How can understanding the change adoption curve benefit organizations?
Understanding the change adoption curve benefits organizations by identifying how different individuals or groups respond to change. By recognizing these stages—innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards—companies can tailor their strategies to enhance communication, support, and ultimately improve the success of change initiatives.
Measuring change adoption is one of the most important parts of the work of change practitioners. It is the ultimate ‘proof’ of whether the change interventions have been successful or not in achieving the initiative objectives. It is also an important way in which the progress of change management can clearly be shown to the project team as well as to various stakeholder groups. The ability to show clearly the progress of change outcome is critical to focus your stakeholders’ actions on the right areas. It is one of the key ways to ‘prove your worth’ as a change practitioner.
Measurement takes time, focus and effort. It may not be something that is a quick exercise. There needs to be precise data measurement design, a reliable way of collecting data, and data visualisation that is easily understood by stakeholders.
With the right measurements of change adoption, you can influence the direction of the initiative, create impetus amongst senior stakeholders, and steer the organisation toward a common goal to realise the change objectives. Such is the power of measuring change adoption.
The myth of the change management curve
One of the most popular graphs in change management, and often referred to as the ‘change curve’, is the Kubler-Ross model that outlines the stages of personal transition. The model was specifically designed by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross to refer to terminally ill patients as a part of the book ‘On Death and Dying’. For whatever reason, it has somehow gained popularity and application in change management, making it crucial to be very careful when applying this model to address potential adoption barriers in a change context.
There is little research evidence to back this up even in psychological research. When applied in change management, there is no known research that supports this at all. So be careful when you come across models such as this one that is simple and seem intuitively ‘correct’, as they may overlook stakeholders’ voices and input, which can lead to new ideas. On the other hand, there is ample research by McKinsey that shows the best way for effectively managed initiatives and transformations is that stakeholders do not go through this ‘valley of death’ journey at all.
If the ‘change curve’ is not the correct chart to follow with regard to change adoption, then what is the right one to refer to? Good question.
The ‘S’ curve of change adoption is one that can be referenced. It is well backed in terms of research from technology and new product adoption. It begins with a typically slow start followed by a significant climb in adoption followed by a flattened level at the end. Most users typically do not uptake the change until later on.
Here is an example of key technologies and the speed of adoption in U.S. households since the 1900s.
With the different types of change contexts, the shape of the S curve will be expected to differ as a result. For example, you are working on a fairly minor process change where there is not a big leap in going from the current process to the new process. In this case, the curve would be expected to be a lot more gentle since the complexity of the change is significantly less than adopting a complex, new technology.
On the other hand, if you are working on many iterative agile changes, each iteration that impacts users may be a small S curve in themselves. Ideally, each iteration work together towards a greater piece of overarching change.
Going beyond what is typically measured
Most change practitioners are focused on measuring the easier and more obvious measures such as stakeholder perceptions, change readiness, and training completion. Whilst these are of value, they in themselves are only measuring certain aspects of the change process. They can be viewed as forward-looking indications of the progress that supports moving toward eventual change adoption, versus the eventual change adoption.
To really address head-on the topic of measuring adoption of new products, it is critical to go beyond these initial measures toward those elements that indicate the actual change in the organisation, especially focusing on early adopters. Depending on the type of change this could be system usage, behaviour change, following a new process or achieving cost savings targets.
Project Benefit realization
It goes without saying that to really measure change adoption the change practitioner must work closely with the project manager to understand in detail the benefits targeted, and how the prescribed benefits will be measured. The project manager could utilise a range of ways to articulate the benefits of the project. Common benefit categories include:
Business success factors such as financial targets on revenue or cost
Product integration measures such as usage rate
Market objectives such as revenue target, user base, etc.
These categories above are objectives that are easier to measure and tangible to quantify. However, there could also be less tangible targets such as:
Competitive positioning
Employee relations
Employee experience
There could be various economic methods of determining the targeted benefit objectives. These include payback time or the length of time from project initiation until the cumulative cash flow becomes positive, or net present value, or internal rate of return on a new tool.
Employee capability
Customer experience
There could be various economic methods of determining the targeted benefit objectives. These include payback time or the length of time from project initiation until the cumulative cash flow becomes positive, or net present value, or internal rate of return.
The critical aspect for change practitioners is to understand what the benefit objectives are, how benefit tracking will be measured and to interpret what steps are required to get there. These steps include any change management steps required to get from the current state to the future state.
Here is an example of a mapping of change management steps required in different benefit targets:
Increased customer satisfaction and improved productivity through implementing a new system. | Users able to operate the new system.Users able to improve customer conversations leveraging new system features.Users proactively use the new system features to drive improved customer conversations.Managers coaching and provide feedback to usersBenefit tracking and communications.Customer communication about improved system and processesDecreased customer call waiting time . | % of users passed training test.System feature usage rate.Customer issue resolution time.User feedback on manager coaching.Monthly benefit tracking shared and discussed in team meetings.Customer satisfaction rate. Customer call volume handling capacity.
Measuring behavioural change
For most change initiatives, there is an element of behaviour change, especially for more complex changes. Whether the change involves a system implementation, changing a process or launching a new product, behaviour change is involved. In a system implementation context, the behaviour may be different ways of operating the system in performing their roles. For a process change, there may be different operating steps which need to take place that defers from the previous steps. The focus on behaviour change aims to zoom in on core behaviours that need to change to lead to the initiative outcome being achieved.
How do we identify these behaviours in a meaningful way so that they can be identified, described, modelled, and measured?
The following are tips for identifying the right behaviours to measure:
Behaviours should be observable. They are not thoughts or attitudes, so behaviours need to be observable by others
Aim to target the right level of behaviour. Behaviours should not be so minute that they are too tedious to measure, e.g. click a button in a system. They also should not be so broad that it is hard to measure them overall, e.g. proactively understand customer concerns vs. what is more tangible such as asked questions about customer needs in XXX areas during customer interactions.
Behaviours are usually exhibited after some kind of ‘trigger’, for example, when the customer agent hear certain words such as ‘not happy’ or ‘would like to report’ from the customer that they may need to treat this as a customer complaint by following the new customer complaint process. Identifying these triggers will help you measure those behaviours.
Achieve a balance by not measuring too many behaviours since this will create additional work for the project team. However, ensure a sufficient number of behaviours are measured to assess benefit realisation
Measuring micro-behaviours
Behaviour change can seem over-encompassing and elusive. However, it may not need to be this. Rather than focusing on a wide set of behaviours that may take a significant period of time to sift, focusing on ‘micro-behaviours’ can be more practical and measurable. Micro-behaviours are simply small observable behaviours that are small step-stone behaviours vs a cluster of behaviours.
For example, a typical behaviour change for customer service reps may be to improve customer experience or to establish customer rapport. However, breaking these broad behaviours down into small specific behaviours may be much easier to target and achieve results.
For example, micro-behaviours to improve customer rapport may include:
User the customer’s name, “Is it OK if I call you Michelle?”
Build initial rapport, “How has your day been?”
Reflect on the customer’s feeling, “I’m hearing that it must have been frustrating”
Agree on next steps, “would it help if I escalate this issue for you?”
Each of these micro-behaviours may be measured using call-listening ratings and may either be a yes/no or a rating based assessment.
After having designed the right measurement to measure your change adoption, the next step would be to design the right reporting process. Key considerations in planning and executing on the reporting process includes:
Ease of reporting, you should aim to automate where possible to reduce the overhead burden and manual work involved. Whenever feasible leverage automation tools and in-app options to move fast and not be bogged down by tedious work
Build expectations on contribution to measurement. Rally your stakeholder support so that it is clear the data contribution required to measure and track change adoption
Design eye-catching and easy to understand dashboard of change adoption metrics.
Design reinforcing mechanisms. If your measurement requires people’s input, ensure you design the right reinforcing mechanisms to ensure you get the data you are seeking for. Human nature is so that whenever possible, people would err on the side of not contributing to a survey unless there are explicit consequences of not filling out the survey.
Recipients of change adoption measurement. Think about the distribution list of those who should receive the measurement tracking. This includes not just those who are in charge of realising the benefits (i.e. business leaders), but also those who contribute to the adoption process, e.g. middle or first-line managers.
Example of change adoption dashboard from Change Automator
Measuring Adoption Across Initiatives
You may be driving multiple initiatives as a part of a large program or a portfolio of initiatives. The key challenge here is to establish common adoption measures that are apple-to-apple metrics comparisons across initiatives. Yes, each initiatives will most likely have different sets of what constitutes adoption. However, there are still common ways to report on adoption across initiatives such as overall percentage of adoption of identified adoption elements, or percentage of the number of milestones reached. You can also utilise manager reports of behaviours adopted, as well as system records of utilisation of certain features for example.
Understanding change adoption is not only helpful to understand what works for one initiative, it can also be a linchpin to help you scale change adoption across change initiatives across your whole portfolio. Talk to us to find out more about how The Change Compass, a digital adoption platform, can help you understand what change interventions lead to higher change adoption rates in the flow of work, through data. Using a data-led approach in deciphering what drives change adoption can truly drive successful change outcomes.
In the world of scaled agile, “Release on Demand” is a concept that has profound implications for agile teams and their project approaches. It guides teams on how to release and deliver value when stakeholders and customers are truly ready to receive it. However, a crucial, often-overlooked factor in this concept is the role of change management. While Release on Demand has primarily been framed as a technical approach within the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), the readiness of people—including end-users, stakeholders, customers, and partners—forms an equally vital part of determining the demand for release.
As change management practitioners, understanding and actively shaping “Release on Demand” can significantly impact project outcomes. In this article, we’ll explore how change management can enhance this core SAFe concept through strategic timing, prioritisation, and thoughtful execution of each release. We’ll also discuss how to structure governance cadences to ensure operational and people readiness, going beyond the technical lens.
Understanding Release on Demand in SAFe
Within SAFe, Release on Demand means that project outputs or new functionality are delivered when the organisation, teams, and stakeholders are ready to adopt and benefit from it. It enables flexible delivery rather than a rigid release schedule. The four key activities for Release on Demand are:
Release – Delivering the product or change to users.
Stabilise and Operate – Ensuring the release is operationally sound and running smoothly.
Measure and Learn – Assessing the release’s impact and learning from the results.
Adjust – Making necessary improvements based on insights gained.
The goal of these activities is to minimise risk, gather user feedback, and optimise the release to maximise impact. While these steps seem straightforward, they demand thoughtful change management to ensure all stakeholders are prepared to support, use, and benefit from the release. Let’s delve deeper into how a change management approach can strengthen each of these activities.
People Readiness as the Core Demand Factor
The “demand” for a release is often misunderstood as being purely about project or market readiness. However, the reality is that it depends on multiple factors, including how ready people are to adopt the change. For any release to succeed, people readiness is crucial and requires focus on:
End-User Readiness: Ensuring that end-users are prepared for the new tools, processes, or functionalities. This could mean conducting user training, crafting support resources, and managing expectations.
Stakeholder Readiness: Stakeholders at all levels need to understand the change, its rationale, and its anticipated impact. This may involve regular briefings, updates, and even individual consultations.
Customer and Partner Readiness: For customer-facing or partner-facing releases, it’s essential to gauge external readiness as well. A clear communication plan and alignment of goals with partners or clients can smooth the path for a successful launch.
These readiness efforts form a significant part of the “demand” in Release on Demand and reflect the reality that people’s capacity to adapt often determines when a release will be genuinely effective.
The Broader Change Landscape
People readiness isn’t only determined by a single project or team but by the broader change landscape within an organisation. Multiple changes or ongoing initiatives can either enhance or inhibit readiness for a new release. For instance, if an organisation is already undergoing a significant digital transformation, adding another change may lead to overload and resistance.
Change practitioners should map the change landscape to identify concurrent changes and evaluate how these may impact readiness for Release on Demand. By assessing the timing and impact of other changes, change managers can:
Avoid change fatigue by spacing out initiatives.
Synchronize related changes to reduce redundancy.
Communicate the overall strategic direction to help stakeholders and users understand how individual changes fit into the bigger picture.
By accounting for these interdependencies, change management can improve people readiness and ensure the Release on Demand aligns with the organisation’s capacity to handle it.
Applying the Four Key Steps in Release on Demand
Let’s explore how change management activities can amplify each of the four Release on Demand steps:
1. Release: The release phase requires both technical and people preparation. Beyond deploying the technical elements, change management practitioners should:
Develop targeted communication plans to inform all affected stakeholders.
Offer targeted training sessions or resources that build users’ confidence and competence.
Ensure adequate support is in place for the transition, including help desks or peer mentoring.
2. Stabilise and Operate: After a release, it’s crucial to monitor adoption and support operational stability. The change team can:
Collect feedback from end-users and support staff on initial challenges and address these promptly.
Identify and celebrate quick wins that demonstrate the release’s value.
Work closely with operations teams to resolve any unforeseen issues that may inhibit adoption or cause frustration.
3. Measure and Learn: This step goes beyond tracking technical metrics and should also capture change-specific insights. Change management can contribute by:
Conducting surveys, interviews, or focus groups to gauge user and stakeholder sentiment.
Monitoring adoption rates and identifying any training gaps or knowledge shortfalls.
Collaborating with product or project teams to share insights that may refine or prioritisation subsequent releases.
4. Adjust: Based on insights gained from the Measure and Learn phase, change managers can advise on necessary adjustments. These might include:
Refining future communication and training plans based on user feedback.
Addressing any gaps in stakeholder support or sponsorship.
Adjusting the timing of subsequent releases to better align with people readiness.
The iterative nature of these four steps aligns well with agile methodologies, allowing change managers to continuously refine and enhance their approach.
The Critical Role of Sequencing, Prioritisation, and Timing
FFor change management practitioners, Release on Demand isn’t just about executing steps—it’s about doing so in the right sequence and at the right time. The impact of a release depends significantly on when it occurs, who is prepared for it, and how well each group’s readiness aligns with the release cadence and continuous integration.
Here are some tips to help change managers get the timing right:
Analyze stakeholder engagement levels: Regularly assess how engaged and ready stakeholders are, tailoring messaging and interventions based on their feedback and sentiment.
Prioritisation change activities based on impact: Not all releases will have the same impact, so change teams should focus resources on those that require the most user readiness efforts.
Create phased rollouts: If full-scale readiness across the board isn’t achievable, a phased rollout can provide users with time to adapt, while allowing the change team to address any emergent issues in stages.
By managing the release cadence thoughtfully, change managers can avoid the disruptions caused by hasty releases and ensure the deployment feels both manageable and meaningful for users.
Release governance in SAFe is often perceived as a predominantly technical or project-focused process. However, effective governance should encompass business operations and people readiness as well. Change management plays a pivotal role in designing governance cadences that account for these critical aspects.
To integrate change governance within release governance, change practitioners should:
Establish clear communication channels with project teams and product owners to ensure people readiness factors are consistently part of release discussions.
Implement a readiness checklist that includes technical, operational, and people readiness criteria. This checklist should be reviewed and signed off by relevant stakeholders before any release.
Maintain a cadence of review and feedback sessions where project teams, change managers, and stakeholders discuss readiness progress, key risks, and post-release outcomes.
This approach ensures that each release is evaluated from multiple perspectives, minimising disruption and maximising its potential for success.
The above is from Scaledagileframework.com
Developing a Change Cadence that Complements Agile Delivery
SAFe’s principle of “develop on cadence; release on demand” is central to effective agile delivery. For change management practitioners, developing a strong change cadence is equally important. This cadence, or rhythm of activities, aligns with the agile teams’ development cadence and helps build stakeholder momentum, maintain engagement, and reduce surprises.
Here’s how to develop a cadence that works in tandem with agile teams:
Planning Cadence: Hold regular planning sessions to align change activities with upcoming releases and identify readiness gaps. This could be quarterly for major releases or bi-weekly for smaller, iterative releases.
Execution Cadence: Establish a reliable cycle for change interventions, such as training, communication, and stakeholder meetings. This cadence helps stakeholders build expectations and fosters a predictable rhythm in change activities.
Feedback Cadence: Collect feedback at consistent intervals, aligning it with release intervals or sprint reviews. Consistent feedback keeps the change process agile and responsive to evolving needs.
A well-defined change cadence not only prepares users effectively but also reinforces trust and transparency in the change process.
Release on Demand may have originated as a technical concept within SAFe, but its success is deeply tied to how well people, stakeholders, and users are prepared for each release. For change management practitioners, Release on Demand is an opportunity to enhance the broader release process by prioritizing people readiness, orchestrating thoughtful sequencing, and establishing governance that prioritisations user success as much as project outcomes.
By proactively engaging in each of the four stages of Release on Demand—Release, Stabilise and Operate, Measure and Learn, and Adjust—change management can ensure releases are not just technically ready but fully integrated into the people and business context they serve. Embracing this role allows change managers to become essential partners in agile delivery, maximising the impact of each release for end-users, the organisation, and the overall success of the project.
Change heatmaps are one of the most commonly used charts when making business decisions on whether there is too much change or not. Yes there are some advantages of using heatmap. However, there are also lots of strong reasons why you should not use change heatmaps, at least solely. Let’s examine some of these reasons and tear apart some of the strong risks of relying on heatmaps to make change planning decisions.
How do you create an effective change management heat map?
To create an effective change managementheat map, identify key areas of impact and categorize them based on urgency and importance, including various impact levels. Use a color-coding system to visually represent data, ensuring stakeholders can quickly assess risk levels. Regularly update the map to reflect changes and maintain alignment with organizational goals.
What are some of the common ways of using heatmaps? A lot of organisations use change heat maps to represent how much change there is impacting different parts of the business. There are various versions of this. However, the most common way to depict this is to provide leadership teams with a list of each project against different parts of the business and show the heat levels. This is the less popular format because each project has varying levels of heat and to aggregate the heat level into one singular cell is not a good representation of the stakeholder impact experience.
The more popular way is to plot out the heat levels of different business units across time, employing a gradient scale, with each cell showing heat levels. This is better able to depict how different business units will be experiencing different levels of change across time across the delivery of all projects. The below is one example of a heatmap.
What are some of the advantages of using change heatmaps?
Easy to understand
A lot of stakeholders like this format because it is easier to understand. The deeper the colour is the more ‘change heat level’ there is. Simple! Most stakeholders can intuitively interpret the data without needing explanation.
Visually appealing
People like looking at colourful charts and the heatmap is colourful. Let’s face it … no one likes looking at a series of boring, stale charts that are monotone in colour. Right?
Familiar
Most stakeholders are used to the traffic light view of change heatmaps. In most project settings, the red, amber, green indication of different heat levels are well understood to depict varying levels of high performance heat within a change setting.
However, there is a long list of strong reasons why you should not rely on change heatmaps … or at least not purely.
Why should we not use the change heatmap?
The traffic light method of depicting different volumes of change is misleading.
Firstly, having only 3 categories of different categories of change volume is not adequate within organisations that have lots of change. In practice, if we only use red, amber and green to depicts all varying levels of change then a lot of the time the colours will remain the same, even when there is significant varying levels. So, clearly the variation depicted within 3 colours is much too limiting.
The traffic light method of depicting change is subject to psychological bias
Yes stakeholders are familiar with interpreting traffic light indications. However, within the project context stakeholders interpret green as good, red as alert/bad, and amber as be careful or keep watching. This is absolutely not the right message when interpreting the heatmap.
Each colour should show purely the level of change impact, and not if the change is good or bad. Therefore, at The Change Compass we have stopped using the traffic light system of indicating change heatmap. Instead, we use different shade of the same colour so that the user purely focuses on the colour levels, and not additional psychological biases. Here is an example.
The heatmap is very categorical
Whether using 3 levels of 5 levels of colours is categorical by definition. We are categorising the varying levels of change into one of these categories. So, by definition the heatmap cannot be granular. It is only designed to provide a high level and broad-sweeping view of change volume. To get a more granular view other charts should be used instead that depict exact volume of the impact within a point in time. For example, a bar chart. Here is one example.
Some of the best reasons not to use heatmaps are due to significant risk
What are these risks?
Risk of personal judgment in deriving heatmaps
A common way to put together change heatmaps is to use ‘personal judgment’ to rate the change impact of projects across time and across business units. This is an easier and faster way to generate heatmaps. However, because the rating is highly subjective, you will easily get challenged by your stakeholders. It may be a rabbit-hole within a stakeholder meeting that you would not want to go down.
Comparing across business units
When stakeholders read a change heatmap the natural tendency is to compare the heat levels across different business units. Department A has more change than department B. It is human nature. However, what the heatmap does not communicate is the varying levels of perceived change saturation across different business units.
Change saturation is affected by varying factors such as leadership quality and change maturity. Therefore, different business units will have different levels of susceptibility for change saturation. The same change volume can be perceived as having exceeded saturation in one business unit. However, for another business unit the same change level can be easily handled and consumed.
So, comparing change volumes across business units needs to be done carefully with the premise that this cannot necessarily be an apple-to-apple comparison.
Isolating the hotspots
Most companies present heatmaps at business unit levels. However, this may not be sufficient because in some cases this may be too broad of a view. It could be that on the surface one business unit has the most volume of change. But maybe its not the whole business unit. It could be just one team that is going to shoulder the bulk of the change volume, versus the whole business unit. Therefore, the ability to drill down and examine which section and which layer of the organisation is most impacted is critical.
Drilling down to find out where the hostpots are is not just a factor of which part of the business unit. It could also be the stakeholder group or type of roles impacted. It could be that only the frontlines are impacted versus the whole business unit. Or that only team managers are impacted, and not so much the frontline teams.
The other factors to examine also include the location of the teams impacted. Are certain locations more impacted than others? Are certain project activities impacting employees more than others? For example, are most employees needing to take time away from their day jobs because of the amount of training required?
Different types of people impacts
Employee heatmaps are mostly what change practioners spend their time on producing. However, there could also be impacts on customers. A lot of organisations are very forth-coming to call out that ‘customer is their number one focus’. However, is there a clear picture of what are all the various customer impacts resulting from change initiatives? There could also be impacts on partners and suppliers that work with the organisation to produce the products and services. Their impacts could also be critical in managing and planning for change.
Does not take into account change velocity
Change heatmaps typically focus on volumes of change. However, this is not the only perspective that needs to be considered. What about the speed in which change is going to be implemented? Will the change feel fast or slow? Is there a lot of change to be implemented within a short period of time? Clearly, having a way to depict the velocity of change can also be a very insightful lense in addition to just the focus on volume.
Teams that may be less change mature could struggle with a fast pace of organizational change if they have not had the previous experience nor the change capability in place. Does the team have the capacity to undergo rapid and fast moving change? Do they have the operating rhythms in place to support this velocity? Having a view to the velocity of change may provide guidance in terms of what business readiness needs to be in place to prepare for change. The below is an example of measuring the comparative speed of change from The Change Compass.
So, in summary you can see that there is more to understanding and planning for change than to rely solely on the change heatmap. Change is multidimensional. Simply using one view to depict it may not be sufficient. The key is to use it to provide a broad high level understanding and then drill down into other change data to understand what the story is and what the risks are the organisation, and to adjust their change strategies accordingly.
Being clear with what the story-line is will help you to determine what data to present to your stakeholders. If you are purely focused on driving discussion on whether to delay the roll out of certain projects due to limited business capacity of a particular business unit, then a bar chart may be more useful. If you are wanting to portray the impacted volume of certain roles, then a line chart portraying the volume of change that these roles will be facing into over time is a better option.
If you are finding it too complicated or manual to derive various change data visualisation or charts, have a chat to us. Digital is the way to go for organisations that would like to become more digital. Businesses are putting their weight on digitising as many parts of the operation as possible, and data collection, including insights from focus groups, is crucial in this process. Change also needs to catch up and digitise itself. This does not mean being data-centric at the expense of the ‘softer side of change’. It means using data to be more impactful and have better conversations to portray what will happen to the organisation and being able to call out critical risks, with adequate confidence.
Measuring behaviours as a part of change adoption is a key part of effective change management, ensuring the full achievement of initiative benefits and helping practitioners understand whether impacted stakeholders are truly moving toward the future state. Behaviour change, particularly in domains like physical activity and health behavior, has been the subject of significant empirical research, with findings published in major outlets like Google Scholar. To design behaviour change interventions and select the right behaviours to measure, change practitioners should take a structured approach, informed by research findings and practical experience. There are different approaches to effective measurement and we explore some of these.
Selecting the Right Behaviours to Measure
Start with a clear understanding of the initiative’s objectives, the current state, the complexity of the change, different impacts, the change approach, target behaviours, and the quantum of the change being introduced. Not every behaviour is equally important; focus on the key elements most closely tied to initiative success and the full adoption of behaviours required for the future state.
Consider the impacted person’s perspective toward the desired future state: What will they have to do differently? From adopting new physical behaviours (such as physical effort required in physical activity interventions) to changes in decision-making or collaboration, choose behaviours that best reflect actual change, not just awareness or intent.
Prioritize observable and measurable actions. Research suggests that reminders of events or structured prompts can support behaviour change, but measuring the visible results of these reminders—such as compliance rates, social norm adherence, or reduction in social deviance—is essential for meaningful metrics.
Design and Measurement Considerations
Resist the heavy design of change interventions that lead to measurement overload. Simplicity and ease of understanding are crucial, both for those being measured and those collecting the data.
Draw from behavioral change frameworks supported by significant empirical research. For example, a Stanford professor’s work on social norm dynamics highlights how aligning behaviours with group expectations—rather than just individual compliance—can create more durable change.
Integrate measurement as part of a series of change interventions. Behaviour rarely shifts overnight; structured reinforcement, monitoring, and feedback, as supported by research findings, are necessary for full adoption.
Best Practice Tips
Use multiple sources of data: direct observation, self-reports, digital analytics, and reminders of events all have roles in robust measurement systems.
Anchor behaviour change efforts to broader elements like organizational culture (social norms) and systems for monitoring and feedback, to sustain behavioural change and minimize social deviance.
Apply the old adage, “what gets measured, gets managed,” but with the right focus—select measures tightly linked to initiative success.
Ultimately, successful behaviour change – and its measurement – depends on aligning the structured approach of change management with an empathy for the impacted person’s journey. Choosing the right behaviours to measure, grounded in significant empirical research and designed for ease of understanding, supports not only the full achievement of initiative benefits but also continuous improvement for future state readiness
Whilst there could be a wide range of different behaviours depending on the initiative in concern, what are some of the tips in selecting the right behaviours to measure?
Check out our infographic on the top 4 elements to pay attention to when measuring behaviours as a part of change adoption metrics. Also check out Dr BJ Fogg’s model (Stanford University) on effective behaviour change.
Managing change saturation and change fatigue can be tricky, but a common occurrence and a status quo for large companies when various types of changes occur in unison. External factors mean that the volume of change is often necessary. It is not necessarily something you can see or touch. It can be hidden. It can be hearsay. Without the right data organisations can miss the risk. Missing the risk can mean that your organisation suffers from performance drops, and at the same time your changes are not adopted. Managing the risk or presence of change saturation can be complex. In this article we leverage the principles of chi (as a change management model or a change management framework) to manage this people side of change.
Understanding Change Saturation
In the field of change management managing change saturation as a part of the change management strategy is essentially about managing the organizational energy. When an organization experiences too many organisational changes at once, it can lead to fatigue, resistance, and decreased productivity among employees. In the history of change management the volume of change has been increasing. Just like in traditional Chinese medicine, where the flow of chi, or vital energy, through the body is crucial for good health, the flow and maintenance of energy within an organization is essential for its success.
The Principle of Chi
In Chinese philosophy, chi is the fundamental life force that flows through all living beings and the universe. It is the energy that animates and sustains everything. The concept of chi can be applied to organizations as well, like change models, where it represents the energy that drives processes, interactions, and productivity. Chi is recognized as the energy that flows beyond the physical, connecting us with universal energy.
By understanding and applying the principles of chi, organisations can effectively manage their energy and navigate through periods of change without succumbing to saturation during transformational change, even with limited business and change management resources. Just as in traditional Chinese medicine, where balance and harmony are essential for optimal health, maintaining balance and harmony within the organization is crucial for its well-being.
Symptoms of Change Saturation
Before delving into techniques for managing change saturation, it’s essential to recognize the symptoms of organisational change when the process of change involves major changes. From an individual change perspective, symptoms may include:
Burnout: Employees may feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the change management process, leading to decreased motivation and productivity.
Resistance: There may be increased resistance to change as employees become fatigued from constant transitions, losing any sense of urgency for the change.
Stress: High levels of stress and anxiety can manifest in physical and emotional symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, and irritability.
From an organizational perspective, symptoms may include:
Decreased Performance: The organization may experience a decline in overall performance and efficiency.
Increased Turnover: Employees may leave the organization due to stress and burnout.
Lack of engagement: Employees may not engage with where the organisation is heading and not feel invested.
Lack of Innovation: Change saturation can stifle creativity and innovation as employees focus on managing constant changes rather than exploring new ideas. During times of anxiety and stress, there is not sufficient mental capacity for innovation.
Recognizing these symptoms is a key step in addressing change saturation and restoring balance to the organization.
Managing Chi in Change Management
Just as traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes practices to cultivate and balance chi within the body, organizations can adopt techniques to manage their energy and navigate through periods of change effectively as a part of the change management plan.
Some of these techniques to result in successful change management include:
Building Capability and Capacity:
Building capability in managing change is essential for ensuring that employees have the skills and knowledge needed to navigate through periods of change effectively. Ideally this is already part of the company culture and part of driving continuous improvement and operational efficiency through capability. This is similar to the process of developing and cultivation chi through learning. In a similar vein, change practitioners can take practical steps within a structured process to build capability within their organizations which will increase the capacity for change, including:
Training and Development Programs: Implementing training and development programs focused on change management principles, methodologies, and best practices. These programs can include workshops, seminars, online courses, and coaching sessions to help employees develop the necessary skills and competencies for managing change.
Change Leadership Development: Investing in the development of change leadership skills among managers and leaders within the organization. Change leaders play a critical role in driving change initiatives forward, communicating effectively with employees, and fostering a culture of openness and adaptability. Leaders have a significant impact on the change outcome so this is critical.
Mentorship and Coaching: Establishing mentorship and coaching programs where experienced change practitioners can mentor and support business leaders (or those whose job roles involve leading change) at an individual level who are new to change management. This provides valuable guidance and support to individuals as they navigate through change initiatives and develop their skills over time to develop their sense of change.
Communities of Practice: Creating communities of practice where change practitioners can come together to share knowledge, experiences, and best practices at a regular basis. Those from different disciplines may be welcome. These communities provide a platform for collaboration, learning, and networking among individuals with a shared interest in change management.
On-the-Job Learning Opportunities: Providing employees with opportunities to apply their change management skills in real-world scenarios during the implementation phase is one of the most effective ways for learning. This can include participating in change projects, leading change initiatives, and taking on new roles and responsibilities that require them to apply their knowledge and expertise in managing change.
Establishing Routines:
Establishing routines and processes for managing change helps create structure and consistency within the organization. Think of this like exercising to develop the chi. Through exercises chi practitioners can harness the energy flow through controlled movements. Regular practices to cultivate and manage chi are essential. Change practitioners can implement the following practical routines to ensure that change initiatives are effectively managed and monitored:
Change Readiness Assessments: Conducting regular change readiness assessments across large projects to gage the organisation’s readiness for upcoming change initiatives and any changes in new business processes. This involves assessing factors such as employee readiness, organizational readiness, and potential barriers to change.
Effective change communication channels: Having effective communication channels that provide community based information flow and discussions as well as 2-way information sharing between the leadership and employees is critical. Effective communication channels need to be managed and promoted to ensure they are working to support change communication goals.
Change Governance: A part of practicing change is about regularly reviewing change data and making decisions to improve how change is managed and how change is implemented. This also includes ongoing monitoring of the capacity of change and any risks of change saturation. Ultimately, making the right decision on the prioritisation and sequencing of change has significant impact on change saturation.
Change Monitoring and Reporting: Establishing mechanisms for monitoring and reporting on the progress and employee adoption of change initiatives. This may include regular status updates and progress reports to feed data requirements of change governance bodies and identify areas for improvement. Collecting and reviewing change data should be viewed as a part of managing business (business as usual) vs. an ‘extra’ task.
Providing Support:
In the manipulation and healing of chi this is about transferring the energy from the healer to the patient to restore balance and health. Techniques like Reiki, Qigong healing, and therapeutic touch are popular forms. Likewise in change management, providing support to employees throughout the change process is essential for mitigating resistance, reducing stress, and fostering a culture of resilience.
Change practitioners can offer practical support in the following ways:
Change Champion Networks: Establishing change champion networks comprised of enthusiastic and influential employees who can help drive change initiatives forward within their respective teams or departments. Change champions serve as advocates for change, providing support, encouragement, and guidance to their colleagues throughout the change process. Change champions may be leaders or even project managers.
Change Coaching and Mentoring: Offering one-on-one coaching and mentoring support to employees who may be struggling to adapt to change. This provides individuals with a safe space to express their concerns, seek guidance, and develop coping strategies for managing change effectively.
Change Support Resources: Providing employees with access to resources and tools to support them through the change process. This may include training materials, job aids, self-help resources, and online support forums where employees can access information, share experiences, and seek assistance from their peers.
Leadership Support and Involvement: Engaging leaders and managers at all levels of the organization in supporting change initiatives and modeling desired behaviors. Leaders play a crucial role in setting the tone for change, communicating the vision, and demonstrating their commitment to supporting employees through periods of transition.
Employee Assistance Programs: Offering employee assistance programs (EAPs) or counseling services to employees who may be experiencing stress, anxiety, or other emotional challenges related to change. Providing access to confidential counseling and support services can help employees cope with the emotional impact of change and build resilience over time.
Creating the Right Work Environment:
Managing chi is not just about the individual, it also extends to the environment (just like the definition of change management includes the environment). To harness good chi, factors such as room layout and the overall design of the environment are also important. The goal is to create an environment where chi can flow freely, bringing balance, health and prosperity.
Creating a supportive work environment can foster chi, and is essential for fostering resilience, innovation, and collaboration within the organization. Change practitioners can take practical steps to create the right work environment for managing change, including:
Promoting Psychological Safety: Creating a culture of psychological safety where employees feel comfortable expressing their ideas, concerns, and feedback without fear of reprisal or judgment. Psychological safety encourages open communication, trust, and collaboration, which are essential for navigating through periods of change. This needs to be modelled and supported through leaders.
Encouraging Flexibility and Adaptability: Encouraging flexibility and adaptability among employees by promoting a growth mindset and embracing change as an opportunity for learning and growth. Providing opportunities for employees to develop new skills, explore new roles, and take on new challenges can help foster a culture of resilience and agility within the organization.
Fostering Collaboration and Teamwork: Fostering a collaborative and inclusive work environment where employees feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents. Encouraging cross-functional collaboration, team-building activities, and knowledge sharing helps break down silos and promote a sense of unity and common purpose among employees.
Providing Adequate Resources and Support: Ensuring that employees have access to the resources, tools, and support they need to succeed in their roles and navigate through periods of change effectively. This may include providing training and development opportunities, allocating sufficient time and resources for change initiatives, and offering ongoing support and guidance from leadership.
Celebrating Success and Milestones: Celebrating success and milestones along the change journey to recognize the efforts and achievements of employees. Acknowledging progress, rewarding contributions, and celebrating successes helps build morale, motivation, and momentum for future change initiatives.
Maintaining Cadence:
Maintaining a consistent cadence for change initiatives helps prevent overload and fatigue, ensuring that change is managed effectively and sustainably over time. Change practitioners can maintain cadence by:
Setting Realistic Timelines and Milestones: Setting realistic timelines and milestones for change initiatives based on the organization’s capacity and resources. This involves carefully planning and sequencing change activities to avoid overwhelming employees and minimize disruption to day-to-day operations.
Prioritizing and Sequencing Change Initiatives: Prioritizing change initiatives based on their strategic importance, urgency, and impact on the organization. This helps focus resources and attention on the most critical changes while ensuring that less urgent changes are managed effectively within the organization’s capacity. The sequencing and design of change impact activities across all initiatives is also critical as this shapes the experiences of employees.
Maintaining Governance and Oversight: Maintaining the right governance structures and oversight mechanisms to ensure that change initiatives are aligned with organizational goals, objectives, and priorities. This may include ensuring the right change management committees (including the right numbers of committees), capable change sponsors, and conducting regular reviews and assessments as to the effectiveness of the governance bodies.
Communicating Regularly and Transparently: Communicating regularly and transparently with employees about the status of change initiatives, upcoming milestones, and any changes to plans or timelines. Providing clear and consistent communication helps keep employees informed, engaged, and ensures there are no surprises.
By incorporating these techniques into their change management practices, organizations can effectively manage change saturation and promote a healthy, resilient, and thriving organizational environment. However, one that supports change and is not prone to change saturation.
Change saturation can pose significant challenges for organizations, leading to decreased performance, employee burnout, and resistance to change. By applying the principles of chi and adopting techniques to manage organizational energy, such as developing capability, and cadence and creating the right environment, organizations can navigate through periods of change more effectively and promote a culture of resilience, innovation, and well-being. Just as in traditional Chinese medicine, where balance and harmony are essential for good health, maintaining balance and harmony within the organization is crucial for its success in an ever-changing world.
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