Establishing the strategic value of change management

Why Establishing the Strategic Value of Change Management is Important

An ongoing concern for those of us leading the change function and developing change capabilities is the lack of engagement from senior leaders. I chaired the Change Management Institute for 6 years and now run the Change Capability Community, and this issue is continually raised as our “glass ceiling.”

Until we can connect the value of change management to the priorities and interests of senior leaders, we will remain off the top table, which limits our resources and reduces our impact.

Failure to achieve recognition for our profession and the value of our work is personally frustrating. It has significant implications for the effectiveness of our organisations, especially as the volume of change continues to rise. In the 2024 EY CEO survey, 58% of CEOs plan to accelerate their transformation agenda, and 37% plan to maintain the current pace. In December, Gartner published results showing that the average employee is impacted by 10 organisation-wide changes at any time, a five-fold increase from 2016.