People follow the person who admits the plan isn’t working.

Everybody in the room can already tell the plan is failing. Whoever names it is not losing authority, they are ending an exhausting pretence the group was keeping up out of politeness, and relief turns out to be a strong form of trust. Admitting it early reads as confidence, because only someone unafraid can afford to say it first.

Watch for the next practice or group project where people are nodding along to something nobody believes. Say the one true sentence, then add what you would change instead. Naming the problem is half of it, and a direction is the other half.