Change & Transformation · the execution methodology
Nine steps, carried inside the five phases.
The five phases are what the enterprise experiences. These nine steps are what the work follows. They are one architecture at two grains — never two processes.
Strategic Intent sets direction. 80/20 focuses. Kotter mobilizes. ADKAR enables. CompassOS orchestrates. ARC sustains.
Five phases the enterprise experiences. Nine steps the work follows. One architecture at two grains — the same words on the website, in CompassOS™ and in the Workbench.
The mapping · five phases, nine steps
Every step belongs to exactly one phase.
- 01 · READYSee reality and set direction
- 02 · FOCUSSize the intervention and read readiness
- 03 · MOBILIZECommit the organization
- 04 · PERFORMExecute and enable adoption
- 05 · SUSTAINHold the gain and renew
Change & Transformation is a Compass discipline, not a standalone brand or methodology. The approved discipline icon is its governed identity inside the Compass brand system; FOUNDATION → SIMPLIFY → LEAD → GROW → ARC™ remains the enterprise operating architecture above it.
The process architecture · nine steps
What is the enterprise trying to become, and what result must this change move?
Produces
- The strategic intent the change serves, in the language of the business
- The result it must move, with a baseline
- The accountable executive
Strategic intent sets direction. A change that cannot name the intent it serves is not yet a change; it is activity.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
Strategy → Goal (common object model); Strategy Room decision memory
Of everything that could change, which few changes carry the result — and what stops?
Produces
- The vital-few change portfolio, ranked
- Explicit stop, defer and de-invest decisions
- Capacity released before anything new is loaded
80/20 focuses. Front-to-Back 80/20™ reads the whole enterprise so the change portfolio is an allocation decision, not a wish list.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
Initiative portfolio with 80/20 prioritization scores; Quad & Quartile
What exactly is changing, from what, to what, for whom — and who owns it?
Produces
- An approved Transformation Charter: present reality, future state, essential outcomes, scope, ownership, measures, risks
- Impacted processes, roles and systems named at least at function level
- The case for change, written for the business rather than the system
The charter is the permanent record. Gleicher's factors — dissatisfaction, vision, first steps against resistance — are read here as the case for change.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
Transformation initiative record; Project Charter; change-impact bridge object (first pass)
Is this local, cross-functional or enterprise-wide — and does it ask for limited, moderate or significant behavioral change?
Produces
- A breadth reading: Local, Cross-functional or Enterprise
- A depth reading: Limited, Moderate or Significant behavioral and cultural transformation
- The rigor the intervention requires and the method emphasis that follows from it
Two dimensions, never a single level. Limited and local work is carried mostly by ADKAR®; wide and deep work needs the organization mobilized as well as individuals enabled.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
Intervention profile on the initiative (breadth, depth, rigor, method emphasis)
Is the organization and its leadership ready to carry this change — and are the impacted people ready to adopt it?
Produces
- Organizational & Leadership Readiness: urgency, sponsorship, coalition, leadership alignment, governance, capacity, barriers
- Individual & Adoption Readiness: impacted populations with Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement, resistance and capability
- A readiness verdict per view, reported side by side and never averaged
The organizational view is Kotter-informed; the individual view is ADKAR®-informed. Reading them apart is what tells a sponsorship gap from a capability gap.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
Readiness record with two views; cohort readiness on the change-impact record
Given the breadth, depth and readiness, what does this intervention contain, who carries it, and where does it sit in the delivery plan?
Produces
- The intervention design: governance, change team and sponsor roles with stated capacity
- Communication, learning, manager-action and reinforcement plans against the impact register
- People gates added to every technical gate — the change plan is the project plan
Selected Kotter elements (coalition, vision, barriers, wins) and the ADKAR® sequence are configured to the reading from steps 4 and 5 — the combined architecture only where the work asks for it.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
Methodology alignment (technical + organizational + adoption streams per phase); PPM milestones with people gates
Has the organization been mobilized to lead this change, not just informed that it is coming?
Produces
- A visible, active sponsor coalition
- The vision communicated in the business's language, repeatedly
- Organizational barriers removed or owned with a date; first wins identified
Kotter mobilizes the organization. This is the organizational stream at full strength; the individual stream runs beside it, never instead of it.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
Organizational transformation stream per methodology phase; sponsor and coalition records
Is the change being delivered — and is adoption measured, per cohort, against a threshold?
Produces
- Delivery against the plan, with adoption readiness gating deployment alongside test results
- Adoption measured by role or cohort; barriers routed to owners with dates
- Gemba evidence, ARC™ events and an adoption scorecard read at cadence
ADKAR® enables adoption. Resistance is read as a missing condition — an Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability or Reinforcement gap — never as a verdict on people.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
Individual adoption stream; adoption scorecard; issues and actions on the execution spine
Is the new way of working held by the operating system — standards, cadence, measures — rather than by the project?
Produces
- Reinforcement carried by managers and the operating cadence, not the project team
- Standard work, onboarding and governance updated; benefits tracked against the baseline
- ARC™ cycles that analyze the result, refine the system and commit to the next standard
ARC sustains. Assess, Refine, Commit turns project change into operating discipline and tests whether adoption is actually holding.
Where it is worked
In CompassOS™
ARC closed loop: baseline → target → actual → variance → insight → decision → action → result
The earlier seven-stage value stream, the four layers, the operating table of gates and the momentum and Gleicher material are retained as supporting methodology beneath these nine steps. Read the supporting methodology →
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