What's past is prologue

When leaders announce the latest strategic pivot, digital transformation, or cultural shift, employees aren't hearing it with fresh ears. They're filtering every word through the lens of past experience. That's because organizational change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. People’s perceptions of change are informed by what has come before. This historical context influences how employees perceive new changes and can fundamentally shape perceptions of initiatives going forward.

In the AEC industry, robust M&A activity adds a layer of complexity to understanding employee perspectives on change as firms integrate and grow together. It’s important to recognize that there are several stakeholders in organizational change and that “employees” are not a monolithic group. There are long-term legacy employees who have seen many change initiatives and integrations and can offer a long view, sharing insights into what has worked and what hasn’t. Employees from newly acquired companies bring their own histories of change and their own unique perspectives and experiences to the table.

Your organization's change history is already written, but it's not destiny. Firms serious about transformation can become students of their own history to positively shape change going forward.

Organizational memory cuts both ways. 

Sometimes, past successes create a blueprint for future wins. Teams that have navigated successful transformations together develop confidence and resilience. They've learned to weather the inevitable challenges that come with change because they've emerged stronger on the other side. Their employees develop confidence in change, a belief that while transformation is challenging, it's manageable and often beneficial. This confidence becomes self-fulfilling, creating conditions where new changes are more likely to succeed.

Other firms face the opposite scenario, and it can also be self-fulfilling. Their change history reads like a series of false starts, abandoned projects, and poorly executed initiatives that left employees feeling burned, confused, or ignored. In these environments, the announcement of new change triggers an almost Pavlovian response of skepticism and resistance. 

When leaders assume employees will resist change, they often take a top-down, communication-heavy approach that treats resistance as something to overcome rather than understand. This approach virtually guarantees the very resistance they're trying to prevent.

The power of positive precedent.

Firms with positive change histories possess what amounts to strategic assets. Their employees have witnessed firsthand that change can be managed thoughtfully, communicated clearly, and implemented successfully. They've seen leaders follow through on promises, provide adequate resources, and genuinely care about the human impact of transformation. These success stories become powerful tools for driving future adoption.

Leaders in these firms can actively leverage their positive history, referencing past successes not to rest on their laurels, but to build confidence and provide concrete examples of effective change management. More importantly, they can involve the key players from past initiatives and leverage success stories to move the needle on current changes. The business developers who successfully adopted new CRM become ambassadors for the next operational improvement. The team that gracefully navigated a complex reorganization gets tapped to share lessons learned with other groups facing similar transitions.

Becoming a student of your own history.

Firms with histories of change failures aren't necessarily disadvantaged, provided they're willing to learn from those experiences. The most successful transformations can happen in companies that have honestly confronted their past mistakes and use them as fuel for improvement.

Employees in these firms have learned to protect themselves emotionally and professionally. They've watched colleagues get laid off after being told a merger would create "exciting new opportunities." They've invested time learning systems that were scrapped six months later. Their skepticism of new change isn't irrational, it's adaptive. When change consistently means disruption without benefit, confusion without clarity, or promises without follow-through, resistance becomes a survival mechanism.

Leaders in these firms need to be willing to dig deep, listen to all perspectives on how past initiatives fell short, and learn from that experience. It requires leaders who can acknowledge failure without defensiveness, analyze what went wrong without blame, and commit to different approaches without empty promises - ultimately getting to a place where they can say "We know the last change was poorly handled. Here's what we learned, and here's what we're doing differently this time." This kind of honesty, far from undermining credibility, builds it.

The engagement imperative.

In all cases, the enemy of progress in organizational change is assumption: assuming employees will be excited, assuming past problems won't be repeated, assuming good intentions are enough, assuming employees are a monolithic audience. The remedy is engagement that acknowledges the full complexity of organizational history.

This engagement starts with asking the right questions and listening carefully to what employees share. What stories do employees tell about past changes? What moments of pride or frustration shape their expectations? Which leaders do they trust to guide them through uncertainty, and why? Understanding these perceptions is essential groundwork for any successful change initiative.

Your organization's change history is already written, but it's not destiny. Organizations serious about transformation can become students of their own history to positively shape change going forward.