Why You Should Engage Organizational Change Management Early

You've probably heard conflicting advice on when to engage change management support for your initiative.

First you’re told:“Don’t bring us on until you’ve defined the solution.”

But later, when the rollout encounters resistance, you hear:“This could have been avoided if you’d engaged change management earlier.”

So which is it?

Our take: There is a school of thought that says change management should begin work once the solution is fully defined; this is because change managers want to know what the impacts to employees will be so they can start making their plans. The problem is, that information is often finalized relatively late in the game, and a lot of value is lost when change management isn’t at the table to shape key decisions early on.

That's why an experienced change management consultant knows how to start adding value much earlier in the process – around the time leaders start struggling to hold all the moving pieces together by themselves.

In the messy early days of an initiative, when you’re still working to define your future vision and gain buy-in, change management consultants do the work of listening intently, capturing unexpected stakeholder perspectives, and using them to shape impactful decisions and conversations. We can produce formal deliverables like a stakeholder map or change readiness analysis, but a lot of our value at this stage is harder to measure; it comes from guiding and supporting conversations at the senior leadership level as the leadership team comes together behind the change vision.

Why do you need a consultant for this?

Gaining buy-in and having alignment conversations are usually jobs that senior leaders handle on their own, but change initiatives tend to add layers of complexity and uncertainty that can easily overwhelm any one person. Often leaders look for support from someone who understands what’s at stake and can bring much-needed flexibility and openness to the work. An experienced change management consultant knows how to accept current realities, meet you and your stakeholders where they’re at, and still help you advocate to build something better.

If you’re planning to make major business improvements this year and you know your success will rely on your people adopting new ways of working, our recommendation would be to consider bringing on change management earlier rather than later, and to choose experienced consultants with a history of being responsible for embedding change. This stage is about strategic planning, and you want someone who can help you see around corners.

Looking for someone to help you shape your change vision and align your leadership team? We’d love to help. Reach out to WorkWithUs@SolveConsulting.ca