Change is tough and can sometimes feel as if it's all happening at once. Orgvue's latest research with 700 senior decision-makers shows just how overwhelming it can be: Two out of five CEOs say they'd rather quit than lead a major workforce transformation, with resistance to change, a lack of clear vision, and leadership's reluctance to make difficult decisions as their top worries. And Orgvue isn't the only one raising the alarm.
Jon Dedman, director at Cloudhouse, echoes this feeling. He explains, "Change management is pretty rigid by nature – it relies on structure to manage risks and plan for change. But that structure often makes it feel like a regimented, arduous process, causing people to find "workarounds" or gatekeep stages that end up undermining the integrity of the entire process."
So how do you get your organization ready for change, especially when budgets are tight, the economy's in a slump, or layoffs are happening? We asked IT leaders to share their insights on helping teams stay resilient and making change management more manageable and ROI-friendly, even in tough times.
Build a people-first "change muscle"
For change management to truly succeed, companies need to move from being change-resistant to change-ready. This means building up "change muscles" -- helping teams become adaptable and comfortable with change over the long term.
For Mel Burke, VP of US operations at Grayce, the key to successful change is speaking to both the "head" and the "heart" of your stakeholders. Involve employees in the change process by giving them a voice and the ability to shape it as it happens. Use real-time tools like pulse surveys and AI chatbots to get instant feedback on how teams are coping and to assess each employee's readiness for change.
You can also introduce "liquid organizational structures," where teams dynamically form and dissolve based on the needs of the change-think skills-based roles and flexible, context-driven org charts. However, these approaches are best suited for short-term change, like when you're rolling out a new HR system or moving to a hybrid cloud.
Over the past few years, more enterprises are either bringing in dedicated chief change officers or added transformation duties to their CTOs as a long-term plan. BCG even says their transformation initiatives hit an 80% success rate when a CCO is involved.
These officers are key in running initiatives like 2-week innovation sprints where employees can work on passion projects, collaborate across teams, and pitch bold ideas directly to executives. It might stretch resources initially, but the results can be well worth it – just ask Gmail, which came from one of Google's innovation sprints. To keep things rolling, CCOs often partner with PeopleOps to set up an "innovation quotient" KPI and reward employees during appraisals for fresh ideas and creative execution.
"While a lot of attention goes to the technology or new processes, it's easy to forget the people who are actually going through the change," comments Burke. Don't forget your people, people!"
Assess risks with effective change enablement
Change management works best when you focus on the biggest risks first and reduce the chance of major disruptions. Dedman calls this strategy "change enablement," where change initiatives are evaluated and scored on critical factors like team expertise, system dependencies, and potential customer impact. High-scorers get marked red for immediate attention, while lower-risk ones stay green for routine monitoring to keep the process focused and efficient.
For each high-risk initiative, create a detailed RMAP that includes specific actions, timelines, and contingency plans, with regular feedback from C-suite and departmental heads to ensure that mitigation efforts remain aligned with the project's current state. If the adoption of a new tool is slow, your RAMP might include adding training sessions, picking some 'tool ambassadors,' or even throwing in rewards to improve your employee experience. Couple this process with scenario planning and change simulations to predict where exactly the change process might break during execution.
Dedman recommends automating the validation process to eliminate tedious manual tasks. "The process, ultimately, should build a virtuous cycle of trust in the assessment process and make future changes easier and faster to manage."
But Gavin Connolly, field CTO of Nerdio, offers a word of caution: Don't overlook the importance of identifying key stakeholders. "Assigning risk owners whether business leads, project managers, or security teams keeps accountability clear and ensures mitigation actions are tracked and implemented."
Track change progress with actionable metrics
How can you tell if your change initiative is succeeding or falling flat? Or if it's really making a difference in team collaboration and your bottom line? This is where change management metrics come in handy: To give you a clear picture of progress, spot roadblocks early, course-correct fast, optimize team workloads, and reduce digital transformation burnout.
Peter Wood, CTO of Spectrum Search, swears by creating a "success signals framework" that combines data-driven metrics with culture-focused indicators. "System uptime and user adoption rates are crucial," he notes, "but so are team satisfaction surveys and employee retention 12-18 months post-change." It was Wood's metrics-driven approach helped ensure the successful rollout of an AI-enhanced recruitment platform recently despite several implementation challenges.
"Tracking candidate satisfaction and running sentiment analysis on employee feedback kept us tuned into how well the change stuck in daily operations." He also advises building or outsourcing a real-time monitoring dashboard that pulls data from HR, project management tools, and performance metrics, to get a live view of how the change is taking root, instead of relying on static, reactive surveys.
Hans De Visser, CPO at Mendix, sees eye-to-eye with Wood on tracking both outputs and inputs. "Success comes from breaking down big goals into SMART key results – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound," he shares. "This keeps the whole team aligned and responsible." He adds that setting a steady review rhythm, like weekly or monthly check-ins, helps maintain momentum and make quick adjustments when things go off track.
At the end of the day, these initiatives won't amount to much if change management doesn't tackle the real business challenges. "There's no one-size-fits-all method, especially with massive shifts like moving from on-premise systems to the cloud," says Tara McGeehan, President, CGI UK and Australia. "Frameworks like ISO 44001 will go a long way in laying a strong foundation and fostering trust-based partnerships that help both clients and partners meet their change management goals more effectively."
