Iterative Processes With Change Management: The Best of Both

Let’s face it: change is seldom a linear process. Shifting attitudes and old ways of working don’t happen overnight—new processes are often imperfect at first and need adjusting over time. That’s where an iterative approach can offer a distinct advantage.

The iterative process enables people and the organizations they serve to pivot and adapt solutions on the go to create meaningful and sustainable change from the ground up.

Read on to find out how iterative processes align with Agile frameworks, the advantages of taking an iterative approach to achieve successful change, and how to optimize your iterative processes using the Prosci ADKAR^® Model.

Iterative Process Definition

An iterative process is a methodology where tasks, projects or solutions are developed in incremental cycles. Each iteration builds on the previous one, incorporating feedback and addressing problems throughout the project’s lifecycle to support incremental organizational change.

Unlike traditional linear methodologies, the iterative process is not sequential. Instead, it follows a cyclical approach that prioritizes continuous improvement, adaptability and effective communication. Feedback from earlier iterations drives adjustments, enabling greater flexibility and ease of modification through Agile management principles.

Examples of iterative processes

Organizations can apply an iterative approach in a wide range of contexts. That said, some of the areas in which you’re likely to encounter iterative processes are:

• Change management – The iterative cycle is all about flexibility, adaptivity and collaboration—all fundamental to successfully managing and implementing change. Organizations often demonstrate this incremental approach by setting up workshops with impacted individuals, testing new training modules, or trialing initiatives to assess progress and determine the most effective ways to champion change.
• Product development – Using an iterative approach, organizations can emphasize continuous product improvement and development, supporting feedback-driven change to create better solutions.
• Marketing campaigns – An iterative approach enables marketing teams to be flexible and make rapid changes to generate the best possible return on investment (ROI). For example, a team might A/B test copy for social media posts, test out new platforms, and use analytics to support real-time pivots in brand messaging.
• Project Management – Iterative processes in project management are approaches that focus on continuously improving and refining a project through repeated cycles or iterations. This method contrasts with traditional linear project management, where phases are completed sequentially.

Though it’s a widely applicable process, change management is one area where iterative processes can be very effective. In fact, in change management, organizations often deploy iterative processes to support project management and solutions development—especially when Agile frameworks are already in place. Change management works alongside these disciplines to guide and support implementation more effectively.

Let’s look at why integrating change management into your iterative processes is so beneficial.

How Does the Iterative Process Work in Change Management?

Iterative processes are ideal for managing complex projects because they enable teams to break large organizational shifts into smaller increments.

If your organization uses Scrum, you’ll likely refer to those increments as “sprints.” If you use XP, you might call them “iterations.” Regardless of how you label your increments, each iterative cycle drives progress by delivering actionable solutions that you can evaluate, refine, and align with your change management goals.

The 5 steps of the iterative process

No two change initiatives are 100% alike, so each iterative process you deploy will be unique. That said, the iterative approach can generally be broken down into five fundamental steps.

1. Plan – The first step of the iterative process is creating a vision. This is where you set clear goals and objectives for your change project.
2. Design – After setting out the vision, it’s time to organize basic ideas into actionable steps. This creates a viable pathway to help your organization achieve its project goals.
3. Implement – This is where the impacted people apply the steps you’ve designed in step two.
4. Test – After implementing the actionable steps, it's time to analyze the change initiative's progress. Leverage analytics tools, survey impacted individuals, or create workshops to get feedback on the implementation.
5. Review – The iterative process ends with assessing your test results. Pair those results against your initial project objectives to determine your change initiative's success. Then, cycle back to the planning stage and apply what you learned in a second cycle.

You can apply this process to virtually any industry and in any context. In change management, it’s particularly effective when combined with the Prosci ADKAR® Model to guide you.

Prosci ADKAR Model

Combining the Prosci ADKAR Model with the iterative process

Our ADKAR Model is a foundational model of the Prosci Methodology. ADKAR is a model that enables you to understand how one person experiences change. The acronym stands for its five elements:

• Awareness of the need for change
• Desire to support and participate in the change
• Knowledge of how to change
• Ability to implement required skills and behaviors
• Reinforcement to sustain the change

ADKAR aligns seamlessly with iterative development processes due to its inherent flexibility. It allows individuals to acquire these elements in a non-linear fashion. 

Aligning ADKAR Elements With Iterative Approach

Here’s how the two align:

1. Awareness and Desire – During the planning and design stages of the iterative process, organizations focus on building Awareness and Desire among team members. This involves communicating the reasons for the change and fostering a willingness to engage with the upcoming modifications. Ensuring everyone understands the change's purpose and benefits creates a strong foundation for the entire change lifecycle.

2. Knowledge and Ability – As each sprint progresses, Knowledge and Ability are aligned with the release dates of new features or changes. This is crucial during the design and implementation stages, where training and resources are provided to equip individuals with the necessary skills. This alignment ensures that as new changes are introduced, all individuals are prepared to adopt and effectively use them, minimizing disruption and enhancing overall project success.

3. Reinforcement – Reinforcement is integrated into the testing and review phases of the iterative development process. This involves measuring adoption, utilization and proficiency after each sprint to assess how well individuals are integrating the changes into their daily work. By focusing on Reinforcement, organizations can identify areas for improvement and ensure that the changes are not only accepted but also sustained over time, ultimately leading to long-term success.

By leveraging our ADKAR Model alongside iterative processes, organizations can effectively manage the people side of change, ensuring that each element is addressed at the appropriate stages of development. This approach unlocks a wide range of benefits.

The Benefits of Iterative Processes in Change Management

Breaking organizational changes into iterative sprints offers significant advantages. This approach provides greater flexibility, delivers value more quickly, and encourages collaboration that supports impacted individuals while fostering a culture of adaptability.

And that’s just the beginning. Let’s dive deeper.

More flexibility

The iterative development process is built for changing environments—making it especially valuable in today’s dynamic workplaces. A recent survey revealed that 70% of U.S. employees experienced disruptive changes in their organization last year. An iterative approach can support those impacted by the change by giving them more time to adapt.

Take, for example, the rollout of a new CRM system. By breaking the implementation up into Agile sprints, your organization can adapt as needed. This ensures incremental changes are effective and fully adopted before moving to the next integration step. 

Less risk

Iterative processes are a great way to mitigate risk. 

By breaking projects down into shorter sprints, you can proactively identify and address risks you encounter along the way. Because this approach helps organizations catch issues before they reach a head, it has the potential to reduce the chances of failure later on.

For example, your organization might be considering a highly complex, multiyear ERP implementation.

Because an ERP system represents an enormous investment, any rollout failures or disruption to operations could lead to significant financial or reputational consequences. The iterative process focuses on continuous user feedback, so it helps you spot ERP integration issues early on. This enables organizations to fix bugs or adjust processes before problems become widespread.

Early value delivery

An iterative approach can help organizations unlock value faster.

An iterative process enables professionals to realize some of the benefits of change management faster. This demonstrates value sooner and mitigates the risk of delivering a final product that doesn’t meet expectations.

That’s the approach Matthews International took when struggling to embed change management capabilities across three diverse global business operations. By partnering with Prosci, the organization was able to unlock value faster by providing online training programs.

The organization took on an iterative approach to training—starting with courses for seven trainers. Refining that training to fit budgetary constraints, those trainers then facilitated a refined course for 900 change practitioners within the organization. 

That enabled Matthews International to incrementally develop a new global change network capable of addressing regional and cultural variations across all 11,000 employees in the organization. 

Better collaboration

The iterative process is built to enhance collaboration at every stage of change.

When employees are involved in a stressful work environment, such as the 41% of US employees who report regular stress, collaboration can suffer. By breaking change initiatives into smaller, manageable iterations, organizations can reduce overwhelm and create opportunities for teams to work together more effectively. 

Regular feedback loops are a cornerstone of this approach, promoting open communication among individuals, departments and even customers. These continuous touchpoints align everyone involved, generating a shared understanding of the organization's goals and fostering stronger team connections.

These principles align with the Prosci Methodology and are critical for successful change management.

For instance, imagine your organization needs to address new regulatory obligations. 

Without collaboration, a narrow focus on technical requirements might leave the people side of change neglected, leading to resistance or misunderstandings. Using an iterative approach, you could start by establishing an Enterprise Change Management Office (ECMO) and gradually building internal change management capabilities. 

This change process allows decision-makers to workshop new ideas, incorporate feedback, and ensure employees fully understand and embrace the changes—strengthening both teamwork and adoption at every step.

Increased cost-effectiveness

Using the iterative method, organizations have more flexibility to alter a project plan or project scope as required. Processes are constantly tested and reviewed, which makes it easier to spot inefficiencies and pivot. This minimizes an organization’s losses in terms of time or money spent going in the wrong direction.

For example, the Washington State Department of Health used some iterative practices to help build a change-ready culture. Faced with overwhelming burnout, employee turnover and change fatigue after the COVID-19 pandemic, the department found it difficult to transition employees back to pre-COVID ways of working. 

Partnering with Prosci, they developed a new Enterprise Change Management (ECM) framework and used iterative principles to refine it.

With Prosci, they built out working groups for each of the five capability areas of change management (Leadership, Application, Competencies, Standardization and Socialization). The findings of those working groups were then applied to guide a new steering group that could further refine the desired changes—ultimately minimizing the cost of their expansion initiative.

The iterative process has proven valuable across industries and disciplines, delivering cost-effective solutions and measurable results. If you’re looking to implement or refine this approach, you might have questions about how it works in practice.

To make things easier, we’ve compiled answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the iterative process.

Frequently Asked Questions About Iterative Process

It doesn’t matter whether you’re new to the iterative process or if your organization already uses this approach. Chances are, you’ll have questions about how the process can be better deployed and refined to achieve great results.

To help you get started, here are some of the most frequently asked questions we get about the iterative process.

1. What challenges are associated with iterative models?

The top challenges associated with iterative models are balancing speed and quality, stakeholder fatigue, and resistance to change. 

The solutions to overcome those challenges include rigorous testing and validation, structured communication pathways, and applying an empathetic approach that seeks to prevent resistance to change by understanding its effects on the people who have to adopt it. This requires proactive collaboration from all the people impacted.

2. What is a non-iterative process?

A non-iterative process is an approach in which an organization creates a final product or implements change without trying out new—and potentially better—ideas as part of the process.

A common example of a non-iterative process is the waterfall method, which is a sequential implementation approach. Generally speaking, non-iterative processes like the waterfall model can require more work in terms of conceptualization and creation. That’s because you can’t adjust them as you go.

3. Is an iterative process different from an incremental approach?

While the terms "iterative" and "incremental" are often used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings.

An iterative process focuses on refining and improving a change initiative in real time, using feedback and new ideas as it’s being implemented. In contrast, an incremental approach typically involves making updates or additions to a change that has already been rolled out.

Create Change With Impact Using an Iterative Approach

Applying iterative approaches or iterating on specific aspects of a project can create opportunities to learn quickly and adjust, enhance collaboration and communications, and more.  

But change is complex. Effectively managing organizational change takes far more than iteration. When you apply the Prosci Methodology, you can align with iterative practices, support your people throughout the transition, increase your chances of successful outcomes, and grow stronger from change. That's change done right.