Agile Change Management Scenarios At Microsoft

Alistair Lowe-Norris leads the global strategy for Adoption and Change Management at Microsoft. Read the interview below to hear how he has seen change management grow at Microsoft and how he sees change management making a difference. (Want to learn more about change management at Microsoft? Download the success story). Interview with Alistair Lowe-Norris When did Microsoft start investing in change management? The people in Microsoft have been doing change management for a long while, but it hasn’t been very public. The original group that drove change management started in 2005 and was known as the Business Strategy Consulting Team. This team of 25 individuals focused on helping customers who had bought large amounts of technology get the best use that they could out of it. They worked directly with customers and CXOs at the executive level, helping customers adopt new ways of working with the technology that they had purchased. Around 2009 or 2010, Microsoft realized that change management could be a competitive advantage as a strategic capability. This would require a more comprehensive and scalable change management methodology than what we had been using. Microsoft now has a dedicated team of around 100 people who focus all of their time on adoption and change management, helping customers and partners grow their own capabilities in change management and gain real business value from the products and services that they purchase. What moved Microsoft to pursue an external change management methodology? One of the reasons that we pursued an existing methodology was the standard of excellence that we have set with our customers. We already had our home-grown methodology for change management, which worked very well. However, before we could even have a sensible conversation about the value of change management, we found that our customers were asking in-depth questions about our methodology, the research behind it, and why it was applicable. This obviously slowed our change management work. It made sense to eliminate that problem by moving from our own proprietary approach to change management to an external, globally recognized framework – and we chose Prosci, which we consider the global leader in the professional discipline of change management. We chose Prosci for a number of additional reasons. First, Prosci has a comprehensive set of intellectual property (IP). Second, the Prosci methodology is research-based. Twenty years of experience and research really shines in the IP. Third, Prosci came with a comprehensive set of training and readiness that we could use and customize to grow the capability. Finally, we chose Prosci because of its focus on individual change in addition to organizational change. Some methodologies are purely focused on organizational change, but Prosci has both. The focus on people at the individual level aligns with Microsoft's mission "to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more." How have you seen change management evolve over time at Microsoft? A lot has changed particularly in the last three-and-a-half years. Internally, we’ve certified over 2,250 people in the Prosci methodology. We've also delivered formal change management training to managers and employees, covering at least another 1,000. We've touched over 25,000 people with readiness around change management at some level. So today, change management is spread much more broadly across Microsoft than when we started. How did you support so many practitioners? Our investment in a community of practice and localized change networks has helped us build and support our practitioners. When a change practitioner graduates from the Certification program, they are welcomed into a robust community of practice that includes subject matter experts, monthly meetings, and a network where they can problem-solve and discuss and learn. We also are involved with change management industry associations worldwide – on the board or in individual chapters, sponsoring events and change management knowledge growth around the world. This is one of the values that Microsoft gets from having such a broad community. Because we work with thousands of customers worldwide and we have over the years, we can bring that learning back and we can use it to help Microsoft be better when driving change management projects. You also invested in a robust instructor program to certify many practitioners, correct? Yes. Today Microsoft has more Prosci-Certified Advanced Instructors (PCAIs) than any company in the world. We’re on track to having in excess of 20 PCAIs during the next year. Having PCAIs is huge for our organization. It’s a very, very big step up from Train-the-Trainer graduate to the PCAI designation. A Train-the-Trainer graduate gains the knowledge and tools to teach Prosci’s role-based training programs. But as a PCAI, you have to be good enough to make the material live and breathe with over 70 personalized stories throughout. And your knowledge of the material must be so much deeper. If the power goes out, you must be able to teach the entire three-day certification program from memory – no slides, no material. Just you and a flip chart, which has happened before. We created an instructor development program that would support all PCAI candidates. It includes a mentor and coaching program so that by the time these candidates are ready for their final, official audit from Prosci, Microsoft is confident not only that they will pass, but that they will be a world-class instructor. This is, honestly, what Prosci requires to give someone the title of Prosci-Certified Advanced Instructor. We’ve talked about how you built your practitioner base. How did you bring change management to the rest of the organization? We first published a playbook of the Prosci IP with customized webinars, online training, and a self-serve curriculum that allows people to teach themselves change management. This made it easy to find and use what is most relevant in every situation and role. All of this was packaged up in a living OneNote that updates on an ongoing basis. And we updated our enterprise license with Prosci to support this. Microsoft has access to every piece of Prosci IP. This was crucial for us because we needed to offer our people internally and externally the right IP at the right time. As Prosci releases new IP, the OneNote is updated, and we keep our change management community up-to-date. We are also continually customizing Prosci’s IP to scale and integrate more fully with Microsoft’s internal and external groups. We have created customized webinars and online training that teach the masses about change management and the competitive differentiation change management brings to Microsoft. We’ve also customized formal, in-person training for various audiences from sponsors to managers to champions and project managers, and we’ve accredited these courses with PMI and ACMP. We’re now creating virtual instructor-led training and embedding change management principles into our management course. The management course alone will bring change management to 25,000 managers. How did you bring change management to partners and enterprise customers? We did this in three ways: First, a majority of enterprise customer-facing people inside Microsoft went through training and gained access to tools for talking about change, explaining what it is and why it's important, and for sizing and scoping change projects. Obviously, our consultants can move in where a customer needs Microsoft to engage more heavily. Second, we rolled out adoption and change management content to customer-facing portals. This allows customers and partners to see how to drive adoption and usage inside their organizations using change management principles. Finally, we wanted to help our partners excel at doing change management. Microsoft has tens of thousands of partners that implement Microsoft’s technology with businesses of all sizes. To assist the partner community, we provided them with the change management playbook and put in place the Adoption Services Program for Partners. This allows partners to go and deliver the same adoption services with the same IP that we deliver when we go to customers. What made the difference for change management at Microsoft? It's funny, people always think that training and communication are the ways to solve your change management problem, which they aren’t, as change management requires much more than that. However, we solved the lack of change management in Microsoft by ensuring a strong focus on formal change management training, supported by a strategy and pool of change management professionals and subject matter experts. We got people interested in change management, and now more and more people are asking to get trained. Today, we are embedding change management into Microsoft's lifeblood. Final question: when telling people the difference change management makes, what do you say? That change management creates a competitive advantage for our customers, and it achieves business outcomes and ROI at a greater rate than you would have otherwise seen. We’ve seen this with our customers. After attending a two- or three-day workshop on what adoption and change management is and how to put together what we call an adoption roadmap, customers saw a 450% increase in adoption over customers who didn’t attend. In fact, 80% of those who attended saw increased adoption, and 50% reported a shortened deployment. With change management, we see faster adoption, increased adoption, and increased ROI from that adoption.

AI adoption is keeping change practitioners up at night. It's the challenge most organizations are wrestling with right now—not whether to adopt AI, but how to get people to actually use it. In a recent webinar discussion between Prosci COO Michelle Haggerty and Microsoft's Director of Business Programs Steve Green, a central point emerged: organizations that achieve success with AI adoption do so not by relying solely on advanced technology, but by building robust human capability to drive and sustain implementation. Microsoft has been committed to advancing its change management practices for more than a decade. This sustained effort has resulted in a 450% increase in customer adoption rates and the development of a global network exceeding 10,000 certified change practitioners. To gain first-hand insights from this journey, watch the full webinar recording below or continue reading for a detailed recap. The Numbers That Tell the Story Microsoft's Director of Business Programs Steve Green has spent the past decade building something that most enterprise leaders only dream about: 450% increase in customer adoption rates 80% feedback response rate on change programs—voluntary and anonymous Scaled from an initial target of 600 practitioners to enterprise-wide capability From 25-person change consulting team to 10,000+ certified change practitioners globally But what makes these numbers meaningful is that they represent a fundamental shift in how Microsoft measures success. Microsoft stopped measuring success by whether they deployed technology on time and started measuring whether people actually used it. Redefining Success From Features to Outcomes Green asked practitioners to reflect on their own technology rollouts. "Was the success that you deployed 'it' and you've gone live," he asked, "or is it about the actual usage and that the outcomes are being realized?" This simple question exposes the gap most organizations face. We deploy technology on schedule, check the box, and move to the next project—without ever measuring whether people actually adopted the change or if it delivered business value. Michelle jumped in with something that resonated with listeners: "I think oftentimes our customers or our partners struggle with what is that value that change management returns. What does that look like? How do we make it tangible?" That's the real challenge. Everyone knows change management matters in theory. But when leadership asks for proof, most practitioners can't point to concrete metrics beyond "we deployed on time" or "we completed training sessions." Microsoft figured out how to make the value tangible. They shifted their success metrics entirely—away from implementation schedules and feature rollouts to the people side. Usage rates. Proficiency levels. Actual business outcomes. That's what drove the 450% increase in customer adoption. So how do you actually make this shift in your organization? Three Non-Negotiables for Transformation Success When asked what organizations facing AI adoption challenges should prioritize, Green was emphatic about three things: 1. Define the outcome first "It's great to say, 'the outcome is that we'll have Copilot on everybody's desk.' Great. But is that gonna drive value?" Green emphasized that practitioners must identify the real business outcome before any technology rollout. What are the signals that will confirm you're moving in the right direction? What does success actually look like beyond deployment dates? 2. Secure active sponsorship Leadership sponsorship isn't about executives showing up to kick-off meetings. It's about equipping sponsors to communicate the vision and business reasons for change. Green noted that practitioners often need to "script almost what their role is going to be"—coaching leaders on how to be effective sponsors. 3. Establish measurement systems "How will we measure that we're achieving that outcome?" This question must be answered upfront, not as an afterthought. Microsoft uses both anonymous feedback (achieving 80%+ response rates) and telemetry data to spot challenges early and adapt quickly. Why Humans Matter More Than Ever In The Age of AI One of the most compelling moments in the conversation addressed a question Green receives almost daily: Why keep investing in training humans when AI can generate change management plans? "While I could ask an AI engine, 'Help me drive adoption of Copilot—can you pull together a change management plan for me?' it will give you a plan," Green explained. "But that doesn't mean it will execute, and it doesn't mean that plan is appropriate for your organization." His philosophy is clear: "We are using AI internally to complement, not to replace." Green explained that while AI can draft communications or create initial plans, it cannot: Build the trust necessary for change Understand local context (culture, location, organizational dynamics) Challenge assumptions or stress-test logic Execute change—it only produces artifacts AI helps accelerate time to outcomes and deliver more consistent change management plans, but humans must remain in the loop for all decisions. "Would automated communications from a generic mailbox energize and excite you as a human?" Green asked. The answer is obvious—and it's why Microsoft maintains its massive investment in human capability even as they lead in AI innovation. Building Capability That Scales Microsoft's approach to scaling change capability offers a practical blueprint: Create a foundational baseline: Everyone involved in delivering change can access e-learning, research, and self-study materials. Instructor-led programs provide coaching and facilitation. Develop a common language: When a change manager talks to another change manager anywhere in Microsoft globally, they speak the same vocabulary. Make it practical and action-oriented: Programs aren't about sending people to multi-day training. They're about putting methodology into practice using language appropriate for each audience. As Green noted, "The answer isn't change management. What are you looking to achieve?" Share resources publicly: Microsoft publishes change management resources at adoption.microsoft.com, including success kits, scenario libraries organized by function, and adoption score metrics that go beyond basic usage tracking. The Culture of Continuous Learning Perhaps the most underrated aspect of Microsoft's success is their "learn it all" culture. Green described how the 80%+ voluntary feedback rate on change programs enables continuous adaptation: "I get that feedback, which allows me to then make adaptations for future programs and future deliveries. Because we are using those signals from individuals coupled with telemetry data, we can usually spot when there is a challenge or a dip and react accordingly." This iterative approach—measuring as you go, being curious about what's not working, and pivoting quickly—transforms change management from a one-time project activity into an organizational competency. What This Means for Your Organization The Microsoft story offers clear direction for change practitioners navigating AI adoption and digital transformation: Start with outcomes, not features. Redefine success metrics around usage, proficiency, and business value—not deployment schedules. Invest in human capability at scale. Build common language and foundational competency across everyone involved in change, not just dedicated practitioners. Use AI as complement, not replacement. Leverage AI to accelerate planning and increase consistency, but keep humans central to building trust, understanding context, and driving adoption. Create feedback loops. Build measurement systems that surface challenges early so you can adapt quickly rather than waiting for post-implementation reviews. Make change management accessible. Scale beyond the PMO or change management office to embed capability throughout the organization. The partnership between Microsoft and Prosci over the past 11 years demonstrates what's possible when organizations treat change management as a strategic capability rather than a project checklist. As Green concluded, "Change sticks through people, not through features." In the AI era, that truth matters more than ever. Want to explore how to build enterprise change capability at your organization? Connect with our team to discuss scalable solutions tailored to your transformation goals.