April
13,
2026
Winning Your Game of Change Project Whack-a-Mole.
The rate of digital transformation is driving demand for change management to unprecedented levels. You probably have a robust internal change management function to handle your organization’s IT initiatives.
The good news is that leaders know that these initiatives won’t succeed without change management. The bad news is that you might now have a capacity problem.
You could try to cover multiple projects with one change lead. Or you could focus your leads on the highest-priority projects and hope the other projects stay afloat. Until they don’t. And then you must move the change lead back to save the endangered project. Now you’re playing a game of whack-a-mole.
How do you evolve your model to meet current and future demand for change management?
Use a flexible service model for change support.
Not all change initiatives are created equal. They vary in scale, complexity, and impact. The change management expertise built into each team also varies. You can right-size your support of your organization’s projects with a flexible service model.
We like to think of change service levels in three main buckets:
- Full Service – This option is the white glove option, where you dedicate a full-time team to one change effort. It’s what you want for complex, large-scale digital transformation initiatives. Here, you have someone who wakes up every day to plan and execute change strategies to prepare impacted stakeholders for a specific change.
- Coaching Support – This level is appropriate when the project team has some change management expertise. You can provide the team with best practices, targeted advice, and insights, as needed. In this case, establish standing meetings with your key initiative team so you stay current with the project, and provide insight when the team doesn’t know what they don’t know.
- Self-Service – At this level, you provide standard tools and templates to the initiative team, and they apply them as they see fit. This works best for smaller initiatives and/or initiatives with significant built-in change management experience.
A flexible change support service model acknowledges the change capabilities a team already has and the complexity and volume of change projects. You will probably need a combination of the three service levels to cover all your organization’s initiatives. Using this a framework will help you organize your resourcing plans.
Consider a partnership.
Depending on your needs, it’s worthwhile to consider a partnership to support change work. For example, a Managed Service Agreement with a partner can give you robust change planning and resourcing across multiple workstreams simultaneously, while providing coordination and consistency. And a partner can flex to provide the right service level for each project.
A good partner will invest in learning your processes, methodologies and practices — and apply standard change tools and templates — saving time and money. Your project teams benefit from consistent experiences, long-term relationships with deeply skilled change resources, and a fast path to value for their investment.
More attention on change is a good thing, but how you use that focus determines your outcomes.
Download a handy guide to your service model options, here.
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