Successful Change

Management Practices
in the Public Sector
How governmental agencies implement
organizational change management
Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Key Findings
Identifying change drivers and
high-performing organizations

Examining change 3
management best practices

Reviewing change 6
management roadblocks

Conclusion 7

Appendix 8

About Us 9
Introduction
Challenges affect agencies and organizations of all shapes and sizes — and the government is no exception.
Top-of-mind concerns at governmental agencies include the familiar challenges faced in the private sector
— such as employee engagement, training, recruiting, and retention — as well as challenges unique to the
public sector, such as changes to the agency’s mission or presidential transitions. Governmental agencies can
address these challenges through various organizational change management strategies.

Yet effecting change is never easy and the failure rate for change management efforts of all types is around
70 percent.1 Given this high failure rate, what can government agencies do differently to successfully practice
change management? To gain a deeper understanding of the organizational change management process in
government, Human Capital Media, the research arm of Workforce magazine, partnered with Management
Concepts to launch “The Changing Government Workplace Survey.” By exclusively surveying government
employees, we were able to gain deep insight on how the public sector practices successful change
management at the Federal, state and local levels.

Key Findings
• A third of respondents identify as successful organizations, and report change management success at
their workplaces. Their success comes from their adaptability and amenability in implementing change.

• The top three strategies employed to minimize the negative impact of change are changing processes for
efficiency, providing training, and improving the workplace culture. Successful organizations consistently
use these strategies to their advantage.

• The top three roadblocks to change are siloing, flawed communication, and lack of buy-in.

Identifying Change Drivers and High-performing Organizations

All organizations experience challenges to maintaining an engaged, productive workforce. Pipeline problems,
digital disruption, and heightened customer expectations all drive the need for change at governmental
organizations. Regardless of size or mission, these organizations must recruit and retain top talent, engage that
talent, and prepare for workforce generational shifts as their employees (who are some of the oldest in the
workforce2) begin to retire. By identifying the greatest change drivers their organizations face, governmental
agencies can take steps to mitigate challenges and
successfully enact change.

Effective change management can happen by

emulating the best practices of agencies who have [There will be an] increase in need for
previously found success. These self-identified measuring citizen satisfaction with
successful organizations understand the barriers to
change and actively work to eliminate roadblocks with
government services.
the support of leaders and all team members. For the
purposes of this report, successful organizations From The Changing Government Workplace
are the third of respondents on “The Changing Survey, programs respondent, open comments

1
Ashkenas, R. (2013). “Change Management Needs to Change.” Harvard Business Review.
2
Maciag, M. (2013). “Public Sector Has Some of Oldest Workers Set to Retire.” Governing.

© 2016 Management Concepts, Inc. | The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. 1
 Government Workplace Survey” who reported that
FIG. 1: their change management efforts were either very or
Success with organizational change
management (baseline organizations) moderately successful (Figure 1). These organizations
represent all levels of government: Federal, state and
Not Successful
local (Figure 2).

Somewhat The first step to enacting change is to identify the drivers

31.4% 26.0% successful behind the need for change. Over the next three years, the
top change drivers projected to have the greatest impact
Very/moderately
successful on governmental organizations are budget uncertainty,
42.6% recruiting and retaining talent, and impending employee
retirements (Figure 3).

Budget is the top concern at more than half of all

organizations, even as Federal spending is expected to
increase modestly over the next several years. Slow labor
FIG. 2:
Success by government level growth3 also feeds into expectations that talent recruiting
(baseline organizations) difficulty will be a high-impact change driver in the near
future. Add to this mix the third top concern — impending
Local retirements — and a picture emerges: organizations
are worried about losing their retiring employees, who
20.6% State
may or may not be replaced by younger workers, due to
38.3% Federal constrained budgets or other factors. These change drivers
together have the potential to bring about a host of
31.7% workforce changes.

Even at its smoothest, change can cause all sorts of

workforce disruption, such as increasing employee
workload and driving down morale. With only a
third of employees actively engaged at work, organizations need to do all they can to increase rather
than decrease employee engagement, which drives growth, productivity, and revenue.4 When practicing
change management, it’s important to recognize both what change drivers are and how they affect the

FIG. 3:
Anticipated high-impact change drivers over the next three years
(baseline organizations)

Budget uncertainty 51.1%

Retaining and recruiting talent 49.1%
Employee retirement 47.2%
Pace of technology change 40.0%
Generational shifts in the workforce 37.7%
Constituent expectations for
improved/increased services 31.5%

3
Congressional Budget Office (2016). Summary of The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2016 to 2026.
4
Adkins, A. (2016). Little Change in U.S. Employee Engagement in January. Gallup.

© 2016 Management Concepts, Inc. | The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. 2
 workplace, so their effects can be
FIG. 4: addressed. Among governmental
Anticipated workforce challenges brought on by high-impact change
drivers (baseline organizations) agencies, the top anticipated
workforce challenges brought
about by change drivers are
Increased workload for employees 67.9% increasing employee workload,
Critical skills gaps 54.6% facing critical skills gaps, and
Negative impact on workforce morale 54.4% experiencing lower workplace
Turnover of top talent 53.4% morale (Figure 4).
Increased difficulty recruiting
for open positions 46.9% Organizations are concerned
Falling behind the market on about many different challenges
technology upgrades 46.9%
and rightly so. Retirements,
budget cuts and technology
advancements affect everybody, and failure to adapt can be disastrous if employees retire faster than they
can be replaced, leaving the organization with institutional knowledge loss and critical skills gaps. Until
open positions are filled the work must be done by existing employees — if at all. Increased workload is a
top concern at government agencies, which also feeds other challenges, such as decreased morale and top
talent turnover. As younger workers are more content to leave their jobs than stay in a position where they’re
unhappy, ignoring change drivers can negatively impact the workforce. On the other hand, by examining and
employing change management best practices, organizations should be able to mitigate the negative impact
of change drivers.

Examining Change Management Best Practices

After identifying change drivers and challenges, governmental agencies should study what successful
organizations do differently. How do they implement change management initiatives? What are they doing
to enable successful change management efforts? How do they communicate across the organization, and
are they working cross-functionally or assigning tasks to a dedicated team?

When comparing data between successful and developing organizations, patterns emerge on how to
best bring about change. The initiatives in place at successful organizations are often similar to policies in
place at developing organizations, just in greater numbers. Such best practices give insight into the steps
governmental agencies need to take to practice successful change management.

There are many strategies organizations can take to minimize negative effects of change on their workforce,
and successful organizations take proactive measures to do so. For example, on “The Changing Government

Use pull communication (or at least a variety of avenues) to communicate change

all the way down to the individual contributor. Many times, individuals are in the
dark while the leadership team does not share information. When this is done, it
creates a stressful change environment with little trust.

From The Changing Government Workplace Survey, programs respondent, open comments

© 2016 Management Concepts, Inc. | The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. 3
 Workplace Survey” we asked:
FIG. 5:
“What strategies is your Strategies taken to minimize the impact of change on the workforce
organization planning to take to
minimize the impact of changes
Changing processes to 74.8%
on your workforce?” From become more effective/efficient 61.1%
providing training to changing 73.0%
Providing training
processes for efficiency, successful 46.3%
55.7%
organizations employ strategies Improving the workplace culture
34.7%
to mitigate change effects at Formalizing/implementing a 55.7%
greater rates than developing succession planning process 26.3%
organizations (Figure 5). Implementing a change 33.9%
management plan 20.0%
How do successful organizations Successful Developing
structure their efforts to address
challenges? There are plenty of options: some agencies have a dedicated team in place to steer change
management efforts. Others might rely on an ad-hoc team to come together as needed, or employ external help
when changes arise. While corporations may be more likely to have dedicated change management teams, such
an option may not always be available to public sector workers, who must work under stricter regulations and
may not have the flexibility or agility to respond to change with a dedicated team. As one respondent noted, “it
appears each work unit is tackling these issues independently, rather than developing at the agency level.”

It’s more important for agencies to have some kind of change management team they can call on — the exact
structure doesn’t matter. Team structures at successful organizations vary, with the majority (44.4 percent) using
ad-hoc groups as the need arises. One fifth (21.7 percent) of successful organizations use dedicated teams
and only a quarter (24.4 percent) have no specific structure. Compare this with developing organizations. Of
these, only 6.4 percent have dedicated teams; 29.5 percent use ad hoc groups and nearly more than half (53.7
percent) have no specified structure. Clearly having some kind of structure — even on an as-needed basis —
helps with change management.

Change management doesn’t happen in a bubble, and requires input and involvement from all stakeholders
across the organization. More than three quarters (75.7 percent) of high-performing organizations implement
strategies with the help of other internal functions, such as Operations or IT. Working cross-functionally
helps effectively implement best
FIG. 6: practices, giving their workforce
Effective use of organizational change management practices a more robust preparation
for the upcoming change. In
all instances of using change
Aligning the change 70.5%
effort to mission-critical goals 4.3% management practices, successful
Leadership action planning
60.2% organizations practice effective
4.3% change management more so
Aligning the training plan to the 62.7%
change plan to support the change 2.1% than developing organizations
Gap assessment: identifying what 51.3% (Figure 6).
needs to change and the impacts 4.3%
Cascading communications at all 50.5% Organizations should start
levels of the organization 3.2% with these actions — identify,
Successful Developing align, plan, involve leaders, and

© 2016 Management Concepts, Inc. | The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. 4
FIG. 7: communicate — to get the most from their change management
Primary communications strategy efforts. While budget concerns are at the top of everyone’s mind
for change management efforts
regarding change management, many of these best practices
Successful Organizations require more time than money to put into place. Proper planning
and alignment go a long way to ensuring success. By involving
leaders from the beginning of the change management process,
Push organizations ensure they have a sponsor for their plans. Once
25.2% leaders are involved, the next step is to communicate efforts up
Pull and down the organization.
68.7% Blend Change management requires proactive communication about
the upcoming change. Here too, successful organizations behave
0.9% differently. Developing organizations overwhelmingly use push
communications, where information is sent directly to the
employee. Less than a fifth (17.9 percent) prefer having a mix of
Developing Organizations push and pull communications, sending information out to the
employee, but also making information available for employees to
access at will. Among successful organizations; however, there is a
Push definite preference for a blend of push and pull communications.
17.9%
Pull communications have the capacity to improve productivity
Pull
3.2% — a McKinsey survey found that using a specific type of pull
57.9% Blend communication (in this case social technology) improved the
productivity of knowledge workers by 20–25 percent.5 By including
pull communications into their mix, organizations give employees
the knowledge they need to succeed (Figure 7).
Note: Excluded None and Don’t Know answers
After organizations have aligned their efforts, secured leader
buy-in, and communicated the need for change, the next step is to determine how they will assess and measure
the success of their efforts. Like communication before it, identifying and tracking metrics are also areas where
successful organizations do more. The number of successful organizations assessing change management
metrics is greater than developing
FIG. 8: organizations in all areas and nearly
Metrics used to assess the success of organizational change management double in some. Top metrics for
assessing change management
Performance KPIs 50.5% success are performance KPIs,
29.1% compliance metrics and progress
45.0%
Compliance metrics
31.7%
status, and the adherence to the
Progress/adherence to 38.5% change plan (Figure 8).
change plan 12.7%
37.6% As change has the potential for
Change acceptance and buy-in
11.4% workforce disruption, it’s important
Effectiveness of 29.4%
change communications 7.6%
to monitor employee performance
Successful Developing throughout the process, to ensure
they’re adhering to the change

5
Chui, M. et al. (2012). The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies. McKinsey.

© 2016 Management Concepts, Inc. | The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. 5
 plan. Compliance metrics are just as important to monitor, as government agencies must remain within
the bounds of their mission and purpose. Finally, agencies won’t know how successful their change plan is
unless they know how much employees are following the plan. Monitoring plan adherence and following up
if and when employees don’t use the plan gives government agencies a better idea of how successful their
change management efforts are and what they can
do differently next time. Assessing metrics also helps
organizations be more aware of roadblocks when they
arise.
[We are] working on resilience at the
Reviewing Change
Management Roadblocks individual contributor level.
No matter how successful organizational change
From The Changing Government Workplace
management efforts are, challenges still exist, and
Survey, programs respondent, open comments
every level of government faces roadblocks to change.
However, successful organizations experience fewer roadblocks and challenges than organizations overall.
From siloing to lack of leadership buy-in, many things can go wrong with change management; however,
successful organizations encounter fewer roadblocks, partly because they took steps to prevent challenges
before they happened (Figure 9).

FIG. 9: For example, by initiating leadership

Challenges/roadblocks encountered when navigating action planning beforehand,
organizational change
organizations were less likely to
50.5% have no leadership buy-in, since
Siloing
70.0% it was already secured in the
Lack of buy-in
45.0% planning process. Likewise, by
62.2%
varying communications methods,
Underestimating change impact
38.5%
54.4% organizations were less likely to
Flawed communication
37.6% run into communications issues
68.9%
when the change was actually
Lack of leadership sponsors 29.4%
55.6% happening. Across the board,
Successful Developing successful organizations encounter
fewer roadblocks because they
have prepared for the change and communicated the change effort to interested parties throughout the
organization.

One of the biggest challenges to effective change management is siloing. To avoid the negative consequences
of department siloing organizations should involve stakeholders from all interested areas.6 Communication
among job functions and levels is critical, as successful organizations are much less likely to experience this
roadblock. What’s more, successful organizations anticipate fewer roadblocks in general, and with their
advance planning they have good reason to believe their challenges will be few (Figure 10). By laying the
groundwork before initiating change, organizations are better able to achieve their goals.

6
VMWare. (2010). Achieving Control: The Four Critical Success Factors of Change Management, Technology Concepts & Business Considerations.

© 2016 Management Concepts, Inc. | The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. 6
 FIG. 10:
Anticipated workforce challenges brought on by high-impact
change drivers

45.2%
Critical skills gaps 61.1%
Increased difficulty recruiting 36.5%
for open positions 54.7%
Falling behind the market on 36.5%
technology upgrades 52.6%
Negative impact on 35.7%
workforce morale 74.7%
Negative impact on 16.5%
work quality 46.3%
Turnover of resources due 32.4%
to change 31.1%

Successful Developing

While successful organizations mostly face challenges in

fewer numbers, one roadblock in particular stands out:
the turnover of resources due to the change. This is an
issue for many organizations equally: 32.4 percent of [We anticipate] a lot of change in
successful organizations and 31.1 percent of developing
organizations report resource turnover as a challenge.
organizational structure in order to
As organizations experience mission priority shifts, migrate losing employees to
sometimes their allocated resources may not always be retirement and turnover.
available. By streamlining processes to be more effective
and efficient — a best practice in place at 75 percent of
From The Changing Government Workplace
successful organizations — organizations will be better Survey, programs respondent, open comments
able to adapt to changing resource shifts.

Conclusion
Organizational change management is difficult, but not impossible and successful organizations have already
blazed a trail for other governmental agencies to follow. The road to successful change management begins
with identifying change drivers and anticipated roadblocks, as knowing what pitfalls await make challenges
easier to prepare for. A third of governmental agencies have already experienced success with their efforts,
and their successes form a set of best practices for others. By communicating the effects of the change
to everyone in the organization, securing leadership buy-in, and employing a variety of push and pull
communications methods; governmental agencies can mitigate siloing and other roadblocks. Governmental
change management doesn’t require another layer of oversight, and oftentimes an ad-hoc committee can be
just as successful as a dedicated team. By identifying and analyzing the metrics used to assess the success of
change management, agencies will be better equipped to ensure their efforts will succeed.

© 2016 Management Concepts, Inc. | The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. 7
Appendix

Participants
“The Changing Government Workplace Survey” polled 473 government employees about their agency’s
organizational change management practices. Study participans represent a variety of job functions and
organizational sizes.

Terms Used

Baseline organizations: Results from all 473 respondents of “The Changing Government
Workplace Survey.”

Change management: Organizational change management (not IT or project change management).

Developing organizations: Results from the 26 percent of respondents on “The Changing

Government Workplace Survey” who report that their organizational change management efforts
have been unsuccessful.

Successful organizations: Results from the 31.4 percent of respondents on “The Changing
Government Workplace Survey” who report that their organizational change management efforts have
been either moderately or very successful.

Survey dates
January-February 2016

Demographic Information
Total number of respondents: 473

Organizational size
Less than 1,000: 39.3 percent
1,000–10,000: 40.2 percent
More than 10,000: 20.5 percent

Organizational government level

Federal: 26.6 percent
State: 28.5 percent
Local: 40.2 percent

GS level of respondents
Of Federal-level respondents, 33.3 percent are GS 14–15

Top job functions of respondents

Human resources: 39.7%
Management: 22.1%
Programs: 10.1%
Operations: 6%

© 2016 Management Concepts, Inc. | The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. 8
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