Dive Brief:
- Organizations are at the tipping point for change, with more than 50% of business leaders expecting to implement 3 or more changes in the next two years, while most employees say they can only absorb 1-2 major changes per year, according to a Sept. 16 report from The Grossman Group.
- June and July surveys by The Harris Poll of 905 full-time employees and 256 VP-level and above executives at U.S. for-profit organizations revealed that without visible leadership and effective communication, organizations are 5.5 times more likely to fail, yet 1 in 4 employees don’t believe their leaders communicate well, The Grossman Group said.
- By contrast, organizations are 3 times more likely to succeed with major change when employees are fully brought in, the communications consultancy noted.
Dive Insight:
The ongoing discourse over AI’s impact may seem tedious, but it’s warranted, the report pointed out: A majority of business leaders said AI will play a major role in changes facing their organization, and 1 in 4 view it as the most difficult change to execute.
Leaders also identified shifts in organization culture as a major cause of change, although culture changes are among the least likely changes to go well, particularly when leaders aren’t trained on how to effectively communicate them, according to the report.
To succeed, organization leaders and communicators must “move in lockstep, thoughtfully sequencing change and communicating in ways that connect people and earn their commitment,” Kyle Dierking, The Grossman Group’s head of client service, stated in a press release. In other words, to thrive, organizations must “treat change as a disciplined capability,” Dierking emphasized.
Echoing these concerns, a survey by The Conference Board released in July found that change initiatives often fail due to people-related challenges. Data show that intentional inclusive strategies can dramatically improve the odds of successfully adopting change, The Conference Board’s principal researcher for human capital said.
For many C-suite executives, the rate of workforce transformation failures and constantly being forced into crisis-response mode have left them with transformation fatigue, according to a 2024 study by Orgvue, an organization design software platform.
HR’s people expertise can be crucial, because people are core to a transformation’s success — and HR is well-prepared for this, other studies have stressed.
