The Cirrus Zine: What You Need to Know About Change

An illustrated guide from Cirrus Change Readiness

Change projects succeed or fail on whether people come along. This illustrated zine from Cirrus Change Readiness shows why roughly 70% of change projects miss their goals, why even eager teams struggle, and the system that keeps teams aligned from start to finish.

Comic illustration of three colleagues sharing one thought bubble: your organization is going through a change project and you need it to work.

Gartner HR statistic on top-down change, above a cloud explaining that Cirrus Change Readiness uses a team alignment system to keep change on track.

Comic illustration of a worried leader in red glasses saying she is leading an expensive change that some people don't want.

Comic illustration of a stressed executive warning that unmanaged change creates chaos and costs money, time, trust and reputation.

Bold comic headline over a burst of blue rays: roughly 70% of change projects fail to meet their goals. However...

Comic illustration of a businessman pointing to a sign: only 30% of projects hit their change goals, and it's not a secret, it's a system.

The worried leader again, saying that if there is a change system that works she needs to know, because staff still complain about the last project.

Three stages of the Cirrus Change Readiness system: evaluating change mindsets, defining the path forward, and tracking the change.

Comic illustration of a smiling presenter with a chart: 67% of organizations lack in-house change management skills and 68% of projects fail completely or in part.

Comic illustration of three colleagues helping each other climb a rising growth chart, representing high-performing teams.

Comic speech burst asking: my team says they're excited to change, do I need this?

Comic illustration of a smiling woman saying even teams that say they're ready to change will struggle, beside five reasons why.

Comic illustration of a woman in a virtual reality headset saying she can see the future and it's beautiful, below five traits of organizations with better change outcomes.

Six colorful comic panels: a clear vision of success, a change team, time to train, opportunities for feedback, quick wins and a detailed communication plan.

The leader from earlier, now confident, describing Cirrus readiness analytics, dashboards and certified education, with the Quality Matters seal.

Two phone calls shown as speech bubbles, contrasting a client whose change succeeded with Cirrus and one who skipped it.

Two client testimonial banners for Cirrus Change from Phu Ngo of NAIFA and John Weritz of The Aluminum Association.

Comic illustration of a smiling woman holding a folder beside Cirrus Change contact details and a QR code to set a meeting.

Set a meeting to learn more

Your organization is going through a change project

Your organization is going through a change project. You need it to work. This is what you need to know.

Every team can be ready for change

“When top-down changes fail to work, leaders often blame the workforce. Yet 64% of employees already possess the skills required to change successfully, and 74% say they are willing to support the change. Despite this, only one-quarter of employees are able to change the way they work when managed from the top down.”

(Gartner HR, 2019)

Cirrus Change Readiness has a team alignment system that uses your team to keep the change on track. Every team can be ready for change.

Meets Quality Matters review standards for continuing education.

When the stakes are high

“I'm leading a change that some people don't even want. We've invested a lot of money in this. I have to make this work! I'm concerned.”

No one should have to stay up at night worrying about whether their project will succeed

Unmanaged change can create chaos. Chaos brings confusion, misalignment, fear and uncertainty.

And when that happens, organizations lose money, time, effort, trust and momentum. What about your reputation?

Change statistics are shocking

Roughly 70% of change projects fail to meet their goals. However…

(Beer, 2000)

It's not a secret, it's a system

Only 30% of projects hit their change goals. It's not a secret, it's a system. Organizations need a system that keeps staff aligned during change.

“To improve the odds of success, and to reduce the human carnage, it is imperative that executives understand the nature and process of corporate change much better.”

(Beer, 2000)

If there is a system that works, I need to know

“If there is a system that works, I need to know. The organization is still complaining about the last change project and the project manager.”

A system that manages each stage of your change

Cirrus Change Readiness created a system that manages each stage of your change:

Evaluating change mindsets

The Change Readiness Assessment© will analyze staff to understand their fears, strengths, perceptions and psychological traits that can influence a change project.

Defining the path forward

The Cirrus Change Accelerator© delivers a tutorial of impactful videos, case studies and tools to put powerful concepts into action. Cirrus coaches will guide your team through the tools and change tactics to keep your team aligned.

Tracking the change

Our Change Reinforcement Tracker shows who is aligned, who is struggling and what they need to succeed. This pulse survey tracks team success and struggles.

Look at how important change skills are

67% of organizations don't have in-house change management skills.

(Association for Talent Development)

68% of projects fail completely or in part.

(Gartner)

Are you interested in building high-performing teams?

The Association for Talent Development identified change management skills as a high-performance practice and a key skill for high-performing teams.

Cirrus Change Readiness helps organizations

Secure more value from the change being implemented.

Bring teams on board with the change and keep them there.

Acquire change competencies that will give them an ongoing strategic advantage.

My team says they're excited to change. Do I need this?

“My team says they're excited to change. Do I need this?”

Even teams with a great attitude can struggle

“Even teams that say they're ready to change will struggle.” Even teams with a great attitude can struggle because:

The change doesn't work like the team thought it would.
It's difficult to find time for training.
They feel displaced as subject matter experts, or process experts, as they adjust to the new way of doing things.
They are overwhelmed managing all their current deliverables while going through change.
The change makes their work more difficult, or impacts service delivery.

Organizations that had better change outcomes

Organizations that had better change outcomes:

Had a leader who understood the time, energy and planning a change project needs.
Focused on specific completion requirements.
Invested in wide-scale training.
Included change readiness to prepare their teams.
Articulated what success looked like and shared this with all stakeholders.

“I can see the future and it's BEAUTIFUL!”

What successful change projects included

They included these in their change projects: a clear vision of what success looks like, a change team, time to train, opportunities for feedback, quick wins, and a detailed communication plan.

Ready to bring Cirrus into our organization

“With Cirrus Change Readiness I can empower my teams, understand their concerns and identify supports. I get readiness analytics, dashboards, tools and certified education. I can see who needs help, and who is on track at different parts of the change process! I'm ready to bring this into our organization.”

This course met Quality Matters review standards. Quality Matters is the global organization leading quality assurance in online and innovative digital teaching and learning environments.

Explaining Cirrus in two actual calls

Call one

“I have some bad news for you. The team is really grabbing on to the new system, the testing went well, and we feel like we're on track.”

“That sounds great. What's the bad news?”

“We'd like to end our contract with you early.”

Call two

“I have some terrible news. I know you warned me about our IT lead, and you wanted to use your change management program and I didn't think it was necessary. Well he's gone. He quit without notice and wiped all of our data.”

What our clients say

“Cirrus Change helped us understand how to identify and manage resistance to our change project. It made a huge impact in our project success.”

Phu Ngo, VP of Technology, National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors

“Cirrus Change helped our team adopt our new platform with the most actionable intelligence I've ever seen.”

John Weritz, VP of Standards and Technology, The Aluminum Association

Our promise

When your team completes the Cirrus Change Accelerator, they will:

Know how to structure and lead change projects.
Recognize and remove roadblocks to change.
Use research-backed tools to accelerate change.

Cirrus can't solve every problem, but it can arm you with information and tools to manage change like a superhero.

Set a meeting to learn more

Email engage@cirruschange.com or contact us to set a meeting and learn more about how Cirrus can help your project.