Last month I wrote about my belief that change practitioners and the business people we work with would benefit from doing change with people rather than to them and that changes would go better if our focus was on supporting people as they lead themselves through change. I also called out these three key fears I think people have about “doing” change this way:

• The change won’t achieve desired end results.
• The change will take too much time and money.
• A loss of control and an unfamiliar approach.

This month’s post is about the 1st of those fears.

The change won’t achieve desired goals

After doing some internet research, I did not find agreement on a metric for the failure rate of change initiatives. I did, however, find agreement that change initiatives often don’t do as well as planned.

The essence of practicing change management the way I described above is what executive facilitator, team coach, and speaker Caroline Kealey calls change accompagnement. In her Feb 11, 2025 blog post What’s next for change? Kealey defines change accompagnement as walking with, not ahead in providing support through a challenge or change.

Which desired results are in jeopardy if we take this approach? What about current change management practices gives people confidence that they are more effective in reaching change initiative goals?

Change accompagnement: Walking with, not ahead in providing support through a challenge or change.

Closing thoughts

I want to hear from you. What do you think would happen to the results of change initiatives you’re involved in if you focused more on doing change with people rather than to them?

Please post your thoughts and comments below. Let’s help each other become the best change management practitioners and enthusiasts we can be!

Thank you for reading. Until next time, take care and keep up the good work!

Mike