7 change management myths leaders still believe

PEX Network’s key takeaways:

• Change management myths and misconceptions can derail business transformation efforts.
• Change management is crucial for modern businesses because of the fast-paced, constantly evolving environment in which they operate.
• When handled well, change management ensures initiatives are implemented smoothly and successfully, delivering sustainable benefits over time.

There are many change management myths that are not only surprising but can seriously undermine business transformation efforts, leaving both the organization and its people worse off than before.

Change management is a systematic approach to guiding individuals, teams, and organizations from their current state to a desired future state. It focuses on preparing, supporting, and enabling people to embrace new ways of working driven by organizational changes such as the introduction of new technologies or systems, process improvements, cultural transformations, mergers and acquisitions, and leadership transitions.

Change management is crucial for modern businesses because of the fast-paced, constantly evolving environment in which they operate. When done well, change management ensures initiatives are implemented smoothly and successfully, delivering sustainable benefits over time.

However, it is important to recognize some key misconceptions about change management to enable successful change efforts and avoid condemning transformation to failure before its even begun.

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7 change management myths!

1. ADKAR is enough

Many change managers believe that the ADKAR change model (awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement) is enough and that ADKAR training is the hallmark of ‘you know what you are doing’ in change management, but this is false, according to Dr Diane Dye, CEO of People Risk Consulting.

“Treating one model, like ADKAR, as the gold stamp of approval on change initiatives is poor change strategy, not best practice. There are dozens of credible change frameworks for a reason. Change requires context. Without that context, you miss a major piece of the change and create both adoption risk and people risk. What makes up that environment? Culture, leadership maturity, employee maturity, power dynamics, psychological safety, timing, necessity, and risk tolerance.”

Over indexing on one linear model misses what is actually happening inside the organization, she adds. “What catches that is intelligent inquiry and knowledge on how to experiment versus create change fatigue, or what I like to call change chaos.”

2. Change is a project with a defined end date

In a regulated environment such as healthcare, change should be viewed as a continuing process rather than as a project with an end date, says Brian Clark, founder of United Medical Education. “Keeping an explicit and expected iteration cadence will allow teams to stabilize in their process versus the expectation of disruption due to the implementation of change.”

The initial change is just the start and actually achieves nothing, adds Andrew Hulbert, chair and non-executive director at the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management. “Only the ongoing work in this area will deliver a new normal and consistent decisions by leadership on culture.”

3. Change is just a communication exercise

Leaders continue to believe that if you just communicate enough times people will get on board and behaviors will change.

“This myth lives in the gap between formal logic (the plan, the deck, the rationale) and lived reality (the local constraints, risks, and unspoken fears people are navigating),” says Adriano Pianesi, adjunct instructor at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. “Change doesn’t succeed through clarity alone – it succeeds when managers can co-own the transition and work with informal power.”

Jitesh Keswani, CEO and founder of e intelligence, agrees. “This is the most long-lasting and harmful misunderstanding that I experience with leadership teams. In their opinion, the cause of resistance to change is the absence of knowledge. Therefore, they spend a lot of money on announcement emails, town halls, training, and documentation. Then they are confused when adoption does not pick up.”

The outcome is performative adoption. Individuals are in training, nodding in meetings, and quietly going on about their business, doing everything in the old-fashioned ways whenever they can. Or they leave. The most talented individuals are the ones who tend to exit first since they can make a choice.

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4. People resist change

“In my research on behavioral economics and change management, I consistently find that one belief quietly undermines even the best process and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives,” says Kelly Monahan, founder of Beyond the Desk. “It’s the idea that people resist change. It is a convenient narrative for leaders, but a damaging one for the workforce. It shifts accountability away from how change is designed and toward employees themselves.”

Drawing from her book How Behavioral Economics Influences Management Decision-Making, she explains how fear, identity threat, and loss aversion, not resistance, are what derail adoption.

“I also document a case where a large automation rollout stalled not because of technical failure, but because leaders failed to acknowledge the loss of identity the new technology brought, rather than redesigning the human experience of change. When leadership shifted from monitoring behavior to rebuilding trust, skills, and identity, adoption accelerated.”

5. Change needs new leaders or systems

One of the biggest change management myths is the belief that transformation comes from swapping in new leaders or systems, says Scott Estill, managing partner at Lancor

“In reality, over 90 percent of the work that drives real change is done by the same people who were already there, they just need clearer direction, faster feedback, and early wins to believe it’s possible.”

When leaders treat change as a reset instead of a re-commitment to the existing team, they lose time, momentum, and returns, he adds. “Successful transformation isn’t about replacing the roster, it’s about getting the current players to run a better playbook together.”

Watch: Leadership in the AI era: Setting the tone for change management!

6. Change is a process problem

Another common myth is the notion that change is primarily a process problem, rather than a human one, according to Helen Millar, founder of Hearty.

“Many organizations invest heavily in frameworks, timelines, and technology, yet underestimate the emotional and psychological impact of change on people. The assumption is that if the strategy is sound, people will follow. In reality, resistance rarely comes from a lack of logic, it comes from fear, loss of identity, and a lack of trust.”

In an AI-accelerated world, this myth is becoming even more costly. The pace of change is outstripping leaders’ emotional readiness to bring people with them.

“Sustainable change only happens when leaders prioritize emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and genuine connection, not performative communication or compliance-driven engagement,” Millar says. “Change does not fail because people hate change. It fails because leaders underestimate what it takes to help humans feel safe enough to move through it.”

7. Culture will follow structure

“Absolutely not!” says Hulbert. “Culture only comes from taking sustained and deliberate decisions in line with a defined culture. Structure doesn’t deliver it – leadership and decision-making does.”

Don’t forget to be prepared for the negative response and the occasional wobble, says Emma Tolhurst, former global people communications lead at Accenture “It’s OK, it’s normal – change always brings fire drills! Crisis comms preparation, practice, and governance is essential – it will help protect the hard-won trust and your employer brand during the challenging times.”

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