Change Management for IT Implementation

From resistance to adoption: boosting trust through stakeholder-focused change

At a large national insurance organisation with over $5B in assets, change management strategies were designed and executed to support the rollout of a new IT system. Through stakeholder research, employee readiness assessments, and targeted engagement initiatives, the program built trust and improved adoption across diverse employee groups, including 400+ unionised staff.

The initiative achieved a 20% plus increase in employee trust post-implementation while strengthening leadership alignment and reducing rollout disruptions.

Project Manager & Change Architect

2022 / 2023

This public sector organisation was preparing to launch a complex IT system that would impact multiple departments and employee groups, including both core business functions and citizen-facing operations. Generally, leadership and employees recognised the change as critical for modernisation and improving public service delivery. 

However, there was significant unease, particularly among unionised staff, who expressed low expectations in the project’s success due to past experiences and ongoing union tensions. To ensure successful adoption, three (3) key challenges needed to be addressed:

Complex Rollout
  • The system affected functions across multiple departments, each with unique workflows, priorities, and training needs.

    Aligning processes, ensuring consistency, and upskilling employees to effectively use the system required careful coordination.

    Without tailored support, employees risked confusion and frustration, leading to inconsistent use of the new system, and potential impact on public service delivery.
Resistance to Change
  • Unionised employees were skeptical about the system’s value and feared potential negative impacts on their roles, workloads, and job security.

    A history of mistrust around large-scale initiatives and a lack of transparent communication amplified concerns.
Leadership Alignment
  • Managers and executives lacked a unified vision or consistent messaging for the rollout.

    Gaps in alignment created uncertainty about priorities and expectations, weakening employee confidence in leadership ability to guide the change and further fueling skepticism.

Addressing these challenges required a structured change management strategy centred on research, alignment, and engagement. 

This approach of combining evidence based insights with continuous stakeholder involvement, ensured that changes were not only well designed but also understood, accepted, and adopted across the organisation.

The change management strategy was structured around Prosci’s methodology, adapted to emphasize employee experience and human-centred design. The strategy rested on four pillars:

  • Leadership – Focused around engaging leaders early to take ownership of outcomes, role-model behaviours, and set a consistent tone.
  • Engagement – Focused on actively involving employees in the journey, tailoring communications to different groups, and framing change through a “What’s in it for me?” lens.
  • Adoption & Insights – Focused on using data-driven insights to monitor awareness, behaviours, and benefits, ensuring strategies could be refined in real time.
  • Skills & Behaviours – Focused on providing targeted training and upskilling to help employees adapt confidently to evolving roles and processes.

Tools & Methods Used:

Prosci ADKAR Framework, Stakeholder Analysis, Qualtrics Surveys, Change Advocacy Programs, Leadership Workshops, Human-Centred Design Thinking

Based on these pillars, we implemented several initiatives:

Stakeholder Research
  • Conducted impact analysis to map how different stakeholders groups would be affected, surfacing unique concerns, adoption barriers, and group-specific needs.

    This ensured initiatives were tailored to different stakeholder groups rather than one-size-fits-all.
Employee Readiness Assessment
  • Designed and administered surveys (in Qualtrics), guided by Prosci’s ADKAR framework to capture awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement needs.

    Results provided a baseline of readiness, highlighted knowledge gaps, and helped prioritise areas for training and communication.
Change Advocacy
  • Established a network of “change advocates” within teams to act as peer support, answer questions, and share updates.

    This strengthened trust, created open communication channels, and provided employees with accessible support throughout the rollout.
Leadership Alignment
  • Facilitated workshops with executives to co-create a shared vision for change, align on consistent messaging, and strengthen leadership’s role in adoption.

    This alignment improved credibility with employees and ensured leaders reinforced key messages at every level.
Iterative Feedback Loops
  • Leveraged survey findings, feedback sessions, and workshop insights to refine rollout plans and communication strategies in real time.

    This responsive approach helped maintain employee engagement, reduce resistance, and build momentum during adoption.

The change management initiatives produced measurable improvements in employee trust, leadership alignment, and willingness to adopt and sustain use of the new system, setting the foundation for a smoother rollout:

20%+ increase in trust

Unionised employees’ trust in the system increased significantly, measured through early roll out and during roll-out surveys.

This shift translated into higher levels of participation, and a noticeable reduction in resistance behaviours such as complaints.

Stronger leadership alignment

Executives began aligning around a shared vision of the system’s value, committing to key actions and adopting more consistent communication practices.

This emerging alignment lay the groundwork for building credibility with employees and ensured that messages about the system’s purpose and benefits were reinforced throughout the organisation, reducing confusion and skepticism.

Smoother rollout

Efforts to improve employee readiness and establish advocacy networks helped prepare teams for a smoother system implementation.

These initiatives reduced potential disruptions during the early phases of implementation and created a strong foundation for continued adoption.