My 8 best ideas for keeping Change Management when budgets are tight

It’s no surprise that projects these days are tightening their belts given reduced consumer spend, high operational and delivery costs, and ever-increasing competition. Too often, the Change Management Team is one of the first areas that Steering Committees and Project Managers cut to save money on program delivery. I've seen projects spend millions on IT development over the course of years and months and then be super reluctant to dip in to fund Change Management when it comes time for delivery and implementation. Sadly, we often have to influence and justify our need to exist and the worth we can bring. So how do you convince program leadership of the value of keeping the Change Team when the budget is tight?

Here’s 8 ideas:

1) Picture of Success / Picture of Failure workshop

You could run a Picture of Success / Picture of Failure workshop. I've seen one of my previous Heads of Change (the amazing Caroline Perkins) do a cool exercise where she got the leaders to imagine the change is on the front page of the newspaper as a success and what it would look like and say, then the flip side - you're in the newspaper for the wrong reasons, it was a disaster, PR nightmare, etc. As the leaders flesh out what those risks would look like, oftentimes it's because the people aren't onboard/ready so that gives you fuel for the need for Change. I've done it before where I painted a picture of what it would look like if a digital transformation wasn't successful, and then explained that with every single one of those terrible outcomes the signs were already starting to show so we had to jump on this now!

2) Value for Change stats

In my Leading Successful Change program in Module 1: Setting Up Your Change for Success, I share an amazing slide with key research and statistics that very clearly showcases the value that Change Management brings to projects. If you’re in my LSC Program, you can absolutely use and share this slide with your stakeholders and teams. You can also use your preferred AI or any other search or research tool for stats and figures on the costs of change failure and the value that Change Management brings. Focus on dollars where you can - how much Change Management saves when it’s done effectively.

3) Real world reflection

Often, people think “It will never happen to us.” And sadly - a lot of organisations have short memories of their own past mistakes and failures. You can get leaders to reflect on past failed programs they’ve led, experienced or witnessed and ask them what their biggest problems had been (usually it's people!). You can follow this up by asking if they did it again, what would they do differently? Again - usually it’s more focus on people!

4) Negotiate a smaller scope

Something that is more of a consulting approach is that you can negotiate a different way to support the program - for example, instead of a full-time Change Manager, come in to do a Change Risk Assessment then Readiness Checks only before launch. A little bit of a foot in the door is better than no foot in the door. As an award-winning independent consultant, I've done it before where I've provided a few quick wins that add immediate value and make the program delivery easier, and then they've seen the value in Change and been open to funding me to do more.

5) Mandate it from above

You could also get someone more senior or more influential to mandate that Change Management is invested in - this could be the Board, the CEO, the C-Suite or even an influential leader from the industry. Again, this is a little easier as an independent consultant because often you are working at that extremely senior level with your client as their trusted advisor.

6) Engage an external consultant

Speaking of independent consulting, you can engage an external consultant like me to come in to provide a risk assessment or Change view of the project which recommends that they invest in Change Management. Ironically the program might be willing to fund an external before they fund internal Change Management!

7) The “Enough Rope” approach

And of course, you can always go away and wait until they come running back needing your help (the "enough rope to hang themselves" approach!). Frustrating but effective - often you’ll end up with condensed timeframes and more challenging Change work given the damage that will already have been done, but it does give you fodder for Idea #3!

8) Gracefully exit

Finally, you can walk away - there are enough projects and programs and leadership teams that DO want Change Management support so if you've exhausted all other options, you might choose to walk away rather than die on a hill for leaders who don't care. It's their business and their risk and sometimes it’s better to protect our energy than be in a place we’re not valued or wanted.

Hope these ideas help - there's no right or wrong and there's plenty more approaches you could take but these should provide some good thought-starters.

These are exactly the type of challenges and tips we discuss in my Leading Successful Change program. Even though the live, in-person programs for 2026 are now done and dusted, you can join the online course and community at any time from anywhere in the world here: Invitation to Leading Successful Change

Lata xx