Change leadership and change management are critical skills that shape a nonprofit’s capacity to effectively advance its mission, raise more funding, and improve its operations. Change can either be self-directed (from internal decision-making or innovation programs) or happen in response to new circumstances (from external events or shifting trends).

The rise of technology and social media over the past 20 years have accelerated the pace of change in many ways, putting increasing pressure on nonprofit leaders to adapt, grow, innovate, and introduce new ways of working.

But many nonprofit leaders – no matter what stage of their career they’re in – are inadvertently making it harder for their organizations, their teams, and themselves to successfully adopt change and move forward with new ways of working.

Knowing why change initiatives fail can help leaders honestly assess how ready their organization is for a given change and avoid common pitfalls to help ensure the change’s success.

In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the most common reasons why change fails.