Seven unspoken truths of change and transformation work

If you read a few change management books, they will boil down to eight steps, three steps, the 7-S model, and so on.

People hear these things and think change management is a nice, straightforward process: Grab a team, tell/sell some stories, make the change and bam!… Done.

The danger here is not only that it can be approached like that, but that people start to believe that it's enough, and don't listen to the needs of the people they are affecting.

Change isn't a neat process. It's people and systems learning under pressure. It's messy and complicated because of some key truths we rarely say out loud for fear of disrupting the way things are done. Steps are helpful, and it's good to be aligned to some structure, but be wary of following it religiously.

Here are seven truths I've learned and what to do about them. Plain English. No fairytales. Sleeves rolled up.

1.    Change creates winners and losers

Most resistance to change is 'loss-maths'; someone somewhere is always losing something: status, time, identity, pet project, or certainty. Their resistance is rational, not petty.

Do this:

• Promise + price. State the upside and the cost you're asking people to pay. No spin. Authentic leaders recognise the loss and validate it.

• Mitigate for real. Offer redeployment, training, off-ramps, and transition time. Fund it and shout about it.

• Track the losses. Keep a simple register: who loses what, what support they're getting, what's landed. (What's landed and what hasn't is great learning for future projects.)

  
  

2.    Most “alignment” is performative

It happens so often; the meeting ends with nods, and the corridor is alive with the truth. One leader never agreed, another assumes it'll never happen anyway, so they don't prioritise it. That's how momentum dies.

Do this:

• Disagree in the room. Simple rules, one owner, and a visible decision log with who was there and signed off on it

• Run a pre-mortem. Ask senior voices privately: "What will you say outside this room?". Get ahead of it, and if necessary, use your sponsor.

• Close the loop publicly quickly. Share the decision, rationale, and what we're not doing.

  
  

3.    Sponsorship is more than an occasional speech

Sponsors hold power; that's why they exist, but launching and then stepping back is a surefire way for a change to fail. If the sponsor isn't spending time unblocking, deciding and fronting difficult trade-offs, progress will be slow.

Do this:

• Sponsor Agreements (SLA). Agree upfront with your sponsor visible acts each week: kill a blocker, walk the floor, repeat the story.

• Then use it. Use the sponsor to escalate issues, get decisions through at pace when required, and call the tricky stakeholder.

• Measure visibility. Treat sponsor time and actions like delivery metrics. Report on them as part of sponsor catch-ups and hold them accountable.

  
  

4.    Restructures signal action but rarely fix underlying issues

Moving boxes is visible and controllable; however, it ignores some of the other levers, such as governance, cultural norms, incentives, and poor systems. If you only fix the structure, you risk not changing anything.

Do this:

• First, the operating model. Even if it's just a one-page version that summarises what else needs to change around the structure, I like the Ashridge operating model canvas—look at Processes, Organisation, Location, Information Systems, Suppliers, and Management systems (POLISM) together.

• Structure last. Prototype new ways of working first; make the exec say this out loud.

• Design the spine. Set decision rights, rhythms and measures in parallel with any structural changes.

  
  

5.    Measures get manipulated

If you measure RAG ratings on a project, how often are they permanently 'amber' because someone doesn't want the perceived shame of being 'red'? System tickets are closed before they are fully resolved because teams are measured on ticket time alone. Good people optimise for what they are being measured on.

Do this:

• Reward audit. Are you rewarding one thing in bonuses, promotions, or praise in the hope of fixing something else? Fix the mismatch.

• Red gets help. Publish the help that arrives with a red (people, budget, blocker removal) to remove the shame and get more honest results.

• Add stories to stats. Numbers tell you what moved; stories tell you why and what to do next. Done well, they expose gaming (e.g., "green on paper, broken in reality") and surface unintended consequences early.

6.    People can smell a downsizing wrapped in a vision slide

If the real driver is cost, say it. Dressing headcount cuts as "vision" shreds trust and fuels corridor campaigns. People hear the signal behind the slogan and want you to be authentic.

Do this:

• Say the quiet part early. Separate the "why" from "what it means for jobs" but provide information on where reductions happen, indicative numbers/ranges, dates, and the selection approach. No euphemisms. Treat people as people.

• Put support on the table day one. Provide redeployment routes, training budget, priority interviews, fair terms, and time to look. Track uptake and publish it.

• Protect the survivors. Explain how the work gets done after (what stops and what is automated). Freeze non-essential work, so having fewer people doesn't just mean more work.

7.    Sacred cows eat strategy

Pet projects and prestige teams remain untouchable, so everything else gets bent around them. The overall plan fails, politics wins, and, most importantly, the existing culture will continue to reign.

Do this:

• Kill a pet project publicly. Explain the rationale and where the money/time goes instead. Show people you mean business.

• Lock the gate. No new "must-dos" without a visible stop elsewhere.

• Run a swap test. "If we freed this, what higher-impact thing would we fund tomorrow?" If the answer is clear, act.

  
  

Change is messy because people and systems are messy. That's fine. How you do anything is how you do everything: start with honesty, sequence with care, decide clearly, and muck in.

Where Way fits (four ways we help)

way.forward → Set the vision with real alignment.

We work with your team to name the trade-offs, run the pre-mortem, and make "disagree in the room, one story outside" real. We'll co-create a 1-page operating model that everyone buys into.

way.works → Make the change real (and stick).

Are you stuck in a programme or want to change your approach? We can help you accelerate delivery. We can set up prototype ways of working, design the decision rights, rhythms, and measures alongside your Org Design, and embed red gets help so truth comes through.

way.lead → Equip your change leads.

We can work with your team to develop and initiate Sponsor Agreements across your projects, creating visible weekly acts that keep momentum. While also coaching leaders to close loops publicly and quickly, and hold the one-story outside the room.

way.point → Make measures honest.

Do you need an external review of your measures? We can run a reward audit or redevelop to pair metrics with behaviours and help add stories to stats. If a KPI drives the wrong behaviour, we will tell you and help you change it.

Interested in working with us?

Start with a short call. We'll talk stuck decisions, help you with your stop-list, and leave you with a sleeves-rolled-up plan—even if you don't end up working with us, hello@waycollective.co.uk

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