How to Implement Change Successfully: Change Management

Organizational change is a constant and inevitable force in today’s organizations, especially in the age of digital transformation and emerging technologies, when advancements can disrupt entire sectors overnight. An organizational change alters your technology, processes, culture, or a combination of these aspects simultaneously. Most importantly, change impacts people. 

Knowing how to implement change effectively is necessary for business success. At Prosci, we know change done right is how organizations achieve their highest potential. This article explains how teams can implement change effectively by leveraging our proven methodology to support employees. 

Business Importance of Change Implementations  

Change implementations are essential for maintaining a competitive business in evolving industries. They enable organizations to stay ahead of market shifts while continuing to meet consumer demand. Companies that fail to adapt to market demands risk losing relevance, while those that successfully embrace change are better equipped to stand out. The ability to adapt to market trends also ensures that organizations align with customer needs, regulatory requirements, and industry trends. 

Additionally, staying current with new technologies and economic trends is the backbone of a resilient and efficient business. Organizations that use change management to proactively integrate automation, artificial intelligence, and other emergent technologies can better navigate industry disruptions and economic uncertainties while maintaining operational efficiency, ensuring long-term business success. 

3 Steps to Implement Organizational Change Effectively  

Implementing organizational change requires a structured approach to preparing, equipping and supporting individuals through organizational change.  

The Prosci 3-Phase Process is a structured, repeatable and adaptable approach for organizational change management. It guides you through the crucial steps and activities required during change implementations so you can achieve successful change outcomes.  

Prosci 3-Phase Process

Every phase ends with a flexible, customizable and scalable key deliverable that enables you to summarize and communicate the progress of the change to others. 

Here’s a closer look at each phase and how the Prosci 3-Phase Process will help you implement change successfully: 

Phase 1 – Prepare Approach 

The initial phase is designed to position the change for success by developing a customized change management strategy. During this stage, practitioners prepare the change management approach across three stages: 

• Define Success – Clearly articulate what success looks like for the change initiative and what you want to achieve. Align changes with company goals and vision.  

• Define Impact – Identify who will be affected by the change and how they will have to do their jobs differently. 

• Define Approach – Develop a tailored change management strategy that aligns with the project’s objectives to understand what will be required to succeed. 

In addition to defining success, impact and approach, securing the sponsorship and commitment needed to support the change efforts is critical. Prosci research demonstrates that sponsors are essential for implementing change and can make or break the project's success. 

The deliverable for this phase is the Change Management Strategy, capturing the approach needed to achieve success and deliver the desired results. 

Phase 2 – Manage Change 

During this phase, practitioners develop specific plans to help impacted employees and the organization navigate the change. This is where teams bring the business strategy to life and begin moving individuals through the change. It’s core to understanding how to implement change effectively across organizations.  

In this central phase, practitioners will: 

• Plan and Act – Create and implement clear change management plans to prepare, equip and support individuals through the change.  

• Track Performance – Monitor the progress of the change initiative and measure its effectiveness.  

• Adapt Actions –- Make adjustments based on employee feedback and performance data to ensure successful adoption.  

The deliverable for this phase is the Master Change Management Plan, a guiding document for the change management team that consolidates individual plans. 

Phase 3 – Sustain Outcomes 

In the third and final phase of the Prosci 3-Phase Process, the organization focuses on sustaining the change outcomes. Activities take place in the following three stages: 

• Review Performance – Assess the overall impact of the change and whether the desired outcomes have been achieved.  

• Activate Sustainment – Implement strategies to maintain the change over time, including reinforcement activities.  

• Transfer Ownership –To ensure ongoing commitment and sustainability, the responsibility for the change should be transferred to the appropriate person or stakeholders.  

The Change Management Closeout is the final deliverable of this process, which documents the change performance status and prepares the organization to sustain change outcomes. 

Prosci 3-Phase Process

Essential Activities for Improving Implementation Success  

Implementing change requires intentionality and strategy. Focusing on the people side of the change is necessary for the best results. This section outlines essential activities you can use to improve your change implementation success. 

Conduct gap analyses 

A gap analysis improves change implementation success because it helps identify discrepancies between the current state and the desired future state. Conducting gap analyses at multiple points throughout the change management process helps measure progress and enables teams to identify areas requiring targeted intervention to increase the success of the change implementation. 

Address employee concerns while emphasizing the benefits of the change  

Changes can be stressful for impacted individuals. Uncertainty about the change, changes to work habits, and other personal factors can cause employee resistance to change and hinder the progress of the implementation.  

The Prosci ADKAR Model educates employees on why a change is happening, its benefits, and how it will impact their roles so that they can implement it in their work. 

Empower employees and leaders in their change roles  

Change implementations require individuals in key roles to engage with the change and coordinate their efforts in impactful ways. Employee-facing roles, including sponsors and people managers, must be prepared to interact directly with individuals impacted by the change. Enabling roles like change practitioners and project managers develop and coordinate plans to support the employee-facing roles during change.  

Neither group is more important than the other, but this coordinated system of key roles achieves the change outcomes. The collective impact of these groups leads to implementation success. 

Monitor, evaluate and adjust 

Practitioners use the Prosci Change Triangle (PCT) Model during implementation to monitor, track and improve project health. Measuring and monitoring effectiveness at these three performance levels helps create clarity and alignment on what your change aims to deliver. The results of these assessments and tracking metrics allow you to evaluate how the change is progressing. You can use this data and employee feedback to adjust your actions, keeping the implementation on track. 

Tips for People Leaders: Best Practices for Implementing Change 

Sponsors and people managers are the two roles that interact directly with individuals who need to change.  

Active and visible sponsorship has consistently been cited as the top contributor to success with change management in Prosci’s Best Practices in Change Management research for over two decades. Sponsors execute the ABCs—an acronym for the three roles a sponsor must perform to be an effective leader of change. Sponsors must: 

• Actively and visibly participate throughout the life of the project  

• Build a coalition of support  

• Communicate, support, and promote the change to employees 

Managers and supervisors—or people managers—are essential during any change. They play five key roles:  

1. Communicator  
2. Liaison  
3. Advocate  
4. Resistance manager 
5. Coach  

Managers who understand and execute the five CLARC roles significantly impact employees and can help them move past barriers to adoption during implementation.  

Successful Implementations Using Prosci’s Methodology 

Grupo Peña Verde: Technological Transformation 

To stay competitive, Grupo Peña Verde partnered with Prosci to implement a new, comprehensive IT system. The transformation was critical to improving operational efficiency and remaining competitive in a rapidly evolving market. Using our Prosci Methodology, a custom solution, and workshops to equip team members with the needed skills, Grupo Peña Verde overcame eroded employee trust from poorly executed changes, leading to significantly higher adoption rates with the new IT system over previous initiatives. 

Microsoft Investor Relations: Flawless Earnings Release 

The Microsoft Investor Relations team embarked on replacing a legacy technology platform for delivering time-critical quarterly earnings releases. Knowing the change was complex, they chose to leverage our long-standing partnership with them and their training in the Prosci Methodology to facilitate the adoption of the new platform and deliver a flawless earnings release. 

Change Implementation FAQs  

How do you implement change with a team? 

There is no right or wrong structure for building a change management team. However, your team should be optimized for collaboration, information, and resource sharing. Consider these four structures and which one might work best for your organization.  

How do I answer employee questions about change?  

People always have questions during organizational changes. Preparing leaders and managers to answer commonly asked questions can help them support people through their transitions so they can implement change successfully.  

What are the main challenges of implementing change? 

Prosci research reveals five common obstacles in change management:  

1. Lack of executive support and active sponsorship
2. Lack of effective communication led to misalignment 
3. Lack of change buy-in and solution support created resistance
4. Limited knowledge and resources for change management
5. Change-resistant culture and attitude 

Implementing Change, Achieving Success  

Successful organizational change implementations require focusing on the people side of change and using a change management approach like the Prosci Methodology to deliver outcomes. We can empower your team and implement change to help your business thrive. No one delivers on change success like Prosci.