---
reference_type: Principle
reference_id: P12
name: Enable Change to Achieve the Envisioned Future State
version: "1.0.0"
status: Deprecated
edition: PMBOK7
pmbok8_source: "PMBOK8 Standard §3.12 — Enable Change to Achieve the Envisioned Future State"
authority: PMI-derived
---

# P12 — Enable Change to Achieve the Envisioned Future State
**Type:** Principle
**PMBOK8 Source:** PMBOK8 Standard §3.12 — Enable Change to Achieve the Envisioned Future State
**Version:** 1.0.0

## Definition
PMBOK 8 Standard §3.12 positions the project itself as a change agent — an initiative that exists to transition an organization, system, or environment from its current state to a desired future state that delivers the intended benefits. Enabling change means preparing the organization and its stakeholders for transition: assessing change readiness, managing resistance, building capability and adoption, communicating purpose and impact, and ensuring the organization can sustain the change after the project closes. Organizational change management (OCM) is not an optional supplementary activity — it is a core project responsibility whenever the project has a significant human, behavioral, or organizational dimension. Without sustained adoption, the project may deliver outputs but fail to realize the intended outcomes and benefits.

## Key Characteristics
- **Projects are instruments of organizational change:** Every project that affects how people work, what systems they use, or how an organization operates creates a change transition that must be actively managed (§3.12).
- **Adoption determines benefit realization:** A technically successful delivery that is not adopted — because people resist it, are not trained, or are not prepared — fails at the level of benefit realization; outcomes require sustained adoption (§3.12).
- **Change readiness must be assessed:** Before and during delivery, the organization's readiness to absorb and sustain the change must be evaluated — gaps in readiness are risks that require active mitigation through training, communications, and leadership engagement (§3.12).
- **Resistance is expected and must be managed:** Human resistance to change is a natural and predictable phenomenon; effective OCM anticipates, diagnoses, and addresses the sources of resistance rather than dismissing or overriding them (§3.12).
- **Transition and sustainment are project responsibilities:** The project is responsible for the change through to operational sustainment — handover without transition support, training, and adoption measurement is incomplete delivery (§3.12).
- **Leadership alignment is a prerequisite:** Organizational change is most effective when leaders at all levels visibly sponsor and model the change; project teams must identify and engage change sponsors and create coalitions of support (§3.12).

## Relationship to Other Principles
| Principle | Relationship |
|---|---|
| P03 — Engage Stakeholders | Change requires genuine, continuous stakeholder engagement — identifying who is affected by the change, understanding their concerns, building support, and managing resistance are all stakeholder engagement activities (§3.3, §3.12) |
| P04 — Focus on Value | Change management enables value realization — benefits are only realized when the envisioned future state is adopted and sustained; OCM is the bridge between delivery and benefit (§3.4, §3.12) |
| P11 — Embrace Adaptability and Resiliency | Change management and adaptability are linked — adaptive project delivery and organizational change management both require ongoing sensing, feedback, and adjustment as the change unfolds (§3.11, §3.12) |
| P01 — Be a Diligent, Respectful, and Caring Steward | Ethical stewardship of organizational change includes honest communication of impacts, respect for those affected, and accountability for transition outcomes beyond the project's technical closure (§3.1, §3.12) |

## Artifact Connections
| Artifact | Connection |
|---|---|
| A39 — Change Management Plan | Primary artifact for this principle; defines the OCM strategy, change readiness assessment approach, stakeholder impact analysis, communications plan, training approach, resistance management plan, and adoption metrics |
| A29 — Change Readiness and Adoption Record | Documents ongoing assessment of organizational readiness to absorb the change — tracks training completion, adoption indicators, resistance signals, and sustainment status |
| A07 — Stakeholder Register | Identifies all individuals and groups affected by the organizational change, their current change readiness state, their influence on adoption, and the engagement strategies tailored to their needs |
| A02 — Benefits and Value Measurement Record | Tracks whether the change has been adopted at the level required to realize the projected benefits — the ultimate measure of whether the envisioned future state was achieved |

## Skill Connections
| Skill ID | Skill Name | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| SKL-03-02 | Develop Project Management Plan | Integrates the change management plan as a subsidiary plan — ensuring OCM activities are resourced, scheduled, and governed alongside technical delivery activities |
| SKL-04-06 | Manage Stakeholder Engagement | OCM is fundamentally a stakeholder engagement challenge — building sponsor coalitions, engaging resistors, communicating change rationale, and maintaining adoption momentum are all engagement activities |
| SKL-06-01 | Close Project | Project closure must include transition activities — confirming adoption levels, completing handover, verifying sustainment mechanisms are in place, and documenting lessons learned from the change process |

## Questions to Ask in Practice
1. Have we assessed organizational change readiness — who will be affected, how ready are they, what are the primary sources of resistance, and what gaps exist that must be addressed before go-live?
2. Is organizational change management explicitly planned and resourced in the project, or is it assumed that training and communications will be handled informally at deployment?
3. Who are the change sponsors at each level of the organization, and are they actively and visibly supporting the change — or have they delegated sponsorship so far down that their influence cannot be felt?
4. How will we measure adoption — what are the behavioral, operational, or outcome indicators that will confirm the organization is actually operating in the envisioned future state rather than reverting to old practices?
5. What is our sustainment plan — what governance, support, and accountability mechanisms will remain after the project closes to ensure the change holds and benefits continue to accrue?

*Authority: PMBOK8 Standard §3.12 — Enable Change to Achieve the Envisioned Future State · Source type: PMI-derived*
*Repository: https://github.com/fakhruldeen/PMOSkills*
