Change management teams are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their work drives real results, not just activity. But common metrics don't reveal whether employees are ready, whether new behaviors are taking hold, or whether those behaviors are making a meaningful impact.
As transformation becomes ubiquitous, executives want to know that change teams are doing more than checking boxes. The C-suite wants proof that change leaders are driving results. Yet, too often, change teams report surface-level activity metrics: How many people attended a training event, how many emails the team sent, and how many user sessions staff logged.
When disconnected metrics exist, executives begin to question the value of change efforts. And when transformation fatigue sets in or budgets tighten, change management becomes an option for the chopping block—not because it doesn't matter, but because it hasn't made its impact visible. As a change leader put it during a recent roundtable discussion, "Change is always the scapegoat when things go wrong, but we're rarely set up to show we made a difference."
What's missing is a way to connect day-to-day change activities to business outcomes. A laddered approach to measurement bridges that gap, helping change teams track readiness, adoption, and impact in a structured, actionable way. By clarifying what's happening at each stage of change, the framework provides a stronger foundation for strategy, coaching, and course correction.
Read the full article written for the Association of Talent Development's TD Magazine.
You’ll learn how to:
- Link change activities to real business outcomes.
- Apply a four-tier model: engagement, learning, behavior, outcomes.
- Build credible metrics with baselines, data access, and sponsorship.
- Use metrics at each project phase to spot risks and adjust.
- Turn insights into action for leaders and teams.
- Avoid pitfalls like stopping at go-live or tracking sentiment alone.
- See practical examples of laddered measurement in action.
