We can't change behavior with an incomplete approach
Most change work becomes difficult because leaders treat "resistance" as a people problem, and while people are part of the equation, the real issue is more often that the system is fighting against the behavior you want.
When communications or engagement strategies seem like they are not working, it's usually because you are addressing the wrong friction, working with the wrong incentive and having competing priorities.
You can't just implement workflows because they are new and not evaluate them to see if they are making things harder than the old way.
I know leaders mean well, but results won't magically come from pushing harder on people instead of fixing what's actually broken.
The friction diagnosis
I'll give you an example of something I went through with a digital transformation, which kept getting restarted.
After coming in and speaking to leadership, the conversation got to the old but known "change resistance or change fatigue."
However, there had to be more to it... so we started to mapping the actual behavioral system.
Although many things came out, one that I always like to share is the fact that the new platform - yes, the one that was meant to make it easier for everyone - now required 12 additional steps, which that the old system didn't, some people just went back to excel, because it was just easier.
In reviews, managers were getting penalized for low adoption and delays, but how could they win and make progress if the system was basically discouraging the behavior leadership wanted.
We didn't run more change management workshops. We redesigned the workflow, working to map all the journeys with all the team together and showed them where these issues happened and where the friction was, and then had them work as a team and manage the change. (Journey management if you will)
System and motivation, not just messaging
Real behavior change happens when you align the system, the environment, the knowledge and the motivation.
Doing so will allow you to then engineer the conditions that make strategic behavior easier, more natural, and more rewarding than the old ways of doing things.
Where this matters most
If you're leading transformation and seeing slow uptake/ lack of adoption, if your culture change feels stuck in PowerPoints and announcements, the issue probably isn't your people.... It's behavioral friction in your system.
The strategy isn't wrong.... but the execution environment probably is!