NOVEMBER 26, 2024
This year, we have noticed a trend in C-level executive priorities – for many executives to achieve their enterprise objectives, some kind of change management is involved. Executives across our communities are leading initiatives, in areas such as digital transformation, AI adoption, and new technology implementation, that may necessitate new roles, processes, or requirements for employees.
These digital business priorities – along with an environment that is rapidly changing in the areas of technology and security – mean that effective change management has grown in importance. According to Gartner, change management is also no longer a one-time event, but an ongoing process for organizations, which are typically “attempting to adapt through multiple, simultaneous change initiatives.”
Twice per year, we survey members of our C-level communities about a hot topic or key priority, and this fall, we asked how their organizations are approaching change management. Here are five themes we found from 800 executive responses.
1. Engagement in Change Management
Currently, 80% of C-level executives say their organization is engaged in some kind of change management initiative. Another 8% of leaders report they will be working on one in the future.
When asked what initiatives required change management, executives responded with digital transformation, AI adoption or integration, organizational restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, business process optimization and ERP implementation, among many others.
2. Leading Role in Change Management
C-level executives have an important role in change management initiatives with 61% reporting they are leading and championing the initiatives. For those that aren’t leading the initiative itself, almost 75% of C-level executives say they provide strategic direction and oversight to the initiatives, and 69% of leaders indicate their job is to communicate and engage with stakeholders. Only 8% of C-level executives report that they have “minimal involvement” with change management.
3. The Importance of Executive Sponsorship
When we asked C-level executives what is the most important factor in the success of change management, 39% said executive leadership or sponsorship. Twenty-two percent believe that effective communication is the biggest factor in successful organizational change. Executives also cited employee engagement (17%) and investments or resources (16%) as important factors in change management initiatives.
4. Change Management Challenges to Overcome
As they are clearly no strangers to change management initiatives, C-level executives had many comments when we asked what they believe are the barriers to change management success. Their responses covered a range of obstacles, including communications and providing a rationale for change, stakeholder buy-in at multiple levels, a culture resistant to change, many competing priorities, and a lack of alignment across the organization.
Here is a sample of their responses:
Balancing the need for change with the desire for stability.”
Business readiness and fully vetting challenges that may come up.”
Change management fatigue and competing initiatives.”
Communication and involving all stakeholders and employees.”
Driving consensus and aligning on the path forward.”
Executing too many changes at once.”
5. Change Fatigue Is Real
It’s clear that C-level leaders are feeling the impact of having multiple change management initiatives happening at once, and many cited change fatigue as a challenge for their organizations. When we asked executives how their organizations could help manage change fatigue, many answered that it was a work in progress.
Here are some of their responses:
It has not yet been overcome.”
Monitor and moderate the pace of change.”
Not fatigue, but a lack of change muscles.”
Not too many strategies at all. Change is difficult.”
Overcommunicating is one way of overcoming fatigue.”
Trying to be purposeful about the sequencing and volume of changes.”
Overall, C-level executives seem to recognize the reality that change is happening rapidly and they have to manage and lead through it. They suggest celebrating wins, continuing to provide the reasoning behind the change, and prioritizing as much as possible when it comes to change management initiatives.
For the complete findings from our recent Community Pulse Survey, check out our infographic on Change Management.
If you are a C-level executive navigating change management, join a local Evanta community to engage with your peers on this topic. Or, if you are already a community member, check out MyEvanta to view upcoming opportunities to discuss change management in person or virtually with your C-level peers.
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