Accenture report reveals critical gaps in change management readiness

Accenture has unveiled its latest report titled "Change Reinvented: A New Blueprint for Continuous, Meaningful, Successful Change," shedding light on the necessity for adept change management in the era of generative AI. The research indicates that while businesses are increasingly investing in change initiatives, there remains a significant gap in their readiness to efficiently manage and implement these changes.

According to the report, a substantial 96% of global organisations plan to allocate more than 5% of their total revenues to change initiatives within the next three years—an increase from 31% three years ago. Despite this rise in investments, only 30% of C-suite leaders feel confident in their change management capabilities. Furthermore, merely 25% believe their teams are prepared for such changes.

Emma Neil, Strategy and Consulting Lead for Accenture in Australia and New Zealand, emphasized the challenges faced by organisations in achieving successful transformations. She stated, "Today, all leaders need to be successful at leading change in order to develop culture and activate strategy—it's fundamental to growth, resilience and innovation. What's interesting about this research is that it demonstrates the link between change capabilities and successful outcomes. It's not just about keeping up—it's about creating positive change to get ahead. Only by approaching change less as an art driven by intuition and more as a science backed by data and evidence, can organisations navigate the complexities of modern reinvention."

The report outlines six essential capabilities that successful organisations utilize to manage continuous change. These include foundational practices known to drive success and innovations enabled by technology, data, and AI. Collectively, these capabilities form Accenture's Change Capability Quotient, a method that codifies continuous change, uses data to predict successful change efforts, and connects the maturity of change capabilities with performance outcomes.

The report highlights that organisations with higher change capability maturity are 2.1 times more likely to report successful transformations. These organisations experience increased productivity, cost savings, lasting improvements in sustainability targets, and better employee satisfaction. Yet, only 16% of surveyed organisations are implementing all six change capabilities on a large scale.

Emma Neil underscored the need for a systematic and evidence-based approach to change management, saying, "The business context continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace and the need for a more systematic and evidence-based approach to change is clear."

Jack Azagury, Group Chief Executive, Consulting at Accenture, also emphasized the impact of effective change management on organisational growth and resilience. He remarked, "Companies that embrace reinvention as a strategy—where they drive a step change in performance through the power of technology, data and AI and new ways of working—are outperforming the competition. These organisations have also made change management a core competency. Change must be built as a capability to continuously reinvent and should be part of the organisational DNA. By leveraging a human-centred and data-led approach to change, organisations will unlock unprecedented value for all stakeholders and shape the future of their industries."

Accenture's findings also noted that managers are significantly more likely than C-suite executives to feel overwhelmed by the pace of change, which adds another layer of complexity to transformation efforts. Trust remains a barrier with only a quarter of leaders confident in their teams' readiness for change, and less than half of employees feeling capable of handling it.

Accenture's research concluded that navigating the rapidly evolving business environment necessitates not only a commitment to change but also the development of robust capability frameworks to consistently manage and predictably achieve successful transformation outcomes. The report underscores the importance of embedding change as a core organisational competency, employing data-driven strategies to navigate and steer through the complexities of modern business reinvention.