Best Practices For Change Management During Digital Shifts

I spent years navigating the complexities of digital transformation. Here’s the shortcut to save you countless hours! Digital transformation isn’t just about adopting new technology. It’s about changing how we think and operate as an organization. I remember back when I was at Microsoft, leading a team to drive significant change in our sales approach. We faced numerous challenges:   Resistance from teams stuck in their old ways. Difficulty aligning technology with business goals. The ever‑looming pressure of competition driving innovation faster than we could keep up!  But here’s what I learned through trial and error—and a few sleepless nights:   Start with culture: Technology won’t solve your problems if your teams aren’t on board. Embrace a culture that values learning and adaptability. Get everyone involved early in the process!   Set clear objectives: Identify what success looks like for your organization. Are you looking for efficiency? Increased revenue? Improved customer satisfaction? Define it clearly, so everyone is aligned!   Leverage data: Don’t just collect data—use it! Analyze where you stand, identify gaps, and make informed decisions based on real insights rather than gut feelings alone!   Pilot small initiatives: Before rolling out changes company‑wide, test them out on a smaller scale first! This allows you to gather feedback and make adjustments without disrupting everything at once!   Engage stakeholders continuously: Keep communication lines open with all stakeholders throughout the journey—this builds trust and mitigates resistance down the line!   Iterate constantly: Digital transformation is not a one‑time project; it’s an ongoing journey that requires continual assessment and iteration of processes to stay relevant in today’s fast‑paced market environment! By following these steps, I managed to turn initial skepticism into excitement around our digital initiatives. The result? A much more agile team ready to tackle future challenges head‑on! If you're serious about transforming your organization, embrace these principles—you'll thank yourself later!

They were hemorrhaging money on digital tools their managers refused to use. The situation: A retail giant in the diamond industry with post-COVID digital sales tools sitting unused. Store managers resisting change. Market volatility crushing performance. Here's what every other company does: More training on features. Explaining benefits harder. Pushing adoption metrics. Here's what my client did instead: They ignored the technology completely. Instead, they trained 200+ managers on something nobody else was teaching; how to fall in love with change itself. For 8 months, we didn't focus on the digital tools once. We taught them Change Enthusiasm®, how to see disruption as opportunity, resistance as data, and overwhelm as information. We certified managers in emotional processing, not technical skills. The results were staggering: → 30% increase in digital adoption (without a single tech training session) →  2X ROI boost for those who embraced the mindset →  25% sales uplift in stores with certified managers →  96% of participants improved business outcomes Here's the breakthrough insight: People don't resist technology. They resist change. Fix the relationship with change, and adoption becomes automatic. While competitors were fighting symptoms, this company cured the disease. The secret wasn't better technology training, it was better humans. When managers learned to thrive through change, they stopped seeing digital tools as threats and started seeing them as allies. Most companies are solving the wrong problem. They're trying to make people adopt technology. We help people embrace transformation. The results speak for themselves. What would happen if you stopped training on tools and started training on change? ♻️ Share if you believe the future belongs to change-ready organizations 🔔 Follow for insights on making transformation inevitable, not optional

Too often, I see organizations treat change management like a box to check. A big announcement, a training session, and then done. But real change doesn’t work that way. True transformation requires: – Ongoing assessment – Adaptation – Reinforcement Without continuous effort, old habits creep back in, resistance builds, and the change fades. Here’s what effective change management looks like: ✅ 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 → People need clarity, not just at the start but throughout the process. ✅ 𝐎𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 → Training once isn’t enough. Reinforcement helps teams adapt and sustain new behaviors. ✅ 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐬 → Success isn’t set in stone. Organizations must listen, measure progress, and adjust as needed. ✅ 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 → Real change becomes part of how a company operates, not just a project with an end date. If you want change to last, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭. The best organizations don’t just manage change. They embrace it as a way of working.

"70% of digital transformations fail." So why do we even try? This statistic has been cited so often it's become a cliché. Yet despite knowing the odds, organizations continue to launch ambitious digital initiatives with fragile foundations. The real surprise isn't that transformations fail, it's that we keep making the same mistakes. After analyzing dozens of transformation attempts across industries, I've identified the three critical failure points: 1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿: 44% of employees resist new tools without proper training. We vastly underestimate the emotional and cognitive load of changing established work patterns. Technology implementations aren't technical challenges, they're change management challenges with technical elements. → GE's Predix platform collapsed despite $7B in investment, largely because siloed teams and misaligned incentives prevented cohesive adoption. The technology worked; the human systems didn't. 2️⃣ 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆-𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Organizations adopt cutting-edge technologies while maintaining outdated workflows and governance. It's like installing a Ferrari engine in a horse carriage and wondering why it doesn't go faster. → IBM Watson's oncology project promised revolutionary healthcare but struggled because the underlying organizational systems and clinical workflows weren't redesigned to leverage AI capabilities. 3️⃣ 𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆: Companies add new tools without streamlining legacy systems, creating what consultants call "hidden complexity." Consequently, employees toggle between 8-10 apps daily, fragmenting focus and reducing productivity. → One Fortune 500 company discovered they were spending more time managing their transformation tools than actually transforming their business. The path forward requires three fundamental shifts: 1️⃣ Invest 2X more in change management than technology 2️⃣ Redesign processes before selecting technology, not after 3️⃣ Measure adoption quality, not just implementation completion Success stories share common patterns: they treat transformation as an organizational capability, not a technology deployment. They create "transformation muscles" that persist beyond any single initiative. The most successful transformation I've studied established a "One Out, One In" rule. That is, for every new system implemented, an old one had to be retired. They recognized that addition without subtraction is just complexity accumulation. Digital transformations are fundamentally about human transformation, enabled by technology. What's been your experience with digital transformation? ♻️Repost if you found this valuable ____ ➕Follow John Brewton for content that helps. ➕Follow Operating by John Brewton for weekly deep dives on the history and future of operating and optimizing companies (sub 🔗 in the comments)

65% of AI & Tech Transformations Fail 🚫 Why? Because they forget one thing: People. I've spent 25+ years in healthcare leadership, and here's what I know: transformation fails when we forget the human element. Digital transformations often fall short of expectations. Why? Because we're solving the wrong problem. 7 critical shifts needed in 2025: 1/ From Tools to Trust ↳ Technology doesn't transform workplaces. People Do. ↳ Start with psychological safety and clear communication. ↳ Build trust before introducing new tools. 2/ From Training to Translation ↳ Stop teaching "how to use tools." ↳ Start showing "how tools improve lives." ↳ Connect every change to personal growth. 3/ From Metrics to Meaning ↳ Move beyond efficiency metrics. ↳ Measure impact on well-being and job satisfaction. ↳ Track how transformation enables better work-life integration. 4/ From Control to Collaboration ↳ Replace top-down mandates with team-led initiatives. ↳ Create innovation councils across departments. ↳ Let solutions emerge from front-line expertise. 5/ From Speed to Sustainability ↳ Stop rushing digital adoption. ↳ Build systems that support long-term resilience. ↳ Focus on sustainable change management. 6/ From ROI to Human Impact ↳ Expand success metrics beyond financial returns. ↳ Measure employee engagement and retention. ↳ Track improvements in work-life quality. 7/ From Digital to Hybrid Excellence ↳ Balance automation with human judgment. ↳ Preserve meaningful human interactions. ↳ Create frameworks where technology amplifies humanity. Real transformation isn't about adopting new technology. It's about enabling people to do their best work. In healthcare, I've seen both sides: - Teams that resist change because they don't see the "why" - Teams that embrace change because they shape the "how" The difference? Leadership that prioritizes people over processes. ♻️ Share if this resonates ➕ Follow Dr. Elise Victor for more.