Making Change Real: Mastering People Dynamics in Big Ask, Small Core Projects

Summer Series: Building Success in Big Ask, Small Core Projects

This article continues our summer series on big ask, small core projects — where central teams stay lean but rely heavily on the wider business to succeed. Last week, we explored governance as a backbone for clarity and decision-making. This week, we turn to the heart of lasting change: people dynamics.

Projects succeed or fail on how people adopt, adapt, and act. Canadian professor Brenda Zimmerman’s work on wicked questions shows that organisations face tensions that can’t simply be “solved” but must be navigated. British scholar Ralph Stacey’s Complex Responsive Processes of Relating remind us that change emerges from daily conversations, relationships, and sense-making — not just top-down plans.

That’s why understanding and working with people dynamics isn’t optional; it’s the key to turning plans into real, sustainable outcomes.

Why People Dynamics Matter

Even the most brilliant project plan will fail if the people who need to change don’t come on the journey. In highly leveraged projects, where you can’t flood the organisation with change managers or trainers, this challenge becomes even sharper — and even more decisive for success.

Yet time and again, I’ve seen leaders underestimate what it takes for real readiness. They focus on the system going live but forget that people have to be ready to use, support, and believe in it — or adoption will stall, errors will mount, and benefits will quickly erode.

Wicked Questions at the Human Level

As Brenda Zimmerman’s work reminds us, organisations are full of inherent tensions with no easy answers — like:

• How do we drive standardisation while honouring local differences?

• How can we expect people to learn new systems while they’re busy keeping the old business afloat?

• How do we create urgency without burning people out?

• How do we build clarity when the project itself is evolving?

• How do we create psychological safety for honest feedback while pushing people to move faster?

In highly leveraged projects, these tensions intensify:

• You can’t rely on big change teams to soothe nerves or coach everyone.

• Communication channels are often thin, informal, or inconsistent.

• Change must happen on top of daily responsibilities, not instead of them.

• And because the project’s success rests on distributed commitment, misalignment or hidden resistance can quietly kill momentum.

These are not problems to solve once and for all — they’re ongoing dilemmas to navigate.

Stacey’s Lens: Complexity in People Dynamics

Ralph Stacey’s Complex Responsive Processes of Relating help us understand why these tensions are so stubborn. Stacey argued that in human systems:

• Change emerges through ongoing interactions, not top-down plans.

• People’s interpretations of events shape what happens next.

• Patterns of behaviour, meaning, and power evolve over time — they cannot be fully predicted or controlled.

In projects, this means your formal comms plan is never the full story. Change lives in hallway conversations, private chats, and small acts of sense-making. And those micro-interactions — whether positive or corrosive — compound into either a wave of momentum or a wall of resistance.

So instead of treating readiness like a box-ticking exercise, we must work with people’s real experiences of change as they unfold.

The Theory: Change is a Journey, Not a Switch

People don’t shift from old ways to new overnight. Classic change models, like Bridges’ Transition Curve or the ADKAR framework, remind us that individuals go through stages of awareness, understanding, acceptance, and action.

In big ask, small core projects, the journey is even more uneven:

• Some stakeholders feel like enthusiastic champions from day one.

• Others resist until the final hour.

• Many hover in quiet uncertainty, waiting for proof the change will stick — or for permission to act.

This dynamic tension must be addressed systematically, not assumed to resolve itself with a few announcements or training sessions.

Building True Business Readiness

One of the most common mistakes? Treating “go live” as a purely technical milestone. Real readiness comes when:

✅ People understand what’s changing.

✅ They believe it’s worth the effort.

✅ They have the skills and tools to work in the new way.

✅ Local leaders reinforce and model the new behaviours.

✅ Stakeholders know where to get support when issues arise.

When readiness is treated as a shared journey — not a checklist — you lay the foundation for sustained adoption and lasting impact.

Practical Moves for Real People Dynamics

Here’s what I’ve seen work — and what separates successful projects from stalled ones:

1️⃣ Create a Business Readiness Forum Early

✔ Bring together key local business stakeholders — CFOs, HRDs, operational leads — and make them part of decision-making.

✔ Empower them with “agree rights” on readiness, not just the solution.

Vignette: In a complex HRIS rollout, creating a Business Readiness Forum gave local leaders ownership of final Go/No Go decisions — boosting commitment and surfacing critical local issues early.

2️⃣ Use a Business Readiness Checklist

✔ Develop a simple but comprehensive checklist covering process updates, training completion, data readiness, local communications, and support structures.

✔ Review it together at key gates to make readiness visible.

Vignette: In a pan-European payroll transformation, a shared checklist helped one business unit highlight a missing works council sign-off — avoiding legal headaches later.

3️⃣ Address the Wicked Questions Openly

✔ Facilitate discussions about inherent tensions: How do we balance global consistency with local needs? How do we expect people to prioritise project work alongside BAU?

✔ Make it safe to talk about doubts — don’t let them fester.

Vignette: At a manufacturing client, we ran workshops posing wicked questions head-on, which helped middle managers move from quiet resistance to active problem-solving.

4️⃣ Track Adoption, Not Just Completion

✔ Go beyond project milestones. Track actual user adoption through metrics like usage stats, error rates, or qualitative feedback.

✔ Share trends with leaders and adapt interventions accordingly.

Vignette: In a CRM rollout, adoption dashboards highlighted that one region lagged behind; targeted coaching turned it around before benefits were lost.

5️⃣ Celebrate Progress, Not Just Go Live

✔ Recognise incremental wins. Celebrate when teams finish training or achieve key process milestones.

✔ Create visible moments that show the organisation moving together.

Vignette: A financial client ran “readiness countdown” posts on their intranet, building shared momentum and pride as each milestone ticked off.

Wrapping It Up

People dynamics make or break big ask, small core projects. By creating space for honest conversations, equipping leaders to guide change, and treating readiness as a living, evolving process — not a fixed milestone — you give your project the best chance of real success.

What’s Next?

Next week, we’ll conclude the summer series with a focus on Leadership: how leaders at every level can set the tone, signal priorities, and inspire others to lean into change.

About the author

I’m Frank Smits, a change and transformation consultant with over 25 years of international experience helping organisations navigate complex business and IT-driven change. I have particular expertise in setting up and managing global HR programmes, including the implementation of HRIS solutions such as SAP SuccessFactors.

I’ve worked with global teams across industries and cultures to deliver major transformations—balancing strategy, execution, and the human side of change. Based in Europe, I work in multiple languages and thrive on making change practical, collaborative, and real.

What I can offer:

• I help you shape and manage the engagements to achieve your business outcomes. By bringing in my specialist programme management, change and transformation expertise. From initiation through to implementation. Or any part thereof. This includes leading large-scale business change initiatives, from digital transformation to complex HR programmes.

• As executives, you may need a discrete partner to test your ideas. Or get fresh, new ones. I will act as your sparring partner. To having the right conversations. Helping you succeed. This applies to all areas of business leadership—including how to navigate and lead major HR change or transformation initiatives.

• Expertise in designing and facilitating innovative and engaging interventions. And, if needed, I can convene a variety of experts from my extensive network (academics, peers, consultants, active retirees) to open up new thinking. In HR programme leadership, this means bringing together key stakeholders—HR, IT, business leaders, and external partners—to drive alignment and engagement.

• Sometimes you would like your leaders to get dedicated, customised, specialist education. To enhance your capabilities. To possibly change the conversation. HR leaders facing major change or transformation also need the right tools and perspectives to guide their teams. I can help build that capability.

Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franksmits