Performance metrics are the compass that guides change practitioners through complex transformation initiatives. Yet despite their critical importance, many organisations unknowingly employ flawed metrics that provide misleading insights and potentially sabotage their change efforts. A closer look reveals some of the danger of conventional change management performance metrics and offers a strategic approach to measurement that truly drives success.
In fact, a quick Google search revealed a list of recommended change management performance metrics. However, some of these are potentially dangerous to incorporate without a closer understanding of the type of change being implemented, the change environment, stakeholder needs and overall change approach required. Let’s go through some of these ‘hidden dangers’ in this article.
The Measurement Imperative in Change Management
Change management has long been criticised as being too “soft” to measure effectively. This perception persists despite overwhelming evidence that data-driven approaches significantly enhance change outcomes. Research consistently demonstrates that organisations measuring change management performance are more likely to meet or exceed project objectives.
The resistance to measurement often stems from change practitioners’ preference for people-focused approaches over numerical analysis. In today’s data-rich environment, where artificial intelligence and predictive analytics are reshaping business operations, change management must embrace measurement to remain relevant and demonstrate value.
Modern organisations rely on data across all functions – from finance and operations to risk management and procurement. Without data, these departments cannot function effectively or determine whether they are achieving their targets. The same principle applies to change management: effective measurement enables practitioners to track progress, identify issues early, and make informed adjustments to their strategies.
The Problem with Traditional Adoption and Usage Metrics
Adoption and usage represent the ultimate goal of any change initiative, yet this seemingly straightforward metric harbours significant complexities. Most organisations measure adoption superficially—tracking whether people are using new systems or processes without examining the quality or effectiveness of that usage.
True adoption requires achieving full benefit realisation, which depends on several interconnected outcomes:
• Accurate impact assessment that understands how change affects specific stakeholder groups • Effective engagement strategies tailored to different audiences • Continuous tracking and reinforcement mechanisms • Clear definition of required behaviours for success
Generic change approaches might achieve some adoption at best, but to get full adoption there is a series of outcomes you need to have achieved. The behaviours need to be clear, specific and actionable, yet many organisations fail to establish these precise behavioural indicators.
Furthermore, adoption measurements often ignore the temporal dimension. Early adoption rates may appear promising, but without sustained reinforcement and measurement, initial enthusiasm frequently wanes. Effective adoption metrics must track behaviour change over extended periods and identify the specific interventions needed to maintain momentum.
Employee Readiness and Engagement: Beyond Surface-Level Satisfaction
Employee readiness and engagement form the cornerstone of successful change initiatives, yet these areas suffer from widespread measurement inadequacies. Most change practitioners focus extensively on these metrics, but their approaches often lack the sophistication required for meaningful insights.
The Critical Role of Impact Assessment
Accurate impact assessment serves as the foundation for effective readiness and engagement measurement. Any inaccuracy in understanding how change affects specific stakeholder groups inevitably leads to insufficient preparation and engagement strategies. This fundamental flaw cascades through the entire change process, undermining subsequent measurement efforts.
Impact assessment requires deep analysis of how change affects different roles, departments, and individual circumstances. Generic assessments fail to capture these nuances, leading to one-size-fits-all engagement strategies that satisfy no one effectively.
Participation Versus Meaningful Involvement
Employee participation metrics suffer from significant limitations related to change type and context. The key lies in measuring relevant participation rather than absolute participation rates:
For compliance-driven changes: • Focus on communication effectiveness and readiness preparation • Track understanding levels and procedure adherence • Monitor feedback on implementation challenges
For transformational changes: • Emphasise co-creation opportunities and stakeholder input • Measure feedback integration and stakeholder influence on change design • Track collaborative problem-solving activities
Maximum participation might seem desirable, but the nature of the change determines appropriate participation levels. Significant restructuring initiatives or regulatory compliance changes naturally limit meaningful participation opportunities compared to voluntary improvement projects.
The Satisfaction Survey Trap
Employee satisfaction surveys present particular challenges for change measurement. The purpose of satisfaction surveys requires careful definition:
• Are you seeking feedback on training content quality? • Is the focus on communication channels effectiveness? • Are you measuring leadership session impact? • Do you want to assess overall transformation experience?
Without specific focus, satisfaction surveys generate ambiguous data that provides limited actionable insight. More problematically, satisfaction may not align with change necessity. Employees might express dissatisfaction with change approaches that are nonetheless essential for regulatory compliance or competitive survival. In these situations, satisfaction becomes irrelevant, and measurement should focus on understanding effectiveness and identifying improvement opportunities within necessary constraints.
Training and Communication: Moving Beyond Binary Effectiveness
Training and communication effectiveness represent the most commonly measured aspects of change management, yet this narrow focus creates dangerous blind spots. Whilst these elements are undoubtedly important delivery vehicles, they represent only partial components of comprehensive change strategies.
The Capability Development Ecosystem
Training effectiveness measurement often conflates learning with capability development. Effective capability building requires diverse interventions beyond traditional training:
• Coaching and personalised support sessions • Structured feedback mechanisms • Sandbox practice environments for skill development • Team discussions and peer learning opportunities • Mentoring relationships and knowledge transfer
Modern capability development leverages technology-enhanced approaches that traditional training metrics fail to capture:
• Gamified content delivery and interactive learning modules • Micro-learning sequences and just-in-time training • Multimedia integration with videos, simulations, and virtual reality • Avatar-based instruction and AI-powered tutoring systems • Adaptive learning pathways that personalise content delivery
Measuring effectiveness in these environments requires sophisticated metrics that track engagement, retention, application, and long-term behaviour change across multiple learning modalities.
Communication Beyond Hit Rates
Communication effectiveness measurement typically focuses on reach metrics—how many people viewed content or attended sessions. These “hit rate” measurements provide limited insight into actual communication effectiveness, which depends on:
• Comprehension levels and message clarity • Information retention and recall accuracy • Perceived relevance to individual roles • Action generation and behaviour change
Advanced communication measurement utilises sophisticated analytics available through modern platforms:
Microsoft Viva Engage and Teams Analytics: • User engagement patterns and interaction frequency • Device usage behaviours across different communication channels • Community reach statistics and network analysis • Conversation quality indicators and response rates
A/B Testing Methodologies: • Test different messages or formats with smaller audience segments • Identify the most effective approaches before broader deployment • Transform communication from educated guesswork into data-driven optimisation • Measure conversion rates and action completion across message variants
Financial Performance: Beyond Cost-Focused ROI
Financial metrics in change management suffer from fundamental conceptual limitations that undermine their utility for strategic decision-making. The predominant focus on return on investment (ROI) and cost management treats change as an expense rather than a value creation opportunity.
Traditional ROI calculations examine financial benefits of change management spending against change outcomes. Whilst this approach provides some insight, it fundamentally limits change management to a cost-minimisation function rather than recognising its potential for:
• Enhanced organisational agility and adaptability • Improved employee engagement and retention rates • Reduced future change resistance and implementation time • Accelerated innovation adoption and competitive positioning • Strengthened stakeholder relationships and trust building
More sophisticated financial measurement approaches assess change management’s contribution to organisational capability building, risk mitigation, and strategic option creation. These broader value considerations provide more accurate assessment of change management’s true organisational impact.
The Resistance Metrics Minefield
Resistance metrics represent perhaps the most problematic area in change management measurement. The conventional approach of monitoring resistance levels and aiming for minimal resistance creates dangerous dynamics that undermine change effectiveness.
Resistance monitoring often leads to labelling stakeholders as “resistant” and focusing efforts on reducing negative feedback. This approach fundamentally misunderstands resistance as a natural and potentially valuable component of change processes.
Transforming Resistance into Feedback
Rather than minimising resistance, effective change management should encourage comprehensive feedback from all stakeholder groups. The goal shifts from resistance reduction to feedback optimisation:
Feedback Quality Indicators: • Specificity of concerns raised and solutions suggested • Constructive nature of criticism and improvement ideas • Stakeholder willingness to engage in problem-solving discussions • Implementation feasibility of suggested modifications
Implementation Tracking: • Percentage of feedback items addressed in change plans • Time from feedback receipt to response or action • Stakeholder perception of influence on change processes • Communication quality regarding feedback disposition
Effective resistance can highlight legitimate concerns, identify implementation risks, and strengthen final solutions through stakeholder input. The question becomes: What specific aspects of change generate concern, and how can legitimate resistance improve change outcomes?
Compliance and Adherence: The Missing Reinforcement Link
Compliance and adherence metrics represent critical but often overlooked components of change measurement. These metrics assess how effectively employees follow new policies and procedures—the ultimate test of change success.
The challenge lies in measurement timing and responsibility allocation:
Common Gaps: • Change teams fail to design compliance measurement into their change processes • Assessment is left for post-implementation periods when project teams have moved on • Timing gaps create measurement blind spots precisely when reinforcement is most critical • Lack of clear ownership for ongoing compliance monitoring
Effective Measurement Approaches: • Digital systems providing automated compliance tracking • Leadership follow-up protocols and structured audit processes • Operational integration rather than separate evaluation activities • Real-time dashboards showing compliance trends and exceptions
The key is embedding measurement into operational processes rather than treating it as a separate evaluation activity. This integration ensures continuous monitoring and rapid identification of compliance issues before they become systemic problems.
Establishing Effective Change Management Metrics
Developing effective change management metrics requires systematic approach that addresses the limitations of traditional measurement while leveraging modern technological capabilities.
The Three-Level Performance Framework
Leading organisations utilise comprehensive measurement frameworks that address multiple performance levels simultaneously:
Change Management Performance: • Completion of change management plans and milestone delivery • Activation of core roles like sponsors and change champions • Progress against planned activities and timeline adherence • Quality of change management deliverables and stakeholder feedback
Individual Performance (using frameworks like ADKAR): • Awareness levels and understanding of change rationale • Desire for change and motivation to participate • Knowledge acquisition through training and communication • Ability to implement required behaviours and skills • Reinforcement mechanisms and behaviour sustainability
Organisational Performance: • Achievement of intended business outcomes and strategic objectives • Financial performance improvements and cost reductions • Operational efficiency gains and process improvements • Customer satisfaction improvements and market position
This approach recognises the interdependent nature of change success across organisational, individual, and change management performance dimensions.
Leveraging Modern Technology for Enhanced Measurement
Contemporary change management measurement can exploit advanced technologies that were unavailable to previous generations of practitioners:
AI-Powered Analytics: • Sentiment analysis processing large volumes of text feedback • Pattern detection identifying predictive indicators of change success • Automated insights generation from multiple data sources • Real-time risk assessment and early warning systems
Predictive Capabilities: • Forecasting change outcomes based on early indicators • Proactive intervention before problems become critical • Historical pattern analysis for correlation identification • Capacity planning and resource optimisation
Real-Time Monitoring: • Continuous dashboards and automated reporting systems • Immediate identification of emerging issues • Rapid response to developing challenges • Data-driven optimisation throughout change processes
Building Measurement Into Change Strategy
Effective change measurement requires integration into change strategy from the earliest planning stages rather than being added as an afterthought. This integration ensures measurement serves strategic purposes rather than merely satisfying reporting requirements.
Defining Success Before Beginning
Successful change measurement begins with clear definition of desired outcomes and success criteria:
Primary Sponsor Requirements: • Articulate specific, measurable objectives aligned with organisational benefits • Connect change outcomes to strategic goals and performance indicators • Define acceptable risk levels and tolerance thresholds • Establish timeline expectations and milestone definitions
Stakeholder Engagement: • Include leaders, subject matter experts, and project managers in success definition • Ensure shared understanding across all stakeholder groups • Align measurement focus on outcomes that matter to everyone • Avoid narrow technical achievements without business relevance
Selecting Appropriate Metrics for Context
Different types of change require different measurement approaches:
Regulatory Compliance Changes: • Focus on adherence rates and audit readiness • Track training completion and competency verification • Monitor risk mitigation and control effectiveness • Measure timeline compliance and regulatory approval
Cultural Transformation Initiatives: • Emphasise behaviour change and value demonstration • Track engagement levels and participation quality • Monitor leadership modelling and reinforcement • Measure employee sentiment and satisfaction trends
Technology Implementation Projects: • Focus on system usage rates and functionality adoption • Track user proficiency and support requirement reduction • Monitor performance improvements and efficiency gains • Measure integration success and data quality
Measurement complexity should align with change complexity and organisational capability. Simple changes in mature organisations might require only basic metrics, whilst complex transformations in change-inexperienced organisations demand comprehensive measurement frameworks.
Future Directions in Change Management Measurement
The future of change management measurement lies in sophisticated integration of human insight with technological capability. Several key trends are reshaping measurement approaches:
Predictive Change Management: • Historical data enables forecasting of change outcomes • Proactive optimisation of change approaches before issues arise • Real-time adjustment based on predictive indicators • Continuous learning from measurement data across initiatives
Integrated Organisational Systems: • Connection to broader business performance metrics • Direct demonstration of change impact on customer satisfaction • Integration with financial and operational reporting systems • Holistic view of organisational health and capability
Continuous Change Capability: • Measurement of organisational change capacity and resilience • Tracking of adaptation speed and learning effectiveness • Building change capability as core organisational competency • Supporting ongoing transformation rather than discrete projects
The evolution toward continuous change requires measurement systems that support ongoing transformation rather than discrete project evaluation. These systems must track organisational change capability, adaptation speed, and resilience development as essential business capabilities.
Measuring What Matters
Change management performance metrics represent both opportunity and risk for organisations pursuing transformation. Traditional measurement approaches harbour significant limitations that can mislead practitioners and undermine change success. However, sophisticated measurement systems that leverage modern technology and address these limitations can dramatically enhance change effectiveness.
The path forward requires abandoning simplistic metrics that provide false comfort in favour of comprehensive measurement frameworks that capture the complexity of organisational change. Key principles for effective measurement include:
Strategic Focus: • Serve genuine business purposes rather than administrative requirements • Enable better decisions and drive continuous improvement • Demonstrate measurable value of professional change management • Connect change outcomes to organisational success metrics
Technological Integration: • Leverage AI and machine learning for enhanced analytical precision • Utilise real-time monitoring and predictive capabilities • Integrate with broader organisational data systems • Automate routine measurement while preserving human insight
Comprehensive Approach: • Address multiple performance levels simultaneously • Balance quantitative metrics with qualitative insights • Include temporal dimensions and sustainability factors • Measure capability building alongside immediate outcomes
Most importantly, effective change measurement must serve strategic purposes rather than administrative requirements. Metrics should enable better decisions, drive continuous improvement, and demonstrate the value that professional change management brings to organisational success.
The organisations that master sophisticated change measurement will possess significant competitive advantages in an era of accelerating change. They will anticipate challenges before they emerge, optimise interventions in real-time, and build organisational capabilities that enable sustained transformation success. The question is not whether to measure change management performance, but whether to measure it effectively enough to create lasting competitive advantage.
Data Foundations and the Limits of Traditional Reporting
Change and transformation leaders are increasingly tasked with supporting decision making through robust, actionable reporting. Despite the rise of specialist tools, teams still lean heavily on Excel and Power BI because of their familiarity, ease and widespread adoption. However, as the pace and scale of organisational change accelerate, these choices reveal critical limitations, especially in supporting nuanced organisational insights.
Why High, Medium, Low Reporting Falls Short
Many change teams default to tracking change impact and volume using simple “high, medium, low” traffic light metrics. While this method offers speed and clarity for basic reporting, it fails to capture context, regional nuance, or the real intensity of change across diverse teams. This coarse approach risks obscuring important details, leaving senior leaders without the depth needed to target interventions or accurately forecast operational risks.
Change practitioners are often short on time and choosing whatever is easier and faster often becomes the default choice, i.e. Excel. This short-sighted approach focuses on quickly generating an output to try and meeting stakeholder needs without thinking strategically what makes sense at an organisational level, and the value of change data to drive strategy and manage implementation risks.
Data Capture: Getting the Inputs Right
Excel’s flexibility lets teams start capturing change data quickly, but often at the expense of structure. When fields and templates vary, information can’t be standardized or consistently compared. Manual entry introduces duplication, missing values, and divergent interpretations of change categories. Power BI requires disciplined and structured underlying data to function well; without careful source management, output dashboards reflect input chaos rather than clarity. Therefore, when pairing Excel with Power BI chart generation, often a BI (business intelligence) specialist is required to help configure and structure the chart outputs in Power BI.
Tips for effective data capture:
Establish clear data templates and definitions before rolling out change tracking.
Centralize where possible to avoid data silos and redundant records.
Assign responsibilities for maintaining quality and completeness at the point of entry.
Data Cleansing and Auditing: Maintaining Integrity
Excel and Power BI users are frequently responsible for manual data validation. The process is time-consuming, highly error-prone, and often fails to catch hidden inconsistencies, especially as data volumes grow. Excel’s lack of built-in auditing makes it tough to track changes or attribute ownership, increasing risks for compliance and reliability.
Best practices for cleansing and auditing:
Automate as much validation as possible, using scripts or built-in platform features.
Use a single master source rather than local versions to simplify updates.
Develop version control and change logs to support traceability and confidence in reporting.
Visualization, Dashboarding, and Interpretation Challenges in Change Reporting
After establishing robust data foundations, the next hurdle for senior change practitioners is translating raw information into clear, actionable insights. While Excel and Power BI each provide capabilities for visualizing change data, both bring unique challenges that can limit their effectiveness in supporting strategic decision making.
Visualization and Dashboard Design
Excel’s charting options are familiar and flexible for simple visualizations, but quickly become unwieldy as complexity grows. Static pivot charts and tables, combined with manual refreshing, reduce the potential for interactive analysis. Power BI offers more engaging, dynamic visuals and interactive dashboards, yet users frequently run into formatting frustrations, such as limited customization, bulky interfaces, and difficulties aligning visuals to precise narrative goals.
Some specific visualization and dashboard challenges include:
Difficulty representing complex, multidimensional change metrics within simplistic dashboards, e.g. impact by stakeholder by location by business unit by type of change.
Limited ability in both tools to customize visual details such as consistent colour themes or layered insights without significant effort.
Dashboard performance degradation with very large or complex datasets, reducing responsiveness and usability.
Interpreting Data and Supporting Decision Making
Effective dashboards must not only display data properly but also guide users toward meaningful interpretation. Both Excel and Power BI outputs can suffer when change teams focus too heavily on volume metrics or simple aggregated scores (like high/medium/low, or counting activities such as communication sent) without contextualizing underlying drivers. This can mislead executives into overgeneralized conclusions or missed risks.
Challenges include:
Dashboards overwhelmed by numbers without narrative or highlight indicators.
Difficulty embedding qualitative insights alongside quantitative data in either tool.
Sparse real-time feedback loops; often snapshots lag behind ongoing operational realities.
Tips and Tricks for Effective Visualization and Insights
Limit dashboard visuals to key metrics that align tightly with decision priorities; avoid clutter.
Use conditional formatting or custom visuals (in Power BI) to draw attention to anomalies or trends.
Build interactive filters and drill-downs to enable users to explore data layers progressively.
Combine quantitative data with qualitative notes or commentary fields to bring context to numbers.
Schedule regular dashboard updates and ensure data pipelines feed timely, validated information.
Once the foundation of reliable data capture and cleansing is set, the next major hurdle for senior change practitioners is transforming raw change data into clear, actionable insights. Excel and Power BI both offer visualization and dashboarding capabilities, yet each presents challenges that can limit their effectiveness in supporting strategic decision-making.
Visualization and dashboard design challenges
Excel’s charting features are familiar and flexible for simple visuals but quickly become cumbersome as complexity grows. Its static pivot charts and manual refresh cycles limit interactive exploration. Power BI adds interactive and dynamic visualizations but users often encounter limitations such as restricted formatting options, bulky interfaces, and considerable effort required to tailor visuals to convey precise change narratives.
Specific challenges include:
Struggling to represent complex, multi-dimensional change metrics adequately within simplistic dashboards.
Limited ability to apply consistent colour schemes or layered insights without advanced customization.
Performance degradation in dashboards when datasets become large or complex, impacting responsiveness and user experience.
Data interpretation and decision-making support
A dashboard’s true value comes from guiding users towards meaningful interpretation rather than just presentation of numbers. Both Excel and Power BI outputs may fall short if change teams rely excessively on aggregated volume metrics or high/medium/low scales without embedding context or deeper qualitative insight. This risks executives making generalized conclusions or overlooking subtle risks.
Key challenges include:
Dashboards overrun with numbers lacking narrative or prioritized highlights.
Difficulty integrating qualitative insights alongside quantitative data within either platform.
Reporting often static or delayed, providing snapshots that lag behind real-time operational realities.
Tips and tricks for more effective visualization and insight generation
Restrict dashboards to key metrics closely aligned with leadership priorities to avoid clutter.
Leverage conditional formatting or Power BI’s custom visuals to highlight trends, outliers or emerging risks.
Incorporate interactive filters and drill-downs allowing users to progressively explore data layers themselves.
Pair quantitative dashboards with qualitative commentary fields or summary narratives to provide context.
Implement disciplined refresh schedules ensuring data pipelines are timely and validated for ongoing accuracy.
Practical advice for change teams and when to consider dedicated change management tools
Change teams vary widely in size, maturity, and complexity of their reporting needs. For less mature or smaller teams just starting out, Excel often remains the most accessible and cost-effective platform for capturing and communicating change-related data. However, as organisational demands grow in complexity and leadership expects richer insights to support timely decisions, purpose-built change management tools become increasingly valuable.
Excel as a starting point
For teams in the early stages of developing change reporting capabilities, Excel offers several advantages:
Familiar user interface widely known across organisations.
Low entry cost with flexible options for data input, simple visualizations, and ad hoc analysis.
Easy to distribute offline or via basic file-sharing when centralised platforms are unavailable.
However, small teams should be mindful of Excel’s limitations and implement these best practices:
Design standardised templates with clear field definitions to improve consistency.
Concentrate on key metrics and avoid overly complex sheets to reduce error risk.
Apply version control discipline and regular data audits to maintain data accuracy.
Plan for future scalability by documenting data sources and formulas for easier migration.
Progressing to Power BI and beyond
As reporting needs mature, teams can leverage Power BI to create more dynamic, interactive dashboards for leadership. The platform offers:
Integration with multiple data sources, enabling holistic organisational views.
Rich visualizations and real-time data refresh capabilities.
Role-based access control improving collaboration and data governance.
Yet Power BI demands some specialist skills and governance protocols:
Teams should invest in upskilling or partnering internally to build and maintain reports.
Establish rigorous data governance to avoid “data swamp” issues.
Define clear escalation paths for dashboard issues to maintain reliability and trust.
When to adopt purpose-built change management platforms
For organisations undergoing complex change or those needing to embed change reporting deeply in strategic decision making, specialist tools like The Change Compass provide clear advantages:
Tailored data models specific to change management, capturing impact, readiness, resistance, and other essential dimensions.
Automated data capture integrations from multiple enterprise systems reducing manual effort and errors.
Advanced analytics and visualizations designed to support executive decision making with predictive insights and scenario planning, leveraging AI capabilities.
Ease of creating/editing chart and dashboards to match stakeholder needs, e.g. The Change Compass has 50+ visuals to cater for the most discerning stakeholder
Collaboration features aligned to change team workflows.
Built-in auditing, compliance, and performance monitoring focused on change initiatives.
Purpose-built platforms significantly reduce the effort required to turn change data into trusted, actionable insights, freeing change leaders to focus on driving transformation rather than managing reporting challenges.
Summary advice for change teams
Stage
Recommended tools
Focus areas
Starting out
Excel
Standardise templates, focus on core metrics, enforce data discipline
Purpose-built enterprise platforms (e.g. The Change Compass)
Integrate systems, leverage tailored analytics, support operations and executive decisions
Selecting the right reporting approach depends on organisational scale, available skills, and leadership needs. Recognising when traditional tools have reached their limits and investing in specialist change management platforms ensures reporting evolves as a strategic asset rather than a bottleneck.
This staged approach supports both incremental improvements and long-term transformation in how change teams provide decision support through high-quality, actionable reporting.
Practical advice for change teams and when to consider dedicated change management tools
Change teams vary widely in size, maturity, and complexity of their reporting needs. For less mature or smaller teams just starting out, Excel often remains the most accessible and cost-effective platform for capturing and communicating change-related data. However, as organisational demands grow in complexity and leadership expects richer insights to support timely decisions, purpose-built change management tools become increasingly valuable.
Excel as a starting point
For teams in the early stages of developing change reporting capabilities, Excel offers several advantages:
Familiar user interface widely known across organisations.
Low entry cost with flexible options for data input, simple visualizations, and ad hoc analysis.
Easy to distribute offline or via basic file-sharing when centralised platforms are unavailable.
However, small teams should be mindful of Excel’s limitations and implement these best practices:
Design standardised templates with clear field definitions to improve consistency.
Concentrate on key metrics and avoid overly complex sheets to reduce error risk.
Apply version control discipline and regular data audits to maintain data accuracy.
Plan for future scalability by documenting data sources and formulas for easier migration.
Progressing to Power BI and beyond
As reporting needs mature, teams can leverage Power BI to create more dynamic, interactive dashboards for leadership. The platform offers:
Integration with multiple data sources, enabling holistic organisational views.
Rich visualizations and real-time data refresh capabilities.
Role-based access control improving collaboration and data governance.
Yet Power BI demands some specialist skills and governance protocols:
Teams should invest in upskilling or partnering internally to build and maintain reports.
Establish rigorous data governance to avoid “data swamp” issues.
Define clear escalation paths for dashboard issues to maintain reliability and trust.
When to adopt purpose-built change management platforms
For organisations with complex change environments or those needing to embed change reporting deeply in strategic decision making, specialist tools like The Change Compass provide clear advantages:
Tailored data models specific to change management, capturing impact, readiness, resistance, and other essential dimensions.
Automated data capture integrations from multiple enterprise systems reducing manual effort and errors.
Advanced analytics and visualizations designed to support executive decision making with predictive insights.
Collaboration features aligned to change team workflows.
Built-in auditing, compliance, and performance monitoring focused on change initiatives.
Purpose-built platforms significantly reduce the effort required to turn change data into trusted, actionable insights, freeing change leaders to focus on driving transformation rather than managing reporting challenges.
Selecting the right reporting approach depends on organisational scale, available skills, and leadership needs. Recognising when traditional tools have reached their limits and investing in specialist change management platforms ensures reporting evolves as a strategic asset rather than a bottleneck.
This staged approach supports both incremental improvements and long-term transformation in how change teams provide decision support through high-quality, actionable reporting. With greater maturity, change teams also start to invest in various facets of data management, from data governance, data cleansing and data insights to provide a significant lift in perceived value by senior business stakeholders.
Understanding the real distinction between traditional, project-focused change management and the practice of enterprise change management (ECM) opens the door to a structured approach to genuine organisational agility and resilience. While project-based approaches often provide short-term benefits, ECM elevates change to an ongoing strategic capability, ensuring the entire organisation moves in concert rather than as a collection of isolated initiatives.
Rethinking the project lens
Traditionally, change management has surfaced in response to specific projects or change initiatives such as rolling out new technology platforms, redesigning new processes, digital transformation or introducing new products. These efforts share familiar hallmarks:
Project teams focus their energy on preparing the change process for affected employees, ensuring communications are clear, training is tailored, and stakeholder concerns are addressed swiftly. Metrics such as training completion rates or engagement scores offer a sense of progress, and feedback loops close as soon as “go-live” is achieved.
Project-centric change targets only those directly impacted by the initiative.
Coordination and collaboration between projects may be limited or absent.
Yet, this approach can quickly run into problems as the scale and frequency of the pace of change grows. And let’s face it, which sizeable organisation isn’t going through multiple changes at the same time? What appears to be a tightly managed process locally can, at an organisational level, lead to fragmentation, duplicated effort, and staff exhaustion – sometimes described as “change fatigue”. Diverse teams may be asked to adapt to multiple new systems, processes or behaviours in rapid succession, often with little integration or prioritisation.
Making sense of change saturation
Change fatigue is not a product of resistance to ‘doing things differently’ – it’s a predictable response when staff face overlapping initiatives with inadequate support or context. Portfolio-level visibility is rare in project-centric models, so team members may juggle competing demands with limited clarity on which changes matter most.
People become disengaged when the rationale for change is unclear or inconsistent.
Fragmented delivery means lessons learnt in one project aren’t transferred to others.
Resource conflicts emerge, exacerbating the pace and stress of simultaneous transitions.
Such issues underscore why organisations are searching for a more holistic way to approach change. Rather than reactively managing each initiative, ECM creates a deliberate structure for balancing effort, building capability, and driving lasting value in support of organisational strategy.
ECM is not a “set and forget” solution, nor a suite of templates for project managers to file away. It’s a disciplined, repeatable practice, and an approach that blends governance, data, collaboration and technology so that change becomes woven into daily operations. The core aim is for organisational change to transform from a series of disruptions to a united strategic capability aligned with strategic objectives and goals at various levels of the organisation.
Anchoring change in strategy and purpose
ECM starts with a clear connection to strategy. Initiatives are not pursued simply because they fit a project schedule – they are selected, sequenced and resourced to deliver against longer-term organisational goals and values. This strategic alignment requires regular, portfolio-wide reviews and a strong sense of interdependencies.
Change activity is mapped against broader business priorities for successful change management.
Leadership and employee engagement is visible and continuous throughout cycles of change.
Decisions are made with an understanding of cumulative change impact on staff and operations.
Governance and portfolio management
One of the defining features of ECM is the elevation of governance from discrete project steering groups to enterprise-wide oversight. This means all change activity – from small tweaks to major transformations – is managed within a portfolio framework. Coordinated governance offers leaders:
Real-time visibility of all initiatives, reducing risk of overlapping or conflicting changes;
The ability to sequence work to avoid bottlenecks or overload;
Standard tools for collecting outcomes, learning, and scaling success.
This portfolio approach doesn’t stifle innovation or agility – it enables them. With the big (and ‘medium’) picture in hand, leadership can make timely adjustments, redirect resources where needed, and capitalise on synergies between concurrent change efforts.
Consistent methodology and language
To embed ECM, organisations need a consistent approach to how change is defined, planned, and delivered. This includes shared terminology, frameworks, capability building and tools. A common language ensures that teams across functions understand what’s expected and how to measure success.
Shared frameworks reduce confusion and speed up onboarding new projects.
Common metrics allow lessons learnt from one area to influence others.
Continuous capability development ensures capability is refreshed as the organisation evolves (and capability does not just refer to training).
Cultivating organisational capability
ECM demands proactive investment in building change expertise at all levels, including the enterprise level. Unlike traditional approaches centred in specialist teams, ECM diffuses capability throughout the organisation. Everyone – from the executive team to frontline employee change champions – can access the knowledge, resources, and support necessary to champion change in their own environment.
The benefit of this diffusion is that change management doesn’t become a bottleneck or a specialist bottling plant; rather, it becomes part of the organisational DNA, supporting sustainable transitions even as pressure for change intensifies.
Capability-building programs help embed change management skills into routine business operations.
Peer communities foster exchange of techniques, stories and practical tools.
Capability-building programs help embed change into routine business operations.
Integrating change with core functions
Real value arises when change management links arms with other core business functions – risk, finance, HR, operations, technology:
Risk management: Proactive identification and management of people-related and operational risks ensure less disruption and faster remediation.
Human resources: Structured alignment of talent, training and role transitions supports staff through periods of uncertainty.
Finance: Budgets reflect strategic priorities and benefit targets, allowing responsive reallocation as circumstances shift.
Operations: Rollouts are coordinated with and catered to day-to-day workflow, minimising friction and confusion.
This interconnected approach elevates change from a project concern to a constant enabler, strengthening business readiness and agility.
Data, measurement and digital enablement
ECM takes measurement seriously, moving beyond output metrics to focus on outcomes and behaviour. Reporting and analytics track adoption rates, operational impact, readiness levels, and risk hotspots across all initiatives in progress.
Dashboards provide visibility for boards, executive teams and change leaders.
Analytics highlight trends over time, support decision-making, and provide evidence for resource allocation, including data on impact, capacity, readiness and adoption
Stakeholder feedback is collected continuously and drives refinement of practices.
Digital platforms make this easier – centralising data, automating routine assessments, and allowing fast recognition of leading and lagging indicators in change efforts. However, technology is an enabler not a replacement for skilled analysis and strategic judgement.
Continuous improvement and learning loops
ECM embeds cycles of review, adjustment and learning. Change accelerates, but so too does the speed of feedback, reflection, and correction. Leaders and teams benefit from:
Structured periodic reviews such as portfolio level PI planning (program increment planning);
Real-time lessons learned loops;
Identification and scaling of success stories;
Open channels for feedback and honest discussion.
These activities foster resilience, build trust, and demystify the process of change, turning every initiative – successful or otherwise – into an opportunity for deeper organisational learning.
Overcoming obstacles in enterprise change management
Establishing ECM is a long-term commitment and not without its challenges. Common obstacles include:
Leadership inertia or lack of sustained sponsorship;
Underinvestment in resources and capability growth;
Cultural resistance – where staff view working with change data as a burden rather than an opportunity;
Conflicting priorities between business units;
Difficulty standardising reporting or aligning diverse teams.
Overcoming these barriers requires persistent engagement, investment in technology and skills, and a strong focus on communication. Leadership needs to be visible, responsive, and ready to recalibrate as conditions change.
Implementing enterprise change management: A practical roadmap
Organisations seeking to build ECM need a clear game plan. Here’s a practical roadmap synthesised from best practice:
Vision and Alignment Begin with a shared understanding of why ECM matters and the results it is supposed to deliver. Shape the vision in conversation across the business, not from the top down.
Assessment of Current State Map change activity in flight, assess capability gaps, and audit readiness. Involve a range of stakeholders in the diagnosis phase to surface risks and opportunities, including readiness assessments where applicable.
Strategic Planning and Design Create a blueprint for integrated governance, methodology, and reporting lines. Define responsibilities, success measures and timing with input from relevant business units.
Capability-Building Investment Establish ongoing programs for training, coaching, and skill development. Make capability-building an expected part of career pathways and leadership routines.
Technology Selection and Integration Choose digital tools that fit scale, and goals. Integrate with other business systems where it makes sense for seamless reporting.
Delivery and Implementation Roll out ECM frameworks in parallel with major projects and business-as-usual activities. Regularly review progress, and support teams with tailored resources.
Evaluation, Review and Improvement Set up mechanisms for real-time feedback and course correction. Celebrate success, learn from setbacks, and continually update strategies as the business evolves.
Demonstrating the value of ECM requires robust evidence that change capability translates into real organisational outcomes. Key measures include key performance indicators related to adoption rates: How quickly and thoroughly staff take up new behaviours, systems or processes.
Adoption rates: How quickly and thoroughly staff take up new behaviours, systems or processes.
Readiness indices: Staff sense of preparedness and confidence ahead of change launches.
Business impact: Direct and indirect effects of change on performance, service delivery, quality, and customer satisfaction.
Resource allocation and utilisation: Efficiency in people, budget, and technology deployment over time.
Lessons learnt and continuous improvement: Degree of learning captured and applied to future projects.
Using a dashboard approach, organisations can compare progress between regions or functions, surface best practices, and allocate resources based on what works.
Enterprise change in action
ECM comes to life best through real examples. Consider an organisation embarking on major tech transformation. Early stages are plagued with confusion over responsibilities, inconsistent reporting, and pockets of resistance. By shifting to an ECM approach, the organisation sets up a central governance board, standardises its methodology, introduces regular engagement forums, and builds ongoing feedback loops.
The pace of adoption increases as staff gain clarity.
Risks are flagged earlier, allowing for timely intervention.
Costs are controlled through better prioritisation.
Change becomes less disruptive, more predictable, and ultimately more valuable.
In another scenario, a business grapples with multi-site process rollouts. ECM allows for custom pacing, local adaptation with centralised oversight, and regular calibration of resource needs. Staff feel more engaged and less overwhelmed, while leadership gains better transparency over outcomes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is ECM worth the investment?
ECM isn’t a luxury – it’s an organising principle for sustainable performance. It helps prevent costly failures and delays, reduces risk, and builds shared capability that fuels growth in an increasingly volatile world.
How does ECM drive transformation success?
By connecting change activity directly to broader strategy, creating clear frameworks and governance, and embedding skills at every level, ECM supports smooth, coordinated transitions – turning vision into reality with measurable benefit.
What analytical tools and technology support ECM?
Dashboards, portfolio level charts, and centralised analytics platforms provide transparency, drive accountability, and highlight the most impactful interventions. These tools work best when paired with regular dialogue and active review. Starting with simple excel sheets may make sense, but in the longer term have significant limitations.
How do organisations diffuse change leadership beyond core teams?
Training programs, peer communities, and open communication mean staff across every function can act as change advocates, spreading best practice without relying on a small group of specialists.
Final reflections
Enterprise change management represents a profound shift away from treating change as a series of one-off events towards establishing enduring, organization-wide capabilities in organizational change management. Through strategic alignment, integrated governance, continuous development, and robust measurement, ECM helps businesses thrive amid complexity and uncertainty, significantly improving the change implementation process.
The journey toward ECM takes sustained commitment, but the benefits – a culture that welcomes new ideas, adapts faster, and builds lasting value – are worth the effort. For those determined to succeed, ECM stands not just as a methodology, but the bedrock of a truly adaptive organisation.
What this also means is that the change and transformation team or practice increases its influence and contribution to the business goals in a direct way. Senior leaders and key stakeholders will see very clearly the value and contribution of the change management team and how it drives forward the business agenda. Gone are the days where change practice is seen as a nice-to-have with little contribution to business objectives.
In the ever-evolving landscape of change management, the critical question organizations must grapple with to gain competitive edge is not just about measuring progress but ensuring that the metrics employed actively propel initiatives toward success and adhere to the best practices. It’s not enough for metrics to be mere indicators of activity; they must be strategic drivers, pushing the organization from a defensive stance of maintaining the status quo to an offensive position where goals are confidently achieved. This article delves into the practical realm of change management metrics, emphasizing the need for a carefully curated selection that instils confidence in reaching initiative goals and actively shapes the journey of transformation, highlighting the importance of coaching in this process. From navigating leading indicators to understanding the change journey and judiciously attributing adoption, the path to success lies in metrics that move beyond sustenance to true progress.
In the realm of change management, it’s crucial to move from a defensive mindset, where metrics merely sustain initiative progress, to an offensive one that propels them forward. This shift involves selecting metrics that not only measure progress but also exert significant influence on reaching initiative goals. Opting for ‘easy’ measures might provide a false sense of security, but it may not contribute to achieving the desired outcomes.
Consider a scenario where an organization aims to implement a new technology platform to enhance productivity. A defensive approach might focus on measuring the number of training sessions conducted or the completion rates. While these metrics have value, they don’t necessarily guarantee that the organization is on track to achieve its ultimate goal of improved productivity.
An offensive approach, on the other hand, would involve selecting metrics directly tied to the initiative’s success. For instance, tracking the time it takes for employees to adapt to the new platform or measuring the increase in task efficiency directly linked to the technology adoption. These metrics not only monitor progress but actively contribute to the realization of initiative goals.
Leading Indicators: Navigating Change Proactively
Leading indicators play a pivotal role in ensuring that change management metrics are forward-looking and provide visibility into the trajectory of initiative progress. Rather than relying solely on lagging indicators that reflect past performance, incorporating leading indicators allows organizations to anticipate and address potential roadblocks before they impede progress.
What are examples of lagging indicators? Newsletter readership, training completion rates, town hall attendance rates, system usage rates, etc.
Stakeholder engagement levels serve as a prime example of a leading indicator. High levels of engagement suggest a positive reception to the change, while declining engagement may indicate resistance or confusion. By tracking engagement throughout the change process, organizations can proactively address concerns, fine-tune communication strategies, and bolster support.
Time-to-adoption for pilot groups is another valuable leading indicator. If a small, representative group can quickly and successfully adopt the change, it bodes well for broader implementation. Monitoring and understanding the factors contributing to the success of the pilot group can inform adjustments for the larger rollout.
Evidence of targeted behaviours is a leading indicator that provides insights into the cultural shift associated with the change. Whether it’s embracing new collaboration tools or demonstrating desired leadership behaviours, these early signs of behavioural change are crucial leading indicators that align with the targeted initiative goals. To achieve these the organisation may need to design leadership skills programs as relevant.
Examples of leading indicators:
Stakeholder Engagement Levels:
o Frequency and quality of interactions in feedback sessions, town hall meetings, or focus groups.
o Participation rates in collaborative platforms or communication channels related to the change.
Time-to-Adoption for Pilot Groups:
o Speed at which the pilot group embraces the change compared to the planned adoption timeline.
o Identification and analysis of factors contributing to the quick or delayed adoption.
Evidence of Targeted Behaviours:
o Observation of employees exhibiting new behaviours associated with the change.
o Collection of success stories or testimonials showcasing positive behavioural shifts.
Managerial Involvement Levels:
o Measurement of the frequency and effectiveness of manager-led discussions about the change. regarding the management certificate.
o Utilization rates of manager-specific training resources and tools.
Training Effectiveness:
o Assessment scores or feedback from participants to evaluate the understanding and application of training content.
o Identification of areas where additional training or support may be required based on early feedback.
Change Readiness Outcomes:
o Employee survey results assessing confidence in adapting to the change.
o Perceptions of leadership support, benefits understanding, and overall readiness for the impending change.
Adoption Rate of Support Resources:
o Utilization of resources such as help desks, support hotlines, or online knowledge repositories.
o Feedback on the accessibility and effectiveness of available support channels.
Feedback Loop Effectiveness:
o Implementation and assessment of feedback mechanisms to capture employee concerns or suggestions.
o Demonstrated responsiveness to feedback through tangible adjustments to the change plan.
Employee Advocacy:
o Identification of employees actively promoting the change within their teams.
o Recognition programs or forums that highlight and celebrate employee advocacy.
Cultural Alignment Metrics:
o Measurement of alignment between the desired change culture and the current organizational culture.
o Indicators reflecting the adoption of new cultural norms and values associated with the change.
Change Journey Metrics: Navigating the Path to Adoption
Change journey metrics are essential for understanding how the change journey is unfolding for different stakeholder groups. Before reaching the go-live stage, organizations must track the evolution of awareness, managerial involvement, training completion rates, communication readership, and change readiness outcomes.
Awareness levels among employees indicate the effectiveness of communication strategies. Are employees informed about the upcoming changes, and do they understand the reasons behind them? Metrics such as email open rates, participation in town hall meetings, or completion of pre-change surveys can shed light on the overall awareness landscape.
Managerial involvement levels are critical because managers play a pivotal role in guiding their teams through change. Metrics might include the frequency of manager-employee discussions about the change, the utilization of support resources, or the completion of manager-specific training modules.
Training completion rates are straightforward yet crucial metrics in assessing readiness. It’s not just about the quantity of completed sessions but also the quality of understanding demonstrated by participants. Incorporating assessments or feedback mechanisms within training modules can provide richer insights into the effectiveness of the training program.
Communication release readership levels help gauge the reach and impact of communication efforts. Metrics such as click-through rates on emails, views of informational videos, or attendance at virtual town hall meetings can provide valuable data on the engagement with key messages.
Change readiness outcomes encompass a range of metrics that collectively assess the organization’s preparedness for the impending change. This could include survey results measuring employees’ confidence in their ability to adapt, their perception of leadership support, and their belief in the benefits of the change.
Attribution of Adoption: Navigating the Complexity of Multiple Initiatives
In organizations with multiple concurrent initiatives, attributing adoption to specific initiatives can be challenging. Rather than engaging in complex discussions about which initiative deserves credit for particular business metrics, it is more productive to establish a small set of indicators that collectively guide the overall attribution of adoption toward specific business measures.
Consider a scenario where an organization is simultaneously implementing changes in technology, process, and organizational structure. Instead of attempting to isolate the impact of each initiative on metrics like productivity or customer satisfaction, focus on a set of indicators that collectively reflect the overall health and performance of the organization.
For instance, a combination of employee engagement scores, customer feedback trends, and operational efficiency metrics can provide a holistic view of the organization’s performance. This approach acknowledges the interconnectedness of initiatives and emphasizes the collective impact on key business outcomes.
In the realm of change management, less is often more when it comes to reporting metrics. Being targeted and selective in deriving and presenting a core set of change measures is more powerful than overwhelming stakeholders with a lengthy list of metrics. The goal is to drive behavioural change, and a concise set of focused metrics facilitates this objective.
Executive stakeholders, in particular, are unlikely to be impressed by an exhaustive list of change measures. Instead, they value insights that directly relate to the success of the initiative and its impact on overall business performance. Therefore, the emphasis should be on delivering a streamlined set of metrics that captures the essential aspects of progress and success.
For example, rather than inundating executives with a detailed breakdown of training completion rates, communication readership, and individual awareness levels, present a consolidated metric that encapsulates overall readiness. This could be a Change Readiness Index that combines various leading and lagging indicators to provide a comprehensive snapshot of the organization’s preparedness for change.
In addition to executive stakeholders, frontline employees also benefit from selective reporting. A focused set of metrics, communicated clearly and regularly, helps employees understand their role in the change journey and motivates them to contribute actively to the initiative’s success.
Navigating Success in Change Management
In the dynamic landscape of change management, selecting the right metrics is akin to navigating a complex terrain. Shifting from a defensive to an offensive posture requires strategic thinking, incorporating leading indicators, tracking the change journey, attributing adoption judiciously, and adopting a selective reporting approach.
Remember, the true measure of success lies not only in reaching metrics but in achieving the ultimate goals of the change initiative. By carefully choosing metrics that actively contribute to success, organizations can confidently navigate the complexities of change management and drive initiatives forward with purpose and precision.
Agile is becoming a common standard for project implementation. Most organizations are implementing some form of agile methodology in how they manage initiatives, anywhere from the waterfall project methodology on one extreme end through to the pure agile project methodology on the other end. Yes, we know that agile may not be for every organization. Projects where the output of the change is known clearly upfront and where traditional methods ensure that requirements won’t change much throughout the project may not benefit from an agile approach. On the other hand, those projects where the end design is not known, where innovation would be valued, would definitely benefit from an agile approach.
There are plenty of resources available for project managers on the mechanics of project management and agile methodology. However, the same cannot be said for change managers. Many even commented that the role of change management has ‘disappeared’ within the agile approach. There are lots of examples of projects where there are significant change impacts on employees and customers, where there is no change manager on the project.
What is the role of change managers in an agile project? How will change work be modified to suit agile methodology? How does the change manager create value in an agile environment?
This guide aims to answer these questions and provide a simple and practical guide to aid the work of change managers in an agile environment, specifically focusing on change management practice areas. While the guide will not aim to cover anything and everything to do with agile, it will aim to call out best practices and aspects the change manager needs to consider in carrying out change work in an agile environment.
When the agile ‘godfathers’ got together to come up with agile change principles all those years ago, they were quite certain that they wanted to focus more on principles than ‘methodology’ per se. Since then the intent may have changed in how organizations have adopted this. Nevertheless, it is important to visit the core of what agile stands for.
These are the 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto (from agilemanifesto.org)
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Working software is the primary measure of progress. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.
Here are some key takeaways that the change manager should note about the agile manifesto, the core of what agile is trying to achieve:
Iterative change
Iterative change is more effective than big bang change. This is because it reduces the risk of failure and increases the chances of success. This is also how designers work – making incremental changes to ultimately come up with the right outcome, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This is because with these techniques the project team is getting feedback throughout the process. Therefore, the ‘test and learn’ and prototypes in design thinking are critical as a part of an agile approach. The emphasis on constant change is the core of agile.
Multi-disciplinary team
The power of the smallish and multi-disciplinary team. Business, technical and specialists from other disciplines are encouraged to work together to come up with innovative solutions to address the problem. Each discipline may approach the same problem differently, and therefore when we put people with different approaches together we start to get innovative ideas. Smallish teams also tend to perform better in getting traction and delivering without getting bogged down by hierarchy. Most agile experts agree that the right size for agile teams would be 6-7 people.
Early and continuous engagement
Another part of what is essential to agile is designing early and continuous engagement. Business representatives are included in the project from the beginning and continue to have strong involvement throughout the process. This constant collaboration is particularly important as the solution being developed by the project team continues to evolve and change throughout a short period of time.
Key agile methodology terms and approaches
There are two main agile approaches that are popular in project management, scrum and kanban. A lot of organizations also use a combination of both scrum and Kanban. Let’s go through these to get a better understanding of what they are and how change fits into these methodologies.
Scrum
Scrum is probably the most popular agile methodology used by project teams that are implementing agile. It starts with feedback or input from end users or customers on what the need is and the business requirements. These are then captured, analysed and defined into clear features by Scrum teams. They can also be in the form of ‘user stories’ that outline what the user goes through in the entire process. User stories are simple descriptions of a feature told from the perspective of the end users who desire the capability. User stories are usually captured in post-it notes on a board (or digitally) to allow visualization of the journey/process.
The project team then goes through a series of ‘sprints’ where iterative work outputs are created under each sprint, especially in the context of large projects. Each sprint is aimed to produce a discrete piece of work output that is tangible and can be used or tested in some form. Each sprint goes for 1-4 weeks and is managed by the scrum master whose role is to do anything that optimises the team’s performance. This is not a manager role who is tasked to ‘approve’ or ‘sign off’ on the work of the team, but more of an enabler and facilitator. In an agile team, the team is self-managed and empowered to come up with unique ideas to form the ultimate solution to address the user/customer needs.
So what is the role of the change manager in scrum? The role of a change manager does not really change significantly in an agile setting. Yes, the change manager needs to understand the why and how an agile team works. However, the fundamentals of the value of change management stay the same. If a project is creating change impacts on the user or the customer, then this is where the change manager steps in. This is not dissimilar to other non-agile project settings.
Let’s dissect the work of the change manager to better understand his/her role in a greater level of detail:
Initial scoping
When we have a high level of understanding of what the project is and what it is trying to accomplish, the change manager would help to scope and size the amount of change impact in concern, the level of complexity involved, and come up with a high level estimation of how much change management support would be needed on this project. This does not change in an agile project, compared to waterfall projects.
High-level change approach
After the features have been identified and the product owner has a clear idea of what the change is and what it involves then it is time to start on devising the high-level change approach. At this stage, we still do not know exactly what the solution is, though we have a few likely options to consider. By taking a few assumptions we can devise a high-level view of what change approach would work. A key part of this approach would involve understanding which stakeholders will be impacted.
Agile projects are focused on producing output and solutions and there is significantly less focus on documentation. However, this is not to say that documentation is not required. Instead, documentation tends to be more summarised and slimmed down versus the significant longer documentation required under waterfall methodology. In this phase, the two key documents are the high-level change approach and high-level change impact assessment document. Some even use a ‘change on a page’ similar to a ‘plan on a page’. The high-level change impact assessment could also be a one-pager that calls out key stakeholder groups impacted and the nature of the impacts.
Design and planning phase
When we get to the design and planning phase of the project the key focus starts to shift into a detailed articulation of what the change is. In this phase, the approach in change work is again no different than under waterfall. However, the difference is that there may be more unknowns as the solution is being developed and shaped iteratively, hitting important milestones, and continues to evolve over each iteration or sprint.
The change manager needs to determine when there is sufficient information to start work on the detailed change impact assessment. And this impact assessment will undoubtedly need to be reviewed and potentially updated as the solution changes. Other key deliverables such as stakeholder matrix, engagement, and communication plan, change plan (including measurement) and risk assessment should also be captured, depending on the level of change complexity.
The role of the change manager is to partner closely with the team to flesh out and define what the change is and what the change approach is throughout each sprint. Some may call out that this may sound quite messy since with each iteration the change approach could change. In practice, a lot of the impacts and change approach are fleshed out and captured before or during the sprint planning. With each scrum and iteration, the solution becomes more and more defined, and only tweaking would be needed on the change approach.
Early and continuous engagement is a key agile principle and therefore the change manager has a critical role to play in engaging the various stakeholder groups. Depending on the nature of the change process, business and stakeholder engagement may need to occur prior and during each iteration. For example, business stakeholders may need to be engaged on what the new system is, and how/what it will do for them, and how they will be impacted. Transparency during this process is crucial, especially when we are closer to having developed a full solution with system screens being defined, allowing us to show our frontline employees what the system looks like. Throughout the iteration process, subject matter experts and business representations, and even change champions groups have critical roles to play in providing valuable business feedback.
Another key agile principle is focused on getting end-user or end customer feedback early, and continuously throughout the development process. The change manager needs to work with the development team and the business to carefully identify the right end-users to provide feedback (versus managers who may not know the intimate details of business requirements). The change manager also needs to balance the needs of the business by being engaged in the what/why/how of the change early on, and incorporating more details of the solution throughout the iterative process.
Implementation and post-implementation
Since agile produces change at a faster pace than waterfall approaches, there are a few things that the change manager needs to adapt to. One of the key challenges for the change manager within an agile team is not to lose sight of the fundamentals of managing change and the necessary adaptation required during the process. Within the series of iterations, keeping the business engaged and involved is key. On top of this, understanding and agreeing with the business on the most optimal go-live and implementation period would be critical. Just because the change is ready technically, it does not mean this is the right time for the business to accept the change. On the other hand, there could be complexity or technical challenges that delay the anticipated go-live (like most projects, in any methodology). This needs to be managed effectively, including the change management approaches to ensure there is clear identification of the next ‘window for change’ from the business perspective from the perspective of the business having the capacity to digest the change.
Some propose that the change manager should ‘adopt’ an agile way of implementing ‘test and learn’ in implementing change. Whilst this is valid there are a few considerations. Implementing agile does not mean that how our employees respond to change will suddenly change. From previous experiences in implementing changes, the change manager should leverage what has or has not worked and not start from zero. For example, how was the reception from a particular business unit to online learning of new products? What has worked well in terms of how this group was engaged previously? If there is little experience in change within a particular part of the organization, then it makes sense to conduct pilots to test. However, again, leverage from previous experiences where possible before starting ‘new’ tests.
Post-implementation and benefit realisation are still applicable from the perspective of the change manager. Planning for effective embedment and measurement of change and that the benefits are realized through the users adopting the right behaviours are still valid under agile.
Kanban is a simple agile methodology that was developed from a manufacturing background (i.e. Toyota). It is not time-based, unlike Scrum. Instead, it is based on ordering a set of prioritised activities through the funnel of ‘To do’, ‘Doing’ through to ‘Done’, while limiting the amount of work in progress at any given time. The list of activities is prioritised meaning that after one task is completed and moved to ‘Done’ the next activity on the list may be undertaken. This overall list of activities can be seen as a ‘backlog’ where a set of activities have been determined to be necessary to complete the project.
This kanban board needs to be real time and constantly updated so that the team members can easily visualize the progress they are making and how much work is outstanding. This is a great way of understanding the pace of execution and output achieved. The cycle time of measuring how long it takes tasks to move from ‘To Do’ to ‘Done’ helps to forecast the delivery of future work. The kanban board acts as the single source of truth for the agile team.
All of the previous comments regarding scrum and implications on the work of the change manager apply to kanban as well. The change manager, working alongside other agile team members, would also need to adapt to the faster pace of change, and work within the team to identify any obstacles to the overall workflow. Change management work activities would also contribute to the overall kanban board and flow through this process.
Building the change environment for agile
There are significant opportunities for the change manager to add value in creating the right change environment for agile initiatives to land successfully. Some of these include:
Helping business leaders, including sponsors and business owners to understand their role in leading change within an agile setting
Support the design and dynamics of the agile team to really flourish, generate innovative ideas, and to leverage the diversity of thought
Work with business stakeholders to prepare them for iterative agile changes where the end state is not always clear from the beginning. The challenge of crafting a clear vision of change without the necessary details
Helping to build the overall culture of the organization by adopting agile principles, is itself a separate cultural change exercise. For organizations that are risk-averse, the challenge may be to instill the value of ‘safe to fail’
The ultimate dilemma for the change manager
One of the ultimate challenges of preparing the organization for an agile business environment is to understand the environment itself. When there are numerous agile projects going on in organizations, each with continuous change and iterative change, there lies the challenge. How does the business get visibility of all of these chunk-sized changes and be able to prepare for them collectively? Without a clear oversight of a collection of changes that are constantly moving it is almost impossible to effectively lead and embed changes effectively.
For more articles on agile change management visit our Knowledge Centre.
Are you ready to leverage digital change management platform to support your agile project? Check out Change Automator to streamline, automate, and improve the outcomes of your change work. To book a demo, click here.
