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 management and clinical psychology, while seemingly distinct disciplines, share a foundational principle: both are focused on people and their ability to adapt, grow, and thrive through transitions. Change managers navigate organizational transformation, helping individuals and groups adjust to new realities, while clinical psychologists support individuals in addressing psychological challenges and fostering mental wellness. By exploring the practices of clinical psychologists, change managers can adopt a more evidence-based, empathetic, and tailored approach to managing change.
We delve into how clinical psychologists approach their work, highlighting principles and practices that can inform and enhance change management strategies.
Clinical Psychology: An Evidence-Based Practice
At its core, clinical psychology is deeply rooted in science. Clinical psychologists rely on evidence-based methods to understand, assess, and treat psychological issues. Their approach includes:
Assessment through Observation and Interviews
Clinical psychologists begin by observing symptoms and conducting detailed interviews to gain insights into an individual’s mental health. They evaluate not only the reported symptoms but also environmental and contextual factors influencing the individual’s well-being. This comprehensive assessment forms the basis for understanding the person’s unique situation.
Tailored Treatment Plans
Clinical psychologists craft individualized treatment plans based on their assessments. These plans are not static; they evolve based on the individual’s progress, feedback, and emerging needs. By constantly monitoring outcomes, they ensure the approach remains effective and relevant.
Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies
Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is a cornerstone of clinical psychology. It operates on two levels:
Cognitive: Addressing and reshaping unhelpful thought patterns that influence emotions and behaviours.
Behavioural: Directly targeting behaviours to create positive changes in day-to-day functioning.
These principles provide a structured yet flexible framework for guiding individuals toward improved mental health and well-being.
Parallels Between Clinical Psychology and Change Management
Change management, like clinical psychology, requires a nuanced understanding of human behaviour and a strategic approach to fostering adaptation. Here are key parallels and insights that change managers can draw from clinical psychology:
1. Evidence-Based Assessments
In organizational settings, change managers must assess the current state to identify potential challenges and opportunities. Borrowing from clinical psychology, they can develop a more scientific approach by:
Conducting interviews and surveys to understand employee concerns, resistance, and expectations.
Observing team dynamics and organizational culture to identify systemic barriers to change.
Analyzing environmental factors, such as stakeholder needs, organisational cultural traits and industry factors.
This evidence-based diagnostic process allows change managers to pinpoint issues with precision, ensuring their interventions are well-informed and targeted.
2. Tailored Change Strategies
Just as clinical psychologists create personalized treatment plans, change managers should design strategies tailored to their organization’s specific needs. This involves:
Recognizing that one-size-fits-all approaches rarely succeed in complex organizational ecosystems.
Customizing interventions based on the unique characteristics of teams, departments, and leadership styles.
Adapting strategies dynamically as new challenges arise or as feedback is gathered during implementation.
For example, a department struggling with resistance to new technology may require hands-on coaching and reassurance, while another may benefit more from open forums for dialogue and feedback.
3. Focus on Cognitive and Behavioural Dimensions
Cognitive-behavioural strategies in clinical psychology offer valuable insights for managing change.
Cognitive Aspect:
Change often triggers fear, uncertainty, and doubt. By addressing these thought patterns, change managers can help individuals reframe their perspectives. For example:
Communicating the benefits of change in clear, relatable terms to counteract negative assumptions. Position the change in a way that helps to inspire people and encourage them to come onboard the change process
Offering opportunities for employees to voice their concerns, fostering a sense of control and participation.
Behavioural Aspect:
Behavioural change is essential for successful adaptation. Change managers can:
Encourage new behaviours through positive reinforcement, such as recognition programs. Other methods include leader or champion role modelling, measurement and feedback.
Provide practical tools and resources to help employees adopt new processes or technologies.
By targeting both cognition and behaviour, change managers can facilitate deeper, more sustainable transformations.
Applying Clinical Psychology Principles in Change Management
To effectively integrate the principles of clinical psychology into change management, practitioners should consider the following actionable steps:
Step 1: Conduct a Holistic Assessment
Use diagnostic tools such as stakeholder analysis, employee sentiment surveys, and readiness assessments to gather comprehensive data.
Identify key influencers, potential resistors, and systemic issues that may impact the change effort.
Step 2: Develop a Personalized Approaches
Segment stakeholders based on their unique needs, roles, and levels of impact. Use personas where helpful to gain deeper sense of preferences, challenges and needs.
Design interventions that align with these segments. For example, senior leaders may require coaching on communication strategies, while frontline employees might benefit from hands-on workshops.
Step 3: Monitor and Adjust Strategies
Implement feedback loops to track progress and outcomes.
Use data analytics and qualitative feedback to tweak strategies as needed. For instance, if resistance persists, additional engagement sessions, leader encouragement or communication campaigns might be warranted.
Step 4: Foster Constructive Cognition
Encourage employees to view change as an opportunity for growth rather than a threat. Using a cognitive behavioural approach, ‘constructive self-talk’ can be utilised to be positioned as communication phrases (as well as leader or change champion talking guides) and positioning to influence how employees think about the change. Positive behaviours should also be acknowledged, role modelled and reinforced by leaders.
E.g. Rather than employees feeling like “here is another change that we need to go through that will mean we are busier and need to work longer”, use communication phrases such as “we are making it easier for our customers” or “we are contributing to reducing the complexity through this new process” at a level that targeted employee groups can connect to.
Share success stories and celebrate small wins to build momentum and confidence.
Step 5: Prioritize Emotional Well-Being
Recognize the emotional toll that significant change can take. Identifying the emotions that employee groups are feeling is the first step (as distinct from what they are thinking or saying). Offer resources such as coaching, change champion or peer support groups, or group workshops. Equip leaders with the skills to provide empathetic support to their teams.
Also, take holistic approach to look at the change environment for impacted stakeholders and assess the change loading can reveal potential risks in people capacity challenges that could derail the change.
Case Study: Clinical Psychology-Inspired Change Management
Consider an organization undergoing a major digital transformation. Employees are required to adopt new technologies, shift workflows, and learn new skills. Resistance is high, with many expressing anxiety and frustration.
Step 1: Assessment
A series of focus groups and surveys reveal that employees feel unprepared and fear obsolescence. Leaders recognize a culture of risk aversion and limited digital literacy.
Step 2: Tailored Strategy
Based on these insights, the change management team implements a phased approach:
Cognitive: Town halls and internal campaigns highlight the long-term benefits of digital transformation, such as enhanced job security and efficiency.
Behavioural: Practical workshops and mentoring programs are introduced to build digital skills incrementally.
Step 3: Monitoring and Adaptation
As the rollout progresses, feedback indicates a need for additional hands-on support. The team introduces digital “help desks” and assigns technology champions in each department.
Step 4: Celebrating Wins
Early adopters are recognized through an internal awards program, creating positive reinforcement for desired behaviours.
The result? A smoother transition, increased adoption rates, and improved employee confidence in navigating the change.
Challenges and Considerations
While clinical psychology offers valuable lessons, change managers must adapt these principles to fit organizational contexts. Key considerations include:
Balancing individual and collective needs. While clinical psychology focuses on individuals, change management must address both individual and group dynamics.
Recognizing limitations in time and resources. Unlike therapy, organizational change often operates within tight deadlines and budgets.
Navigating power dynamics and politics inherent in organizational settings.
By being mindful of these challenges, change managers can apply clinical psychology principles effectively and pragmatically.
The synergy between clinical psychology and change management offers a powerful toolkit for navigating the complexities of human behaviour during change. By adopting evidence-based assessments, tailoring strategies, and leveraging cognitive-behavioural insights, change managers can foster more effective and sustainable transformations. Ultimately, integrating these principles enhances not only the success of change initiatives but also the well-being of the individuals and teams at their core.
Change adoption is the heart of every change practitioner’s work. It’s the primary measure of whether a change initiative truly succeeds, yet, surprisingly, many organizations still fail to adequately track, measure, and manage change adoption. Without a clear understanding of how well end-users are adopting the change, it’s nearly impossible to gauge the initiative’s real impact on the business. Change adoption must be both intentional and managed, not just assumed.
If you search for change adoption on Google the top articles seem to refer to the same things. These include transition preparation, communication, training and support. The top 2 articles are by Whatif and Walkme and seem to emphasise the importance of in-app training products they offer. The Prosci article emphasise the ADKAR model on the other hand.
While common strategies for change adoption—such as communication, training, and support—are essential, these are foundational steps and not the complete formula for sustained adoption. There’s a nuanced spectrum of factors that contribute to adoption, including the type of change, the stakeholders, the organization’s capacity for change, measurement metrics, and performance management. The following insights explore these core factors and share practical strategies, bolstered by real-world examples, to help change practitioners improve adoption rates across their organizations.
1. Understanding the Type of Change
The nature of the change plays a significant role in determining how to drive adoption. A change can range from a simple update in process to a fundamental shift in behaviour, and this range requires different approaches:
– Simple Changes : Minor changes, like a new software feature or a small process tweak, may only need a basic communication update. For instance, consider an HR team implementing a new self-service portal for employees to access their pay stubs. In this case, a simple email announcement explaining how to access the feature, along with a short tutorial video, might be all that’s required to ensure adoption.
– Complex, Behavioural Changes : For more complex changes that impact behaviours or workflows, adoption strategies need to be more involved. Imagine an organization implementing a new performance review system that shifts from annual reviews to ongoing, quarterly feedback sessions. This type of change isn’t just procedural—it demands a shift in how employees and managers think about performance. Here, communication alone won’t be sufficient. It requires ongoing training, leadership modeling, reinforcement through feedback loops, and alignment with performance metrics. Regular team meetings can serve as a platform for leaders to showcase the change, while role-playing sessions can help embed the new behaviours.
Analogy : Think of the change type as similar to cooking different dishes. For a quick salad, all you need is the right ingredients and a bowl to toss them in. For a complex dish like a soufflé, you’ll need precise measurements, specific tools, and careful monitoring to ensure it doesn’t collapse. The type of change similarly determines the level of preparation and intervention required.
2. Tailoring Strategies to Stakeholder Types
Understanding your end-users or stakeholders—those directly impacted by the change—is crucial. Each group will have different engagement channels and needs, which means you can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all communication plan. To drive adoption, you need to deliver information in ways that resonate with each audience.
– Identify Effective Channels : For example, one team may prefer to discuss updates in weekly meetings, while another may respond better to monthly town hall sessions. When a global retail company rolled out a new inventory management system, the change team customized its communication and training by region. Regional managers were empowered to communicate the changes in a way that suited their teams’ preferences, whether that meant team huddles, newsletters, or one-on-one conversations. As a result, the change was embraced much more readily because each team felt that the approach was tailored to their needs.
– Build Change into Routine Communication : To make the change part of the team’s daily workflow, leverage existing channels, like monthly business reviews or quarterly updates. For instance, if sales teams have weekly performance meetings, consider incorporating brief updates about how the change (such as a new CRM feature) can benefit their sales process, along with success stories from team members.
Analogy : Think of stakeholder engagement as similar to hosting a dinner party. You wouldn’t serve the same meal to every guest without considering their preferences. Similarly, change practitioners need to “serve” the change in ways that appeal to each stakeholder group’s tastes and communication preferences.
3. Aligning with Organisational Change Capacity
Change capacity—the organization’s ability to absorb and adopt change—is a critical but often overlooked factor. The timing of introducing new changes matters, especially when the change is complex. If an organization is already handling multiple projects or transformations, adding another initiative can result in resistance or “change fatigue.”
– Manage Competing Priorities : Suppose a financial services company is simultaneously upgrading its internal software, launching a new customer-facing app, and implementing a data security compliance initiative. Launching yet another change, like a new employee recognition program, may overwhelm employees, who may deprioritize it in favour of what they perceive as more urgent projects. Change practitioners should work closely with program managers to prioritize initiatives and strategically phase them to avoid saturation.
– Change Portfolio Management : Treat change initiatives as part of a portfolio. By actively managing this portfolio, you can ensure changes are introduced in waves that the organization can absorb. Regularly review the status of active changes with stakeholders to reassess the capacity and timing. This way, your adoption efforts won’t be diluted by other competing projects.
Analogy : Imagine trying to load groceries into an already-full refrigerator. Some items will fit, but others might have to wait. The same concept applies to organizational change capacity—only so much can fit into the organization’s “refrigerator” at once before things start falling out.
4. Defining and Measuring Adoption Metrics
Effective change adoption strategies hinge on clear metrics. Without defined adoption goals and measurement tools, it’s difficult to determine if users are actually embracing the change or merely checking boxes. Metrics will vary depending on the change and should be relevant to the behaviours or outcomes desired.
– Set Clear Adoption Metrics : For example, a company introducing a new collaborative software might measure adoption through the frequency of use, the number of shared documents, or the volume of cross-departmental activity within the platform. Each of these metrics helps track actual usage and determine if employees are using the tool to its full potential.
– Gauge Awareness, Willingness, and Competency : Assess and understand stakeholder readiness for the change at hand. Do they have the awareness, motivation and know-how for the new expected behaviours? Conduct regular surveys or feedback sessions to assess where teams are on the adoption curve. This approach can highlight areas where additional support is needed, such as more coaching or stronger reinforcement from leadership.
Analogy : Think of adoption metrics like the gauges in a car’s dashboard. Each gauge (speed, fuel, engine temperature) provides specific insights into the car’s overall performance, just as adoption metrics give insights into how well a change is taking hold within the organization.
5. Ongoing Performance Management for Sustained Adoption
Adoption isn’t a “one and done” effort. It requires continuous management, monitoring, and, ideally, integration into performance management. By tracking and reinforcing adoption metrics over time, organizations can keep the change front and centre and drive deeper, lasting adoption.
– Incorporate Adoption into KPIs : Align adoption goals with KPIs to maintain visibility. For example, if the goal is to increase the use of a project management tool, set a KPI that tracks project updates within the tool. Managers can be held accountable for meeting this KPI, incentivizing their teams to incorporate the tool into their workflow.
– Regular Check-Ins and Feedback: Use data-driven insights to adjust your strategy as needed. For instance, if certain teams lag in adoption rates, consider arranging tailored training sessions or conducting one-on-one interviews to understand the barriers they’re experiencing. Continuous feedback loops allow change practitioners to refine their approach based on real-time adoption data. Performance needs to be constantly nurtured, reinforced and managed. No ‘set and forget’ approach will work.
Analogy: Sustaining adoption is like maintaining a healthy habit. Just as regular exercise requires motivation, tracking, and routine check-ins to stay consistent, ongoing performance management helps ensure that change remains a part of the organizational fabric.
Data as the Catalyst for Improved Change Adoption
Data-driven insights are game-changers for change adoption. They enable change practitioners to move beyond guesswork and implement strategies with measurable, predictable results. By leveraging analytics, organizations can identify successful tactics based on stakeholder type, change type, and historical adoption patterns.
For example, by analyzing adoption data from previous projects, a technology company could discover that smaller, incremental training sessions worked better for developers than day-long sessions. This insight could inform future adoption strategies and improve the likelihood of success for similar changes.
Utilizing data to understand what drives adoption allows change practitioners to apply these learnings across the organization, achieving more consistent and reliable outcomes. Through correlation and prediction, organizations can anticipate which approaches will work best for each type of change and tailor their strategies accordingly.
This is exactly what we’ve been doing at The Change Compass. We’ve incorporated automation and AI to provide data insights that tell you what tactics and approaches work to maximise change adoption based on data. You can also drill into what works for particular stakeholders, business units and types of changes. Data insights can also inform what volume of change may stifle change adoption.
Designing change approach and interventions should not be guess work. So far, companies try to enhance their rates of change adoption success by hiring change management specialists, together with stakeholder feedback. However, the most senior stakeholder or those with the loudest voice in the room don’t always get the outcome. These are still based on opinions, versus what has proven to work based on data. Imagine the power of implementing this across the enterprise and the ability to avoid costly mistakes and mishaps in the tens (or hundreds) of millions of investments in change initiatives per annum.
Building a Culture of Adoption
Improving change adoption is not a one-time effort but an ongoing, intentional process that combines targeted communication, stakeholder engagement, capacity planning, performance tracking, and data-driven insights. By focusing on the unique aspects of each change, tailoring strategies to specific stakeholder groups, and continuously managing performance, change practitioners can significantly increase adoption rates. Ultimately, success lies in building a culture where change is not just accepted but actively integrated into the organization’s DNA.
When change adoption becomes a measurable, manageable, and data-driven process, practitioners can guide their organizations through change with confidence and clarity, transforming resistance into resilience and integration into innovation.
