Throughout a career devoted to achieving lasting social change, I often harped on the concept of “sustainability.” I’d say to myself (and many others): yes, we all want to achieve some kind of change—personally, socially, politically—but how can that change be sustained? How do we prevent ourselves from falling back into the same bad habits?

Although I had been engaging in practical change management, I wasn’t introduced to a formal “change management” practice until joining Skeleton Key Strategies. Principals Simone and Justin supported me in pursuing formal training through ProSci.

I was humbled to realize that the way I was traditionally taught to plan, execute, and analyze projects was missing this major element: Change Management. The training took what I’d learned on the ground—guiding teams, aligning stakeholders, helping people adapt—and gave it language, structure, and a framework I could apply at scale. I’m excited to lead change initiatives with this structured approach, using individual success as the litmus test for a successful project and data to back it up.

Change management is a customizable framework for supporting individuals through obstacles, clearing the way for both project and individual success—with sustainability as the guiding star.

You always hear the phrase “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” This is a great way of thinking about change that involves a group of people. The ProSci methodology for change management allows you to adjust your approach based on where the first weaknesses (or risks) appear in your “chain” of people.

The ProSci methodology provides structured ways to assess individual readiness (through frameworks like “A.D.K.A.R” Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement), measure project health, and track progress across three general phases: Prepare the approach, Manage the change, and Sustain the outcome.

In project management roles, we’re often taught to focus on managing stakeholders and keeping projects on track to achieve the goals set for us.

The problem? These goals are usually not people-focused. They’re typically metrics for increased revenue, user adoption, or workflow optimization. While these are all valid goals, they don’t center around the primary factor that determines whether they’ll succeed: people.

A strategy built without including those who will be most impacted is doomed to create a future state where success is not fully realized or fails completely.

Rewritten through a change management lens, traditional goals become far more actionable.

For instance, instead of a general organizational goal to “increase revenue,” a goal might become: “Drive adoption of new processes and tools that enable teams to identify and capitalize on revenue opportunities more effectively.”

Instead of “increase user adoption,” a goal could expand to: “Increase user adoption through targeted communication, training, and engagement strategies that build confidence and competence with the new system or process.”

See the difference? This level of specificity builds the change management plan for you, and forces you to identify what specific obstacles your team is facing and what strategies would best address those obstacles. It removes the trial-and-error guesswork that often comes with goals written by individuals who aren’t involved in the day-to-day work and don’t have the same frame of reference as those who will be directly impacted.

Change management, in conjunction with the principle of appreciative inquiry, puts us in a unique position to help stakeholders identify not only blockers but also opportunities, and build a plan to address them at the onset. This on-the-ground approach ensures the foundation for success is laid before the project even begins.

Change is scary, but it can also be healing. We all know that person who hates change; in some cases, it might be you, reading this article.  Despite that feeling, we all know change is necessary, and when done well, it can lead to something transformational.

When you begin the process of overhauling workflows, rewriting policies, and generally changing the way people work day-to-day, there will always be resistance. It is how we respond to resistance that makes all the difference.

When people begin to ask, “Why are we changing?” the answer is usually simple: What we are doing is not working. They ask, “Well, what if this new way of working is worse than what we’re doing now?” and and while a familiar process might be comforting, if the outcome has not moved you in the direction of your goal, it is time to revisit your strategy.

When teams feel welcomed to name these fears, there is a collective realization around what may have pulled us away from our shared goal. This moment of shared alignment and clarity helps us reconnect with what once felt energizing about the work. That shared clarity makes it easier to see the road ahead, where meaningful change is not only attainable but within reach.

At Russell & Co, Admin Partners we work to understand your team as individuals, and their holistic needs.

There is never a one-size-fits-all solution. We begin with proven best practices, then adapt them to the people doing the work. Taking into account each person’s capacity, expertise, professional development desires, and day-to-day realities so the approach is practical, sustainable, and focused on fostering growth rather than prioritizing quick wins and encourgaing a culture of martydom.

Space is made to name the worries and questions that arise about the future of a role, organization, firm, or industry. From there, the focus shifts to the shared question we will never stop answering: Where do we want to be, and what will it take to get there? Together, that vision becomes the basis for practical, and thoughtful planning.

Partnership means more than providing support, It means working alongside people in ways that build confidence, reignite fiery passions, improve the balance of work and life, while growing toward what is possible; individually and together.

If you’re ready to embark on that journey with us, let’s start a conversation about your goals and what a more sustainable path forward could look like, together.

Send us a message at info@russelladminpartners.com or use the contact form.

We can’t wait to meet your team!