Transformation and change professionals often find themselves in the position of defending the value of change management. Despite the critical role that change management plays in ensuring successful project outcomes, many stakeholders remain sceptical. Some view it as a discretionary cost rather than an essential function. Many change management centres of excellences have faced the axe or at least been downsized.
This scepticism can be exacerbated by comments that dismisses roles such as change managers as unnecessary. In Australia, there are even comments by a politician that positions such as change manager “do nothing to improve the lives of everyday Australians”. The context of this comment was targeting positions related cultural, diversity and inclusions advisors, along the same lines as that driven by Trump in the United States. This has upset a lot of change professionals as you can imagine.
To counter this, Change Management Centres of Excellence (CoEs) must move beyond advocacy and education to proactively demonstrate their tangible value. Let’s explore practical approaches to proving the value of change management, ensuring its sustained recognition and investment.
1. Leverage Empirical Research to Support Your Case
There is substantial research demonstrating that change management interventions lead to improved project outcomes. Change practitioners can use these studies as evidence to substantiate their value. For example:
Prosci Research has consistently shown that projects with excellent change management are significantly more likely to achieve their objectives compared to those with poor change management. According to the Best Practices in Change Management study, 88% of participants with excellent change management met or exceeded objectives, while only 13% of those with poor change management met or exceeded objectives. This means that projects with excellent change management were approximately seven times more likely to meet objectives than those with poor change management (Source).
Even implementing fair change management practices can lead to a threefold improvement in project outcomes (Source).
McKinsey found that transformation initiatives are 5.8 times more successful if CEOs communicate a compelling change story, and 6.3 times more successful when leaders share messages about change efforts with the rest of the organisation (Source).
By framing change management as an evidence-based discipline, Change CoEs can strengthen their credibility and influence senior stakeholders. Furthermore, sharing industry benchmarks and case studies showcasing successful change management implementations can add weight to the argument.
2. Calculate the Financial Value of Managing a Change Portfolio
Executives prioritize financial metrics, making it essential to quantify the financial impact of change management. This article How to calculate the financial value of managing a change portfolio provides a structured approach to calculating the financial value of managing a change portfolio. Some key financial considerations include:
Productivity Gains: Effective change management reduces employee resistance and increases adoption rates, leading to quicker realization of benefits. For instance, if a new system is introduced, strong change management ensures employees use it efficiently, eliminating productivity dips.
Cost Avoidance: Poorly managed change efforts can lead to rework, delays, and even project failures, incurring significant costs. For example, a failed system implementation due to lack of change management could require millions in additional investments to correct issues and retrain employees.
Revenue Acceleration: When changes are adopted swiftly and efficiently, organisations can capitalize on new opportunities faster. In industries such as retail, banking, and technology, time-to-market is critical. The faster employees and customers adapt to new changes, the sooner the organisation can generate revenue from those changes.
Risk Mitigation: Resistance and poor change adoption can lead to compliance risks, reputational damage, and disengagement, all of which have financial implications. A compliance failure due to lack of engagement in a new regulatory process could lead to fines and reputational loss.
To make this more tangible, Change CoEs should create financial models that quantify the cost of failed change initiatives versus successful ones. They can also track and report savings from avoided risks and improved efficiency, linking these directly to the organisation’s bottom line.
3. Demonstrate Value Through Behaviour Change
One of the most effective ways to prove the impact of change management is by tracking behaviour change. Change is not successful unless employees adopt new ways of working, and this can be measured using:
Adoption Metrics: Track usage rates of new systems, tools, or processes. For instance, if a company implements a new CRM system, measuring login frequency, data entry consistency, and feature utilization can indicate successful adoption.
Performance Data: Compare key performance indicators (KPIs) before and after change implementation. If a new customer service protocol is introduced, tracking customer satisfaction scores and response times will provide tangible insights into its effectiveness.
Employee Surveys: Gauge sentiment and readiness for change. Pulse surveys can reveal how confident employees feel about a transformation and whether they understand its purpose and benefits.
Stakeholder Feedback: Capture qualitative insights from leaders and frontline employees. Executives often rely on direct feedback from managers to gauge whether changes are being embraced or resisted.
By presenting a clear narrative that links change management efforts to observable behaviour shifts, Change CoEs can make their value more tangible. It is also beneficial to conduct longitudinal studies, tracking behaviour change over time to ensure sustained impact.
Imagine being able to present a set of behaviour metrics that are forward looking measures for benefit realisation. This can position favourably the tangible value of change management activities and approaches.
Customer Experience Improvements: Measure customer satisfaction before and after change initiatives. If a change initiative improves customer interactions, metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) and retention rates will reflect its impact.
Employee Engagement and Retention: Effective change management reduces uncertainty and anxiety, leading to better engagement and lower attrition. Organisations that manage change well see lower absenteeism and stronger workforce commitment.
Organisational Agility: Organisations with strong change management capabilities adapt faster to market disruptions. Companies that successfully embed change management in their DNA are more resilient during economic downturns or competitive shifts.
Cultural Transformation: Change management plays a key role in shaping corporate culture, which influences long-term business success. For example, embedding a culture of continuous learning can make future change initiatives easier to implement.
By framing change management as a driver of strategic outcomes, rather than just an operational function, Change CoEs can enhance their perceived value.
5. Position change as a key part of risk management
Demonstrating the value of change management through risk management is a powerful approach for the Change CoE. By highlighting how effective change management mitigates various risks associated with organisational change, you can justify its importance and secure necessary support and resources.
This is particularly useful and important for the financial services sector where risk is now the front and centre of attention for most senior leaders, with the increasingly intense regulatory environment and scrutiny by regulators.
Risk in Change
Change initiatives inherently carry risks that can impact an organisation’s operations, culture, and bottom line. Effective change management helps identify and address these risks proactively. By implementing a robust change risk management framework, organisations can adapt their overall risk management strategies to cover change-related risks throughout the project lifecycle. This approach allows for early identification of potential obstacles, enabling timely interventions and increasing the likelihood of successful change implementation.
Delivery Risk
Change management plays a crucial role in mitigating delivery risks associated with project implementation. While project managers typically focus on schedule, cost, and quality risks, change managers can identify and manage risks that are delivered into the business as a result of the change. By working closely with project managers, change professionals can introduce processes to minimize the potential business impact of these delivered risks during project delivery. This collaboration ensures that the project not only delivers the required change but does so with minimal disruption to the organisation.
Quantifying Risk Mitigation
To further demonstrate the value of change management, it’s essential to quantify its contribution to risk mitigation. By adapting the organisation’s risk assessment matrix or tools, change managers can determine the probability and potential impact of each identified risk. This analysis allows for prioritization of risks and implementation of appropriate mitigation strategies.
By tracking how change management interventions reduce the likelihood or impact of these risks, you can provide tangible evidence of its value to senior leadership. By framing change management as a critical component of risk management, you can shift the conversation from justifying its existence to showcasing its indispensable role in ensuring successful organisational transformations. This not only demonstrates the value of change management but also aligns it with broader organisational goals of risk reduction and strategic success.
6. Proactively Measure and Track Value Delivery
Tracking and reporting the tangible value created by change management is essential. Organisations frequently undergo leadership transitions, and new decision-makers may question the need for a Change CoE. A well-documented history of impact ensures continuity and ongoing investment.
McKinsey research indicated that Transformations that provide both initiative-level and program-level views of progress through relevant metrics are 7.3 times more likely to succeed (Source).
To achieve this:
Develop a Change Management Dashboard: Use KPIs to track adoption rates, employee readiness, and impact on business metrics.
Create Case Studies: Document success stories with before-and-after comparisons. Case studies should include challenges, change management interventions, and final outcomes.
Conduct Quarterly Impact Reviews: Regularly present insights to senior leaders. Demonstrating trends and ongoing improvements ensures continued executive buy-in.
Link Change Efforts to Strategic Priorities: Show how change management enables key business goals, such as revenue growth, market expansion, or operational efficiency.
7. Shift from Education to Results-Driven Influence
While stakeholder education is important, it has limitations. Many executives have preconceived notions about change management. Rather than relying solely on relationship-building, focus on delivering results that speak for themselves. Key strategies include:
Pilot Programs: Run small-scale change initiatives with measurable impact. If an executive is sceptical, a successful pilot can turn them into an advocate. It is highly unlikely that executives will not want to see metrics that indicate how effective a change initiative is progressing.
Strategic Partnerships: Align with key business units to co-own change success. Partnering with Finance, HR, Risk, Operations and IT leaders can reinforce the business value of change management.
Agile Change Management: Deliver incremental wins to showcase immediate value. Iterative, feedback-driven approaches ensure continuous improvement and visibility.
Change management professionals must move beyond justification and actively prove their worth. By leveraging empirical research, financial calculations, behaviour tracking, alternative value measures, and proactive reporting, Change CoEs can secure their place as indispensable business functions. In a world where scepticism towards roles like change management persists, the best defence is a compelling, evidence-based demonstration of impact.
Do We Really Need a View of Changes Across the Organisation?
As the pace of change accelerates, senior leaders are increasingly asking for a comprehensive view of changes happening across the organisation. However, not everyone sees the need for this. Some change practitioners focus solely on project-level implementation, while others concentrate on developing change capability or leadership. So, is a broad organisational view of change necessary? The short answer is yes—and here’s why.
Why is a View of Changes Important?
1. Understanding Change is Key to Improving It
Managing change effectively requires a clear understanding of what is changing. Without visibility into the scope and nature of changes, how can we improve them? Imagine if Finance attempted to manage an organisation’s finances without access to financial data. The same principle applies to change management—without insights into ongoing changes, making informed improvements to how change is managed becomes impossible or at least ineffective.
A holistic view also helps identify patterns and systemic issues that may not be visible when looking at changes in isolation. For example, if multiple teams are experiencing resistance to similar types of change, it may indicate an underlying cultural or structural issue rather than a problem with individual initiatives.
2. Avoiding a Myopic View
Many change practitioners operate at the project level, focusing on the change they are driving without visibility into other initiatives. This narrow focus can lead to conflicting priorities, resource constraints, and stakeholder fatigue. A fragmented approach often results in duplication of effort, where multiple teams work on similar initiatives without coordination, wasting time and resources.
A lack of visibility can also cause bottlenecks. For instance, two major transformation projects requiring input from the same group of employees may create undue pressure, leading to burnout and decreased productivity. With an organisational view, leaders can identify these risks in advance and implement measures to mitigate them, such as staggering implementation timelines or providing additional support.
3. Taking a Human-Centred Approach
A human-centred approach to change means viewing change from the perspective of impacted stakeholders rather than just from a project lens. Employees and customers experience multiple changes together, not in isolated silos. To design change experiences that work, we must understand the overall change landscape and how it affects people’s daily work and interactions.
Without a consolidated view, employees may feel overwhelmed by frequent, disconnected changes. This often leads to change fatigue, disengagement, and resistance. By considering how multiple changes intersect, organisations can design more coherent and supportive transition experiences for their people, improving adoption rates and overall satisfaction.
There are some who would rather not use the term ‘change fatigue’. Sure. Other labels may be used instead. However, not acknowledging its existence does not mean that it does not exists. We can choose to not label and not address the impacts of multiple changes. By doing this it will not magically go away. This is not going to help the business perform better and reach its targets.
4. Supporting Leadership in Managing Business Performance
Leaders are concerned about how changes impact business performance. Without a consolidated view of what is changing, how those changes interact, and their organisational impact, it is difficult to provide meaningful insights. A structured view of change enables leaders to make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and optimise the overall change portfolio to support business objectives.
For example, if an organisation is rolling out a new customer relationship management (CRM) system while simultaneously restructuring its sales teams, leaders need to assess whether these initiatives will complement or hinder each other. Without this awareness, they may inadvertently introduce inefficiencies, such as duplicate training efforts or conflicting performance expectations.
5. Enhancing Organisational Readiness for Change
A key benefit of having a comprehensive view of change is improving organisational readiness. Readiness is not just about preparing individuals for a specific change but ensuring the organisation as a whole is capable of absorbing and adapting to continuous transformation.
An organisation that understands its change landscape can proactively assess its capacity for change at any given time. If several major initiatives are running concurrently, leaders can evaluate whether the organisation has the resources, cultural maturity, and leadership alignment to support them. Without this visibility, companies risk overloading employees and creating resistance due to excessive, poorly timed changes.
Furthermore, readiness assessments can identify gaps in capability, such as the need for additional training, clearer communication, or adjustments in leadership support. When organisations have a clear view of upcoming changes, they can put proactive measures in place, such as phased rollouts, targeted engagement efforts, or reinforcement mechanisms, to ensure smoother transitions and greater adoption success.
6. How an Integrated View of Change Supports Business Readiness
An integrated view of change enables organisations to move beyond reactive change management and embrace proactive change readiness. By mapping all significant transformations across the business, leaders can anticipate challenges, synchronise efforts, and prepare employees more effectively.
For example, if a company is implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system while also shifting to a hybrid work model, an integrated change view allows decision-makers to assess whether these changes will create conflicting demands on employees. Instead of overwhelming teams with simultaneous process and technology shifts, adjustments can be made to stagger rollouts, align training programs, and provide tailored support.
Additionally, when businesses have a comprehensive perspective on change, they can implement readiness initiatives such as leadership coaching, employee engagement strategies, and resilience-building programs well in advance. This ensures that by the time changes take effect, the organisation is not just aware of them but fully prepared to embrace and sustain them. An integrated approach fosters a culture of adaptability, making the business more resilient in the face of continuous transformation.
Addressing Common Concerns: “It’s Too Complicated”
A frequent argument against establishing an organisation-wide change view is that it is too complex and resource-intensive. However, this does not need to be the case.
1. Start Small and Scale Gradually
Instead of attempting a whole-organisation approach from the outset, begin with a stakeholder lens. Understand how changes impact specific stakeholder groups, then expand to teams, departments, and eventually the entire organisation. This phased approach ensures manageable progress without overwhelming stakeholders.
One way to do this is by focusing on a single high-impact function, such as IT or HR, and mapping their change landscape before expanding outward. By demonstrating value in a contained environment, it becomes easier to gain buy-in for broader adoption.
2. Begin with Basic Data
There is no need to start with an elaborate data set. A simple list of initiatives is enough to begin forming a picture. Over time, additional data points—such as timelines, affected stakeholders, and interdependencies—can be added to enhance visibility and analysis.
Many organisations already have elements of this data scattered across different departments. Consolidating this information in a central repository can be a quick win that provides immediate value without requiring extensive new processes.
3. Take an Agile, Iterative Approach
Building a change view incrementally allows for continuous refinement and adaptation. By adopting an agile mindset, practitioners can deliver immediate value while progressively enhancing the data set. This approach ensures that the effort remains practical and sustainable while demonstrating benefits to stakeholders at each stage.
Using lightweight collaboration tools, such as shared spreadsheets or simple dashboard software, can help kickstart the process without significant investment in complex change management platforms.
Once you progress to a more sophisticated level where you need AI support and advanced dashboarding, check out Change Compass.
The Benefits of an Organisational View of Change
1. Improved Stakeholder Experience
By understanding the cumulative impact of multiple changes, organisations can better manage stakeholder experiences. Employees are often subject to change saturation when faced with numerous uncoordinated initiatives. A holistic view enables better sequencing and pacing of change to ensure smoother transitions.
2. Enhanced Risk Management
Without an overarching view, risks associated with overlapping initiatives may go unnoticed until issues arise. Identifying potential bottlenecks and conflicts early helps in designing mitigating strategies before problems escalate. Risks may include program delivery risk, operational risk, benefit realisation risk and various people risks.
3. Better Resource Allocation
Organisations often face resource constraints, whether in terms of budget, personnel, or time. A consolidated view helps leaders prioritise initiatives effectively, ensuring that resources are allocated to high-impact changes while minimising inefficiencies.
4. Strengthened Leadership Decision-Making
Leaders require data-driven insights to make informed strategic decisions. A comprehensive change landscape provides clarity on what is happening across the organisation, empowering leaders to align transformation efforts with business objectives.
Practical Steps to Establish an Organisation-Wide Change View
Step 1: Identify Key Stakeholders
Begin by engaging stakeholders across the organisation to understand their concerns and expectations. These may include senior executives, department heads, project managers, and frontline employees.
Step 2: Map Current and Upcoming Changes
Compile a list of all ongoing and planned initiatives. Categorise them by business function, timeline, impacted teams, and strategic priority. This will create an initial snapshot of the change landscape.
Step 3: Identify Interdependencies
Assess how different initiatives interact with each other. Are there overlapping resource requirements? Do changes in one area impact another? Recognising these dependencies enables better coordination and minimises disruption.
Step 4: Develop a Change Portfolio View
Use visualisation tools to represent the collected data in a meaningful way. Heatmaps, Gantt charts, and stakeholder impact matrices can help illustrate the overall change picture.
Step 5: Implement Governance Structures
Establish governance mechanisms to continuously update and refine the change portfolio. This may involve periodic reviews, a centralised change coordination team, or designated change champions within each department.
Step 6: Communicate Insights Effectively
Share findings with stakeholders in a digestible format. Providing clarity on how changes align with organisational priorities fosters engagement and encourages proactive collaboration.
Future Trends in Organisational Change Visibility
1. Increased Use of Digital Tools
Advanced analytics, AI-driven insights, and dashboard visualisation tools are making it easier to track and analyse change across an organisation in real-time.
2. Integration with Business Strategy
Change management is increasingly being embedded within broader business strategy execution and performance metrics tracking, ensuring alignment with long-term goals.
3. Greater Focus on Employee Experience
Organisations are recognising the importance of measuring change from an employee perspective. This includes sentiment analysis, real-time feedback loops, and adaptive communication strategies.
A comprehensive view of change across an organisation is not just a ‘nice-to-have’—it is essential for effective change management. It enables better decision-making, reduces unintended consequences, and enhances the overall employee experience. While establishing such a view may seem complex, taking a pragmatic, step-by-step approach makes it achievable and valuable.
For experienced change and transformation professionals, this shift in perspective is not just about managing change—it’s about leading it effectively in an increasingly dynamic world.
As the new year begins, it’s a natural time to reflect, refocus, and set the stage for success. For senior change and transformation professionals, this is an opportune moment to assess the upcoming portfolio of initiatives. Taking inspiration from Marie Kondo’s principles of decluttering and creating joy, we can apply these ideas to optimise our change portfolios and ensure they are designed for impact, sustainability, and value.
1. Start the Year by Decluttering
Just as Marie Kondo advises starting with a clean slate by letting go of unnecessary items, the new year offers the perfect chance to reassess the change portfolio. Decluttering is not just about removing excess; it’s about making deliberate, strategic decisions to create space for what truly matters. Many organisations find themselves burdened by legacy projects, overlapping initiatives, and unnecessary complexity. These elements consume valuable resources and dilute focus, ultimately jeopardising the success of the portfolio as a whole.
To start the decluttering process, take time to systematically review all initiatives. Begin by cataloging everything currently in progress or planned for the upcoming year. This exercise will reveal the true scope of commitments and help identify initiatives that may no longer align with the organisation’s strategic priorities. From there, engage with key stakeholders to challenge assumptions and uncover opportunities to streamline. By proactively identifying what can be paused, combined, or retired, you free up capacity for the initiatives that deliver the greatest value.
Your next PI (Program Increment) Planning will be a great opportunity to do this. As you work with other teams to assess scheduling and alignment, use this opportunity to align with stakeholder to cull and re-prioritise as required. It may be a good idea to do this prior to the PI Planning session to ensure the session is tight and focused.
Decluttering is not just about removing initiatives; it’s about creating space for the initiatives that truly matter. This exercise can involve:
Conducting a Portfolio Audit: List all current and planned initiatives. Categorize them by strategic importance, urgency, and expected impact.
Engaging Stakeholders: Facilitate discussions with leaders and project owners to challenge the status quo. Ask critical questions: Does this initiative serve a pressing need? Can its objectives be achieved through another project?
Identifying Redundancies: Often, multiple initiatives address overlapping goals. Combining efforts can streamline resources and improve focus.
2. Clarify Priorities, Focus, and Value
One of the key principles of joyful organisation is clarity. In the context of change management, clarity means ensuring that every initiative in the portfolio has a clearly defined purpose, aligns with organizational priorities, and delivers measurable value. Without this clarity, portfolios risk becoming overcrowded and unfocused, leading to wasted resources and frustrated teams.
Take a step back to evaluate each initiative against the organisation’s strategic goals. This process should involve critical questions such as: Does this initiative support our long-term vision? What specific problems does it solve? How does it fit into the broader transformation journey? Answering these questions will help identify initiatives that lack focus or fail to deliver meaningful value.
Clarity also requires a shared understanding across the organisation. Leaders, teams, and stakeholders must be aligned on what matters most. Misaligned priorities can lead to confusion, duplication of efforts, and competing demands on resources. By fostering open communication and establishing clear criteria for decision-making, you can ensure that everyone is working toward the same goals.
Creating clarity requires tools and structured processes:
Use Priority Matrices: Tools like the Eisenhower Matrix or impact-effort grids can help categorise initiatives based on their urgency and value. To read more about the Eisenhower Matrix visit this Forbes article
Define Metrics of Success: For each initiative, identify clear KPIs that demonstrate its contribution to the organisation’s goals. This helps maintain focus and provides a benchmark for future evaluations.
Communicate Priorities Clearly: Ensure that leadership and teams are aligned on what matters most. A shared understanding of priorities reduces the risk of misaligned efforts.
3. Recognise the Constraints of the Business Environment
Unlike a personal decluttering exercise, most organisations cannot afford to focus on just a few initiatives due to the fast-paced and ever-changing nature of the business world. New market demands, technological advancements, and regulatory changes often force organisations to pivot or expand their priorities mid-year. This makes it critical to design a change landscape that can accommodate both planned and emergent needs.
A well-structured portfolio balances transformational initiatives with business-as-usual (BAU) activities, ensuring that both long-term and short-term goals are addressed. However, achieving this balance requires careful planning and the ability to adapt. Organisations must be prepared to reassess priorities and make adjustments without derailing progress.
Designing the change landscape involves creating a comprehensive view of all initiatives, their interdependencies, and their impact on resources. This view should be regularly updated to reflect changes in the business environment. Scenario planning can also be invaluable, allowing organisations to explore potential outcomes and identify strategies for adapting to new challenges.
The optimal change landscape for your impacted stakeholders is one that is not cluttered, but one that is tight, focused and considered. It is not just about avoiding change saturation. It is about designing the right energy, focus, momentum and capacity.
Designing the change landscape involves:
Mapping the Portfolio: Visualise all initiatives, their timelines, and dependencies. Tools like Gantt charts or Kanban boards can help create a comprehensive view
Scenario Planning: Consider different scenarios based on potential changes in the business environment. How will the portfolio adapt if priorities shift mid-year?
Building Flexibility: Design the portfolio to accommodate adjustments without derailing progress. This might mean reserving resources for unforeseen priorities or having contingency plans for high-risk initiatives.
To do all these can be taxing. Check out The Change Compass for a view of your initiative impacts on people in terms of capacity and involvement. It also allows you to design and visualise different scenarios of different initiative sequences. You can easily see the forecasted capacity of various teams and be able to leverage AI insights on key risks.
4. De-clutter and De-prioritise Strategically
It’s common for certain initiatives to linger in the portfolio simply because they are pet projects of influential leaders. While these may have merit, it’s essential to make deliberate choices about what stays and what goes. Without these hard decisions, portfolios can become bloated, stretching resources too thin and compromising the success of high-priority initiatives.
Facilitating open conversations with stakeholders is key to successful de-prioritisation. This requires a combination of diplomacy and data-driven insights. By presenting clear evidence of an initiative’s impact (or lack thereof), you can shift the conversation from emotion to evidence. It’s also important to address the organisational culture around failure and closure. Retiring an initiative should be seen as a strategic decision rather than a failure.
Strategies for effective de-prioritization include:
Data-Driven Decision Making: Use data to demonstrate the potential ROI of each initiative. This helps shift conversations from emotion to evidence.
Transparent Communication: Be honest about why certain initiatives are being deprioritised. Transparency builds trust and reduces resistance.
Celebrate Closure: For initiatives that are retired, acknowledge the effort invested and celebrate the learnings. This reinforces a culture of continuous improvement.
5. Anticipate Trade-offs and Clashes Early
One of the most common pitfalls in change management is waiting until conflicts arise before addressing them. Portfolio clashes, resource shortages, and stakeholder fatigue can often be predicted well in advance. However, many organisations fail to have the necessary conversations early enough, leading to last-minute crises that disrupt progress. Having conversations too late means your initiative stakeholders are already invested given the significant effort and resources put in. This means it makes it even harder to change committed timelines, even when there are significant risks.
Proactively anticipating trade-offs requires a combination of foresight, tools, and collaborative discussions. Change impact assessments, capacity planning, and regular portfolio reviews are invaluable in identifying potential bottlenecks and saturation points. Additionally, creating forums for open dialogue allows stakeholders to surface concerns and explore solutions before issues escalate.
By anticipating challenges ahead of time, you create a smoother path for change initiatives to succeed. Key practices include:
Regular Portfolio Reviews: Establish a cadence for reviewing the portfolio. These reviews should assess progress, identify emerging risks, and recalibrate priorities as needed.
Engaging Cross-Functional Teams: Include representatives from impacted teams in decision-making. Their insights can help identify potential clashes that might be overlooked.
Scenario Analysis: Model different scenarios to understand how changes in one initiative might ripple across the portfolio. This foresight enables proactive adjustments.
6. Take a Holistic View of the Change Landscape
Change portfolios often focus on big-ticket initiatives, but employees experience all changes—big or small—as part of the same landscape. Every new tool, process, or initiative adds to the cognitive and emotional load of employees. Failing to account for this cumulative impact can lead to burnout, disengagement, and resistance to change.
Taking a holistic view means looking beyond the high-profile initiatives to include BAU initiatives, operational changes, and even cultural events like town halls or roadshows. All these elements compete for employees’ time and energy. By considering the full scope of activities, you can create a more realistic and empathetic plan that supports employee well-being.
Everything that takes time, focus, or mental energy should be part of the portfolio view. This holistic approach ensures realistic planning and reduces the risk of burnout. Practical steps include:
Creating a Change Calendar: Map all change-related activities, including BAU tasks and cultural events, to understand their cumulative impact on employees.
Conducting Employee Impact Assessments: Gather feedback from employees to understand how various initiatives affect their workload and well-being.
Prioritizing Communication: Ensure employees have a clear understanding of what’s coming and how it fits into the broader organisational goals.
7. Optimise Capacity and Energy
While most portfolios focus on deliverables, the real enabler of success is the energy and capacity of those who drive and experience change. Key considerations include:
Assessing the available capacity in impacted teams.
Designing sequences of change that maximize energy levels (e.g., scheduling major initiatives after quieter periods).
Factoring in recovery time after high-stress periods or significant releases.
By aligning the portfolio to the energy rhythms of the organisation, you increase the likelihood of successful adoption and sustained change. Specific strategies include:
Workload Balancing: Ensure no team or individual is overburdened. Distribute responsibilities equitably and provide support where needed.
Energy Mapping: Identify periods of high energy and focus within the organisation. Schedule demanding initiatives during these times to maximise success.
Encouraging Breaks: Build in time for reflection and recovery. Whether it’s a pause after a major release or regular team check-ins, these moments are crucial for maintaining momentum.
8. Design an Environment that Supports Success
Finally, creating the right environment for change is essential. Just as Marie Kondo encourages designing spaces that spark joy, change professionals should design portfolios that:
Foster collaboration and open communication.
Provide the necessary tools, resources, and support for employees.
Build a culture of adaptability and resilience.
‘Joy’ for the organisation is one that is balanced with achieving business objects and optimal people experience during change and transformation
A well-designed change environment creates the conditions for initiatives to thrive and for employees to embrace new ways of working. Consider:
Investing in Change Capability: Provide training and resources to build change management skills across the organisation.
Creating Feedback Loops: Establish mechanisms for continuous feedback and improvement. This ensures the portfolio remains aligned with evolving needs.
Celebrating Successes: Recognise and reward achievements, both big and small. Celebrating progress reinforces a positive change culture.
Applying Marie Kondo’s principles to change portfolio management allows organisations to focus on what truly matters, let go of what doesn’t, and create a change landscape that sparks energy and engagement. By decluttering, prioritising, and designing for capacity, senior change professionals can position their organisations for success in the year ahead. Take this opportunity to curate a portfolio that not only drives transformation but also brings clarity, purpose, and joy to the journey.
Remember, a well-organised change portfolio is not just about achieving organisational goals—it’s about creating an environment where people thrive, adapt, and contribute their best. Let this be the year your change portfolio truly sparks joy.
With complex, high-stakes change environments, change leaders know that success hinges on more than just strategies and frameworks. It rests on the ability to transform behaviours into habits—turning deliberate, effortful actions into automatic routines. After all, the core of change is largely the result of a series of behaviour changes. Here we delve into the psychology and practice of habit formation in organisational change, offering actionable insights for senior change leaders.
The Foundation: Belief Fuels Change
Change begins with belief. Stakeholders must believe that change is not only necessary but achievable—and that they themselves are capable of adapting. This foundational belief can be especially elusive in organisations with a history of failed initiatives. Skepticism and fatigue are common barriers.
Leaders play a pivotal role in cultivating belief. They must demonstrate that change is possible through a series of small, achievable wins. For instance, consider a team resistant to adopting a new project management tool. Instead of mandating full adoption from day one, leaders might first encourage the team to use the tool for a single task or project. As the team sees the benefits—improved collaboration, streamlined processes—their belief in the tool and their ability to adapt grows.
Creating belief also involves transparent communication. Leaders need to articulate why the change is necessary and how it aligns with the organisation’s goals. When stakeholders understand the “why,” they are more likely to commit to the “how.”
Additionally, addressing past failures openly can help rebuild trust. Leaders can acknowledge previous shortcomings while emphasising what will be different this time—whether it’s stronger leadership commitment, improved resources, or a more phased approach. By creating an environment where past lessons inform current actions, belief becomes more attainable.
Social Reinforcement: The Power of Community
Humans are inherently social creatures, and the behaviours of others significantly influence our own. This is why social reinforcement is a cornerstone of successful change initiatives. Change champions and team leaders serve as visible examples of the desired behaviours, demonstrating both commitment and success.
Stories are particularly powerful in this context. When change champions share their experiences—challenges faced, strategies employed, and victories achieved—it reinforces the idea that change is possible for everyone. For example, in a digital transformation initiative, a frontline employee who shares how a new system simplified their workflow can inspire others to give it a chance.
Social reinforcement also fosters accountability. When team members see their peers embracing new behaviours, it creates a sense of collective momentum that is hard to resist. Positive peer pressure can become a motivating force, pushing individuals to align with group norms and expectations.
Furthermore, leveraging social proof through team recognition can amplify the impact. Publicly celebrating individuals or teams who exemplify desired behaviours not only rewards them but also encourages others to follow suit. Recognition initiatives, such as “Change Hero of the Month,” can spotlight efforts that align with organisational goals, building a culture of reinforcement and inspiration.
From Behaviour to Habit: The Mechanics of Routine
Turning behaviours into habits involves repetition and reinforcement. According to a 2006 study from Duke University, as much as 40% of our daily actions are based on habit. This underscores the importance of embedding new behaviours deeply enough that they become second nature.
The habit loop, as popularised by Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit, consists of three components:
Cue: A trigger that initiates the behaviour.
Routine: The behaviour itself.
Reward: The benefit or satisfaction derived from the behaviour.
Let’s apply this framework to a customer complaints initiative. Suppose the goal is to enhance customer satisfaction by encouraging consultants to proactively address complaints. The cue might be specific language from a dissatisfied customer. The routine could involve logging the complaint, initiating a structured conversation, and offering next steps. The reward? The consultant feels confident they’ve resolved the issue and improved the customer’s experience. Over time, this routine becomes habitual, reducing the cognitive load required to execute it. This is also why sufficiently forecasting and estimating the effort and load required as a part of change adoption is critical in initiative planning.
To support habit formation, organisations can utilise tools and reminders. For instance, automated notifications or visual aids like posters can reinforce cues and encourage consistent practice. Technology can also play a vital role by integrating habit-supporting systems, such as digital dashboards that track key behaviours and provide immediate feedback.
Habits are further strengthened when they are tied to personal values and aspirations. For example, a team member who values customer care will find it easier to embrace new routines that align with their intrinsic motivation. Aligning organisational habits with individual and collective values creates a powerful foundation for sustained change.
Scaling Change: Small Wins, Big Impact
Complex, large-scale changes can feel overwhelming. The key to success is to break these initiatives into smaller, manageable changes. Achieving these small wins builds momentum and confidence, laying the groundwork for tackling more significant challenges.
For instance, in an organisation shifting to remote work, a small initial change might involve standardising virtual meeting protocols. Once teams are comfortable with this, leaders can introduce more complex changes, such as remote performance management systems or asynchronous collaboration tools.
Small wins also provide measurable milestones. These visible markers of progress are crucial for maintaining stakeholder engagement and belief in the larger vision. Each success, no matter how minor, contributes to a sense of achievement that propels the team forward.
Moreover, small wins create opportunities for feedback and refinement. As each milestone is achieved, leaders can gather input to identify what’s working and what isn’t, ensuring continuous improvement. Feedback loops keep the change process agile and adaptive, responding to emerging challenges and opportunities.
Keeping the End in Sight: Navigating Obstacles
The journey of change is rarely linear. Delays, setbacks, and unforeseen obstacles are inevitable. To navigate these challenges, leaders must keep the end goal firmly in mind while celebrating progress along the way.
Regularly communicating achievements—both big and small—helps maintain focus and motivation. For example, if the ultimate goal is a 30% increase in operational efficiency, celebrating a 5% improvement early in the process can reinforce commitment and belief.
Visualisation tools such as roadmaps, dashboards, and progress trackers can also help teams see how their efforts contribute to the overall objective. This clarity reduces ambiguity and keeps everyone aligned. Leaders can further use storytelling to paint a vivid picture of the future state, inspiring teams to stay the course. This also helps to put human nuances and experiences into the data shown.
Equally important is maintaining flexibility. Leaders should be prepared to adjust timelines or approaches in response to new challenges without losing sight of the ultimate goal. This adaptability demonstrates resilience and fosters trust among stakeholders. Encouraging a mindset of learning and iteration can transform obstacles into opportunities for growth.
The Role of Measurement: Tracking Success
Measurement is integral to behaviour and habit formation. It provides objective data to assess whether changes are taking root and if progress aligns with strategic goals.
Metrics should be both quantitative and qualitative. For instance, in a customer satisfaction initiative, quantitative measures might include Net Promoter Scores (NPS) or resolution times. Qualitative data could involve customer feedback or employee reflections on their new routines.
Regularly reviewing these metrics allows leaders to adjust strategies as needed, ensuring that small changes cumulatively drive the desired outcomes. Dashboards and reporting tools can provide real-time insights, enabling data-driven decision-making.
In addition to tracking progress, measurement fosters accountability. When individuals and teams know their efforts are being monitored, they are more likely to remain committed to the change process. Transparent reporting also builds trust, showing stakeholders that their efforts are valued and impactful.
Alignment with Strategy: The Bigger Picture
In the midst of multiple concurrent changes, it’s easy for teams to lose sight of how their individual efforts support the broader strategy. Leaders must articulate this alignment clearly and consistently.
Consider an organisation undergoing a digital transformation while also pursuing sustainability goals. Leaders might connect the two by emphasising how digital tools reduce paper usage or improve energy efficiency. This alignment helps employees see the “bigger picture” and understand how their routines contribute to overarching organisational priorities.
Clarity is particularly important when behaviours differ across teams. For example, proactive listening might be a critical behaviour for customer-facing teams, while cross-functional collaboration could be the focus for back-office teams. Leaders need to explain how these distinct behaviours interconnect and drive the overall strategy.
Furthermore, aligning behaviours with the organisation’s values can deepen commitment. When employees see how their actions reflect core values, they are more likely to internalise and sustain the desired changes. Leaders can leverage organisational storytelling to create a compelling narrative that unifies diverse initiatives under a shared vision.
Practical Steps for Change Leaders
Start Small: Identify a single behaviour to change and build on early successes.
Leverage Social Influence: Empower change champions to share stories and model behaviours.
Embed Habits: Use the habit loop (Cue, Routine, Reward) to make new behaviours automatic.
Celebrate Progress: Recognise achievements, no matter how small, to maintain momentum.
Measure Impact: Regularly track progress against clear, relevant metrics.
Communicate Alignment: Ensure teams understand how their efforts contribute to the overall strategy.
Be Transparent: Share challenges and adjustments to build trust and credibility.
Provide Resources: Equip teams with the tools and training needed to succeed.
Reinforce Continuously: Ensure that reinforcement mechanisms
Transforming behaviours into habits is the cornerstone of sustained organizational change. By fostering belief, leveraging social reinforcement, and breaking complex changes into manageable steps, change leaders can build a culture where new behaviours become second nature. With clear goals, consistent measurement, and strategic alignment, these habits will not only endure but also drive lasting success.
Sustaining change requires patience, persistence, and a deep understanding of human behaviour. By focusing on the incremental steps that lead to lasting habits, senior practitioners can guide their organizations through even the most challenging transformations—one habit at a time.
Change readiness is one of the most critical, yet often misunderstood, concepts in change management. For many practitioners, it’s been reduced to a series of surveys or assessments — a simple gauge of how “ready” stakeholders feel. But this oversimplification often leads to missed risks, unforeseen barriers, and ultimately, failed initiatives.
True readiness requires more than checking a box on perceptions; it’s about strategically evaluating whether the organisation, at every level, is equipped to embrace, execute, and sustain the change. Let’s explore what it takes to reimagine change readiness as a multi-dimensional, evidence-based approach that ties people, processes, and technology into a cohesive readiness framework.
The Myth of the Readiness Survey
Surveys are not inherently bad tools, but they have their limits. Let’s start by looking at why they’ve become synonymous with readiness assessments and the pitfalls they often present.
Why Surveys Dominate
Surveys are appealing because they are quick, scalable, and easy to analyse. A single survey can provide insights into stakeholder sentiment across a large audience, giving change managers a sense of where resistance might lie.
The problem is that surveys capture perceptions, not reality. Stakeholders might report high awareness of a change but lack the detailed understanding required to implement it effectively. Most survey ask if a stakeholder is aware of certain aspects about the project. However, it doesn’t go into the depth in which the level of awareness is what is expected at that phase of the project (to do this a ‘test’ may be required). Similarly, they might feel optimistic about a change initiative but underestimate the challenges involved.
Example of Survey Pitfalls
Consider a large retail chain rolling out a new inventory management system. A readiness survey revealed that 85% of employees were aware of the change, and 75% felt confident they could adapt. However, post-implementation data told a different story:
Less than 50% of employees were actually using the new system correctly.
Misaligned processes between stores caused delays in inventory updates.
Leadership was disengaged, leading to inconsistent enforcement of new practices.
This misalignment occurred because the survey captured what employees thought, not what they could actually do. This just shows knowing may not equate to doing. Being aware, and understanding something does not necessarily translate into behaviour change.
The Strategic View: What Is Change Readiness?
Change readiness is not a one-dimensional measure of sentiment or awareness; it is the alignment of key elements—people, processes, technology, and leadership—toward the successful delivery of a change initiative.
Depending on the initiative the dimensions may also be different since different initiatives may require more or less of the various elements to be successful. For example, if there is a strong behavioural compliance element to the change, then tracking the change readiness process from understanding the why, strong leadership reinforcement, and operational reporting process setup may all critical elements of readiness.
Key Dimensions of Readiness
Leadership Readiness
Are leaders aligned on the vision and goals of the change? Are there different levels of readiness of different leadership levels?
Do they have the skills to lead their teams through uncertainty? What parts of the leadership skills are lacking? Coaching? Communication?
Are they modelling the behaviours required for change adoption?
Employee Capacity and Capability
Do employees have the skills to adopt new processes or tools?
Can the organisation absorb the change given competing priorities? What does the change landscape look like? What about the operational capacity constraints?
Process Readiness
Are operational processes aligned with the new ways of working? Are new processes required being worked on so that the change may be sustained as business-as-usual after Go-Live? Are accountabilities clear for the new or changed processes?
Are dependencies between departments or systems resolved?
Technological Readiness
Are systems and tools tested and reliable?
Are integrations with existing technology functioning as expected?
Sponsorship and Governance
Are sponsors actively engaged, providing oversight, and removing roadblocks? Or does the sponsor delegate all tasks and not really visible?
Is there a governance structure to monitor progress and address risks? For example, if risks need to be addressed would that decision be made or would the project just continue along?
Cultural/Behavioural Readiness
Is the organisational culture supportive of innovation and adaptability? In a lot of cases the organisation may not be ready, but the assessment needs to be on to what the extent the departments impacted have the capacity to change and adapt. This of course also depends on the quantum of the change.
Are there underlying resistance patterns that need addressing? If so, are they valid feedback regarding how previous changes were planned and executed, or is the negative behaviour inherent in the culture?
Example of a Strategic Approach
A financial services firm implementing a new risk management framework took a holistic approach to readiness. Instead of relying solely on stakeholder feedback, they:
Conducted leadership alignment workshops to ensure consistency in messaging.
Assessed employee capacity through workload analysis, adjusting timelines to reduce burnout risk. Given the significant focus on risk with multiple initiative items all targeting risk, managing capacity and prioritisation is important.
Simulated new risk-reporting processes to identify and address bottlenecks.
Used tools to analyse training completion rates and correlate them with system usage data.
This approach ensured readiness across all dimensions, reducing post-implementation issues.
Who Determines Readiness? Not Just Stakeholders
Stakeholders play an important role in assessing readiness, but they are not the sole authority. Their feedback is valuable, but it must be balanced with input from project teams, leadership, and objective data sources.
You can take the doctor-patient analogy here. The patient may tell you they are feeling well, however the trained physician may see symptoms that things may not be what they seem. Of course, the patient will need to understand why things may not be as they appear and want the treatment for it to go ahead. However, the physician has the accountability to form a diagnosis and subscribe the treatment. A trained change practitioner is no different and needs to cast a lens taking into account a range of evidence to form an assessment.
Mapping the Required vs. Observed Levels of Readiness
To truly determine readiness, it’s essential to compare the required level of readiness at each phase of a project with the observed level.
Define Required Readiness
What specific outcomes must be achieved at this stage? E.g. Awareness level, discussions and briefings about the change at impacted business units, town hall sessions, coaching sessions, etc.
What capabilities, processes, and systems need to be in place?
Assess Observed Readiness
Use surveys, interviews, and observations to gather qualitative data.
Analyse quantitative data from project reports, metrics, and tools.
Identify Gaps and Risks
Where do observed levels fall short of required levels?
What are the risks of proceeding with these gaps?
Develop a Mitigation Plan
Collaborate with stakeholders to address critical gaps.
Adjust timelines, allocate resources, gain more leadership presence or provide additional training, refreshers as needed.
Example
In a healthcare organisation transitioning to electronic medical records (EMR), required readiness included:
Leadership capable of driving adoption across departments.
Staff proficient in using the new system.
IT support ready to address technical issues.
Observed readiness showed gaps in staff proficiency and IT capacity. The organisation postponed the rollout to provide targeted training and hire additional contract IT staff, avoiding potential disruptions to patient care.
What to Do With Readiness Outcomes
A readiness assessment is only as valuable as the actions it informs. Once gaps are identified, they must drive decisions and interventions to keep the initiative on track.
Turning Insights Into Action
Engage Stakeholders in Decision-Making Share readiness findings with key stakeholders, including project teams, sponsors, and impacted groups. Align on priorities for closing gaps.
Tailor Interventions to Critical Needs Focus efforts on the most significant gaps that could derail the initiative. This is a key point since there may be a long list of desirable elements that should be there but are not. Most projects have limited time and resources so you should always focus on the most critical gaps that need addressing.
Monitor Progress Continuously Readiness is not static. Reassess periodically to ensure interventions are effective. In this way you can also track the ongoing shifts in readiness, hopefully demonstrating that the readiness is increasing closer to the Go-Live.
Example
A manufacturing company preparing to launch a new product line used readiness outcomes to guide their actions:
Leadership Readiness Gap: Conducted intensive coaching sessions with plant managers to align messaging and prepare for likely employee questions and responses.
Process Gap: Piloted the production process in a single plant to refine workflows prior to broader roll out.
Technological Gap: Added two weeks to testing cycles to address system bugs.
These targeted interventions ensured a smoother launch with minimal disruption.
Evidence-Based Readiness: A Balanced Approach
Stakeholder perceptions are important, but they must be balanced with objective evidence. An evidence-based approach combines multiple data sources to provide a more accurate and actionable view of readiness. Prior to Covid, it would be typical to ‘walk the floor’ to get a sense what is happening and actual sentiments on the floor for employees. With a virtual workforce, there are digital means to gage engagement and sentiments.
Key Sources of Evidence
Surveys and Interviews
Capture stakeholder sentiments, concerns, and insights.
Use open-ended questions to uncover nuanced perspectives.
Observation
Monitor real-world behaviours, such as system usage or meeting participation.
Identify gaps between what people say and what they do.
Metrics and Reports
Analyse training completion rates, system performance, and project milestones. Other metrics may also include operational indicators and reporting.
Leverage digital tools to uncover trends and correlations.
Digital Tools
Leverage corporate social channels such as Yammer to gain overall understanding of potential sentiments and engagement levels.
Project website pages may also be created, with viewership tracked to assess if viewership levels are as anticipated
Use digital survey tools to manage and analyse data
Application of Evidence-Based Readiness
A global telecom company implementing an AI-driven customer support platform combined data sources to assess readiness:
Surveys revealed high awareness but low confidence in AI capabilities.
Metrics showed that only 40% of staff had completed required training.
Observations identified resistance among middle managers who feared job displacement.
Using this evidence, the company developed a tailored plan to address resistance, enhance training, and engage leaders as champions of the change.
Overcoming Methodology Constraints
Many change practitioners fall into the trap of rigidly following methodologies, even when they don’t fit the context. While frameworks provide valuable structure, they must be adapted to the unique needs of each initiative.
Guiding Principles for Flexibility
Start with the End in Mind Focus on the outcomes you need to achieve, not the steps prescribed by a methodology.
Adapt to Organisational Context Tailor your approach to fit the size, complexity, and culture of the organisation.
Leverage Technology Use digital tools to enhance traditional methodologies with real-time data and insights.
Example: Adapting Methodologies
A technology company scaling its agile transformation initially followed a rigid methodology that required readiness surveys every six weeks. When resistance from regional teams emerged, the change team shifted to weekly check-ins and introduced agile workshops tailored to each team’s needs.
The Future of Change Readiness
As change initiatives become more complex, traditional readiness assessments will no longer suffice. The future lies in leveraging technology, data, and continuous improvement to create a dynamic, real-time view of readiness.
Emerging Trends
Real-Time Dashboards Track readiness across dimensions in real time, using digital tools to visualize progress. This is especially valuable when the change is complex.
AI-Driven Insights Use AI to analyse large datasets, uncover patterns, and predict risks. Tools such as Change Automator can help to link different data sources from different systems, run your change readiness surveys, so that you get an integrated holistic lens across the evidence. AI-generated insights can help you uncover trends in the data, especially critical when you have a complex change program with different data sets. You can then easily create and share live dashboards with your stakeholders.
Continuous Assessments Move from one-time assessments to iterative readiness evaluations throughout the project lifecycle. As you learn more about readiness of your stakeholders, there may be areas that you would want to probe further into subsequently.
Change readiness is not a survey, an assessment, or a methodology step. It’s a strategic, evidence-based process that ensures organisations are truly prepared for change at every level. Especially with complex change, readiness levels may evolve throughout the journey. With each evolution, particular interventions may be required depending on what the evidence is telling us.
By adopting a holistic approach, engaging stakeholders, and leveraging data, change practitioners can move beyond perceptions and drive meaningful, sustainable transformation that will successfully achieve targets.
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