A new performance system, a new customer process or a new organizational structure is announced. Training is delivered, the system goes live, the project team gives its closing presentation and moves on to another project. Six months later someone notices: some teams use the new process but keep maintaining the old spreadsheets in parallel, while others have quietly gone back to the old way.
- Announcing a change, implementing it and making it stick are three separate stages. Most organizations track the first two and never measure the third, so once the project closes, the slide back to old habits goes unnoticed.
- Measure readiness before the change: Do employees believe the change is needed, that the chosen solution is the right one, that they can do it, that leadership stands behind it and that it matters to them personally?
- After the change, measure adoption stage by stage: awareness, understanding, trial, regular use and the sense that "this is simply how things are done now".
- To see whether the change has stuck, keep measuring after the project ends. The most reliable sign is that the new behavior continues 6–12 months after the project team has stepped away.
Most change projects track whether a change was announced and implemented, not whether it stuck. In this post we explain how to use employee surveys to measure readiness at the start of a change project, then adoption and sustainment afterwards. If you want to measure how the organization's overall culture shifts over the long term, see our post on measuring culture change; this post focuses on whether a single change project has taken hold.
Announcing, implementing and making it stick
A change goes through three stages, and each answers a different question:
| Stage | Question | How is it usually tracked? |
|---|---|---|
| Announcing | Are employees aware of the change? | Email open rates, meeting attendance |
| Implementing | Is the new system or process in place? | Project timeline, training completion rate, system usage |
| Sustaining | Does the new behavior continue after the project ends? | Usually not tracked |
The first two stages are the project's responsibility and are closely tracked by the project team. The third stage begins after the project closes; its owner is unclear, and because it is not measured, any slide back goes unnoticed. Yet the real success of a change is decided in this third stage.
Before the change: Measuring readiness
Knowing how ready employees are before a change begins lets you see in advance where support will be needed. In the organizational change literature (the work of Armenakis and Harris is frequently cited in this area), employee readiness for change is tied to five core beliefs:
- Discrepancy: "Something needs to change."
- Appropriateness: "The chosen solution is the right one."
- Efficacy: "We can do this; we have the knowledge and support we need."
- Leadership support: "Leadership stands behind this change and will see it through."
- Personal valence: "This change matters to me too; it benefits me as well."
When one of these five beliefs is missing, a different kind of resistance to change emerges. Measuring these five dimensions separately, rather than treating resistance as a single concept, lets you see what is causing it.
Change readiness survey questions
| Dimension | Sample item |
|---|---|
| Discrepancy | I believe something needs to change regarding [the change]. |
| Appropriateness | I think the approach chosen for [the change] is the right one. |
| Efficacy | I have the knowledge and skills I need to adapt to this change. |
| Efficacy | I believe I will get the support I need during the change process. |
| Leadership support | Senior leadership stands behind this change. |
| Leadership support | My manager supports this change. |
| Personal valence | I think this change will have positive outcomes for my work. |
| Information | I know how this change will affect me. |
Add one open-ended question as well: "What is your biggest concern about this change?" The answers directly shape the content of the communication plan and training.
How to read readiness results
- If discrepancy is low: Employees see no problem with the current situation. Start by explaining the reason for the change, with data and concrete examples.
- If appropriateness is low: Employees believe change is needed but do not believe in the chosen solution. In this case you need to involve employees in designing the solution or listen to their objections.
- If efficacy is low: Employees are willing but do not feel ready. Training, coaching and a transition period win this group over quickly.
- If leadership support is low: Employees think the change is just another "this too shall pass" project. Visible and sustained involvement from senior leadership is needed.
- If personal valence is low: Employees think the change may be good for the organization but is a loss for them. Talking about this concern openly is far more effective than ignoring it.
After the change: Measuring adoption
Once the change is implemented, you need to measure how far employees have adopted the new behavior. Adoption does not happen all at once; it moves through successive stages:
| Stage | What does it mean? | Sample item |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | The employee knows about the change | I am informed about [the new process]. |
| Understanding | The employee understands the reason for the change and what is expected of them | I know what is expected of me in [the new process]. |
| Trial | The employee has started using the new way of working | I have started using [the new process] in my work. |
| Regular use | The new way of working has become part of the employee's routine | I now use [the new process] regularly. |
| Internalization | The new way of working is seen as "how things are done" | In our team, [the new process] is now the normal way of doing things. |
In addition to these items, we recommend adding two items that reveal the risk of slipping back:
- Parallel working: "We keep using the old methods alongside the new process." (This item is reverse-worded; high agreement is a negative sign.)
- Perceived benefit: "The new process helps me do my job better."
Perceived benefit is the strongest leading indicator of sustainment. If employees do not see the new way of working making their jobs easier, they will go back to the old way once the project team's support is withdrawn.
Measurement schedule
Measuring change is not a one-off survey but a series of short surveys. Each measurement can be a pulse survey of 5–10 questions:
| Timing | Measurement | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Before or right after the announcement | Readiness measurement | The five readiness beliefs and concerns |
| Weeks 4–6 of implementation | First adoption measurement | Awareness, understanding and trial; early obstacles |
| Month 3 | Second adoption measurement | Regular use, perceived benefit, parallel working |
| 6–12 months after project close | Sustainment measurement | Internalization, parallel working, signs of slipping back |
The last measurement is the most important and the one most often skipped. Decide in advance who will own the measurement once the project ends; otherwise the sustainment measurement will not be on anyone's agenda. We explain how to design pulse surveys in our post what is a pulse survey.
Signs that a change has stuck
Look for these signs in survey results and in day-to-day work:
- Adoption scores do not drop after the project team steps away. Scores that were high while the project was running but decline after it closes show that the change depended on the project team's support.
- Parallel working is declining. If the old methods are gradually no longer used as a "backup", the change is settling in.
- New hires learn the new way as the default. If newcomers are never shown the old method, the change has become the way work is done. You can also track this with an onboarding survey.
- Exceptions and workarounds are declining. If the number of cases where people say "in this situation we do it the old way" is falling, the change is maturing.
- The language of open-ended comments is changing. If employees start referring to the new process not as "the new system" but by its name, as an ordinary part of their work, the change has been internalized.
Reading results by breakdown
Change rarely moves at the same pace across the whole organization. Read the results with these breakdowns:
- Managers and employees: If managers' readiness and adoption scores are markedly higher than employees', the change has stayed at the management level and has not reached the front line.
- Units: Compare units that implemented the change first with those that followed. The adoption curve in the early units offers a realistic expectation for the others.
- Role and way of working: Separate the roles most affected by the change from those affected indirectly. An average score can hide the difficulties of the most affected group.
When making these comparisons, do not report on small groups, and protect anonymity. During periods of change, employees may worry that their criticism will be seen as "resistance to change". For details, see our post on anonymity in employee surveys.
Common mistakes
- Measuring only while the project is running. The most fragile period for a change is when the project team steps away. Measurement should not stop there.
- Treating resistance as a single concept. A finding that "employees are resistant to change" tells you nothing. Knowing which belief is missing shows you what to do.
- Counting usage data as adoption. Logging into a system does not mean the process has been adopted. Employees may use the system because it is mandatory while still getting the work done the old way.
- Not sharing the results. If employees share their concerns about a change and never see them addressed, they will be more guarded during the next change. Share the results and the actions. Our post on sharing employee survey results with employees can guide you here.
- Using a change survey as a substitute for an engagement survey. A change survey measures a specific project. To see the change's effect on overall engagement, read your engagement survey results alongside the change timeline as well.
In short, the success of a change is measured not on the day it is announced or goes live, but by whether it is still holding months after the project ends. Measure the five readiness beliefs before the change and the stages of adoption after it, and keep measuring until 6–12 months after the project closes. The people best placed to tell you whether a change has stuck are the employees who live it every day.
Frequently asked questions
What is a change readiness survey?
It is a short survey that measures how ready employees are for a change, run before the change is announced or right after. It usually covers belief that the change is needed, the appropriateness of the chosen solution, confidence in being able to make the change, leadership support and the personal meaning of the change.
How can you tell whether a change has stuck?
By repeating the adoption measurement 6–12 months after the change project ends. Signs that the change has stuck include the new behavior continuing after the project team steps away, new hires learning the new behavior as the default, and fewer workarounds and exceptions.
When should a change survey be run?
A recommended schedule is a readiness measurement before or right after the announcement, a short adoption measurement in weeks 4–6 of implementation, a second measurement in month 3 and a sustainment measurement 6–12 months after the project closes. Each measurement can be a short pulse survey of 5–10 questions.
What is the difference between a change survey and measuring culture change?
A change survey focuses on a specific project or implementation: a new system, a new process or a new organizational structure. Measuring culture change tracks how the organization's overall behaviors and values shift over the long term. Change surveys measure the building blocks of culture change.
Can resistance to change be measured with a survey?
Rather than asking about resistance directly, it is more useful to measure its causes. Not believing the change is necessary, thinking the solution is wrong, not believing one can do it, or expecting the change to have negative consequences for oneself are different kinds of resistance, and each calls for a different response.
