Organizations are more likely to make change workable when they equip employees with relevant skills, involve them in decisions that affect their work, and help them understand the purpose of the change. Those investments can enable transformation, but they do not guarantee success: people programs must be matched with sound planning and follow-through.
What investing in people means during transformation
Transformation changes how work is done. Investment in people is the practical support that helps employees adapt and contribute—not simply a budget line or a training course. It can include:
- Skills development: identify capabilities the future work requires and give employees opportunities to learn them.
- Leadership and facilitation: prepare managers to support change and develop internal people who can guide improvement work.
- Worker participation: provide information, consultation, and genuine opportunities to shape implementation.
- Purpose and capacity: explain why the change matters and pay attention to whether employees are already carrying too much change.
These are complementary choices, not a formula that fits every organization. Training attendance, spending, or a stated skills target measures an input; it does not establish that transformation delivered its intended results.
Build skills around the work that is changing
The European Commission’s 2021 European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan connects adult learning with the green and digital transitions, employability, and movement between jobs. It reported that fewer than 40% of adults participated in training each year at that time. The plan set a target—not an achieved result—for at least 60% participation annually by 2030. It also cited historical participation of 37% in learning activities in 2016, falling to 18% among adults with low qualifications. These EU figures provide dated policy context, not current estimates for every country or workforce. Read the European Commission’s action plan.
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For an organization, the useful starting point is to map the skills needed for the intended operating model and compare them with current capabilities. In a banking-sector chapter, EY recommends considering several ways to close gaps: reskilling current employees, recruiting, using contingent workers, or bringing in external specialists. EY reported that 44% of executives said their organization had the digital skills and mindset needed for transformation. That is an attributed figure from EY research in a banking-sector discussion, not a universal or current measure of readiness. Read EY’s discussion of the race for talent.
Choose between developing and acquiring skills
Reskilling can build on employees’ knowledge of the organization and preserve continuity, but it takes time and depends on whether the needed skills can realistically be learned. Recruitment or external specialists may fill urgent or highly specialized gaps, while contingent workers can add capacity for a defined period. Mapping the gap first helps leaders make this choice deliberately instead of assuming that training—or hiring—can solve every problem.
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Make participation part of implementation
People expected to use a new process or technology can identify practical problems that may be invisible in a project plan. The European Commission’s 2021 action plan describes worker information, consultation, and participation in restructuring as important to shaping transitions and workplace innovation. Participation is therefore more than announcing a decision: employees need a meaningful route to raise concerns and influence how the change is put into practice.
Salma Yasmeen, then Executive Director of Strategy and Change and interim Deputy CEO at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust, described the balance this requires: “The technical aspects of change – good project management, discipline and processes – are important. But so is involvement, and the human aspects of change. If we don’t pay enough attention to those, the change won’t stick.” Her account appeared in a December 2021 interview with the Good Governance Institute. It is a perspective from one organization, not proof of a universal outcome. Read the interview.
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Develop capability beyond a single training course
A one-off course can introduce a method, but sustained transformation may call for an ongoing ability to support improvement. Yasmeen said the trust invested in change infrastructure as well as an evolving, inclusive culture. She also described staff and volunteers attending the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School and a network of change and improvement facilitators. In her account, about 100 people per year took part for the preceding three years. That is a reported example from the trust, not a benchmark organizations should expect to reproduce.
The broader lesson is to connect learning with the work itself: develop people who can help teams apply new approaches, and create channels for employees to share what is and is not working. The appropriate scale and design will depend on the organization’s needs; the interview does not establish a causal effect or return on investment for this model.
Recognize fatigue and reconnect change to purpose
More change is not automatically better change. Yasmeen identified change fatigue as an obstacle to successful, sustainable change, particularly when staff cannot see how the work connects to why they do their jobs. Leaders should consider employees’ capacity as they sequence initiatives and communicate the reason for a change in terms relevant to the work. An explanation cannot remove every burden, but ignoring fatigue can make participation and adoption harder.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Judge progress by more than activity
People investment is an enabling condition, not a guaranteed result. An organization can track whether employees have access to relevant learning, whether affected workers are consulted, and whether teams have support to implement new practices. It should also assess whether the intended changes are actually taking hold and producing the outcomes the transformation set out to achieve. The cited policy plan, interview, and industry chapter offer rationale and examples, but they do not establish a universal success rate or causal return from investing in people.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Author: Bungay Stanier, Michael.
- Publisher: Page Two
- Pages: 244
- Publication Date: 2016-02-29
- Edition: 1
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