Change management for mid-market and PE-backed organizations
Your change will be decided before you announce it.
Every employee carries the last change into the next one. Essayons Change measures that risk before your announcement, then helps you run the change so adoption holds.
Built on doctoral research in organizational leadership · U.S. Army veteran-owned · Author of Leadership Toolbox
The last major change here ended the way people were told it would.
More change. Less patience.
The average employee went through 22 enterprise changes in 2025, more than double the 10 they faced in 2022.1 Willingness to support change was already falling, from 74% of employees in 2016 to 43% in 2022.2 Now almost every organization is adding AI on top of everything else, and 79% report challenges adopting it.3
Your people aren't resisting this change. They're tired of the last twenty.
Found before the announcement, a problem costs a better message. Found after, it costs the rollout.
You can still see the room.
You find the skeptics, the unresolved conflict and the trust gap. You adjust the plan and the message.
Cheapest point to actThe story sets without you.
Informal leaders frame the change before your second email lands. People compare it to the last one, and that comparison sticks.
The narrative locks inYou pay for it in rework.
Workarounds, quiet non-use and lost champions. The sponsor asks why the plan slipped, and the next change starts with less trust.
Most expensive point"Discovering group dynamics after the announcement is significantly more expensive than discovering them before." From the Essayons Change Method.
Where will your change break?
The Change Readiness Check scores your organization on the four pillars of the Essayons Change Method and names your weakest one before you commit people and budget.
One of the statements you'll rate for each pillar
- 01Lens of ExperienceLeadership knows what past changes have taught our people to expect.
- 02Trust ClimateLeaders here have done what they said they would the last few times it mattered.
- 03Stakeholder ClarityWe rarely discover a critical stakeholder late, after decisions are already made.
- 04Intent vs. DirectiveOur change communication defines what success looks like, not just the next task and deadline.
Start where you are.
Change Readiness Assessment
A fixed-fee read on organizational and individual readiness, stakeholder sentiment, ranked adoption risks, and the actions that close the gaps before launch.
Fixed-fee projectFractional Change Management
A senior change leader embedded on your team on a monthly retainer. Stakeholder strategy, readiness, communication and execution discipline, without a full-time hire.
Monthly retainerCMIS Platform
The system of record for organizational change: stakeholders, readiness surveys, RAID logs, communication plans and reporting, tied to each initiative.
Annual license. Founding Member pricing available.Based in the Greater St. Louis area and working with clients nationwide. Our experience runs deepest in construction, government contracting and private equity portfolio companies. See all offerings.
See adoption risk while there is still time to act.
Project tools track tasks. The Change Management Information System tracks whether people are actually adopting the change, so you see the stall in week two, not month six. See CMIS in a demo.
"Essayons" means let us try. Not you go try. Let us.
It's the motto of the Army Corps of Engineers, and it's how we work. We stand in the change with you: adjusting, absorbing what the plan didn't predict, and still there when the rollout gets messy.
Dr. Smith's doctoral research found that directive orders produced limited shared understanding, while top-level directional guidance produced greater alignment and change acceptance. That finding is built into every engagement and into CMIS. Read about the Essayons Change Method.
Questions leaders ask first
What is change management?
Change management is the work of helping people understand, accept and adopt a change so the organization gets the result it planned. It runs alongside the project plan, not after it.
What does a change readiness assessment include?
A readiness profile across organizational and individual dimensions, stakeholder sentiment and influence analysis, adoption risks ranked by likelihood and impact, and prioritized actions to close the gaps before execution.
What is fractional change management?
An experienced change leader joins your team part time on a monthly retainer. You get senior judgment and execution discipline without the cost of a full-time hire.
How much does change management consulting cost?
Assessments are a fixed fee. Fractional work is a monthly retainer sized to the number of initiatives and people affected. CMIS is an annual license. The first 30-minute conversation costs nothing, and you receive a written, fixed-price proposal before any work begins.
How is CMIS different from project management software?
Project tools track tasks and dates. CMIS tracks adoption: readiness, stakeholder sentiment, communication and risk for each initiative, so you can act before a change stalls.
More in Insights: weekly articles on readiness, resistance and leading change.
Your announcement date is the deadline.
Find your weakest pillar now, while fixing it costs a conversation instead of a rollout.