How AI Can Support the Work Change Professionals Do

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming how organizations operate — and that includes how we lead change. For change professionals, AI is not a replacement for human judgment, empathy, or sponsorship—it’s a set of tools that can amplify our insight, speed, and impact. When used effectively, AI enables us to allocate less time to data collection and more to guiding people through the human aspects of change.

1. Enhancing the Change Practitioner’s Toolkit

Change practitioners often navigate large amounts of information—from stakeholder lists to survey results to adoption metrics. AI can quickly organize and interpret that data, enabling practitioners to focus on what matters most: identifying and reducing risk.

Examples include:

• Sentiment analysis on employee comments to detect early signs of resistance.
• Pattern recognition across multiple projects to identify recurring adoption barriers.
• Predictive analytics that forecast which groups may need additional support.

These capabilities make it possible to shift from reactive issue management to proactive, evidence-based decision making—a cornerstone of the LaMarsh Managed Change™ methodology.

2. Supporting Leaders and Sponsors

Sponsors often balance many priorities and rely on concise insights to make timely decisions. AI can help by:

• Summarizing complex project data into clear dashboards.
• Highlighting areas where leadership communication or visibility is most needed.
• Modeling the potential impact of different sponsor actions on engagement and adoption rates.

AI tools make it easier for sponsors to understand their role and act with confidence—ensuring the organization’s commitment to change remains visible and consistent.

3. Strengthening Communication and Engagement

Personalized communication is critical to helping people move through the stages of change. AI can analyze communication effectiveness and help tailor messaging to different audiences.

Practical uses:

• Suggesting message tone and format based on audience sentiment.
• Automating logistics (meeting reminders, follow-ups, feedback summaries).
• Creating first drafts of talking points, presentations, or FAQs that practitioners can refine.

The result is faster, more relevant communication that supports adoption rather than overwhelming employees with noise.

4. Building Organizational Change Capability

At the enterprise level, AI can accelerate the development of change maturity and capability by:

• Tracking patterns across change initiatives to identify systemic risks.
• Mapping change impacts across functions to reduce duplication and fatigue.
• Providing data-driven insights that inform resource allocation and sponsorship strategies.

Used within a Managed Change™ capability framework, these insights help organizations evolve from “managing change project by project” to building change as a core competency.

5. Keeping the Human Element at the Center

While AI offers speed and precision, it doesn’t replace the relational skills that define effective change professionals—empathy, listening, trust-building, and facilitation.
The goal is not to automate the human side of change, but to free practitioners from routine tasks so they can spend more time engaging with people, leaders, and culture.

As Jeanenne LaMarsh often said, “Change is about people. Always.” AI simply gives us new tools to serve that purpose more effectively.

6. Getting Started: Practical First Steps

If your organization is ready to integrate AI into its change practice:

1. Start small — pilot a single use case (e.g., sentiment analysis on survey comments).
2. Establish governance — define clear ethical boundaries for data privacy and transparency.
3. Build capability — train change practitioners to use AI responsibly and interpret outputs with context.
4. Integrate with your methodology — align AI insights with the steps and tools in your Managed Change™ process.

The goal is not to make change management “AI-driven,” but AI-enabled—using technology to strengthen the discipline’s strategic impact.

The Future of Change Work

AI will not change why we do our work—it will change how we do it.

For organizations committed to developing strong sponsors, skilled practitioners, and resilient employees, AI can be a catalyst for better insight, smarter decisions, and more sustainable adoption.

👉 Looking to strengthen your organization’s change capability? Join our next Managed Change™ Workshop or contact our team to learn how we can help you build a data-informed, people-centered approach to change.