There is a lot of good advice and practices out there on change and transformation. Change remains however one of the most challenging aspects of running a business. When considering an organization’s capacity for change is becomes clear why – and what can be done to create this capacity.
It is easy to say that companies and people don’t want to change and that this makes any change or transformation effort hard. Reality is that individuals not necessarily object to change – but collectively, as a system, they represent a transformation challenge.

Tackling this challenge is in its essence well understood – you need to interact with people – repeatedly – to mobilize the organization towards a change goal. This obviously requires capacity to do so, something which is not available by default in a world where downsizing and lean and meanness are seen as virtues. Reality is therefore that many organizations lack the outright capacity (as opposed to capability) to change.

When seen from this perspective, many change management practices are in fact ways to ensure sufficient capacity is allocated to the change cause – creating sense of urgency, ensuring leadership involvement, clearly communicated change objectives, and the list goes on.
Understanding an organization’s capacity for change can contribute to the change success by ensuring that sufficient capacity for change is lined up.

Read more: “Capacity for Change”  EA – Capacity For Change – Gillis J Jonk, Jeroen Slaats, A.T. Kearney Executive Agenda Volume XII number 1 2009