My colleague, Jim Turko, and I recently attended the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) Conference in Chicago. This popular event drew 644 attendees, 66 presenters, and 19 exhibitors! The week was filled with exciting news and content, including 55 sessions and plenty of opportunities to connect with fellow change leaders.
Change management is a structured approach to organizational transformations, with a strong focus on the people side of change and achieving expected benefits. Some of the compelling insights and trends shared at the conference included:
- Change fatigue is real. Employees experience at least five times more change than eight years ago. Meanwhile, more than 70% of projects are quietly failing, and employees’ desire to support the changes are decreasing by nearly 40%. Change management must evolve to address the growing scale and speed of change.
- AI is making its mark. Over 20% of the sessions referenced AI as either 1) a tool to increase efficiency in the work of change managers or 2) a driver that requires structured change management and organizational upskilling to successfully adopt AI.
- Show me the data! A huge component of change management is data, visualization, and storytelling. Leveraging tools like change readiness assessments and stakeholder analysis—and presenting the insights clearly—can demonstrate the value of change management and improve project outcomes.
- Creative engagement works. You can have fun and grow change capabilities, too! Consider using improv, interactive games, or even comic strips to help your teams become better listeners, boost engagement, and build resilience in today’s fast moving and uncertain environment.
Presenter Shara Hutchinson, said it best: “You don’t get to choose whether change happens, you only get to choose if you’re ready for it.” With the new tools, approaches, strategies, and a community of supportive change practitioners, I feel more ready than ever for what’s ahead!