Change is constant. Organizations must adapt to stay relevant, whether driven by market shifts, technological advancements or internal transformations. This guide offers a clear, practical overview of change management, from its core principles to proven models, processes and examples. Whether overseeing a transformation or preparing your organization for future shifts, understanding the change management process can help ensure successful outcomes.

What is change management?

Change management is the structured approach that helps guide individuals, teams and companies through transitions. It ensures change is not just implemented but embraced, sustained and aligned with business goals. Moreover, it ensures that the change leads to the expected business benefits. On time and on budget project is not a business benefit; increased productivity or effectiveness is a business benefit that cannot be achieved without people adopting, utilizing and ultimately becoming proficient with the change.

At its core, it focuses on guiding behavior, reinforcing new ways of working and fostering a culture of adaptability. It involves clear communication, stakeholder engagement, training and performance tracking. The goal is not just to execute change but to embed it into the organization’s DNA.

What does change management include?

Change management refers to the methods and strategies used to prepare, support and help individuals and organizations transition from their current state to their desired future state. It addresses both the people and process sides of change, ensuring that improvements are adopted effectively and with minimal disruption.

Change management’s growth over the years

Change management has evolved significantly over the past few decades. Initially viewed as a set of reactive tactics for handling disruption, it is now recognized as a strategic discipline critical to organizational success.

In recent years, the rise of digital transformation, remote work and agile operating models has increased the demand for robust change management processes. Organizations are investing in dedicated change functions, formal frameworks and consultant partnerships to manage complex change at scale.

Types of change management

Change varies by nature and scale, varying from smaller changes for individuals to larger organization-wide changes. Considering the type of structural change, the urgency of it and the focus area can help assess what type of change management it is. Understanding what type of change management applies to your business is an important step, as it will impact the approach.

The following three types reflect common categories used in practice:

Developmental

Developmental change enhances existing processes, skills or practices. It is often more easily completed because the existing process is being updated rather than starting from scratch.

Examples

  • Sales processes
  • Existing software updates
  • Standardized HR processes

See also: Agile methodology

Transitional

Transitional change replaces current processes or systems with entirely new ones. Processes for this type of change focus on planning, managing, and then adapting new methods.

Examples

Transformational

Transformational change is large-scale and deeply strategic. It alters an organization’s culture, business model or mission. These changes are often disruptive but essential for long-term growth and resilience.

Examples

  • Digital transformation
  • Business redirection
  • New business model

Change management process

A strong change management process helps ensure a change is more successfully implemented. Keys to creating the best process for your business are to ensure it is well planned, supported by stakeholders and clearly communicated throughout the departments impacted.

While change management processes can vary, they typically include the following phases:

  1. Plan: Initiate the change process by assessing the culture of the organization and the impact of the changes, as well as developing a strategy to support and accelerate the adoption of the change.
  2. Engage: Implement the change plan to build awareness, excitement and interest in the change and create accountability and drive ownership for its successful adoption.
  3. Enable: Verify that appropriate steps have been taken to reinforce the behavioral shifts necessary to sustain and continuously improve upon the change.
  4. Achieve: Ensure the affected individuals have the necessary skills, capabilities, knowledge, tools and support, and the motivation to make the change.

Each of the change management process phases are designed to minimize disruption and build lasting adoption. These steps can be customized depending on the complexity and context of the change.

Change management models

Various models provide structured approaches to managing change. When organizations are working through change, finding the right model is an important step in ensuring the changes are successful. Using a change management model may help guide teams involved in the change while supporting them along the way with next steps and resources.

Each model offers different tools and frameworks to support leaders and teams. Different models may be needed for different projects within the same company.

When selecting the right model, a business will want to consider:

  • Scale of the change: How many people are impacted?
  • Organizational culture: Is the structure traditional or more collaborative?
  • Employees: Is there buy-in or resistance?
  • Resources: What is the time, budget and employees dedicated to the change?

Four popular change management models include:

ADKAR Model (Prosci)

This approach is people-centered and focuses on individual change through five outcomes: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. This model often works best when there are individuals who will need to adjust throughout the change. Mergers and new staffing models can benefit greatly from the ADKAR change management model.

Kotter’s 8-Step Process

For large-scale and more complex changes, this model emphasizes urgency, coalition-building and embedding change into culture. The steps include: create a sense of urgency, build a guiding coalition, form a strategic vision, enlist a volunteer army, enable action by removing barriers, generate short-term wins, sustain acceleration and institute change.

Lewin’s Change Model

When overhauling existing systems, this change management model can help by describing change in three stages: Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze. This simple strategy can make it easier for management to work through the company’s needs.

ACMP’s Standard for Change Management

This model offers a comprehensive framework of sequential processes and artifacts to guide organizations through large-scale changes. Many find they like that it focuses on both the organizational and individual levels, which ensures it achieves successful and sustainable outcomes.

Why change management?

Organizations that manage change well are more likely to achieve their transformation goals. Change management processes help reduce resistance while increasing understanding, aligning stakeholders and accelerating the adoption of new behaviors and processes.

Without it, even well-planned initiatives can stall due to confusion, disengagement or lack of buy-in and readiness. Using a structured process and model provides the discipline needed to navigate uncertainty and deliver measurable results.

Benefits of organizational change management

The effective use of change management supports both business objectives and employee engagement. The organized implementation of new processes, guidelines and other changes often leads to higher success rates compared to when implemented without change management processes.

Key benefits include:

  • Faster adoption of new technologies or processes
  • Reduced operational disruption
  • Higher return on investment for change initiatives
  • Improved employee morale and productivity
  • Stronger alignment between strategy and execution
  • Realized business benefits relying on human behavior, such as productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, customer experience, etc.

Change resistance

Resistance is a natural response to change, often rooted in fear, uncertainty or perceived loss. In fact, when implementing change in organizations, people resist the change itself and rarely the change management process or activities. Addressing resistance early and proactively is crucial to success.

Common strategies include involving employees in planning, communicating transparently, offering training and support, and recognizing early adopters. Understanding the reasons behind resistance allows leaders to tailor their approach and build trust.

Why would I use a change management service?

Change management services provide expert guidance, tools and support to help organizations navigate transitions effectively. By leveraging proven methodologies, change management services increase the likelihood of successful, sustainable outcomes.

Whether you’re rolling out a new system or shifting your operating model, a service partner or consultant can help you:

  • Design and execute a customized change strategy
  • Train and support employees through the transition
  • Measure impact and adjust as needed

Why hire change management consultants?

Hiring consultants gives you access to specialized knowledge and an external perspective. With their extensive experience, a consultant can assist you in a successful change. When working with a firm that offers these services, you also benefit from a large set of resources that can help with the transition. They also help scale efforts across large, complex organizations, bringing proven frameworks and lessons learned from other clients.

Change management consultants can:

  • Conduct readiness assessments and stakeholder analysis
  • Facilitate workshops and develop communications plans
  • Provide coaching and training to leaders and teams

Benefits of change management consultants:

  • Neutral, third-party expertise, free of internal organizational baggage
  • Objective guidance from experienced professionals
  • Scalable support for large or multi-phase initiatives
  • Access to proven tools and templates
  • Increased speed and effectiveness of change implementation

Considerations for selecting the right change management services

Choosing the right partner for your change management is essential for achieving success. While we’ve already discussed internal considerations for change management models and implementation within your organization, considering the consultants, their proposal and what they offer as a larger firm is important before selecting the right service.

Key considerations include:

  • Experience and expertise: Industry knowledge and track record with similar initiatives.
  • Methodology: A structured yet flexible approach tailored to your organization.
  • Cultural fit: Shared values and effective communication style.
  • Support model: Ability to scale support across teams and locations.

Change management for your industry

Whether you work in information technology or manufacturing, change management can be applied to your workforce and provide a more successful transition for your operations. Using these models and processes within your organization can help mitigate disruptions while ensuring that changes are implemented smoothly and effectively. Following a change management approach can help avoid the need to reassess and restart in a short period of time.

Examples

  • Healthcare – implementing new technologies or systems, improving patient feedback and care, maximizing and tracking resources
  • Information Technology – infrastructure additions, modifications or removals
  • Financial Services – compliance needs, adapting new technology
  • Manufacturing – efficiency of processes, ensuring quality of products

Partnering with CGI

At CGI, we collaborate with clients to tailor change strategies that work, with local teams backed by global experience, we’re here to help your organization embrace change and thrive in a constantly evolving environment.

Successful change requires more than good intentions—it takes planning, communication and support. Whether you’re navigating a digital transformation, organizational restructure or process improvement, change management can drive results and reduce risk.