Change Factory's survey investigates factors influencing the success or failure of change management projects, identifying critical elements such as documented strategy, communication, and analysis of resistance. The results indicate that 84% of respondents considered their projects successful, although lower rates were reported for key criteria like timeframe and quality measures. The research emphasizes the importance of engagement and tailored strategies for achieving project success.

1. Change Project
Success Indicators
Survey Results
3/03/2014

2. Executive Summary
• Change Factory is investigating the factors that lead to change
management project success or failure. By participating in the
survey, respondents help validate theories about what works
and what doesn’t. Leadership, user engagement, training and
communication were some of the influencing factors
investigated.
• The key factors found to influence the success of a project
include:
• Documented strategy
• Communication
• Analysis of resistance and risk
• Engagement tactics
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3. About Change Factory
• Change Factory transforms businesses by changing people’s behaviour.
• Change Factory is a Melbourne-based consulting company that
specialises in change management and business transformation. We
work across Australia, Pacific Islands and South East Asian countries.
• Our services include:
• Building change capability
• Developing people
• Driving performance
• Creating strategy
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4. Purpose of Change Factory’s Survey
• Change Factory is investigating the factors that lead to the success or
failure of a project. This presentation is the first round of analysis from
around 76 organisations around the world.
• Currently, there exists many myths, self-help books and numerous
models to explain how to manage a successful change project, however,
change managers are still uncertain as to how specific factors lead to
the success of their specific project.
• This presentation demonstrates the correlation between a success of a
project and specific factors, such as communication, training and
documented strategy.
• This presentation is filled with numerous hyperlinks to provide the
reader with more research and best practice articles. To access these
links, please have this in full presentation mode.
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5. Some published results
1993 Hamer and
Champy
published their
estimate of 30%
success rate
2008 Kotter observation of
100 companies: 30%
success rate
2009 McKinsey
study: 68% success
rate
2013 Economist:
56% success rate
• The most well known statistic for
failed change projects is ‘70%’
• However, that figure had been
based on ‘observations and
estimates’ that do not produce
valid and reliable data.
• It was only in 2009 that McKinsey
produced more valid data,
showing that more than half of the
projects succeeded. These
statistics are very similar to those
found in Change Factory’s current
research
• The irrational side of change
management | McKinsey &
Company
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6. SURVEY CRITERIA
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7. Factors Investigated During the Survey
1. Organisation demographics
2. Strategy
3. Tactics and Planning
4. Integration to business as usual
5. Implementation
6. Measurement and Outcomes
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8. Types of Respondents
Questions Data
Number of organisations respondents >100 organisations filled in the survey.
Projects were based around the world,
including Australia, USA and South Sudan.
Completed projects 72%
Near completion 9%
Incomplete 12%
Year completed Most projects were completed in 2013
(48.7%)

9. Demographics
Length of Project Number of people affected
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
1-49
50-99
100-199
200-499
500-999
1000-1999
2000-4999
5000+
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10. Position During Project
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
Project manager Part of the project team Project sponsor Department head affected by
the project
Other
Position during Project
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11. THE RESULTS
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12. What is a successful project
• Change Factory is measuring three aspects required for the
success of a project:
1. Delivered in the allocated timeframe
2. Delivered in the agreed quality measures
3. Demonstrated a return on investment
• Although there are other factors that lead to the success of
the project, these factors have been investigated in the
question looking at internal success criteria. These criteria
are based on previous result conducted by Change Factory
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13. Was your Project a Success?
84%
68%
71%
66%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Successful Time frame Quality ROI
Success rate
• When asked ‘Was your project
considered a success?’, 84% of
respondents responded yes.
• However, when asked more detailed
questions around meeting
timeframes, quality measures and
ROI (what Change Factory believes
are the minimum success criteria of
a project), a significantly lower
number of respondents answered
positively.
• In this survey, Change Factory uses 3
factors as the key criteria of a project
succeeding – Timeframe, quality and
ROI
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14. Internal Criteria of Success
• A large number of respondents
measured their projects success
by an increase in revenue and
productivity.
• Engagement was considered to
be the third most important
internal criteria of success.
• Later in the presentation, it is
demonstrated the importance
of engagement in meeting the
three criteria of success
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
Increase of
revenue
Increase of
productivity
Engagement of
employees
Use of product Increase
organisational
engagement
Internal Criteria of Success
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15. Explanation of the Data Graphics
• The following bar charts in this presentation depict Change Factory’s 3 main
factors of a success of a project:
1. Timeframe
2. Quality measures
3. ROI
• The green bar depicts the success rate that had the title element (for example,
documented strategy)
• The red bar depicts the success rate of projects that did not have the title
element.
• Results, where a significant impact was found by including or not including a
title element within a project, are part of the survey results. For example, where
a documented strategy was included or not included. Based on Change Factory’s
experience, research and observation, comments have been included on
probable causes
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16. Explanation of the Data Graphics
66%
77% 76%
46%
70%
46%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Documented Strategy
The green bar depicts
overall successful
projects that had the
title element (for
example, documented
strategy). In this case,
those projects that
were deemed a success
and had a documented
strategy were more
likely to be successful
than those who did not
have a documented
strategy.
The red bar depicts
the success of
projects that did
not have the
documented
strategy. This
clearly shows that
if there was no
documented
strategy, the
success rate for
reaching the
quality measures
dropped
significantly.
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17. RESULTS: STRATEGY
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18. Documented Strategy
66%
77% 76%
46%
70%
46%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Documented Strategy • If a project had a documented
strategy, it was more likely to not
meet the project timeframe. In
Change Factory’s experience this
could be due to a documented
strategy taking longer to develop
and the leadership team
implementing longer decision
making processes
• By having a documented strategy,
there is a significant positive
impact in projects reaching their
quality measures and achieving
ROI
• Implementing Strategy -
Change Factory
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19. Analysis of resistance
65%
72%
75%
56%
72%
44%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Analysis of resistance
• Conducting an analysis of
resistance does not have a
positive impact on timeframe,
it did have a significantly
positive impact on the quality
measures and ROI being
reached.
• From our observations,
measuring resistance of the
employees undergoing change
allows the leaders to ensure
there are solutions in place to
get employees engaged in the
change process.
• Investigating Resistance -
Change Factory
3/03/2014

20. Risk Analysis
69% 68%
84%
44%
73%
52%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Risk analysis
• Conducting a risk analysis at the
beginning of a project allowed for
more projects to reach their
quality measures and ROI.
• In our experience, conducting risk
analysis allows project managers
to prepare for the possible risks
that could derail a project.
• Managing Risk – Change Factory
3/03/2014

21. Critical Success Factors
71%
52%
74%
57%
71%
43%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Critical success factors
• A project team that measures
critical success factors are
more likely to achieve the
three main success factors
than those projects that do not
measure critical success
factors.
• By consistently measuring the
success factors, the project can
be assessed as to whether it is
meeting the factors required to
label it a success.
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22. RESULTS: TACTICS AND
PLANNING
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23. Communication Strategy
66%
74%
77%
57%
74%
48%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Formal communications strategy
• Implementing a communication
strategy in a project may push the
project time frame out, however,
by having formal communication
documentation, there is a
significant positive impact on the
meeting quality measures and ROI
• Implementing an effective
communication strategy
encourages engagement during
the change process
• Communication choices during
Evolutionary Change –
Change Factory
3/03/2014

24. Communicating the Benefits
79%
46%
83%
46%
79%
38%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Calculated benefits • Clearly communicating the
benefits of the change to
employees positively impacts on
the success of the project in all
three factor.
• In our experience and from our
previous research, this clearly
follows the principle of ‘what’s
in it for me?’ and its benefit of
communicating. By clearly
communicating the benefits,
employees are more engaged
and more likely to work towards
the success of the project
• Driving EDRMS Adoption |
Change Factory
3/03/2014

25. RESULTS: INTEGRATION TO
BUSINESS AS USUAL
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26. Change Factory’s Engagement Model
Level Description
1 Understanding the change and the details of the program (the WHAT)
2 Believing in the change (the WHY) and believing it will benefit them
3 Prioritising and caring about the change (the WHEN)
4 Planning to make the change (the HOW, WHO and WHERE)
5 Implementing the change (the DO)
Click here for more information from our website
Employee Engagement – Change Factory
3/03/2014

27. Engagement: Understand the purpose of
the change
69%
60%
73%
40%
68%
40%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Understand the purpose of the
change • When employees are clear about
the purpose of the change, the
success of a project increases
significantly
• What the purpose of the change is
will vary in levels of importance to
employees. Most employees
respond more to one of the
following when the purpose is
reflected in:
• The individual
• Colleagues
• Organisation
• Society
• Environment
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28. Engagement: Care about Change
69% 68%
80%
46%
64%
55%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Managers care about the change
• Surprisingly, managers caring
about the change do not have a
significant impact on keeping
within a timeframe or going
above it
• However, it does not have a large
impact on whether quality
measures were met within a
project and slightly less of an
impact of whether the ROI was
met.
• In our experience, managers
caring about a project are more
likely to make them prioritise
meeting the quality measures.
3/03/2014

29. Engagement: Prioritise changes
70%
65%
83%
35%
73%
40%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Prioritise the change in day-to-day
jobs
• Another surprising result was
that for those who prioritised the
change versus those who didn’t
prioritise, didn’t have a
significant improvement in
reaching the timeframe
• Possible reasons could be that
prioritising changes concentrated
more on meeting the quality
measures, thus having an impact
on the ROI
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30. Engagement: Plan the change
68%
65%
84%
32%
74%
42%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Plan the change
• The most significant difference in
meeting the quality outcomes,
was impacted by whether
employees plan the change in
their everyday work
• Employees who plan the change
in their everyday work were
more likely to achieve the
success factors of the project
from our observation. This high
level of engagement in the
change project significantly
impacted the projects success
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31. Nominated manager for business unit
70%
55%
80%
45%
77%
35%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Nominated manager for each
business unit
• Engaging a nominated manager
to look after implementing the
change in separate business
units significantly leads to the
success of a project
• From our observations, by
having a nominated manager in
business units affected by
change, they were more likely
to have a type of ‘change
champion’ to advocate the
change.
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32. IMPLEMENTATION
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33. Post implementation support
68% 69%
78%
44%
70%
50%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Time frame Quality measures ROI
Post change implementation
support
• Unsurprisingly, providing post
implementation support had a
positive impact on the quality
measures and ROI of the project.
However, a number of
organisations did not provide
post implementation support.
• Post implementation support
could include the continuation
of change champions, post-
implementation training and
opportunities to speak to
‘change experts’
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34. FINAL NOTES
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35. What was old is now new again
• Change Factory conducted research to investigate the impact of certain
factors on the success of a project.
• Based on the analysis, it was found that the following factors had the most
significant impact on the success of a project, specifically on timeframes,
quality measures and ROI.
• Documented strategy
• Analysis of resistance
• Risk analysis
• Critical success factors
• Communication strategy
• Communicating benefits
• Engagement strategy
• Nominated manager
• Post Implementation support
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36. Questions
• Please contact Change
Factory’s research team, if
you have any questions
about:
1. How we analysed the research
2. Any findings specific to your
future projects
3. Change Factory’s change
management services
4. Booking your 30 minute
consultation
5. Ideas for future research
Rohita Atri
rohita.atri@changefactory.com.au
+613 9614 8177
www.changefactory.com.au
3/03/2014