Home | The Human Element: Designing a Better Experience of Change Management

The Human Element: Designing a Better Experience of Change Management

December 18, 2025
Blog
Digital Transformation, Project Delivery, Strategic Solutions

In the world of project delivery, we often obsess over the “what” the new ERP system, the revised operating model, or the digital transformation roadmap. But for the people on the receiving end, the “what” matters far less than the “how.”

Most modern professionals aren’t suffering from a lack of new technology; they are suffering from change fatigue. They are tired of being told what to do by a slide deck and then being left to figure out the reality on their own. This is why the experience of change management has become the single most important differentiator between projects that “go live” and projects that actually “stick.”

At The Outlier Group, we believe that change management shouldn’t be a corporate checkbox. It should be a human-centred design process. This guide explores how to move beyond traditional frameworks to create an experience that empowers, enables, and evolves your workforce.

1. Why the "Experience" of Change Management is the New Strategy

For decades, change management was treated as a top-down exercise in communication and training. The goal was simple: get people to use the new tool so the project could be marked as complete.

However, research from the Harvard Business School and EY suggests that roughly 70% of change initiatives fail to reach their full potential. Why? Because while the strategy was sound, the experience of change management for the employee was poor.

When employees experience change as something done to them rather than built with them, they move into a state of self-preservation. Productivity dips, turnover increases, and the “shadow culture” where people find workarounds to avoid the new system takes root.

Designing for the experience means asking:

How does this change feel on a Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM?
Does this help the employee do their job better, or is it just more paperwork?
Are we building capability, or just demanding compliance?

2. The Pitfalls of Traditional Change (and How to Avoid Them)

Most leaders fall into the “Cognitive Trap.” They assume that if they explain the logic of the change clearly enough, people will naturally jump on board. But humans aren’t purely logical, we are biological and psychological.

The Experience Killers:

Information Overload: Sending 50-page PDFs and expecting people to read them.
Lack of Agency: Announcing a “done deal” where the frontline had no input.
The “Training Gap”: Providing a software demo but no safe space to actually practice and fail.

To improve the experience of change management, we must shift from telling to experiencing.

3. Integrating the P4E Change Model for a Better Experience

At The Outlier Group, we use the P4E Change Model (Position, Engage, Enable, Embed, Evolve) to ensure that the human experience is at the heart of every project. Here is how that model transforms the user experience:

Position: Setting the Scene

The experience begins long before the first training session. Positioning is about context. Instead of a vague corporate vision, we help leaders explain the “why” in a way that resonates with the specific team. If people don’t understand their starting point, they can’t navigate to the destination.

Engage: Co-Creation Over Compliance

This is where the experience truly shifts. Instead of a stakeholder matrix, we focus on collaboration. We involve end-users in the design of the new processes. When an employee says, “I helped build this,” the resistance to change disappears. They are no longer a victim of the project; they are a co-author of it.

Enable: Building Real Capability

The most stressful part of change is the fear of looking incompetent. To improve the experience, we must enable people through practical, hands-on learning. This isn’t just a webinar; it’s a “safe-to-fail” environment where people can experiment with new ways of working before the stakes are high.

Embed: Making it the New Normal

Change doesn’t end at go-live. To ensure a positive experience, support must be visible and accessible after the project team leaves. Embedding is about reinforcing habits and providing the “human safety net” that prevents people from reverting to old ways.

Evolve: The Continuous Feedback Loop

Modern change is iterative. We treat the experience of change management as a living thing. We gather feedback, measure adoption, and pivot the strategy based on what the people actually need.

4. Change Management in the Era of Digital Transformation

When an organisation undergoes a digital shift, the experience of change management is often the first thing to be sacrificed in favor of technical milestones. We see this in major ERP rollouts or AI integrations.

The technical teams focus on data migration and API integrations, while the human side is left to a few generic emails. This is a recipe for disaster.

A better digital experience looks like:

Micro-Learning: Short, bite-sized videos that solve immediate problems.
Champion Networks: Identifying “Outliers” within the team who can provide peer-to-peer support.
Gamification: Making the learning process engaging rather than a chore.

5. Practical Steps for Leaders: Designing the Journey

If you want to improve the experience of change management in your organisation, start by thinking like a designer.

Map the Employee Journey: Identify every touchpoint where an employee interacts with the change. Where are the friction points? Where is the confusion?
Simplify the Language: Drop the corporate clichés. Use grounded, human language. Instead of “strategic alignment” try “thinking together.”
Lead Through Context: Leaders shouldn’t just be the voice of authority; they should be the facilitators of clarity. Connect the big-picture strategy to the daily behaviour of your teams.
Prioritise Psychological Safety: People need to know that it’s okay to struggle during the transition. A culture that allows for the “messy middle” of change is a culture that succeeds.

6. Building Capability: The Outlier Difference

At The Outlier Group, we don’t just “manage” change. We build capability.

Our goal is to leave your organisation stronger than we found it. We believe that if we do our job right, your teams won’t just survive this project, they will become more resilient and better equipped to handle the next change.

We bridge the gap between abstract strategy and real-world behaviour. We don’t believe in “best-in-class” frameworks that don’t fit your culture. We believe in practical strategist thinking and human behaviour expert insights that drive results.

7. Conclusion: Change is an Invitation, Not a Directive

The experience of change management is the difference between a workforce that is exhausted and a workforce that is empowered. When you prioritise clarity, collaboration, and capability, you turn the stress of transformation into an opportunity for growth.

Change doesn’t have to be a paperwork-heavy, compliance-driven nightmare. It can be an intelligent, human, and practical process that helps people work and think better.

Need to implement this? If your organisation is planning a digital transformation or you simply want to rethink how change happens in your teams, our Change Practice is here to help. Whether you are looking for business planning consultants or an expert business consultant in Brisbane to lead your next transformation, we focus on delivery that puts people first.

Reach out to The Outlier Group today or join our newsletter to stay connected to modern thinking in project, change, and strategy.