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Four Ways AI Can Help Change Management Practitioners.

 

When you are leading a major transformation — an ERP implementation, an operating model redesign, a merger — one thing becomes clear, fast: even the best project plan does not guarantee people will adopt the change.

That is where change management comes in. And today, change professionals have a new tool in our toolkit: AI.

Used well, AI can accelerate outcomes, improve precision, and reduce risk. Here’s what it can help us do:

1. Surface what matters, faster.

Large-scale change generates a huge volume of data, like stakeholder feedback, pulse surveys, support tickets, and internal chat. AI can analyze that data in real time, identify sentiment trends, and flag emerging resistance. Instead of waiting for issues to escalate, we can respond early — with targeted interventions that matter.

2. Personalize the experience at scale.

Diverse groups need different messages, different training, and different levels of support. AI allows us to segment audiences intelligently and tailor communications and learning experiences without increasing headcount. The result? Higher engagement, faster uptake, and less noise.

3. Forecast risk with data, not just instinct.

We have all relied on experience to anticipate resistance. Now, we can combine that instinct with AI-driven models that flag risk area, based on real behavioral patterns and prior project data. This lets us get proactive, not just reactive.

4. Free up humans to do what humans do best.

AI can manage repetitive work: drafting initial communications, organizing feedback, or summarizing survey results. That frees up change leaders to do the higher-order work: building relationships, managing stakeholders, and navigating the culture. In short, it lets your team stay focused on the “human” side of change.

Here’s how I’m putting it into practice.

I have started to apply AI in small, practical ways to support my clients:

  • I launched a brief survey to gauge stakeholder sentiment, then used AI to quickly analyze and categorize the responses.
  • I created a job-aid on how to customize a navigation bar in a new system. I used AI for the first draft and formatting.

I have even used AI to do more sophisticated tasks. For example, AI helped me conduct a Segregation of Duties exercise during a major SAP implementation, identifying conflicting roles within jobs. This supported the client’s regulatory compliance. It also helped them to reduce the risk of fraud, error, and misuse of sensitive systems.

AI is not replacing change management. It is enhancing it, helping us deliver smarter, faster, and with greater confidence. At Emerson, we do not chase shiny objects. We use tools that help people adopt change and make it stick. AI is now one of them.