Organizational Change Management Is the Pathway to Stakeholder Engagement

A recent blog post explored the importance of stakeholder engagement to the success of any project that results in a significant technological or operational change to a public-sector organization. It also suggested that an effective organizational change management (OCM) program makes achieving stakeholder engagement a lot easier.

Change is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. According to the American College of Psychiatry, 80 percent of people dislike change — many even say they hate it. Yet, in today’s fast-moving world, public-sector organizations must constantly innovate to ensure that they meet the ever-evolving needs and demands of their stakeholders. If they aren’t evolving in lockstep, they’re stagnating, which eventually will affect their ability to fulfill their missions.

This is where OCM becomes critical. While project managers focus on getting a solution ready for an organization, change managers ensure that the organization and its stakeholders are ready for the solution. But organizational change isn’t just about implementing new technologies or processes. It’s also about people — in fact, it’s mostly about people. The more that organizations invest in helping stakeholders understand the “why” behind the proposed change, the more successful their transformations will be.

People naturally resist what they don’t know. That’s why support, guidance, and compassionate leadership are essential. Major life changes — losing weight, quitting smoking, buying a first home, bringing a child into the world — are rarely accomplished alone. Workplace change is no different.

In the past, organizations often took a “sink or swim” approach: “Here’s a new system. Training is Monday. Figure it out.” That approach no longer works — in fact, it usually derails the desired technological or operational change. In contrast, a successful OCM program delivers a structured framework that aligns personnel with the new reality — not just throws them into it. If this alignment doesn’t occur, the likelihood that the transformation fails will rise proportionally to the magnitude of the change.

Key OCM challenges include the following:

• Personnel typically fear the unknown; more to the point, they often fear that any significant technological or operational change might have a detrimental effect on their competency and thus their career. Both fears are dangerous and need to be nipped in the bud through continual transparent communication.
• Many leaders avoid ownership of change initiatives, which benefit greatly from champions within the organization. Ideally, significant change initiatives will have top-down support.
• Personnel often are expected to maintain productivity while adapting to new processes, which generates resistance.
• Failing to recognize all affected departments and their personnel can foster alienation and create obstacles that derail change adoption. Organizations often make the egregious mistake of not even knowing who the project’s stakeholders are much less knowing how they will be affected by the change.

OCM professionals address these challenges by ensuring full leadership support, engaging stakeholders early, and creating reinforcement strategies that sustain success beyond implementation. Organizations that embrace OCM don’t just survive change — they lead it. Those that fail to align their people with transformation efforts risk losing efficiency, morale, and competency.

Change is inevitable. Resistance is natural. But with the right OCM strategy, organizations can navigate transformation with confidence — and ensure that their stakeholders come along for the journey. Our OCM team would love to help your organization ensure that its next transformation is successful — so, please reach out.

Jennifer Wray is an MCP organizational change manager. Email her at JenniferWray@MissionCriticalPartners.com.