, giving them tools, creating processes.
But critically, without Desire, none of it sticks. And the worst part is that it’s the hardest to achieve and most intangible to direct.
You can mandate process, but you can’t force motivation. If people aren’t invested, the most detailed plan in the world won’t matter.
So how do you get people to want the change as much as you do?
Desire is the Real Catalyst for Change
People don’t move just because something makes sense. They move because they see a reason to care.
Desire is what turns a new initiative from another corporate rollout into something people actually engage with. It’s the missing piece when plans stall out, when priorities shift, when enthusiasm fades after the kickoff meeting.
A team will put in real effort only if they believe in what they’re working toward. That belief is shaped by three things:
What they stand to gain—Does this make their work easier, more meaningful, or more valuable?
What they fear losing—Will this add work, introduce uncertainty, or make them look bad if they fail?
Whether they trust the change will last—Is this another short-term initiative that leadership will forget about in six months?
As Chief of Staff, you have the vantage point to spot where doubt, inertia, or misalignment might kill momentum before it even starts. Your job is to surface those barriers and close the gap between what leadership wants and why people should care.
If you can’t answer the question, What’s in it for them?, don’t expect them to answer it for themselves.
Tie Strategy to Execution with a Clear Narrative
Most leaders think they’ve communicated their vision. They haven’t.
The problem isn’t a lack of information. It’s that people don’t see the connection between the big-picture strategy and their day-to-day work. If a team doesn’t know how their actions ladder up to something meaningful, they won’t prioritize it.
Your job is to bridge that gap.
If you’re rolling out a new workflow automation tool, executives might see it as a way to improve efficiency. But that’s not what gets people to adopt it. Instead of saying, “This will help us scale faster,” connect it directly to their work:
This will save each of you five hours a week.
You’ll spend less time chasing approvals and more time on work that actually moves the needle.
Change becomes real when people see how it affects them. High-level messaging isn’t enough. Get specific.
Close the Feedback Loop or Lose Momentum
If you want people to stay engaged, they need proof that their input matters.
Change fatigue sets in when teams feel like decisions are made in a vacuum. If doers feel like the process is clunky, or if leaders see a gap in execution, ignoring that feedback kills desire fast.
The fix is simple: Bake micro-adjustments into the rollout. Start with small, visible wins. Make it clear that feedback doesn’t just get logged—it gets acted on.
This isn’t just about making people feel heard. It’s about showing them that their experience shapes the final product. That’s how you get buy-in beyond the kickoff meeting.
Sustain the Shift Through Reinforcement
Desire isn’t a one-time spark. If it isn’t reinforced, it fades.
A rollout isn’t successful just because the launch went well. The real test is whether people are still engaged six months later.
To keep change from slipping into old habits, look at how it’s being reinforced:
Are leaders consistently connecting back to the new way of working?
Are blockers getting removed quickly, or is frustration building?
Are people getting recognized for adopting the change?
If people don’t see ongoing attention and reinforcement, they’ll assume leadership has moved on. And if leadership moves on, so will they.
Bridging Thinkers and Doers Starts with Desire
Companies over-index on process and under-invest in motivation.
They assume that if they create a clear plan, people will follow. But the difference between compliance and commitment isn’t more process. It’s whether people see a reason to care.
As Chief of Staff, your job is to make sure strategy doesn’t just get communicated—it gets internalized.
That starts with desire. Because when people want change, everything else moves faster.
