Matrices of Change: Making Organisational Change Management Visible

It's not the first time I've been lost hiking. It's happened to me before. And turns out paper maps don't cope well with heavy rain, the equivalent of a low mobile battery in the center of Mumbai. And you will ask what does charging your phone in India have to do with traversing alpine ridges; nonetheless, business outcomes.

Maps. Mapping out matrices of change that make organisational change visible.

Globally, organisations are navigating a period of exponential change, for example, by adapting to new AI technologies. Many without a concrete map. Or perhaps they had one but lost it in the process. Like me on the mountain. This blog takes you through the evidence base for mapping out organisational change from a behavioural lens (Bartholomew Eldredge et al., 2016), the importance I have highlighted in my recent blog, Behaviour Change Pathways to Improving Business Outcomes.

To get us started. Mapping out matrices of change aims to answer the following three questions:

1. What needs to change? Why do we need change? Or what absolutely should not be changed!! (I will write a future blog on negotiables and non-negotiables in behaviours).

2. What is influencing or enabling that change?

3. What are we actually going to do?

These are mapped out as follows.

1. Rows = performance objectives, What needs to change?

2. Columns = determinants, What is influencing or enabling that change?

3. Cells = specific change objectives/actions, What are we actually going to do?

Matrix of change objectives	Determinant 1	Determinant 2	Determinant 3
Performance Objective 1	Change objective Change objective
Performance Objective 2	Change objective Change objective	Change objective

Let's go back to the whiteout. Even without a map, we can't stay still. Perhaps we decide to build shelter; someone needs to take leadership, and perhaps head back down. The key here: we need to take action and be wise with the actions we take. Change objectives should always include a clear action. For businesses, this means that we may establish new teams, merge services, resolve conflicts, pilot new products, or champion creativity. See some specific actions below.

Build	Develop	Establish	Create
Implement	Resolve	Transform	Pilot
Scale	Integrate	Align	Mobilise
Lead	Acquire	Merge	Restructure
Invest	Train	Champion	Automate

Take implementing AI as an example.

Love it or hate it, organisations that successfully adapt AI technologies will lead the way (AICPA & CIMA / NC State ERM Initiative, 2026). Successfully integrating AI might include purchasing new technologies, providing access to employees and launching a programme of AI training, to name a few. Yet none of these things necessarily changes organisational performance.

The real change begins when we ask what work should now be done differently.

Some processes may need to be redesigned. Some activities may be automated. Roles may need to change. Managers may need to establish new expectations and measures of performance. Capacity released by automation may need to be deliberately redeployed. And entirely new services may become possible.

Here's an example.

Matrices of change	Determinant #1 Technology & data	Determinant #2 People & capability	Determinant #3 Leadership & organisation
Performance objective #1 Increase productivity	Change objective # 1 Redesign how work flows between people and AI agents.	Change objective #1 Train people to use AI agents.	Change objective #1 Measure value and outcomes, not activity.
Performance objective #2 Improve quality of services	Change objective #1 Embed AI-assisted customer feedback analysis.	Change objective #1 Develop AI-assisted feedback analysis in collaboration with a university or experts.	Change objective #1 Govern AI-enabled decisions and accountability.
Performance objective #3 Improve customer experience	Change objective #1 Reimagine critical points of feedback using AI as a "Devil's Advocate".	Change objective #1 Elevate curiosity and diverse thinking.	Change objective #1 Experiment continuously around customer outcomes.
Performance Objective #4 Create new services	Change objective #1 Reconfigure processes to deliver things previously impractical or uneconomic, such as AI-assisted big data analysis.	Change objective #1 Combine domain expertise with technology and creative skills.	Change objective #1 Invest in new propositions, markets and business models

When I look back on that soaked, unreadable map, I wish someone had told me to protect it before we left. The same is true for organisations navigating change. Without the right preparation, direction gets lost when it matters most.

At Lasse Eini Co., we offer evidence-based solutions to help organisations prepare, navigate, and create their own change management success stories through evidence-based matrices of change.

Get in touch to learn how this may look for your team — get in touch here.

References

AICPA & CIMA / NC State ERM Initiative, AI early adopters gain edge as readiness gap widens (2026).

Bartholomew Eldredge, L. K., Markham, C. M., Ruiter, R. A. C., Fernández, M. E., Kok, G., & Parcells, G. S. (2016). Planning Health Promotion Programs: An Intervention Mapping Approach (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.