How to Successfully Implement Transformational Change

Organizations must embrace change consistently to stay competitive and achieve long-term success. While incremental or small-scale change is inevitable, transformational change completely reshapes the totality of the organization. 

To transform your organization effectively, you need a structured approach that engages employees, minimizes resistance, and facilitates the transition. Flexible yet comprehensive frameworks, like the Prosci Methodology, simplify the journey and make transformational change attainable.

In this article, we’ll explain transformational change and its benefits, provide transformational change examples, and cover implementing large-scale changes so your organization can unlock greater adaptability and help employees navigate change effectively.

What is Transformational Change?

When a company’s operations undergo a significant shift involving a change in strategy, structure or organizational processes, it’s experiencing transformational change. This type of change requires a fundamental rethinking at every level, which then extends to interrelated areas like culture, technology and leadership.

Transformational change often occurs in response to market shifts, technological advancements, or changes in consumer behavior. We also see transformational change triggered globally in response to emergencies. 

For example, the pandemic forced companies to abruptly shutter their offices and switch workforce operations to remote work to ensure business continuity. According to research, 58% of digital leaders said the pandemic accelerated their digital transformation and cloud efforts.

Undergoing transformational change is challenging but worthwhile. And companies that embrace and implement it benefit in several ways. It helps them compete more effectively in changing markets, adapt to disruptive technologies, and meet customers’ needs.

Transformational Change vs Incremental Change

American inventor Charles F. Kettering once said: “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” However, not all progress is equal, and distinguishing between transformational and incremental change is essential to a successful implementation. 

Here are a few markers that differentiate the two:

• Transformational change entails large-scale and disruptive changes, like overhauling company culture or finding ways to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into the business. 
• In contrast, incremental change comprises smaller adjustments to refine and improve existing practices, like process optimization.
• Due to the scope of its impact, transformational change requires more planning and organizational resources. For example, a company might completely overhaul its product line in response to market pressures.
• Incremental change tackles smaller issues and doesn’t require as many organizational resources. For example, a company might improve its internal processes with targeted standard operating procedures (SOPs) over time and as issues arise. 

Despite these distinctions, both incremental and transformational change share a similarity: competitive pressures can trigger either (or both) kinds.

So, whether change occurs through a complete overhaul or gradual improvements, it’s still the only way organizations can grow while remaining competitive—especially if they plan to make an impact with their product, service and vision.

Benefits of Implementing Transformational Change 

Change entails moving to a future state. But the future is only as promising as present-day decisions and actions.

Of course, drastic change affects people professionally and personally. Although some seem to adapt easily, others experience barriers due to uncertainty and other considerations. That’s why it’s important to factor in the people side of any change equation.

In an organizational context, change management supports that “future state” transition by providing impacted employees with the tools and guidance they need to adopt change. Companies can achieve significant organizational benefits by implementing a transformational change management strategy and using frameworks like the Prosci Methodology.

Key benefits of change management include:

• Strategic alignment – Transformational change helps organizations align their structure and processes to shifting market conditions. It also encourages innovation by fostering an environment where new ideas are welcomed and explored.
• Greater success potential – A structured approach to change management enables companies to drive faster adoption of changes leading to more success. Our research shows organizations that effectively manage change are 4.6 times more likely to stay on or ahead of schedule. 
• Growth mindset – Transformational change drives a shift in organizational culture, promoting adaptability and a growth mindset among employees. Aligning personal goals with organizational objectives leads to more employee engagement.
• Increased agility – When you embrace transformational change, your organization becomes more adaptable, allowing you to respond quickly to evolving markets, customer needs and emerging technologies.
• Enhanced productivity – Organizations can eliminate inefficiencies and optimize operations by reevaluating and redesigning processes. These improvements can facilitate collaboration and foster a more productive and inclusive workplace.
• Foster skill development – Transformational change requires leaders to develop new skills and capabilities to guide the organization effectively. It also enables managers to adopt a coaching approach to interactions and assume a more supportive stance for a smoother transition.

Transformational change offers plenty of benefits, but how an organization implements change matters just as much as the nature of change. Poorly managed change wastes valuable resources, disrupts operations, and affects employee productivity. 

To transform your company, you need a comprehensive change management strategy that engages and supports employees as they transition from their current to future state. 

Let’s look at how you can implement organization-wide transformational change.

How to Implement Transformational Change With Organizational Change Management

Research shows businesses that effectively apply change management strategies are seven times more likely to meet project objectives than those that don’t.

Correlation of Change Management Effectiveness With Meeting Project Objectives

Whether you want to implement a new technology or completely rehaul your product line, the success of a transformational change initiative starts with your people. Companies that understand this are more likely to achieve desired outcomes. 

Alan May, Chief Integration Officer, Talent and Culture at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, motions to this reality in his 2022 essay, "Driving Transformational Change, One Person at a Time," attesting that "[a] personal approach to implementing change is the key to transformational success.”

The principles of organizational change management

Lasting change in an organization starts with the right tools. The Prosci ADKAR^® Model supports the people side of change by addressing individual needs—Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. 

The model is expertly designed to equip change managers who aim to help their professionals confidently navigate and adapt to changes.

Here’s a look at each component of our ADKAR Model:

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

The power of our ADKAR Model rests in the fact that organizations don't change—people do. When change management strategies begin by focusing on supporting the people who must adopt and use a change in their work, they're empowered to drive success. 

This can help your company realize several organizational benefits, including:

• Improved organizational performance – Restructuring operations and helping people adapt to new changes leads organizations to improve overall performance significantly.
• Enhanced market position – Professionals equipped to handle change with proven frameworks and tools can better respond to market demands, develop new ways to create new product lines, or improve pre-existing offers.
• Stronger company culture – Supporting employees throughout change initiatives creates an environment where everyone can learn and develop their skills—without fear of judgment or ridicule.
• Higher employee engagement – Our research shows that employee engagement is among the top three contributors to change success. Involving your network throughout the process and communicating the need for change reduces employee resistance and improves employee well-being.
• Improved customer satisfaction – Through transformational change, organizations can create and implement customer-centric processes to respond faster to changing customer needs and improve satisfaction.

Now, let’s look at the activities that form the foundation of organizational transformation.

Key activities in an organizational change process

Implementing organizational changes involves the following:

• Assess the need for change – Identify the reasons for change and articulate the vision and objectives. Conduct assessments like change readiness and impact analyses to understand the organization’s current state and capacity for change.
• Engage stakeholders – Identify key stakeholders, including sponsors, organizational managers, people managers and impacted employees. Involve them early to gain commitment and gather input for the change initiative.
• Develop needed plans – Develop needed change management plans, such as the Sponsor Plan, People Manager Plan, Communications Plan, Training Plan and others. The type and depth of plans required depend on the project initiatives and organizational goals.
• Implement change – Integrate change management and project management approaches for a smoother adoption journey. Monitor progress and adjust actions as needed to address resistance and ensure engagement.
• Reinforce and sustain change – Use reinforcement strategies to embed the change into the organizational culture. Evaluate the change initiative's success and make necessary adjustments to maintain outcomes.
• Transfer ownership – Ensure that the responsibility for maintaining the change is handed over to the appropriate organizational units or transformational leaders. 

Companies often fail to enable change because leaders focus their management approaches on the technical aspects of change instead of the people who will adopt and use it. But what good is a technical solution that people don't use? 

Because individuals remain the driving force behind successful transformational change, the Prosci Methodology offers a structured, people-centric approach comprised of three main components:

• Prosci Change Triangle (PCT) Model – A framework that helps change managers understand the four aspects of success change—Success, Leadership/Sponsorship, Project Management and Change Management.
• Prosci ADKAR Model – A simple yet powerful model that helps individuals successfully move through and adopt change.
• Prosci 3-Phase Process – A structured process that facilitates change at the organizational level.

These areas connect and combine to help organizations successfully implement organization-wide transformational change and sustain its momentum by supporting professionals through their individual change journeys.

Achieve Success With Transformational Change

Transformational change is a necessity for organizations to stay ahead of the competition and position themselves for sustained success. However, success with many organizational changes depends on preparing and equipping the people who must use them in their work. 

The Prosci Methodology offers a structured, adaptable approach to change management, helping organizations support people, encourage adoption and usage, and grow stronger from change.