10 Essential Elements for Healthy
Organizational Change
Dr. Dawn-Marie Turner, PhD, MEd,
is a speaker, author, and certified
management consultant (CMC).
She is president of Turner Change
Managementand author of Launch
Lead Live: The executives guide to
preventing resistance and succeeding
with change. She has experience in
change programming, transition
planning, and organizational change
consulting and coaching. She can be
reached at www.thinktransition.com
Dr. Dawn-Marie Turner has been a
speaker at national and international
conferences. Her topics include
organizational change, change
management best practice, readiness,
and change fatigue. Her work has
been published in the International
Journal of Quality and Service Sciences,
the International Journal of Knowledge,
Culture and Change Management, and
the book, Web Mobile-Based Applications
for Healthcare Management.
By focusing on the perspective of the
people who need to adopt the change,
Dr. Turner shows leaders how they can
prevent resistance and make better use
of the time and resources they invest
in change. Her clients have included
healthcare institutions, financial and
professional service organizations,
government, post-secondary educational
institutions, and manufacturing. Dr.
Dawn-Marie Turner helps her clients turn
change from a liability to an asset.
*All information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only.
Dawn-Marie Turner, PhD, MEd*
Abstract: 10 Essential Elements for Healthy Organizational
Change is the primer to Launch Lead Live: The executives
guide to preventing resistance and succeeding with organi-
zational change. In this primer, the author describes 10
elements needed to enable healthy, sustainable organi-
zational change. This second edition includes new in-
formation, research, and examples. You will gain insight
into why organizational change initiatives fail and ac-
tions to improve results.
Keywords: change fatigue, change leadership, change
management, organizational change, organizational
development.
Introduction to 10 Essential Elements
Every leader, in every type of organization, and at every
level knows that his or her success depends on their or-
ganizations ability to respond to its clients or customers,
and its environment. That means change is inevitable.
An organization that is not able to change certainly
wont thrive and it wont survive. At the same time,
change is risky. Its critical you know the actions needed
to reduce the risk. You also need to know the actions
that actually increase your risk.
In 2015, I published Launch Lead Live: The executives
guide to preventing resistance and succeeding with organiza-
tional change. The book details the actions needed to re-
duce your risk and enable healthy organizational change.
With its publication, I decided I needed to update this
primer on the 10 essential elements. In this updated ver-
sion, I still provide an overview of each of the elements,
but I have added new information that reflects the learn-
ing and understanding I gained since it was first published.
In Launch Lead Live I talked about successful organiza-
tional change. I have learned that many leaders believe
just getting a change implemented makes it successful.
It does not.
Expert Insights 1
 10 Essential Elements for Healthy Organizational Change

Thats why in this edition of the primer

I advocate for a shift in thinkingto move
away from thinking in terms of successful
implementation to the integration of healthy
organizational change. Healthy organiza-
tional change is sustainable and improves
your organizational health. Improving orga-
nizational health includes the health of your
bottom line, the quality of your services or
products, and the level of engagement and
commitment of your employees.1
There is no magic bullet when it comes
to organizational change. Consistently ap-
plying the 10 elements described in this
primer will enable you to use change to
improve your organizational health.
All of the elements described in this
primer are grounded in the science of human
and organizational behavior and develop-
ment. They form the basis of my own prac-
tice and I have seen their value proven time
and again in my work with organizations.
The elements sound simpleand they
are. But applying them can be hard. It takes
courage, commitment, and consistency.
responsibilities, or the documentation of
Change is not necessary. Survival is new processes are typical Event deliver-
notmandatory. ables. The visibility and quantitative deliv-
W.E. Deming erables of the Event are why when most
leaders think about managing change they
1. Navigate the Whitespace focus on the Event dimension.
Change has two distinct dimensions. The The second dimension is the Transition.
first is the change Event. The second is the The transition is the psychological journey
Transition or Whitespace. people go through to adopt a change.2 I call
The Event is the decision to make a this dimension the Whitespace because it
change in your organization. It could be is the gap between where people and the
the decision to merge or acquire another organization are when the Event is identi-
company, use new technology, introduce fied, and where they need to be to achieve
a new product, change your customer ser- the desired results.
vice, or any other change your organiza- The Whitespace starts after the Event. It
tion decides to make. takes longer and has a less clearly defined
The Event occurs first and is also com- beginning and ending. Its intangible. As a
pleted much faster than the Whitespace. result it can, and often does, get ignored
The Event is concrete, with a clearly defined during change.
beginning and end. The tasks and activities It is critical to your success.
associated with the Event produces specific Ignoring the Whitespace will have dire
deliverables that can be easily measured. consequences for your change efforts. The
For example, the implementation of Whitespace is where people turn their
training, the defining of new roles and knowledge about the Event into the actions

2 Expert Insights
 10 Essential Elements for Healthy Organizational Change
needed to achieve its outcome and value.
Alternatively, if ignored, it becomes the
space where people turn their knowledge
about the Event into the actions needed to
ensure that nothing changes.
If you think about change like an ice-
berg, the Whitespace is the portion below
the waterline. Once you know it exists,
its possible to make it visible, and learn to
navigate its boundaries. I have identified
four markers you can use to outline the
boundaries of the Whitespace.
The boundaries of the Whitespace
are defined by four primary elements:
1. Perceptionthe view people have of
the change
2. Meaningthe significance people place
on the change
3. Perceived capabilitythe perception
a person or group has of their ability to
see themselves performing the activities
or behaviors required to achieve the de-
sired outcome
4. Outcomethe beliefs people have about
the benefits of making the change and
the consequences of not making it.
Your success with organizational
change depends on your comfort and
confidence to navigate within the bound-
ary of your Events Whitespace. To do this,
you needto:
Understand the size and influence of the
Whitespace at the beginning of the Event
Willingly explore the boundaries, without
judgment
Create conversation and activities to enable
people to address their beliefs and support
their navigation through the Whitespace.
2. Apply Holistic Systems Thinking
No organizational change initiative is a sin-
gle Event. Every organizational change, re-
gardless of its size, is like a pebble thrown
into the pond. It sends a ripple through the
organization.
Expert Insights
This may seem obvious, but it is often
forgotten when you are focused on manag-
ing a specific Event. Sometimes, all but the
closest ripples get overlooked when time,
resources, and budget are being squeezed.
I often hear leaders and managers say,
This change wont affect that group.
Only to later discover that its this un-
affected group that is limiting the prog-
ress or completely derailing the change
effort.
When you apply holistic systems think-
ing in your approach to leading change, you
shift your focus. Instead of managing each
change as a single Event, you look at each
change from the perspective of the whole
organization and the people affected.
For example, lets say you are the director
of marketing. You decide your department
is going to adopt new marketing software.
You may think, Its my decision and it
only affects marketing. There is no need to
involve other departments.
This type of thinking ignores the ripples
the new software and its processes may
have in sales, accounting, or even cus-
tomer service. Ignoring those small ripples
at the beginning of your Event raises the
risk of large waves that derail your change
efforts later. With holistic systems think-
ing, you explore, assess, and plan for the
ripples early.
Applying holistic systems thinking also
enables and encourages you to consider
the impact of the qualitative or intangible
elements of the Whitespace as well as the
quantitative deliverables of the Event.
For example, in addition to assessing
elements like workflow, technology, and
training, you also assess the impact of your
current culture, history of change, relation-
ships, and level of people readiness.
Using systems thinking reduces your
risk and increases your organizations ca-
pability with change. Applying systems
thinking also allows you to use change as
a competitive advantage. You can achieve
more real change with less change initia-
tives. You also make better use of resources,
3