In today’s world of increasing uncertainty, it’s not enough to deliver a new system, process, or strategy — success depends on how effectively people adapt to it. That’s where change management creates real, measurable value.
Effective change management bridges the gap between vision and results by helping people move through uncertainty with confidence. When we invest in the people side of change — not just the technical side — we accelerate adoption, strengthen performance, and reduce risk. And this isn’t theory; it’s been proven time and again in organizations of every size and industry.
Understanding the Performance Curve
The Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) offers a powerful visual for understanding this impact. Without structured change management, performance typically dips sharply as employees struggle to adapt to new ways of working. Over time, the organization recovers — but slowly — and may never realize the full benefits it set out to achieve.
With effective change management, that dip is shorter and shallower. Employees reach proficiency sooner, performance rebounds faster, and benefits are realized earlier — often exceeding initial expectations. The difference between these two trajectories is where the true ROI of change management lives.
Getting to the “Green Line”
As we shared in our last webinar, The Change Management Playbook,“the value of change management is essentially the area between these two lines — the space where you move from resistance to readiness.” The better we are at listening, adapting, and engaging our people, the closer we get to what he calls the green line — the path where performance improves quickly and sustainably.
Reaching that green line requires more than following a plan. It demands curiosity, empathy, and adaptability. Great change leaders treat implementation as an ongoing loop — continuously testing, learning, and rerouting based on real feedback. That mindset turns change from a one-time event into a scalable capability that helps organizations thrive in uncertainty.
Assessing Performance
The challenge comes in assessing where we actually are on this curve. Are we midway between the black and green line, or trending closer to one or the other? The illustration is simple to understand — but the real value comes from being able to determine our trajectory. If we’re not tracking toward the green line, we need to adjust accordingly to achieve the benefits we’re aiming for as quickly as possible.
The answer lies in iteration, testing, and learning along the way. That’s why assessing performance throughout the journey is so important — not just the performance of employees and leaders, or progress against the benefits we hope to realize, but our own effectiveness as change leaders as well.
When we establish these elements early and assess them continuously, we gain valuable insight into where we fall on the curve — and what we need to do next to move closer to the green line.
In practice, this means defining a clear set of change success metrics and tracking both leading and lagging indicators to trigger timely adjustments. These can take many forms — from quantitative data that already exists (like turnover or adoption rates), to qualitative insights from surveys, to nuanced feedback gathered through one-on-one conversations with key stakeholders. The goal is simple: understand how effectively the change effort is landing, and adapt when it’s not.
Putting It into Practice
During an M&A integration project, we introduced several new channels to help leaders and employees receive timely information. With roughly 4,000 people impacted, it was impossible to assess at an individual level whether everyone was following along, so we had to get creative.
We deployed a short, pulse-style survey at key points during the integration to gauge sentiment:
- I feel adequately informed about the integration steps and am confident about what comes next. (1–10 scale, optional comment field)
- I feel a sense of excitement when I think about the future and my place at X. (1–10 scale, optional comment field)
Each time, we analyzed the results, aligned with senior leadership on areas for improvement, and shared both the findings and our action plan with all employees. We repeated this process multiple times to assess whether our changes were having the desired impact.
But that was just one layer. We also hosted open Q&A sessions for leaders and employees, held routine touchpoints with middle management, and maintained an anonymous feedback channel for those who preferred to share privately.
Monitoring this feedback revealed critical insights. For example, we discovered a communication gap between senior leaders and people managers — which led to the creation of a “Leader Office Hours” call. Later, when feedback indicated that key messages weren’t reaching employees, we added an all-hands meeting. Then, when employees shared that there were too many calls, we adjusted again.
The point is simple: people’s expectations evolve. Having structured ways to collect feedback helps you understand how those expectations are shifting — so you can adapt accordingly. It’s a continuous cycle. When you stay open, curious, and empathetic, you maintain your effectiveness throughout the entire change journey.
Establishing success metrics is step one. The willingness to learn and adjust — that’s what keeps change alive.
Why It Matters
When organizations treat change management as a leadership capability — not a checkbox on a project plan — they empower their people to navigate uncertainty with clarity and purpose.
The result isn’t just faster adoption. It’s a more confident, connected, and capable workforce — one that learns, adapts, and grows stronger with every change.
Past Webinar
The Change Management Playbook
Get ready to REROUTE!
Every change is a journey—and every journey needs a map. In this 60-minute session, Andrew Ourique introduces Reroute’s adaptable change approach, shows how to turn theory into action, and shares lessons learned you can apply immediately.
Upcoming Webinar
The Game Plan: Preparing and Planning
Establish your foundation and ready the organization
In this session, we’ll explore the Prepare and Plan phases of the change journey—how to gather the right insights, align stakeholders, and turn analysis into actionable strategy. You’ll learn how to use practical tools like Monday.com, Miro, and other collaboration platforms to map change impacts, visualize stakeholder networks, and translate findings into executive-ready visuals.
