The Cost of Not Hiring a Change Manager

Kerrie Smit
Jun 16, 2024
3 min read

Updated: Oct 27

Change management ensures smoother transitions, engaged people, and better outcomes. It is essential for individuals and organisations because it guides how we prepare, equip, and support people to successfully adopt changes. The absence of effective change management can lead to significant costs and risks. We'll break down these consequences below.

Project-Level Costs and Risks

Costs

Project delays – A change management team can advise on how best to incorporate the needs and voice of the change audience from the start, actively avoiding delays.
Missed milestones – When stakeholders are not properly informed, they may make incorrect assumptions or decisions. A lack of timely awareness about key changes can also lead to disruptions or the discontinuance of project progress.
Budget overruns – Change management helps to assess the timing, resources, and financial allowances for key implementation events upfront, such as rollout support, training, and communications.
Rework required on design – Once stakeholders become aware of the key details of the change, they may request to revisit and rework decisions that were previously agreed upon.

Risks

Resistance from employees – Change management helps identify impacts and create mitigation strategies to address various sources of resistance, ensuring mission-critical risks, such as failed adoption, are planned for.
Project put on hold – Beyond internal resistance and unawareness, poor public awareness and inadequate external stakeholder engagement can also threaten progress. Sound change management practice prevents these critical risks.
Resources not made available – If benefits are poorly defined or ill-explained, the project will find it difficult to attract the right level of organisational resources.
Unexpected obstacles – The thorough impact analysis at the core of change management practice helps to proactively plan for all potential people-related obstacles.
Project fails to deliver results or is abandoned – If people are not onboard with the project's purpose and approach, it may easily be abandoned in favour of better publicised initiatives.

Organisation-Level Costs and Risks

As the heading suggests, organisation-level costs and risks impact the entire business. The cost of not hiring a change manager can be substantial, encompassing both financial costs and opportunity costs. Consistent change management minimises the variability in change processes, making the change lifecycle more familiar each time for individuals and teams.

Without a change team or a change manager in place organisations can fall down:

Loss of money needed to address staff issues – Low consideration for the people impacts of new policies, strategies, and approaches may result in hidden expenses that have not been planned for.
Loss of investment if the change doesn’t deliver desired outcomes – Without a change manager expertly coordinating the activities that enable employees to make and sustain change, the initiative may be unsuccessful. This lack of success can snowball, impacting the organisation's enthusiasm to invest in future initiatives.
Inability to realise the expected value from the project – Sound change management goes hand-in-hand with benefits realisation. Clearly articulating how the project will benefit stakeholders, leaders, customers, and employees is a core function of the change management role.