Beyond delivering a specific technical or operational outcome, many projects present opportunities to simultaneously build the organisation's enduring capacity to manage change. This dual objective—delivering the immediate project while developing change capability—is increasingly recognised as a mark of mature change management practice and an important driver of long-term organisational resilience.
Definition and Distinction
Organisational change capability refers to the collective skills, knowledge, processes, tools, and cultural attitudes that enable an organisation to manage change effectively and sustainably over time. Building change capability through a project scope means deliberately designing project activities to leave the organisation better equipped to manage future changes after the project concludes.
This is distinct from project-specific change management (the activities undertaken to support adoption of immediate change) and from individual learning and development (training provided for the purpose of operating the new system or process). Change capability development is an organisational investment that uses the project as a vehicle.
Why This Matters for Change Management
Organisations that invest in change capability are better positioned to absorb and sustain future changes with lower disruption and cost. Research consistently identifies change capability as a key differentiator between organisations that successfully navigate ongoing transformation and those that experience repeated change fatigue and failure (McKinsey Global Institute, 2015).
From a change manager's perspective, projects that explicitly include change capability building in their scope create opportunities to:
train internal change agents who can sustain adoption post-project;
embed change management processes into project governance frameworks;
develop change champions who can support future initiatives; and create reusable change resources (toolkits, templates, and guidance).
Assessing Whether the Scope Includes Capability Development
Change managers should review the project's scope and objectives to identify any explicit commitments to building internal change capability. If no such commitment exists, the change manager should assess whether the project presents a natural opportunity to incorporate capability-building activities—for example, by establishing a change champion network that can be sustained beyond the project, or by providing change management coaching to internal project team members.
Example of a well-documented capability-building opportunity:
'The project scope includes the establishment of a network of 40 business change champions across four regions. The change management plan proposes to formalise this network as a permanent internal resource post-go-live, supported by a quarterly change forum facilitated by the HR function. This will provide the organisation with a standing capability to support future system or process changes in these regions.'
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Treating change capability development as out of scope without consideration: Change managers who do not proactively raise the opportunity may miss a significant long-term benefit. At minimum, assess whether the opportunity exists and document the rationale for including or excluding it.
Confusing a change agent network with sustainable capability: Establishing a change champion network is not, by itself, sufficient to build lasting capability. Sustained capability requires governance, ongoing development, and formal recognition within the organisation's operating model.
Building capability without a sustainability plan: Capability developed during a project will dissipate without a plan for its continuation after the project closes. Ensure that any capability-building activities include a post-project sustainability arrangement.
Overburdening subject matter experts with capability-building roles: Change champions drawn from the impacted workforce must have the time, authority, and support to fulfil their role. Appointing champions without adjusting their workloads or providing adequate support creates an unsustainable arrangement.
References
McKinsey Global Institute. (2015). Why Change Management Fails and What to Do About It. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance
Prosci. (2023). Building Organisational Change Capability. https://www.prosci.com/resources/articles/organizational-change-capability
Kotter, J. P. (2014). Accelerate. Harvard Business Review Press. https://hbr.org/books/kotter