Author: Chantelle van den Heever
Change management is often the unsung hero—or scapegoat—of major projects. It’s a discipline that ensures people move with a business transformation, not against it. Yet, Change Managers repeatedly face the same challenges—challenges that could be avoided if businesses approached change management more strategically.
For leaders making critical decisions about transformation, here are the most common pitfalls and how to overcome them:
People Don’t Understand Change Management
Too often, change management is misunderstood as “just a bit of hand-holding” or reduced to project communications. In reality, it’s a structured discipline focused on helping individuals and teams adapt to—and adopt—new ways of working.
It’s not enough to have the perfect strategy; success depends on people embracing it. Change management ensures the human side of change isn’t ignored, turning intentions into tangible results.
What Leaders Can Do: Recognise that change management drives adoption. It’s not about delivering messages—it’s about driving behaviours and outcomes that make transformation stick.
Change Managers Are Brought in Too Late
When Change Managers are engaged too late, months of lost preparation are impossible to recover. Critical decisions have already been made, timelines are set, and resistance is often embedded. By then, Change Managers are playing catch-up, reducing their ability to influence outcomes.
Winston Churchill’s words resonate here: “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
Change management isn’t just a project phase—it’s a thread that runs through the entire lifecycle. Integrating it early ensures a transformation plan that addresses both business and people needs.
What Leaders Can Do: Involve Change Managers from the start. Early integration maximises impact and prevents costly missteps later.
Change Management Gets the Blame for Project Failures
When projects fail, change management is often the scapegoat. Yet, the root cause frequently lies in flawed strategy, poor leadership alignment, or unrealistic goals. Change Managers facilitate success—they can’t fix a broken foundation.
Acknowledging deeper issues is uncomfortable but essential. Failing to do so only leads to repeated missteps.
What Leaders Can Do: Ensure leadership alignment and clarity on strategic goals. Change management cannot save a failing plan, but it can amplify a strong one.
Changing Consultancies Mid-Project: The Poisoned Chalice
Swapping change consultancies mid-project is surprisingly common. By this stage, trust has eroded, frustrations run high, and the new consultancy inherits a poisoned chalice. This move often reflects deeper cultural or leadership issues—not the performance of the outgoing team.
What Leaders Can Do: Resist the temptation to change course for superficial reasons. Focus on fixing root challenges and building trust with the existing team. Switching consultancies midway rarely solves the problem—it amplifies it.
A Better Way: How VSLS Powers Change Enablement
At VSLS, change is more than a process—it’s a catalyst for unmatched employee engagement. Change creates uncertainty, especially when it’s deeply embedded in the fabric of business operations. But uncertainty doesn’t have to slow progress. By harnessing change, it can instead become the engine that drives it.
Our E3 framework—focused on the synergy of Employees, Environment, and Experience—redefines what’s possible. This approach sparks radical shifts, turning transformation into an opportunity to create lasting impact.
With experienced change consultants at the helm, VSLS supports every stage of the transformation journey. From meticulous planning to seamless execution and ongoing reinforcement, we ensure change isn’t just managed—it’s enabled.
We don’t just guide organisations through change; we elevate individuals, teams, and entire companies to a future-fit reality. A reality that is resilient in the face of uncertainty and adaptable to meet whatever challenges come next.
To drive substantial and sustainable change, alignment with purpose is crucial. That’s why we combine change psychology, targeted learning, and striking communications assets to transform change momentum into a culture-defining movement.
The result? Change that doesn’t just “stick,” but inspires.
By recognising and addressing these common pitfalls, leaders can reframe their approach to change management and ensure transformations deliver real, sustainable value. When change is embraced as an opportunity—rather than an afterthought—it becomes the key to progress, resilience, and lasting success.
