Common Pitfalls of Change Management and How to Avoid Them
By Carrie Mandak, Senior Consultant
Change management is a discipline filled with nuance, and even the most experienced practitioners encounter recurring challenges. Drawing on insights from two senior change leaders—Stephanie Fiano, Principal Consultant at Forum Solutions, and Susan Reynolds, Change Management Program Manager at Alaska Air Group—here are the five most common pitfalls in change management, and how to avoid them.
1. Prescribing Solutions Instead of Co-Creating
Pitfall: Change managers sometimes act as experts (or are put into this role) who prescribe solutions, rather than co-creating plans with those impacted. This can lead to disengagement and resistance.
“You must fit into the organizational structure to earn trust and be successful.”
Example: Stephanie Fiano described launching an IT platform with a project team who asked the change manager to develop a training plan without audience input. “The project team had said this is the training you get, when you get it, what it covers, who delivers it. The audience was not happy with the plan.” The audience had different needs: they wanted virtual trainings coupled with team meetings to debrief, access to a sandbox environment for practicing new skills, and a quick reference guide. These needs were overlooked, and resulted in unease, lack of buy-in, and nobody enjoying the process.
Solution: Engage impacted audiences early, ask questions, and co-create solutions. This builds buy-in and uncovers critical needs before go-live. As Stephanie Fiano notes: “The leading indicator of how to do the work comes from the audience.”
2. Inflexibility—From Change Managers or the Organization
Pitfall: Rigid adherence to a single framework or routine stifles adaptation and reduces effectiveness.
Example: In the article “Beyond Frameworks: Traits of a Successful Change Manager”, we discussed that while frameworks provide structure, success comes from change managers who combine deep empathy with fearless curiosity, who engage stakeholders as partners rather than recipients, and who have the courage to challenge assumptions before they become costly mistakes.
Susan Reynolds confirms this based on her own experience leading large organizations through change: “If a change manager comes in saying: ‘I have my process. It works. Trust me.’, they set themselves up for failure.”
On the other hand, it might be an organization that is inflexible with respect to their expectations for change management and its processes and deliverables.
Susan describes working in an organization where change plans were expected over a year in advance, even for changes that were not fully defined yet and that workgroups would not be able to properly assess for months. It was very difficult for the change manager to build robust plans, including tactics and metrics. However, an experienced change manager can figure out how to meet the organization’s need for standard processes and long-term planning without painting themselves into a corner or creating throw-away work.
Solution: Balance structure with adaptability. Understand the reasoning behind organizational routines, but be willing to iterate and refine plans over time. “Start with a draft based on comparable projects from the past, and then refine this over time with more and better information. You must fit into the organizational structure to earn trust and be successful,” advises Susan Reynolds.
3. Lack of True Leadership Support
Pitfall: Assuming leadership support without verifying it can leave change managers “swimming upstream.”
Example: Change managers are sometimes assigned to “manage the change” without a senior-level champion to represent the “why.” This leaves the change manager as the face of unpopular changes, rather than as facilitators of a successful transition.
Susan advises: “Leaders may tell you that you have their support, but do they really support the change management approach and execution? Sometimes leaders recognize that change needs to happen, but they do not want to be the bad guy. Do not make any assumptions, ask how they will show support.”
Solution: Have candid conversations with leaders to clarify their role as change sponsors. If support is lacking, escalate as needed or reconsider the initiative.
4. Underestimating the Importance of Influence(rs)
Pitfall: Ignoring the power of influencers, whether stakeholders or impacted audiences themselves, deprives change managers of a critical tool to effectively drive change.
Example: Typically, decision-makers are clearly defined when embarking upon a transformation initiative. It is just as critical to understand who the true influencers are in an organization: who can provide key insight and help the change manager move things forward.
In some organizations, unions play such a role. The “on the ground” union representatives are usually closely in touch with their workgroup members’ needs and sentiments and can share valuable context and vet a proposed change management plan. They can also be a huge help when it comes to “selling” the change plan due to the trust they built with employees and the negotiating power they have with the organization’s leadership.
Sometimes, the best influencers are impacting workgroup members themselves. Stephanie emphasizes the importance of knowing when and how to bring in an impacted audience to advocate for a change plan. Advocacy can take a tax on individuals (especially during a big transformation and an accelerated pace of change), so she recommends proceeding with caution and knowing when the change manager is better off advocating for the impacted group vs. workgroup members advocating directly. “We as change managers always have to figure out how to put feedback loops into place early, and when to advocate strongly for the planned program direction to adapt based on the feedback.”
Solution: Spend time with impacted audiences and engage them early and often. Identify and involve influencers who have the trust of decision makers and can advocate for audience needs.
5. Misunderstanding What Change Management Is
Pitfall: Confusing change management with project management, communications, or training leads to ineffective efforts.
Example: Both Stephanie and Susan have seen this misperception: “In some companies, change management is mostly seen as pushing out communications and trainings.” Change management may land on a project manager’s or business lead’s plate, with the expectation that they have the necessary knowledge and expertise to create training for the organization. Without formal training in adult learning and/or robust experience as a change manager they may deliver training that helps employees through an incremental change but will not support them through transformational change. For example, they may not consider diverse learning styles, not structure training content to optimize rapid and sustained absorption, and underestimate resistance to the change, which will all affect the training outcomes. As Susan sums it up: “Just pushing content at people is not going to work.”
Solution: Educate stakeholders on the true scope of change management, including feedback loops, sustainment, and adoption, not just communication and training.
Conclusion
Stephanie notes: “Change is constant and relentless. How we manage it needs to be effective, efficient, and well-understood.” Successful change management requires humility, ongoing engagement, and adaptability. By recognizing and addressing the pitfalls described above, change leaders can foster more resilient, engaged, and successful organizations.
Carrie Mandak is a seasoned leader with 15+ years’ experience in business transformation and large enterprise software implementation. She connects subject matter experts, business owners, and impacted stakeholders, to relevant information to facilitate decision making and help organizations realize their goals and embrace change.
Forum Solutions is a management consulting company dedicated to crafting and delivering transformational outcomes for our clients, our colleagues, and our community. With our help, clients become more agile, resilient, and connected, bringing great ideas to fruition with brilliant results. From start-ups to the Fortune 50, business leaders rely on Forum Solutions to help them form and realize their strategies. Our company is a certified Woman Owned Business that believes in developing and growing our colleagues, company, and region in a socially conscious way.