Why Our Best Initiatives Fade and What to Do About It

by

Edward Addai

edwardaddai64@gmail.com

Have you ever launched a well-funded social program with passionate staff, only to find it losing momentum, becoming fragmented, and drifting from its original mission within a few years? You are not alone. You are also not a bad manager. You are, in fact, a firsthand witness to one of the most fundamental laws of the universe: the second law of thermodynamics. For social sector leaders, this law is not an abstract physics concept but a description of the default future of our initiatives.

At its core, the second law states that in any isolated system, entropy, a measure of disorder, will inevitably increase over time (Britannica, n.d.). Energy naturally disperses. Order decays into chaos. The elegant heat from a cup of coffee dissipates into the room, never to spontaneously return. The clean filing system, if left without constant cleaning, degrades into a jumbled mess. This is not a possibility; it is a statistical certainty. The law tells us that while energy is conserved (the First Law), its quality and usefulness are not. Systems naturally trend toward a state of maximum disorder, a new equilibrium, which is why the pieces of a broken vase will never reassemble themselves (Wikipedia, 2024).

This relentless drift toward disorder is the hidden tax on every social sector manager’s work. We operate in "open systems," importing energy in the form of ideas, funding, talent, and political will. Yet the entropic forces are powerful. A clear strategic vision becomes diluted over time as new staff interpret it through their own lenses, a phenomenon described as an increase in organizational "complexity and disorder" that requires constant and proactive management (Mu Sigma, 2024). Communication channels overtime become clogged with jargons and assumptions. The shared sense of purpose that once unified a team breaks down under the pressure of individual agendas and burnout. A rigid, over-engineered performance management system, meant to impose order, can ironically accelerate this decay by creating "friction" that prevents the organization from adapting to a changing environment, generating "irreversible entropy" that ultimately stalls progress (Lachman & Tjoen A Choy, 2024). Without management, our programs don't just stand still; they actively descend into chaos.

So, what does it mean to manage for results in a universe that manages for disorder? It means accepting that social sector managers and leaders are not caretakers of a static structure but are guardians of a dynamic system. Their primary job is to constantly inject the energy required to fight entropy. This is the critical shift: stop expecting order to sustain itself and start designing for its deliberate maintenance.

In practice, this translates to three non-negotiable actions. First, prioritize continuous communication. Entropy seizes the gaps created by silence. In a team that does not constantly share context, misunderstanding becomes the norm (The Business Journals, 2017). Managers and leaders must overcommunicate the "why" behind your work, creating a strong cultural magnetic field that keeps individual efforts aligned. Second, embrace diversity and strategic renewal. Just as an engine needs fuel, the team needs new ideas. Fight intellectual stagnation by actively importing "negative entropy" through diverse hiring, exposure to different sectors, and a culture of continuous learning (Mu Sigma, 2024). Encourage use of technology and new data to test, refine and operationalize ideas before they decay (Mu Sigma, 2024). Third, build adaptive feedback loops. The perfectly designed five-year plan starts becoming obsolete the moment it is printed because the environment has already begun to change. Build in mechanisms like regular, honest after-action reviews and bottom-up feedback channels that allow you to sense where disorder is creeping in and pivot before the system seizes up (Lachman & Tjoen A Choy, 2024).

The second law is not a pessimistic or defeatist state of despair. It is a call to conscious, energetic, and continuous action. It reframes our work not as building permanent monuments, but as tending a garden in a wild landscape. The weeds of entropy will always grow back. Your success, and the enduring impact you seek, depends on your willingness to tend the soil, day after day.

References

Britannica, n.d. Thermodynamics - Entropy, Heat, Energy | Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/thermodynamics/The-second-law-of-thermodynamics [Accessed 18 March 2026].

Lachman, D.A. and Tjoen A Choy, R., 2024. Turning the Oil Tanker. Association of Asset Management Professionals. Available at: https://assetmanagementprofessionals.org/news-articles/turning-the-oil-tanker/ [Accessed 18 March 2026].

Mu Sigma, 2024. From Entropy to Clarity: Decision Making in a Complex World. mu-sigma.com. Available at: https://www.mu-sigma.com/blogs/from-entropy-to-clarity-decision-making-in-a-complex-world/ [Accessed 18 March 2026].

The Business Journals, 2017. How to leverage the laws of thermodynamics to manage people. bizjournals.com. Available at: https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/human-resources/2017/04/how-to-leverage-the-laws-of-thermodynamics-to.html [Accessed 18 March 2026].

Wikipedia, 2024. Second law of thermodynamics. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics [Accessed 18 March 2026].