A company rolled out a new CRM environment and expected 72 daily logins. They got… two. When this happens, most people blame the software. But in this case, the problem wasn’t technical. It was simply human behavior. That’s because people are quick to forget a fundamental formula of organizational change:
Success = solution quality x user adoption.
Even if a tool is great, zero adoption still means zero results. But why does this happen? And what can we do to prevent it? Let’s take a closer look at the science behind change management, based on a keynote by Susannah Roussaux at our recent roundtable event.
User adoption is hard. And if you feel like it became even harder lately, you’re not wrong. The explanation is pretty simple: people are getting tired of change all the time.
Back in 2016, 73% of employees felt positive about organizational change, and they were dealing with an average of two shifts a year. By 2022, that willingness had dropped to 41%, and the average number of changes to ten.
Add a pandemic to the mix, where people were forced to pivot rapidly without a heads-up or the right skills, and it’s easy to see why everyone is exhausted. That’s why, in 2026, you can’t just mandate a new tool and expect people to use it. Traditional rollouts don’t work anymore.
There's also a psychological element at play. Our brains are hardwired by evolution to quickly filter for danger. If you’re in charge of an organizational change, you need to be careful with this, because even hypothetical “danger” triggers panic.
A great example of this was a workshop where managers were asked to rewrite a negative text about a fictional reorganization. Even though everyone involved knew it was a purely theoretical exercise, it led to rumors across the organization that lasted for nine months.
In the workplace, our survival instinct triggers confirmation bias. People use mental shortcuts to understand their environment. If a team already feels that training always comes too late, or that operations are an afterthought, they will unconsciously look for proof that the new project is just another hassle.
Every implementation is unique and comes with its own set of challenges. That being said, we do see a few mistakes being repeated often. When you’re rolling out a big change to your service organization, keep the four following pitfalls in mind.
Some companies see User Acceptance Testing as a formality: just another checkbox for IT at the end of a project. But UAT is actually one of the most important phases in a project.
This is the first time that the people who will be using the new solution are trying it out in a realistic setting. Make sure to gather all the feedback you can, because fixing the system later will cost a lot more than tuning it before it goes live.
Timing is everything. You might be tempted to roll out a big software update or schedule a training right after the holidays. Because what could be a better moment to make a fresh start, right?
In reality, just after the holidays is one of the worst possible moments to introduce change. People have just returned, so they need some time to deal with their email backlog and get back into full swing. Wait until they’re settled again before implementing major changes.
A major digital transformation should never be announced by someone external, even if they are the ones taking care of an implementation. At our roundtable, an enterprise architect at a major financial institution told us they made that mistake a few years ago, and adoption was lacking.
Instead of an IT partner or consultant, these kinds of announcements need to come directly from a director, or even better, the CEO. Resistance starts when people feel their autonomy is threatened, and having a trusted authority send this message is crucial in countering that fear.
In some cases, it’s good to cut out the middleman. Organizational changes aren’t one of those situations, so make sure to tell middle managers about your plans ahead of time.
Managers need to be looped in much earlier so they have time to ask questions, prepare, and step into their role as ambassadors. If you surprise them with the tool at the same time as their team, chances are that their survival instinct will trigger, and they will be hesitant to adapt.
In short, overcoming resistance is not about sending better or more internal newsletters. To really change the way people work, you’ll need to understand behavioral science and how it impacts them.
So, how do you make people want to change? In our next blog, we will walk you through a framework to design new workflows that naturally trigger the right behavior.
