Common Challenge: Incomplete Risk Identification Leads to Delayed or Failed Outcomes
Quick Summary
Many change leaders assume they’ve captured the major risks to a transformation—only to be surprised by resistance, delays, or failure to sustain the change. This article explores why risk is often underestimated and how the LaMarsh Managed Change™ Model helps practitioners surface, measure, and mitigate it effectively.
The Challenge
Organizations tend to focus on visible risks—like training gaps or process changes—while ignoring deeper people-related risks. Emotional reactions, stakeholder misalignment, conflicting priorities, and culture-based resistance often go unexamined. The result? Change efforts that look fine on paper but unravel in execution.
Why It Matters
Change without a full understanding of risk is change without a safety net. Underestimating risk leads to poor planning, lack of readiness, and a failure to adapt when things don’t go as expected.
The LaMarsh Perspective
The Managed Change™ Model places risk identification at the heart of planning. We don’t guess—we ask. Our methodology emphasizes the importance of engaging stakeholders directly to understand their concerns, expectations, and resistance points. Risk isn’t just something to manage—it’s something to discover.
How-to Solution
- Start with Stakeholder Perspectives
Don’t assume you know the risks—ask stakeholders what the change means for them. - Categorize Risk by Type
Look across emotional, informational, structural, and cultural dimensions of risk. - Use a Structured Risk Assessment Tool
Apply a repeatable framework (like Managed Change™) to identify and prioritize risks consistently. - Co-Design Mitigation Strategies
Work with those affected to create tailored plans that reduce resistance and increase ownership. - Monitor and Adjust Throughout
Risk isn’t static. Build in regular reviews to adapt your strategy as new issues emerge.
Pro Tip
If your risk log only covers logistics and training, you’re missing the most critical risks: the people risks.
Wrap-Up & CTA
Change doesn’t fail because it was poorly designed—it fails because real risks were left in the shadows. The LaMarsh Managed Change™ Model helps you surface what’s hidden, so you can plan for what’s real.
👉 Want to build a stronger risk strategy? Join our next Managed Change Workshop or Schedule a Risk Diagnostic Session.
