Bringing method to madness: Continuous change calls for strong change capabilities

In my career I have had the privilege to work with many companies as they have grappled with change. But today we are seeing the business landscape evolve so rapidly, that the need to change is no longer a choice - but a necessity. Organizations across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region face a turbulent environment, marked by rapid technological shifts, evolving regulations, and changing customer and employee expectations. Success today depends on an organization’s ability to continuously adapt to this new reality with flexibility and resilience becoming essential traits. To keep pace, they must go beyond embracing change; they need to weave strong change capabilities into the organizational fabric.

Leading change is a complex proposition

Our latest research reveals that while 80% of organizations surveyed made change a core part of their long-term vision, many struggle to realize these ambitions. Only 24% of organizations in the region feel confident in their ability to manage change successfully, with just as few C-suite leaders believing their teams are truly ready to adapt. This gap in confidence is largely due to internal obstacles, such as limited leadership skills in change management and insufficient support structures to guide employees through transformation.

Today’s complex transformation efforts demand that leaders not only motivate their teams to embrace change but also bridge skill gaps within their own ranks. A lack of expertise, particularly in emerging areas like data-driven decision-making and behavioral science, further complicates these efforts. As a result, many organizations find themselves stuck in cycles of incomplete transformation, unable to fully achieve their strategic objectives.

Moving from change fatigue to change fortitude

A major obstacle for change is what is often called “change fatigue”. It’s not hard to see why when the pace of change has been relentless. Our research reveals that 91% of organizations in the region have undergone more than two major transformations within the past three years alone, with 56% navigating four or more. While this is in line with the pace of change for global organizations, the types of transformation for APAC, tells a more nuanced story. For example, we found that APAC organizations are more likely to have undertaken large scale transformations such as total enterprise reinventions and digital and data transformations compared to global peers.

As a result, while change fatigue may seem inevitable, there is a deeper issue at play here: a lack of capacity to manage continuous change effectively, rather than true resistance to it. Though “change fatigue” suggests employees are simply tired of adapting, the real challenge is often a shortage of “change capacity”—the structural and psychological ability to absorb ongoing changes without diminishing workforce morale or productivity.

To move from change fatigue to change fortitude, organizations must cultivate robust change capabilities that allow them to adapt continuously. Accenture’s change capability quotient (CCQ) identifies six essential change capabilities organizations should develop to strengthen their resilience in the face of multiple ongoing transformations.  

Our research shows that organizations who stand out as “change leaders”, meaning they are excelling in all six change capabilities, are 2.1x more likely to report a successful change transformation and achieve higher, better and faster results. These leaders demonstrate the power of putting a solid foundation in place along with innovative capabilities to catalyse higher performance. 

How can APAC organizations improve?

First the good news. Our research finds that 35% of “change leaders” who achieve higher transformation success, are from the APAC region. 

Digging deeper, APAC organizations generally demonstrate strength in the more well-known and intuitive foundational capabilities including purpose-led, value-led, and experience-led change. However, relative to European counterparts, they lag in leveraging innovative change capabilities including behavioral science, data analytics, and the development of influencer networks. This gap underscores an opportunity to bolster innovation-led change capabilities while building on existing strengths to drive more effective change and, ultimately, better outcomes.

Traditionally, change has been seen as more art than science—a process mostly driven by intuition rather than rubrics, as the unique ways organizations operate, and leaders inspire have often defied quantification. To adopt innovative change capabilities, APAC organizations must begin approaching change as a discipline grounded in evidence and precision. Our Change Capability Quotient (CCQ) framework introduces the much-needed scientific lens helping organizations move beyond intuition by identifying causal links between change practices and success outcomes.

Finding the right balance

Balancing foundational and innovation-led change capabilities is crucial for successful transformation. Foundational capabilities—those intuitive, purpose-driven competencies—create a strong base for navigating change, while innovation-led capabilities harness data, behavioral science, and analytics to make the process more precise and adaptive. Each organization must find its balance between these approaches based on its unique business context and current capabilities. It’s a journey, and one that requires deliberate alignment between traditional strengths and emerging methodologies for meaningful, sustainable transformation.

Consider a bank in India that is driving foundational change by investing heavily in leadership & professional development programs. These initiatives train future leaders at various management levels, and its exclusive CEO club initiative develops high-potential leaders through targeted skill-building, reflective exercises, and coaching. This holistic approach ensures that leadership at every level is prepared to drive growth and transformation.

In the realm of innovation-led change, a Southeast Asian financial institution has reimagined itself as a fintech group, embracing data, AI, and automation to compete with tech-savvy super apps and fuel its change. The firm launched new digital services for underbanked customers, shifted its culture to one of entrepreneurial innovation, and invested in digital upskilling through an internal Academy, ensuring that employees are equipped for ongoing adaptation.

 Each of these case studies illustrates how a tailored mix of foundational and innovative change capabilities can empower organizations to achieve transformation that is both robust and responsive.

Conclusion

Organizations can capitalise on the Change Capability Quotient and translate theory to action, delivering tangible results for APAC organizations. By embracing the six core capabilities strategically, organizations can transform challenges into opportunities, adapting to changing demands with agility and confidence.

Shifting from change fatigue to fortitude is not easy and I welcome your thoughts on how you see companies working towards this today. Please reach out!