Change is hard. We all know this. Whether it’s implementing a data warehouse, adopting an analytics tool, restructuring a team, or shifting company culture, the path from where you are to where you want to be is rarely a straight line. But here’s the thing: change doesn’t have to be chaotic. With the right framework and the right people committed to the process, you can turn organizational transformation universally from a painful exercise into a powerful catalyst for growth. 

The Three Pillars of Change Leadership

Before we dive into the playbook, let’s establish a quick foundation. There are plenty of change management methodologies and frameworks that have proven successful over the years. I intend to collate my own understanding of these researched approaches to help drill down into a 5-minute brief that can be used as an immediate takeaway. 

I believe successful Change Management rests on these three critical pillars: 

Delivery Leadership ensures more broadly that the actual work gets done and outcomes are achieved through project management and goal-specific planning.  

Thought Leadership provides the vision, strategy and intellectual framework that guides the actual change through ideas, challenges and industry trends. 

Execution Leadership translates into holistic and long-term system design that focuses on building out the capabilities that bridge strategy and results. 

Without all three pillars working in unison, your change initiatives and objectives may suffer delays or worse fall flat. 

At a high level, I’ve had personal success in change management by keeping it simple: Identify the vision, the plan, and the follow-through all wrapped in good communication. Now, let’s take that and break it down further into four steps so that it’s easier to analyze, synthesize and realize the desired change and its subsequent outcome. 

Step 1: Build Your Change Team

The first moving part of any change initiative is assembling the right people. You need a key representative from each team or department that will be affected by the change. These aren’t just names on an org chart. These are your change agents. These folks will champion the effort within their respective areas. 

Each team member should clearly understand their role in the change process and put their action items down for accountability. This isn’t about creating more meetings. This is about establishing ownership. When someone knows what they’re responsible for and sees their name attached to specific deliverables, the abstract concept of change becomes real and manageable. 

Step 2: Define What Success Looks Like

Once your team’s change agents have been assembled, spend time together going through what good change can look like. What does the end state represent? What behaviors will stay the same or be different? What processes will be improved? Paint the picture in detail so others can know what they are buying into. 

Just as important: Identify the risks. What might cause the change to fail? Where are the potential pitfalls? What resistance might you encounter? By addressing these questions upfront, you’re not being negative. You’re being strategic. Anticipating obstacles before they become roadblocks can keep the efforts fluid. 

Step 3: Create Your Action Plan

Now it’s time to get tactical. Develop a concrete action plan that answers two fundamental questions: What will the change be, and how long will it take? 

Break down the larger initiative into smaller chunks of achievable milestones. Assign deadlines through Monday.com or, dare I say, a spreadsheet. Identify dependencies. Make sure everyone understands not just what needs to get done, but when it needs be done by and who’s responsible for making it all happen. Include color-coded deliverables or smileys as tasks are being accomplished. Don’t let your efforts struggle due to a brilliant vision but no clear roadmap to get there. 

Step 4: Stay Consistent with Daily and Weekly Actions

Here’s the truth about change management: The real work happens after the green flag is waved. Once the change has started, success relies entirely on people staying consistent with their required actions toward the initiative. 

Consistency is represented by the tortoise defeating the hare. Grand gestures and big announcements matter far less than the small, repeated actions that move the needle forward day after day. Repeated behaviors create habits. And habits anchored around operational changes give involuntary momentum toward sustained outcomes. 

And that’s it. Those are the key elements to get you through your next technology migration, or system adoption, or bringing new people or platforms together from mergers and acquisitions. It’s not rocket science, but make sure you define what the prize is and ensure everyone has an eye on that prize from kickoff through completion. 

Oh, and don’t forget these two additional superpowers: 

Power of Face-to-Face

Can I be honest about something: Checklists and Zoom/Teams calls can only get you so far as it relates to change. For me, technology is a tool, not a solution. The true power of change management lives in the people who are leading the efforts toward an initiative. 

That is why face-to-face collaboration is essential. When people get together in person, something shifts. The spotlight on collaboration intensifies. Ideas flow more freely. Problems get solved faster. Trust grows. People working with other people becomes the means to accelerate change management in ways that virtual and digital meetings alone cannot. Prioritize human connection because that’s where the magic still happens. 

Power of Visibility

One way I’ve experienced a failed change management is when it happens behind closed doors or in silos. Bring change to light early. Be transparent. Develop a timeline to help make the effort into something real. And lastly make it visible to your organization as a whole, allowing others to offer feedback and input, which ensures broader ownership of the initiative by individuals who feel they have a personal stake in the change as well. 

When everyone can see the same roadmap, when everyone knows where they are in the journey and where they’re headed next, accountability naturally flows into the process. A checkered flag for all to see will build excitement. This is the shift from talking about change to visibly seeing it done. From intention to commitment. From saying “someday” to “today.” 

The Finish Line

Change management isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress. We all know that AI is banging down every corporate door to be let in. Change is imminent everywhere and all at once. Companies will need the right people and leaders in place to help align common goals and define a shared plan of action. They also need partners who can offer change management best practices to go along with their subject-matter expertise.  

InterWorks invests heavily into Change Management by having leadership regularly complete certifications offered by Prosci. This credential trains the individual on being a successful change agent first, followed by proven phased processes as an output. We can attest to the positive results that have come from those trainings. There is direct value to our clients as we ensure maximum advantage is given toward every service engagement. 

At the end of the day, change isn’t just about implementing the next new thing. It’s about an investment in people and in a shared vision. It’s about crossing a finish line and feeling stronger than you started, as goals become realized. Want to chat more about how to make adopting AI or data platform decisions stick in your organization? Let’s connect.