Hey there, digital warriors! ⚔️

We’ve been journeying through the mini-series of digital transformation (DX) failures, uncovering the top three reasons why 93% of DX initiatives end up in the mud. In today’s episode, we’re diving deep into Cause #4—the lack of a proper change management strategy—and why ignoring the human side of transformation is a surefire way to doom your DX.

Let’s break it down.

What Is Change Management, and Why Does It Matter?

First off, let’s get one thing straight. Change management isn’t just a buzzword. It’s not about sending out a few memos or having an all-hands meeting to announce “big changes.”

Real change management is the structured, deliberate process of guiding employees and leadership through every step of the digital transformation journey. It’s about making sure your people are on board, equipped, and empowered to navigate the upheavals that come with DX.

And trust me, change will bring upheavals. Without a well-defined change management strategy, employees often feel like they’re on the outside looking in, alienated by top-down mandates they had no part in shaping. This disconnect can lead to internal resistance, which slows down or outright kills even the best-laid DX plans.

But it gets worse—if leadership is too focused on quick wins and cost-cutting, they might overlook the crucial need for up-skilling, support systems, and feedback loops, assuming employees will just “get with the program.” Spoiler alert: they won’t.

Change management is the key to bridging the gap between flashy tech upgrades and the people who make your business run.

Why Big Consultancies Drop the Ball on Change Management

Let’s face it—when we think of digital transformation, many of us picture big consultancies like McKinsey, Accenture, or Deloitte swooping in with their well-polished playbooks and well-known strategies. And sure, these consultancies can lay out the tech roadmap with the best of them. But here’s the problem:

they often leave out one critical piece of the puzzle—your people.

Most of these DX playbooks focus on the technical overhaul, emphasizing new platforms, workflows, and AI-driven solutions. And while that’s important, it completely ignores the fact that the success of any digital transformation hinges on the human element. Employees need to feel empowered, supported, and part of the mission—not left in the dust while technology races ahead.

Take Volkswagen’s Cariad project, for example (something we covered in episode 25). They poured billions into centralized software development to power their electric vehicle lineup but didn’t prepare their teams for the shift. As a result, they faced compatibility issues, delays, and internal friction. Why? Because their change management strategy failed to guide their employees through this seismic shift. VW thought they could just throw money at the problem. They didn’t realize that real transformation requires buy-in at every level.

The Human Side of Transformation: It’s Not Optional

So why does the human side get so neglected in digital transformations? Often, it’s because leaders underestimate the cultural shift that DX requires. Technology alone won’t solve your problems; in fact, it often creates new ones if people aren’t prepared to work with it.

Eric Trist and R. Westrum’s work on socio-technical systems shows us that organizations are most successful when their technical advancements are paired with an evolution of their social systems—how people collaborate, interact, and adapt to new challenges. You can’t just evolve the tech; you have to evolve the people alongside it.

Real-World Example: Boeing’s 737 MAX Disaster 🛫 Boeing’s 737 MAX crisis is a cautionary tale of what happens when you cut corners on change management and engineering (something we covered in episode 23). In a rush to compete, they retrofitted old airframes with new, larger engines and related software, hoping to push the jets out the door as quickly as possible. But here’s the kicker: they outsourced critical software development to a much cheaper, less experienced team halfway around the world—a cost-saving move that would come back to haunt them.

Even worse, Boeing didn’t allocate the time or resources to properly train their pilots on the new systems. They assumed that a quick tech fix, paired with some bare-minimum instructions, would be enough. And that assumption cost them dearly.

This strategy was far from flawless.

Two devastating crashes and hundreds of lost lives later 😢, Boeing was facing billions in fines, lawsuits, and irreparable damage to their reputation. What went wrong? It wasn’t just a failure of technology or engineering—it was a failure of leadership, alignment, and change management. They ignored the human element, assuming pilots would adapt without sufficient training and support. In reality, this disaster was the result of a lack of proper oversight and engineering excellence.

The “High-Stake Consultancy” Myth: Why Quick Wins Don’t Last

Big consultancies often focus on delivering “quick wins” for their clients, and it’s easy to see why. Corporations hire them to get immediate results that look good to the board or venture capitalists, and in high-stakes environments, these quick wins can serve as a way to appease leadership. If things go wrong, having a third party to shoulder the blame can be a convenient fallback. This creates a somewhat dysfunctional relationship where consultancies step in, offer a neatly packaged playbook, implement the latest tools, and then leave, with the company left to handle the long-term effects.

To be fair, this model serves the short-term needs of many companies and consultancies alike. However, what isn’t always made clear—often because these consultancies aren’t fully empowered to do so—is that real transformation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Quick wins may provide a temporary boost, but they rarely deliver lasting change.

Digital transformation is a long-term commitment that goes far beyond shiny new tech and golden playbooks. Without a robust change management strategy, those initial quick wins fade as employees struggle to adapt. The result? Frustration, inefficiencies, and mounting social resistance that can lead to eventual failure.

The truth is:

you can’t outsource the core of your digital transformation.

Leadership must be fully engaged, guiding teams through the entire journey. It’s not just about improving the developer experience; it’s about creating a holistic strategy that helps every member of the organization cope with evolving roles and responsibilities.

Change management isn’t optional—it’s the key to making transformation stick.

Socio-Technical Systems: It’s About People AND Technology

This brings us to a critical point:

DX isn’t just a technical upgrade—it’s a socio-technical transformation.

Back in the 1950s, Eric Trist and his colleagues pioneered the concept of socio-technical systems. They emphasized that for any organization to thrive, it must balance the evolution of both its social (people, culture, interactions) and technical (tools, processes, technology) systems. His work showed that a purely technical focus leads to resistance, inefficiency, and failure if the human side of change is ignored.

Fast forward to today, and while the tools have evolved—AI-driven platforms, DevOps, cloud solutions—the principle remains the same. In fact, the need to address both the hearts (people) and diamonds (processes) of your organization has never been more relevant. This is where Bob Marshall’s “Hearts over Diamonds” metaphor steps in to modernize Trist’s insights for the digital age.

Marshall argues that while organizations may chase quick wins with new tech (diamonds), they often fail to prioritize the hearts—the people who need to drive and sustain the transformation. And without that focus on the human element, your shiny new platforms will never deliver their full potential.

Think about it: you might have the latest AI tools, DevOps pipelines, or cloud platforms at your disposal. But if your employees aren’t trained, empowered, and engaged in how to use them—or worse, if they feel alienated by the changes—those tools will fall flat. People always come first. The hearts must lead the transformation, ensuring that your teams understand, embrace, and enhance the technology within their workflows. This echoes the very lesson from my friends at the Ferrari driving school, which we discussed in Episode 21—even in high-performance environments like motorsports, people come before tech advancements. Whether you’re racing cars or driving digital transformation, success hinges on empowering people to lead the charge.

This reminds us that real transformation happens when organizations place human relationships at the core, and that’s the only way to ensure technology adoption is sustainable. Trist’s socio-technical theory laid the groundwork, and Marshall’s “Hearts over Diamonds” concept drives it home for today’s digital transformation efforts:

you can’t implement new platforms and expect success without first preparing and supporting your teams.

In the end, digital transformation is a journey where people and technology must evolve together. If you focus too much on the “diamonds” and forget the “hearts,” you’ll be left with a technological change that people either resist or fail to fully embrace. The key is empowering your people to be part of the transformation, ensuring they’re aligned, trained, and supported every step of the way.

The Power of a Continuous Learning Framework

One way to address this issue is through continuous active-learning frameworks, such as the our dojo methodology at the SW Craftsmanship Dojo®. Think of a dojo not just as a place for up-skilling, but as an environment designed with the latest behavioral change techniques from expert behavioral designers, where employees can experiment, learn, and adapt to new technologies and processes in a safe, supportive space.

With a dojo-like environment, designed for behavioral change, employees aren’t just told to embrace change; they’re given the tools, training, and room to grow into it.

This is crucial because it reduces the fear of the unknown and creates a culture of collaborative growth. When people feel like they’re part of the journey, they’re far more likely to buy into the transformation.

Lessons Learned: Why Change Management is Non-Negotiable

If there’s one thing you take away from this episode, let it be this:

DX without proper change management is doomed to fail.

We’ve seen it time and time again. Volkswagen, Boeing, GE, and countless others have paid the price for underestimating the human side of transformation.

Without a structured plan to guide employees through the change, you’re not just wasting time and money—you’re actively sabotaging your own DX.

Remember, technology alone isn’t enough. You need to evolve the social systems of your organization alongside the technical ones. Employees must be empowered, trained, and guided through the transformation process if you want to succeed.

Ready to Get Serious About Change Management?

If you’re ready to stop treating DX like a quick tech upgrade and start seeing it for what it really is—a full-scale cultural and operational overhaul—then it’s time to roll up your sleeves. At BriX Consulting and through the Unicorns’ Ecosystem, we help businesses build adaptive, resilient cultures that thrive in the face of transformation. By aligning OKRs, leveraging Domain-Driven Design (DDD), and embedding continuous active-learning into your organization, we ensure that change management isn’t just an afterthought—it’s the core of your DX strategy.

Digital transformation isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. And without the right people, processes, and strategies in place, it’s a race you’re bound to lose.

So, are you ready to bridge the gap and embrace a successful, human-centered transformation?

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⏭️ Stay tuned for our next episode, where we’ll dive into the final DX pitfall: why focusing solely on financial targets can undermine long-term transformation success.

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