Employee Experience Isn’t “Nice to Have” — It’s the Engine Behind Transformations

A transformation is a major change to an organizations strategy, it's business model(s), it's processes, it's culture and ultimately to the people who work in a transforming organization. So far I guess, most people would agree with me. And every leader, manager or consultant has great tips, tools, methods or even frameworks and philosophies how to design and manage transformations. Where it usually gets a little fuzzy is once you start asking about cultural impacts or how to support the people during the change.

The following statements are real examples, that I have heard over the past few months.

“Our transformation is about customer centricity. Efficiency. Innovative new products and business models.”

“We have to put our customers first, not ourselves!”

“The transformation shall make us more flexible and more competitive.”

What they all have in common, they sound very much agreeable in the first place and employees are not mentioned.

When we look behind those statements and their corresponding change programs, we find something troubling:

🚨 Employees don’t feel part of it.

🚨 The urgency feels made up.

🚨 The purpose feels abstract, vague or not authentic.

🚨 The workload increases — but the clarity is often being reduced (at least temporarily).

🚨 The transformation feels like something terrible that’s done to them, not with them and even less for them - while everyone asks for putting in more effort, going the extra mile.

And then we wonder why things stall.

Let’s be clear:

You cannot transform an organization without transforming how people do their work and how they experience their work — day by day.

Transformation doesn’t start with a management kick-off, a program or a slide deck. It starts when people begin to feel that something meaningful is shifting — and that they are trusted contributors in shaping that shift.

Why employee experience matters so much in transformation:

1. Leaving a trusted path requires a clear WHY. People need to understand where a transformation heading to and why it is necessary and urgent.
   

2. Change is emotional. People don’t resist change — they resist unclear, overwhelming, unrelatable change.
   

3. Commitment isn’t created through communication alone. People commit when they experience that new ways of working actually make sense — and are supported by their leaders.
   

4. Small signals matter. A lack of time, unclear roles, conflicting KPIs — these are not side effects. They are the employee experience. And if we don’t address them, they will block momentum.

   
   

5. Tired or frustrated employees cannot excel. No matter if your goal is to improve customer centricity, operational efficiency or if you want to innovate. You will have to rely on your employees full potential. If they feel tired, unheard, frustrated or bored, they won't deliver the results you require for a successful transformation.

Five ways to focus on employee experience in transformation:

🔹 Early involvement: Include employees when framing the transformation — not just in rollout. Let them co-own the story.

🔹 Don't be afraid to don't know: Make you your communication doesn't only focus on what is clearly known and can be communicated safely, also have the courage to say what you don't know (yet), what went different than planned and what your are still working on.

🔹 Safe environment: Make sure you create an environment where people can be honest about their thoughts, ideas, worries or frustrations. Remove social punishment or stigmatization for people who express their worries, who think outside the box or for those who are afraid their ideas either get stolen or laughed at.

🔹 Design for reality, not theory: If a new process, behaviour or role model isn’t doable in daily life, it won’t scale.

🔹 Make feedback loops visible: When people see that their feedback changes the process, trust builds. Ownership grows.

Transformations fail less because of strategy. They fail because people don’t see themselves in the picture.

✔️ When people experience clarity, purpose and inclusion —

✔️ When they feel the change is for them and with them — that’s when transformation becomes real.

Ready to shift the focus?

What if we looked at our transformations and change programs through the lens of daily experience? Would your employees say: “This makes my work better, clearer, more meaningful?”

If not — that’s where the real transformation work begins.