How is Innovation Linked to Change Management?

Sometimes we must wait until mid-year or even more to characterize a certain year, but for 2025 we barely had to wait a month to consider it a year of change and uncertainty. We have felt this need for rapid adaptation also at the beginning of 2020 with the rapid spread of COVID-19. Our organizations had to be reactive, and we managed to pivot our delivery to digitally based interventions.

If you ask yourself whether your organization would have adopted Slack, MS Teams, or another communications software at such a scale without the COVID-19 context, what would be your answer? Answering that question can help us understand more about our organizational cultures and whether they are more reactive or proactive in terms of welcoming innovation through change management processes.

What’s the relation between Change Management and Innovation?

Change management is described as the process of handling significant transformations in an organization. These could include technological changes but also shifts in organigrams, internal processes, or strategic priorities.

When we talk about innovation, we often neglect the change management process that ultimately serves as the vehicle for innovation to occur. Innovation is a result that happens when successful change management processes have taken place. While a change management process does not guarantee success, most innovations are a product of well-implemented change management strategies.

For so long, we have talked about random discoveries that led to groundbreaking innovations, such as penicillin, that we have detached them from the structured processes that make them become an innovation. Innovation is not just about discovery; it is about distribution channels, adoption processes, and organizational change mechanisms that allow new ideas to take root.

Change Management in Action: Two Cases

Amnesty International’s Global Transition Programme (GTP)

One example of a structured change management process leading to innovation is Amnesty International’s Global Transition Programme (GTP). In 2013, Amnesty undertook a major transformation by decentralizing its operations, shifting power away from its traditional headquarters in London and relocating staff and decision-making authority to regional hubs closer to the human rights issues they were addressing.

This was a bold organizational change aimed at making Amnesty more agile, responsive, and inclusive. The transition was not without challenges, there was internal resistance, staff layoffs, and the complexity of shifting operations globally. Over time, this change led to a stronger regional presence, increased effectiveness in advocacy, and a more globally representative organization.

UNDP Accelerator Labs: A Change Management Process for Innovation

A strong parallel can be drawn between Amnesty’s transformation and UNDP’s Accelerator Labs initiative, launched in 2019. This initiative aimed to decentralize innovation within UNDP and equip country offices with the tools to test and scale locally driven solutions.

This was a massive effort launching 90 country offices and representing 115 countries, to explore local solutions that could accelerate the accomplishments of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This is a parallel between both cases:

Both initiatives required a shift in organizational mindset, moving from centralized decision-making to regional autonomy. Amnesty had to trust and empower local offices to lead human rights efforts, just as UNDP had to embed innovation capabilities within country teams.

Resistance to change was a key challenge in both cases, shifting how an organization operates requires buy-in from leadership and staff. The success of both relied on strong internal communication, structured capacity-building, and a clear vision for change. These cases show how change management is essential for scaling innovation whether in human rights advocacy or international development. Without intentional change processes, innovative ideas remain isolated pilots rather than becoming transformational solutions.

Moving Forward: Embedding Change Management in Innovation Strategies

For organizations to truly innovate, they need to embed change management as a core function rather than an afterthought. Change should not be something imposed in times of crisis, but an ongoing process integrated into an organization’s DNA.

A key question for this uncertain 2025: Are our organizations structured to proactively embrace change, or are they merely reacting to external pressures? The answer will determine how successfully we innovate in the years to come.