Research consistently supports the need to align leadership approaches with the unique needs of faculty, staff and students to achieve success. But,according to the National Student Clearinghouse, universities and colleges face challenges on a much larger scale.
Post-secondary enrollment is over a million students below pre-pandemic levels
The number of students dropping out before completing a degree rose to over 40 million
Only 3.6 million college and university students graduated last year, a four-year low
Leaders in higher education are now tasked with improving these poor outcomes while undergoing significant changes to keep pace in a transforming landscape—from incorporating remote learning opportunities to integrating new technologies.According to EDUCAUSE, a third of surveyed institutions increased their central IT operating expenditure by over 30% between 2022 and 2023.
In this context, it’s clear that the leaders in higher education need to expand their focus to embrace a systemicchange management approachthat allows for more.
What it Means to Be an Effective Leader in the Changing Higher Education Landscape
Leaders in higher education are as diverse and multifaceted as the institutions they represent. The context of their work is equally dynamic—institutional leaders navigate a landscape of entrenched traditions, cultural change, and the relentless tide of technological innovation.
Key academic leaders, such as university presidents, provosts, deans and department chairs, are the primary sponsors of change in higher education—not to mention key C-suite stakeholders across finance, human resources, IT and academic departments. These leaders authorize major transformations and also play a major role in helping their institution realize the desired benefits of a digital transformation or policy overhaul.
Specifically, these academic leaders help coordinate the change effort from a high level, engaging constantly with project and people leaders across academic and administrative departments.
It’s crucial to remember that key stakeholders—including students, faculty, administrative staff and well-funded academics—also play an important role during times of change. While these individuals may not be the initiators of change, some are critical influencers during change, and all of them need to adopt the change for it to be successful.
Unfortunately, there are many challenges facing both the primary sponsors and key change agents in academia as these institutions try to keep up with the changing education landscape.
The Challenges of Leading Change in Academia
The unique culture of higher education makes the change process arduous. Unlike organizations in the business world, university and college leaders must contend with a range of unique attributes while trying to implement new policies, initiatives or infrastructure changes.
Those leading or sponsoring change initiatives in higher education often come up against many of the following issues:
Decentralized decision-making – Complex and layered governance can slow decision-making and dilute accountability. Faculty governance means deans and department chairs can have high power and autonomy.
Entrenched culture – Many leading academic institutions have been around for centuries, creating deeply rooted traditions and highly esteemed values. Furthermore, tenured faculty can often be more resistant to change than non-tenured counterparts.
Varied interests and capacity – There can be large disparities between departments regarding priorities, budgets and values. For instance, business, engineering and medical schools often have more financial resources and sway than other schools and institutes.
Multiple bottom lines – Return on Investment (ROI) is defined differently in the higher education context, especially with public funding. These institutions have the typical financial goals of large organizations but also prioritize non-financial outcomes like retention, graduation rates, growth in sponsored research, faculty recruitment/retention, faculty recognition and national rankings. The multiple stakeholders beyond students and faculty vying to influence leadership goals and decision-making can be overwhelming—e.g., alums, donors, city/state lawmakers, federal regulators, federal grant agencies, and accreditors.
Reputational damage – Many universities and colleges prioritize maintaining a strong reputation in academia and the public eye. Key stakeholders may resist significant change if they believe that failure to achieve outcomes will negatively impact that reputation.
Increased risk of losing talent – With higher education’s unique factors of tenured faculty, entrenched culture and extreme decentralization, poorly managed change efforts are more likely to lead to loss of valuable talent in key areas throughout the university.
These issues all contribute to the dismal state of change in higher education, where over 70% of large-scale initiatives fail to achieve desired outcomes. So, how can universities and colleges enact successful change in an environment where governance structures and cultures are so resistant to change?
Empowering Higher Education Leaders to Enact Change
The sheer variation in governance structures, leadership roles, and levels of autonomy interacting in academia precludes using a one-size-fits-all change management approach. It requires a structured, flexible approach to managing the change and a nuanced understanding of the institution's culture, the specific change and those impacted.
With 25 years of applied research in organizational change, Prosci has developed a framework that adapts and scales to the needs of these complex organizations and their leaders. In that time, our team has collected over two decades of longitudinal research on the dynamics of change within large institutions.
Here are three of the biggest findings observed over this time:
1. Active and visible sponsorship is the number one contributor to successful change management
Since 1998, one factor has led the way in Prosci benchmarking reports in terms of the biggest contributor to change management success—primary sponsorship.
These individuals ultimately sign off on investment in change and, while they may not lead the initiative directly, play an indispensable role in determining its outcome through active and visible promotion. Our research shows that primary sponsors who follow the ABCs of sponsorship—active and visible participation, building a coalition of sponsorship, and communicating support—strongly correlate with achieved outcomes.
2. The use of a structured change management approach is the second strongest predictor of successful change
Outside of effective primary sponsorship, there’s no more important contributor to successful organizational change than a structured change management approach.
Researchers, industry experts and consultants have developed methodologies, often based on change theory, that can be flexibly applied across different organizational contexts—even those as complex as higher education. Prominent examples include Kurt Lewin’s change model, Kotter’s 8-Step Change Process, and the Prosci ADKAR® Model.
Prosci research shows that organizations that apply effective change management are seven times more likely to meet or exceed objectives.
3. Middle management is the leading employee cohort in terms of resistance to change
Prosci research consistently points to middle managers as the most resistant to change within the organization. This resistance can culminate in technical system changes, an emotional reaction to a changing power structure, and other technical and human factors. Considering middle managers are the connective tissue between the upper level of a company and its front-line workers, overcoming this resistance is vital.
Over time, we’ve also discovered and tested a range of solutions for overcoming resistance to change within this central tier of the organization.
The Prosci Methodology
The Prosci Change Management Methodology stands at the forefront of enabling organizations, including higher education institutions, to navigate the complexities of change with a structured and practical approach. At the core of the Prosci Methodology and models is the understanding that successful change isn’t just about the technical solution being implemented but also about the people involved and being impacted.
Here are the structured, scalable and adaptable approaches Prosci takes to driving organizational change:
PCT Model – The Prosci Project Change Triangle (PCT) Model is a framework that highlights these four critical aspects of successful change efforts:
Leadership/sponsorship
Project management
Change management
A shared definition of success
This model underscores the importance of a shared definition of success across these areas. In higher education, leaders need to actively sponsor and support change initiatives, aligning them with the institution's strategic goals and managing the people side of change.
ADKAR Model – The Prosci ADKAR Model is a goal-oriented tool that guides individual and organizational change through five key outcomes:
Awareness of the need for change
Desire to participate and support the change
Knowledge of how to change
Ability to implement required skills and behaviors
Reinforcement to sustain the change
This model is handy for leaders in higher education, as it helps them understand and address the individual change journey their faculty, staff, students and other stakeholders experience.
Prosci 3-Phase Process – The Prosci 3-Phase Process is a structured yet adaptable framework designed to guide organizations through successful change management. It divides the change process into three key phases:
Phase 1 – Prepare Approach – This phase involves defining the change strategy, preparing the change management team and developing the sponsorship model.
Phase 2 – Manage Change – During this phase, the team develops and implements plans for communication, sponsor activities, training, coaching and resistance management.
Phase 3 – Sustain Outcomes – The final phase focuses on collecting and analyzing feedback, diagnosing gaps, managing resistance, and implementing corrective actions and recognition.
The PCT Model, ADKAR Model, and 3-Phase Process complement each other to create change. It's particularly relevant in higher education, where institutional challenges and governance structures greatly influence the success of change initiatives.
Prosci Drives Change at Leading Institutions
The Prosci Methodology has guided prestigious institutions like Texas A&M and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) through significant change initiatives, demonstrating the power of adaptive leadership and strategic change management.
Texas A&M University (TAMU)
The Texas A&M University System needed to overhaul its 35-year-old legacy payroll system to a cloud-based version—a process that would impact 200,000 students, faculty and retirees across numerous organizations. In addition to the technical challenges this represented, the project leader faced long review cycles, a lack of alignment on the ideal solution and a decentralized process for determining finances. What appeared to be a technical process was a change that affected every level of the university ecosystem's operations.
The Prosci team stepped in to facilitate this transition, recognizing the need for a leadership approach that was directive, inclusive and repeatable. Using the Prosci 3-Phase Process and ADKAR Model to guide the process, Prosci helped TAMU’s Executive Director of Project Management with the following:
Identification of the over 10,000 stakeholders most impacted by the project and an assessment of their leadership styles and training needs.
Proactive management of likely areas of resistance, including repeated communication of upcoming changes and access to technical coaching.
Strengthening ties between the A&M System sponsors and the Chief HR and Financial Officers from each university and agency through an Executive Advisory Committee (EAC).
Application of the ADKAR Model to create training curriculum and eLearning modules for full-time employees, HR liaisons and managers.
Facilitate collaboration between the EAC and key change agents in middle management to develop a communications plan that resonates with all impacted parties.
Read the full case study for a closer look at how TAMU’s $4.5-billion higher education network successfully navigated change in a complex, decentralized environment.
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
UCSD, a top-15 research university worldwide, needed to change numerous processes and systems to create a more collaborative cross-discipline environment. This plan would impact all aspects of the campus. University leadership knew that a comprehensive change management plan was required to ensure that the tens of thousands affected by the transition would receive support throughout. This required a balance of leadership styles, blending democratic and transformational approaches to engage a diverse academic community.
UC San Diego partnered with Prosci to speed up the transition process and leverage our decades of experience enacting complex change. Working closely with the Staff Education and Development team, Prosci helped drive change in the following ways:
Facilitating award-winning development days that empowered 90% of the 500 attendees with new knowledge and tools
Building off the success of development days by promoting and regularly hosting change management training and services on campus
Augmenting change management training with smaller-scale webinars based on pressing issues like resistance to change and sponsor engagement
UCSD's initiative led to a more change-capable organization, where the principles of change management became embedded in the university's culture, paving the way for ongoing and future transformations.
Read the full case study to see how Prosci helped UC San Diego empower key leaders to embed change management materials throughout their campus and foster a pro-change environment.
Training and Supporting Key Change Agents in Higher Education
Prosci empowers leaders in various organizational contexts, including higher education, to drive and manage change effectively. Prosci has been applying research on best practices in change management for over 25 years, and we base our structured methodology and analytic tools on that research.
With decades of experience, Prosci offers comprehensive enterprise training and supportive advisory services tailored to meet the unique challenges and dynamics of leading institutions like Texas A&M and UCSD. These resources are invaluable for institutions seeking to foster transformational leadership and successfully navigate the complexities of change.
To explore how Prosci can assist your institution in harnessing effective leadership for change management, visit the Enterprise Training and Advisory Services pages for more information and guidance.
Prosci
As the global leader in change management, Prosci helps organizations turn complex change into something people understand—so they can act with confidence and deliver results. Built on more than 30 years of research, Prosci partners with enterprises to scale change, enable adoption, and realize outcomes across complex transformations, including ERP and AI. Our work brings clarity and structure to change, helping leaders move from strategy to action and ensure results endure. That’s what change done right looks like.
Learning is rarely a one-time endeavor. While you can enroll employees in a program to develop new skills, the reality is the world doesn’t stand still. Technological advancements and changing market conditions mean you must prioritize ongoing professional development to stay viable. However, implementing new training programs is challenging. Some employees undoubtedly prefer to keep things the way they are. Others may be willing to change but lack the proper training to develop their skills. Establishing a learning and development (L&D) function and combining it with effective change management can help navigate these challenges. In this article, we’ll define L&D and explain how investing in employee training can improve change readiness. We’ll also look at how you can drive change success with a Prosci License. What Is Learning and Development (L&D)? L&D is an organizational function that creates programs to help groups of employees develop specific skills. It improves individual job performance, attracts and retains talent, and helps companies adapt to change. HR is typically responsible for rolling out these programs to equip individuals with the skills and knowledge to excel in their current roles. L&D is more than just checking off boxes; it helps create and foster a learning culture, unlocking your employees’ potential. It can also keep your company from stagnating or becoming complacent. Organizations that invest in learning & development report 11% greater profitability and experience improved employee retention. By understanding the fundamentals of L&D, you can see how it forms the foundation for equipping employees to handle change effectively. But to fully leverage its potential, it’s important to distinguish between learning and development. Difference between learning and development Learning and development help your company develop a capable workforce, but the two are slightly different: Learning in the workplace focuses on acquiring skills and knowledge that directly relate to specific tasks. An example is onboarding new employees and providing formal training on the company’s tools and software. Development is an ongoing and continuous process that encompasses broader career development, typically for future career opportunities. An example is a leadership workshop for mid-level managers to upskill. Recognizing the differences between these two components allows organizations to design programs that address both immediate needs and long-term organizational goals. With this foundation, let’s explore why investing in your L&D function is a strategic priority for leaders. Why Leaders Should Invest in Their L&D Function By investing in learning & development, you can prepare your workforce to adapt to change and feel supported throughout the process. But this isn’t the only reason to do it. Here’s why developing your L&D function and investing in ongoing learning needs to be a priority. Fills skill gaps Integrating advanced technologies like AI can enhance your operations. However, you need skilled individuals to implement and see digital transformation initiatives through. Otherwise, you’re unlikely to reap the full benefits that such initiatives offer. The problem? The global talent shortage makes finding talented individuals more challenging than ever. Seventy-five percent of employers report difficulty filling key roles. Organizations can avoid being left behind amid rapid technological advancements by investing more resources into their learning and development (L&D) functions. This enables them to upskill existing employees and fill critical skill gaps. Attracts and retains talent Here’s an uncomfortable fact: Seven in ten employees are actively (33.4%) or passively (37.3%) job hunting. That means some of your talent has one foot out the door and may jump ship if a better opportunity presents itself. There are many ways to retain talent—from offering flexible working arrangements to providing employment benefits. Another is a robust L&D function that continually sharpens and develops your employees’ skillsets. Seventy-six percent of employees indicate they are more likely to stay with companies that offer continuous learning. Highlighting your learning and development in job listings is also a great way to attract top talent. It can make your company more appealing to potential candidates who are narrowing down their options. Signals internal mobility Employees don’t want to feel “stuck” in their current position; they want to grow their careers and move into future roles with new responsibilities. However, employers aren’t doing enough to promote internal mobility to those with high career aspirations. Just one in five employees feels confident about their ability to make an internal career move. L&D programs signal to employees that your company is invested in their professional growth. They also communicate that internal development opportunities are available to them. Investing in L&D addresses current skill gaps and positions your organization to attract and retain top talent while signaling a commitment to internal mobility. Let’s examine how L&D enhances change readiness and supports employees through transitions. How L&D Improves Change Readiness The world continues to change rapidly, making change readiness—how prepared, willing and able a company is to implement a change—more critical than ever. You don’t have to look far to see what can happen when companies become complacent or refuse to change. Here’s how learning and development can help companies build change readiness and guide individuals through the transition. Prevents resistance to change Resistance to change is a natural response. People are often more likely to stick with current ways of working because they are familiar and comfortable. According to our research, the top reason people resist change is because organizations fail to communicate the “why” behind a change. They expect impacted employees to accept changes without involving them or getting their feedback. However, this approach ignores the people side of change and, as a result, doesn't create the strong outcomes organizations need to be successful. When employees receive the proper functional training, they develop the knowledge and skills they need to do the work associated with a change. Additionally, with change management training, you can guide employees through new changes and prevent resistance. Our Best Practices in Change Management research identified mid-level managers as the most resistant group during change. To effectively address this resistance, it is crucial to involve them early in change-related decisions and support them in acquiring the five elements of the Prosci ADKAR® Model—Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. These are essential for fostering their commitment and ensuring successful change adoption. Most Resistant Groups Change management training provides L&D units with a structured framework for supporting and guiding individual employees through periods of change. Bridges the gap between knowledge and ability Understanding how to do something and putting it into practice is quite different. Even with the knowledge to perform a specific task, becoming proficient can take some time. This is known as the knowledge-to-ability gap. Through hands-on functional training and practical workshops, employees can develop the skills they need to close knowledge gaps. However, you can’t send employees to a training session and expect changes to “stick” straight away. Even as you foster ability in impacted individuals, potential challenges that can arise include: Psychological or mental blocks Inadequate time developing skills Habits that resist desired changes With change management training, L&D teams can help impacted employees address these roadblocks. Strategies can include providing access to subject-matter experts and allowing sufficient time to develop their skills. Creates an environment that welcomes change You need to nurture and embrace change to stay competitive. This starts by cultivating a growth mindset—the belief that abilities can be developed through effort. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, agrees: “Our industry does not respect tradition. It only respects innovation. The first step to building the right company culture is to have a growth mindset.” A robust L&D function can help organizations build change readiness by fostering a growth mindset and creating an environment that views change as a natural part of growth. Some examples include: Making learning a part of daily work through regular skill-building exercises Providing a safe space for employees to experiment without fear of judgment Rewarding employees who take initiative on ideas, even if they don’t pan out Cultivating a culture of change prepares employees for the future, but sometimes, they need additional support. That’s where change agents play a pivotal role. Develops change agents who champion change Sometimes, employees need external support to help them adapt to new changes. This is where change agents can help. They serve as advocates for change, acting as a catalyst to increase commitment from those who must adopt and use new initiatives in their work. Their responsibilities include: Communicating the “why” behind a change and its impact Listening to impacted employees, answering questions, and providing feedback Encouraging and supporting employees during the transition Identifying potential roadblocks and taking steps to address them Working with leadership to apply structured change management strategies Our research reveals that organizations that use networks of change agents are more successful at achieving project objectives than those that don’t. Impact of Using a Change Agent Network (CAN) on Meeting or Exceeding Project Objectives With the right change management training, L&D units can identify and support change agents who can champion new initiatives and guide individuals through transitions. Common L&D Training Methods Companies employ various methods to train and upskill employees effectively, particularly in the context of change management. These include: Instructor-led training (ILT) – This learning solution involves a subject-matter expert leading in-person sessions. In a change management workshop, for example, leaders can learn to apply our ADKAR Model with their teams, enhancing their ability to manage transitions. On-the-job training – This method provides hands-on instruction, allowing employees to develop skills while performing their jobs. For instance, a new software implementation may involve employees receiving real-time guidance from experienced colleagues as they navigate the new system. eLearning – Employees and remote teams can learn at their own pace through eLearning, including virtual classrooms and interactive training. Your company might provide access to training modules and other online resources on change management principles, enabling employees to revisit materials as needed. Employees can view their learning objectives and track completion rates as they work through learning materials. Mentoring and coaching – This involves one-on-one guidance from experienced professionals. A senior leader might mentor a project manager on effective people engagement, ensuring that the change initiative aligns with business goals. Targeted training – Customized learning programs are designed to address specific roles or skill gaps. For example, a tailored program might focus on developing communication skills and other organizational skills for managers to effectively convey change-related messages to their teams. Each of these methods plays a critical role in preparing employees for change. However, training is most effective when tailored to the unique needs of different employee groups. Creating Tailored Learning Programs for Different Employee Groups To maximize the impact of new training programs, learning strategies should be tailored to fit the experience levels and career trajectories of different employee groups. Entry-level employees New employees rarely hit the ground running right away. They need time to learn the tools they will use for their work and internalize your company’s processes. Eighty-six percent of employees need some ramp-up time before diving into their roles. L&D for entry-level employees may focus on developing an onboarding process that helps new hires ramp up and prepare for their roles. It may also involve implementing a “buddy system”—pairing a new hire with an existing employee—to aid in the transition. L&D can encourage change readiness by offering hands-on learning programs and providing feedback to boost employee performance. Mid-level professionals L&D can support employees in mid-level positions as they move into more senior roles through: Relevant certifications in areas like HR, IT and project management to deepen expertise Leadership development workshops to build management skills Industry conferences to stay current with the latest trends L&D units can also add change management into their training to equip mid-level professionals with a framework, like the Prosci Methodology, to guide impacted employees through change. Senior management Continuous learning and development programs are critical for senior managers as their decisions have far-reaching impacts. L&D for this group may involve: One-on-one mentoring sessions Leadership retreats Peer learning groups L&D can support change readiness for senior management by defining project success and measuring key performance indicators to determine the impact of such initiatives. But regardless of the level of seniority, L&D programs are more likely to succeed when organizations focus on the people side of change. How a Prosci License Drives Change Success There’s a reason why 80% of Fortune 100 companies use the Prosci Methodology—it offers a structured framework for building change capabilities at the individual and enterprise levels. Here’s how a Prosci License can help your L&D function implement change management. We include some real-life examples that illustrate its effectiveness. Customize the Prosci Methodology to align with your culture The Prosci Methodology is designed for flexibility. You can customize and adapt our methodology and materials to keep your change management process and materials consistent with your organization and brand. An international bank recognized the importance of developing its change management capabilities. The company already had a process-based capability framework but lacked the capabilities needed to manage change. After evaluating different methods, the bank’s Organizational Effectiveness (OE) team opted for the Prosci Methodology. The bank adapted the Prosci Methodology into its existing internal training structures and customized our materials to standard change management. This helped establish a “common language” across geographic locations. The use of electronic delivery channels enabled the company to instantly deliver change-related communications to many individuals. The results? The bank elevated change capability across the organization and boosted employee engagement. Integrate change management into existing processes A Prosci license enables you to easily integrate role-based training into your organization’s culture and embed the methodology into existing change processes. A global manufacturing company had a strong track record for project management, but it lacked the change capabilities to support new strategic goals. So it turned to Prosci. After acquiring a Prosci License, the company created an enterprise change management plan, which included integrating change capabilities into its business processes. The plan also included role-based change management training. During this training deployment, two executives made the strategic decision to integrate change management into their business units. This was a key turning point. Other leaders followed suit over the next few years and embarked on similar journeys. Amplify and scale change across the organization At Prosci, we provide organizations with the resources to scale change management. These include proven frameworks to enable systemic change, standardized procedures to ensure consistency, and training materials you can customize to suit your needs. A multinational logistics company recognized its acquisition and transformation initiatives would require significant change. However, with six business units and over 6,300 employees across multiple countries, managing changes on such a massive scale wouldn’t be easy. The company selected the Prosci Methodology for its results-oriented approach and comprehensive training materials. After working with Prosci Advisors to determine the organization’s level of change management maturity, the Change Leadership (CL) department began building an awareness campaign. This involved distributing videos on the company’s intranet explaining our ADKAR Model and providing project-specific training to impacted individuals. Leadership selected four projects to apply the Prosci 3-Phase Process to demonstrate the benefits of change management before scaling out. The results exceeded expectations. In the first year, the company grew its organizational change maturity from 1.8 to 3.0 (on a 5-point scale). It also increased commitment from senior leaders and expanded change management across more areas of the organization. Grow Your Change Management Capability Investing in learning and development can supercharge employee engagement and elevate organizational performance levels across the board. But that’s not all; it also makes your organization more agile and ready for change. Imagine having the tools and resources to prepare your team to thrive during upcoming transitions. With a Prosci License, you can specifically tailor your L&D initiatives to focus on change management. This allows you to embed effective change management strategies into the very fabric of your organization. By harnessing the power of Prosci training and resources, you empower your team to navigate the people side of change with confidence and skill.
Tim Talks is a series of short videos featuring conversations between Tim Creasey, our Chief Innovation Officer, and the people of Prosci. Whether you're a senior leader sponsoring the effort to build enterprise change capability or a practitioner deploying change at the project level, you will find something helpful in these videos: context for the ADKAR Model and Prosci Methodology, trends in change management, answers to your FAQs, and other topics that matter to leaders of change like you. Today I'm talking to Tim about an organizational leader's strategic role in enterprise change management. One of things that defines Prosci is that our mission is to help organizations build their own change management capabilities, so I want to explore that. First, Tim, why should leaders care about building change management capability? Leaders in the organization are charged with setting direction. They decide who we want to be as an organization in the next three years, in the next five years, in next 50 years. Setting strategy is creating change for the organization. If you're a senior leader and you want to arrive at this strategic destination you're painting for the organization, you must equip the organization to successfully bring to life the changes necessary for that strategic direction. The research tells us and our experience shows us that delivering change outcomes requires bringing people along. And so, change management capability for an executive is a way to achieve the strategic direction they're setting for the organization. It's part of what they're responsible for. Is your organization experiencing critical and ongoing changes? Learn why building enterprise change capability is a smart investment in our eBook. Why do leaders need to be explicit about their support for building change management and capability? Why is that important? Great question, Susie. I've started to play with a phrase I call, "Getting past the head nod." A head nod usually indicates that people are saying, "Oh, yeah, I see where you're going. Yeah." But real commitment lies past the head nod. Change management is sitting in an interesting space right now. Even five years ago, change practitioners felt like we had to justify our existence. Now, people are saying, "Oh, something went wrong. We need change management." The pendulum has swung almost completely the other way. But now we run the risk of this sort of lip-service, head-nod support for change management from leaders and people throughout the organization who say, "Oh, the people side of change. That's important, that matters." I think where it gets interesting is when we get past the head nod and people ask, "Is change management important enough for us to invest in and work on?" Senior leaders are essential to demonstrating that to the organization. Not just that the people side of change is important—everybody nods their head there—but the people side of change is important enough that we are going to invest the time, the energy, and the resources. Now we have 20+ years of research telling them that it is in fact important enough. So, it's getting senior leaders to be that voice that says, "This is crucial to me as a leader, to us as an organization, and to you as a successful member of this organization." Beyond explicit support, what can senior leaders do to help build capability? I think there are two pieces here. One is how they show up each day. Leaders have to demonstrate great change leadership. They need to demonstrate what sponsorship looks like. They need to ask probing questions like, "Are we preparing our people for this change?" The way the leader shows up each and every day, demonstrates to the organization the value they're placing on adoption and usage above and beyond the value they're speaking to. How they show up is important. The second piece is carving out the resources and focus to grow the capability in and of itself because this is what we watch practitioners run into all the time. I'm sure you're finding this on the road, right, Susie? For example, we have a practitioner and client who's been tasked with growing capability and they're going to be the change management lead on three projects. So they've got three projects they're juggling over here and trying to grow capability over there. And every single time, when push comes to shove, the "building capability" ball gets dropped because the three projects over here are keeping the lights on. They're the important initiatives going on right now. If we don't make the time and space to grow change capability, we're never going to benefit from that competency. One of the things leaders can do to grow change capability, one of the most important things they can do, is actually charter and carve off and create the time, space and resources to actually grow the capability. Because it doesn't happen off the side of the desk. For more short video content, sign up for our YouTube channel.
