Sometimes leading means admitting the plan everyone loved isn’t working, before they figure it out.

Popular plans are the hardest ones to stop, because ending them disappoints people and makes you look like the problem. Waiting until it is obvious to everybody feels safer and costs more, since by then the effort is spent and your judgment is in question anyway. Saying it early is unpopular in the moment and is the thing that gets trusted later. Somebody has to be willing to be the one who says it.

Look at what your group is persisting with out of attachment rather than evidence. Name what is not working, with specifics, and propose the next version. Give credit for the original idea while you change it.