Change Management Strategies For Large Organizations

Ever heard of the Lippitt-Knoster Model for Managing Complex Change? It's a classic in the change management world, laying out the essential pieces needed to navigate big transformations. Taking a cue from that, I've adapted it to fit the world of digital transformation. There are seven key elements you can't afford to miss: Vision, Strategy, Objectives, Capabilities, Architecture, Roadmap, and Projects & Programs. Skip any one of these, and you're asking for trouble. Here’s why each one matters: • 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: This is the 'what' of your transformation. A clear vision gives everyone a target to aim for, aligning all efforts and keeping the team focused. • 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲: Think of this as the 'why' and 'how.' A solid strategy explains the logic behind your vision, showing how you plan to get there and why it's the best route. It’s designed to guide everyone in the company on how to make decisions that support the vision, aligning all efforts and keeping the team focused. • 𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬: These are your milestones. Clear, specific objectives make it easy to measure success and ensure everyone knows what's important. Without them, you can easily veer off course and waste resources. • 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬: These are what your company will now be able to do that it wasn't able to before in order to achieve the objectives. These can be organizational capabilities (like improved decision-making), technical capabilities (such as real-time operational visibility), or other types like enhanced customer engagement or streamlined processes. • 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: A robust architecture ensures all your tech works together smoothly, preventing inefficiencies and costly headaches. This includes various types of architecture such as data architecture, IT infrastructure architecture, enterprise architecture, and functional architecture. Effective architecture is central to reducing technical debt and aligning software with broader business transformation goals. • 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩: Your roadmap is the game plan. It lays out the sequence of actions, helping you avoid uncertainty and missteps. It's your guide to getting things done right. • 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 & 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬: These are where the rubber meets the road. Actionable projects and programs turn your strategy into reality, making sure your plans lead to real, tangible outcomes. From my experience, I think '𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬' and '𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩' are the two most overlooked. What do you think? ******************************************* • Follow #JeffWinterInsights to stay current on Industry 4.0 and other cool tech trends • Ring the 🔔 for notifications!

I keep returning to Damon Centola’s research on how #change spreads. Not because it’s clever. Because it’s true. Centola found that change doesn’t move like information. You can’t push it through announcements or clever messaging. It spreads through behavior, #trust, and networks. He calls it complex contagion, and it tracks with what I see inside organizations every day. People don’t change because someone at the top says so. They change when they see people they trust doing something new. Then they see it again. Then maybe one more time. That’s when it starts to feel real. That’s when it moves. Here’s what Centola’s research shows actually makes change stick: - Multiple exposures. Once isn’t enough. People need to encounter the new behavior several times from different people. - Trusted messengers. It’s not about role or rank. It’s about credibility in the day-to-day. - Strong ties. Close, high-trust relationships are where change actually moves. - Visible behavior. People need to see it being done, not just hear about it. - Reinforcement over time. Real change takes repetition. One wave won’t do it. This flips most #ChangeManagement upside down. It’s not about the rollout or coms plan. It’s about reinforcing new behaviors inside the real social structure of the organization. So, if you are a part of change, ask your team and self: 1. Who are the people others watch? 2. Where are the trusted connections? 3. Is the behavior visible and repeated? 4. Are you designing for reinforcement or just awareness? Change isn’t a #communication problem. It’s a network pattern. That’s the shift. That’s the work. And that’s what I help teams build.

Most change initiatives don't fail because of the change that's happening, they fail because of how the change is communicated. I've watched brilliant restructurings collapse and transformative acquisitions unravel… Not because the plan was flawed, but because leaders were more focused on explaining the "what" and "why" than on how they were addressing the fears and concerns of the people on their team. People don't resist change because they don't understand it. They resist because they haven't been given a compelling story about their role in it. This is where the Venture Scape framework becomes invaluable. The framework maps your team's journey through five distinct stages of change: The Dream - When you envision something better and need to spark belief The Leap - When you commit to action and need to build confidence The Fight - When you face resistance and need to inspire bravery The Climb - When progress feels slow and you need to fuel endurance The Arrival - When you achieve success and need to honor the journey The key is knowing exactly where your team is in this journey and tailoring your communication accordingly. If you're announcing a merger during the Leap stage, don't deliver a message about endurance. Your team needs a moment of commitment–stories and symbols that anchor them in the decision and clarify the values that remain unchanged. You can’t know where your team is on this spectrum without talking to them. Don’t just guess. Have real conversations. Listen to their specific concerns. Then craft messages that speak directly to those fears while calling on their courage. Your job isn't just to announce change, but to walk beside your team and help your team understand what role they play in the story at each stage. #LeadershipCommunication #Illuminate

Over the past 12 weeks, I've had 39 conversations with talent and learning leaders at Fortune 1000 companies. As I near the completion of my analysis, one common theme has stood out above all others: 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 This isn't shocking or new, I'm sure it's true for all of us, regardless of industry, function, or role. But in every single conversation change surfaced - sometimes in obvious ways other times woven into broader or more complex/nuanced organizational challenges. Rather than just to simply name "change" as the headline, I wanted to understand what this really looked like for talent and learning leaders. From those interviews, five levers or change emerged: 1. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 - Think of these as your systems upgrades, process or program revamps, or rollouts that require adoption 2. "𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐎𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞" - This was around building "organizational capacity" for continuous change, especially in industries that face constant flux. This could mean enhancing or investing in your Change COE, building it as a function in your remit, or, revamping your tools and frameworks for change to be future ready. "The change management frameworks of the past were very helpful for a complicated world, but may not be as relevant a complex one" is something I heard. 3. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 - Embedding the ability/behavior to lead through uncertainty into your leadership models, frameworks and expectations. This often occurred, either due to the result of an industry shift, business model change, or desire to take a stab at what a "future-ready" leadership model looks like 4. 𝐀𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐯𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 - This was all about how do we balance the immediate change challenges, with long-term transformations that companies believe know will happen but will unfold over a longer time horizon. This could be something to the effect of: "A new CEO was brought in during the end of 2023 to help us transform our business model, and now has a dual mandate with figuring out how AI will be a part of that today, but also for the long term" - How do you find ways to invest in both, and balnce the tension between the two? 5. 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐎𝐰𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 - The personal challenge that talent and learning leaders faced, of either, having to change themselves, or lead through team through disruption while navigating it personally. In every interview, leaders described experiencing one, two, or sometimes all of these levers at the same time. I’d love to hear your perspective: Do these resonate with what you’re seeing? Which of these levers are most present in your organization today? PS – If this posts resonates and you’d like a sneak peek of the report before its official release, send me a DM. I’ll make sure you’re included in the early distribution list.

Why do so many legal technology implementations fail to deliver their promised value? Too often, legal teams rush to adopt the latest tools without first understanding their actual pain points. Here are the critical steps that separate successful implementations from costly failures: 📊 Start with Discovery, Not Solutions Map your current workflows meticulously. Track how long tasks take, where errors occur, and what frustrates your team most. 🎯 Set Measurable Goals Replace vague aspirations like "improve efficiency" with concrete targets: -Reduce contract turnaround by 30% -Eliminate 50% of manual compliance errors -Increase client intake capacity by 25% These specific metrics give you clear success criteria and help demonstrate ROI to stakeholders. 👥 Embrace Change Management Technology fails when people resist it. Appoint enthusiastic "technology champions" who can provide peer support and bridge the gap between IT and daily users. Their grassroots advocacy often proves more effective than top-down mandates. 🔄 Pilot, Learn, Iterate Test solutions with a small group for 6-8 weeks before full rollout. That same legal department reduced their NDA processing time to 1.5 hours and cut errors by 80% during their pilot. These wins built momentum for broader adoption. Remember: legal technology adoption is about solving real problems, not chasing innovation for its own sake. #legaltech #innovation #law #business #learning

My AI lesson of the week: The tech isn't the hard part…it's the people! During my prior work at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), we talked a lot about how any technology, whether a new drug or a new vaccine or a new information tool, would face challenges with how to integrate into the complex human systems that alway at play in healthcare. As I get deeper and deeper into AI, I am not surprised to see that those same challenges exist with this cadre of technology as well. It’s not the tech that limits us; the real complexity lies in driving adoption across diverse teams, workflows, and mindsets. And it’s not just implementation alone that will get to real ROI from AI—it’s the changes that will occur to our workflows that will generate the value. That’s why we are thinking differently about how to approach change management. We’re approaching the workflow integration with the same discipline and structure as any core system build. Our framework is designed to reduce friction, build momentum, and align people with outcomes from day one. Here’s the 5-point plan for how we're making that happen with health systems today: 🔹 AI Champion Program: We designate and train department-level champions who lead adoption efforts within their teams. These individuals become trusted internal experts, reducing dependency on central support and accelerating change. 🔹 An AI Academy: We produce concise, role-specific, training modules to deliver just-in-time knowledge to help all users get the most out of the gen AI tools that their systems are provisioning. 5-10 min modules ensures relevance and reduces training fatigue.  🔹 Staged Rollout: We don’t go live everywhere at once. Instead, we're beginning with an initial few locations/teams, refine based on feedback, and expand with proof points in hand. This staged approach minimizes risk and maximizes learning. 🔹 Feedback Loops: Change is not a one-way push. Host regular forums to capture insights from frontline users, close gaps, and refine processes continuously. Listening and modifying is part of the deployment strategy. 🔹 Visible Metrics: Transparent team or dept-based dashboards track progress and highlight wins. When staff can see measurable improvement—and their role in driving it—engagement improves dramatically. This isn’t workflow mapping. This is operational transformation—designed for scale, grounded in human behavior, and built to last. Technology will continue to evolve. But real leverage comes from aligning your people behind the change. We think that’s where competitive advantage is created—and sustained. #ExecutiveLeadership #ChangeManagement #DigitalTransformation #StrategyExecution #HealthTech #OperationalExcellence #ScalableChange

Rebuilding a High-Performing Team in an RTO World: A Client’s Success Story When my executive client was tasked with bringing his 650-person department back to the office after four years of remote work, we knew the challenge wasn’t just logistical—it was strategic - and his concern wasn’t just about getting people back to their desks but ensuring he had the right people in the right roles to drive business success. Through our collaboration, we decided to develop a two-phase approach that allowed him to manage change effectively while restructuring his team for optimal performance. Phase 1: Managing the Change of RTO (Months 1-3) Rather than rushing into assessments and restructuring, we agreed that it was best to focus on re-acclimation first. 🔹 Gradual Reintegration: He implemented a structured return—starting with three days in-office before scaling up—giving employees time to adjust. 🔹 Listening Sessions: My client led discussions with teams to understand concerns, workflows, and career aspirations post-remote. 🔹 Cultural Reset: He modeled the company values, reinforced the why behind RTO, and reinforced the culture in every meeting. Phase 2: Assessing & Restructuring the Team (Months 3-6) Once stability was established, the next step was restructuring the team for the future. 🔹 Skills & Contribution Audit: Partnering with HR and others, my client assessed whether each role still aligned with business needs. He found that some functions were now redundant, while others required a new skill set after four years. 🔹 Team Effectiveness Review: He restructured teams to improve efficiency and positioned high performers in roles that leveraged their strengths. 🔹 Strategic Reassignment & Exits: Some employees transitioned into new, more fitting roles. Others, who struggled to adapt or no longer aligned with the business, were respectfully transitioned out. Still others were supported in their current roles with new training to equip them to succeed in the future. Messaging the Changes: Transparency & Stability 🔹 Communicating the Vision: Early on, we knew framing the restructuring as an opportunity was important. 🔹 One-on-One Conversations: My client ensured employees moving into new roles—or out of the company—had clear, respectful conversations about their next steps. 🔹 Rebuilding Trust: By reinforcing that changes were intentional and strategic, employees recognized the thoughtfulness that had been invested in the changes. The Outcome? He's rounding out his six month and says his department is performing at a higher level than pre-pandemic. It's not been easy and there have been a few surprises, but he knows his team is set up for long-term success. What my client learned was that returning to the office wasn't the real challenge - rebuilding the right team was. If you’re navigating RTO and need to reassess your team for long-term success, let’s connect.👇

I used to make software to help machine manufacturers manage their machines remotely. Twelve plus years ago I had a client that would roll out software updates to their technology kiosks. Even though they only had single digit thousands of devices, they did not push them out all at once. They pushed updates to their zip code, then their town, then their state, then their timezone, and then the whole US. Why did they follow this procedure even though they thoroughly tested the updates? Because if there was a software failure they wanted to limit the potential damage that their update would cause. They would "roll a truck" to fix the problem. They knew that selecting machines closer to headquarters would mean that they would have a lot smaller headache. Additionally, even if they bricked all of the local machines, the number of machines with problems would be measured with two or three digits and not four digits spread across the country. That is why the most shocking thing to me about the recent Crowdstrike issue is that they deployed to millions of devices all at once! From Crowdstrike on how they intend to prevent this from happening again: Refined Deployment Strategy ● Adopt a staggered deployment strategy, starting with a canary deployment to a small subset of systems before a further staged rollout. ● Enhance monitoring of sensor and system performance during the staggered content deployment to identify and mitigate issues promptly. ● Provide customers with greater control over the delivery of Rapid Response Content updates by allowing granular selection of when and where these updates are deployed. ● Provide notifications of content updates and timing. I am glad that they are taking this issue seriously but it seems crazy to me that an event like this had to happen for these type of changes. Message to everyone solution provider that makes an agent or every customer that uses an agent. A staggered rollout strategy should be absolutely required. Even if your company does not use Crowdstrike/Windows, you should be looking at all of your vendors that have an agent. What do you think? Are you going to take a look at agents as part of your vendor reviews? #fciso #crowdstrike

How do you build a culture of lasting improvement? 3M’s story is a standout example. This company has been on a journey to tackle pollution in their products and processes—backed by their employees every step of the way. What started with a few small projects to test Lean Six Sigma eventually grew into a massive initiative involving 55,000 trained employees. Over five years, they completed 8,000+ projects that had a real impact: significant cuts in waste and pollution, surpassing each of their initial goals. The key? They didn’t just introduce a methodology—they made it part of their culture. 3M leaders empowered employees to bring their voices and ideas to the table, using “voice of customer” interviews to connect every change to real needs. This approach made each project not only more efficient but also more meaningful to those involved, giving everyone a stake in the outcome. What can we learn from this? Sustainable change often requires going beyond tools and strategies; it means building a culture that values continuous improvement and listens to every voice. 3M’s results, recognized in studies by the EPA, show the potential of Lean Six Sigma when it’s deeply woven into the company’s DNA. It’s a reminder that real change doesn’t come from buzzwords or quick fixes. It’s about thoughtful action, accountability, and a shared commitment to doing better. What could this kind of commitment look like for your team?

Most people say they’ve transformed culture. Few actually have. I was once told that in large organizations, culture change is like turning an aircraft carrier: slow, painful, and barely perceptible. That might be true if you settle for surface-level change. But I didn’t have that luxury. At a healthcare company with 80,000 employees, I wasn’t hired to run HR. I was brought in to reimagine it - as Chief People Innovation Officer, tasked with transforming how people experienced their work across hundreds of locations, acquired entities, and entrenched silos. And we did it. Not with strategy decks or slogans. We started with people. 1. Real research, not just surveys We didn’t open a “best practices” playbook. We had thousands of real conversations. We asked: What connects you to your work? What breaks your spirit? From that, we found the common thread: the drive to deliver extraordinary care. That insight became our EVP, not a brand line, but a rally cry. 2. Our Employee Value Prop became the operating system Most companies treat EVP as a marketing tool. We used it to rewire decisions across the employee lifecycle. We hired for values, not just skills. Rebuilt onboarding to connect every hire to purpose. Challenged policies that didn’t reflect who we said we were. The EVP wasn’t a campaign. It was our blueprint. 3. Innovation, everywhere To build a culture of innovation, we democratized it. We launched: A company-wide Innovation Challenge to surface bold ideas from the frontlines. An “Everyday Innovation” platform to spotlight small wins. A design-thinking toolkit for managers so innovation lived in every unit, not just HQ. 4. Results that mattered Cost-per-hire dropped. Quality of hire rose. Trust and purpose scores spiked, so did patient satisfaction. Retention improved. The biggest win? Leaders stopped asking if culture mattered. They started asking how to scale it. 5. The right partners push you beyond the expected We didn’t just hire consultants. We brought in provocateurs. Thinkers from outside healthcare who challenged our assumptions. One of them now runs their own venture, Fauna. That’s the ripple effect of great thinking. Here’s the truth: Real culture change doesn’t come from town halls or t-shirts. It comes from aligning strategy to people, and people to purpose. It’s hard, messy, nonlinear work. But when done right, it redefines what’s possible. Not just for the organization, but for everyone inside it. If your EVP is buried in a slide deck, you’re leaving transformation on the table. Want to bring it to life? DM me so I can share more of the story, or better yet, reach out to the folks at Fauna. They were with me every step of the way. Maybe its time you tried something new.