The Overlooked Ally - How OCM Supports the Project Team, Too
When most people think of Organizational Change Management (OCM), they think of stakeholder engagement, communications, and training for end users. In other words, OCM is often seen as a support function for “everyone else” — the people impacted by the change.
But there’s a critical group that often gets overlooked: the project team itself.
Project teams are the engine behind every transformation initiative. But too often, they’re assembled with urgency, drawn from across functions, and expected to gel instantly — even if they’ve never worked together before, let alone delivered a project using a formal methodology. It’s no surprise that confusion, misalignment, and disengagement can set in early and linger throughout the project lifecycle.
What if we treated the project team as a stakeholder group in its own right — deserving of the same intention, structure, and support we offer other impacted groups?
Let’s explore how OCM can unlock smoother project execution by supporting the team behind the scenes.
Role clarity and expectation setting
OCM can facilitate alignment conversations early in the project to clearly define roles, responsibilities, and behavioral expectations. This prevents the all-too-common scenario where business SMEs show up to meetings unsure of their purpose or where their input fits resulting in incomplete requirements and lack of confidence in the solution.
Onboarding and engagement of business resources
Simple, targeted artifacts like RACI charts, commitment charters, or “how we work together” agreements go a long way toward creating psychological safety and shared accountability.
Many business team members assigned to projects have day jobs. They may be unclear on how much time is expected of them, how they’ll be supported, or how their contributions tie to success.
Building a cohesive cross-functional team
OCM can build onboarding materials, quick-start guides, and engagement briefings to give them clarity and confidence. This helps retain committed resources — a major risk point in long, complex programs.
Great project teams don’t just happen — they’re designed. OCM can support team building through kickoff experiences that go beyond schedules and scope. These moments should reinforce shared purpose, build trust, and introduce ways of working that respect each member’s background and expertise.
Teaming rituals like retrospectives, feedback loops, and collaboration norms help keep things on track and inclusive throughout the journey.
Internal project team communications
OCM shouldn’t just be focused on the enterprise-level comms plan. Internal team communications — from weekly updates to steering committee prep — are just as important.
OCM can help ensure that messages to executive sponsors are framed with impact, business context, and clarity, while also ensuring team members stay aligned on milestones, decisions, and emerging risks.
Supporting UAT readiness
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) often comes at a point when energy is waning, and the business is fatigued. But UAT is where change becomes real.
OCM can partner with the project team to build UAT orientation sessions, prep testers on what a good test looks like, and clarify how feedback will be used. It's not just about scripts — it's about confidence and commitment.
Onboarding new team members midstream
Every project has turnover. When new people join, they need to ramp quickly. OCM can create reusable onboarding toolkits tailored for the project environment — with key context, team norms, decisions to date, and systems access instructions. This reduces disruption and ensures continuity.
Fostering a healthy, resilient team culture
Transformation work is hard. There will be peaks and valleys. OCM can help keep the emotional pulse of the team through structured check-ins, pulse surveys, or informal touchpoints to surface friction, burnout, or disengagement before they become blockers.
It’s time to expand the role of OCM for greater results
The best OCM leaders don’t just look outward at impacted stakeholders. They look inward at the team making it happen. Because when the project team is aligned, energized, and set up for success — everything else gets easier.
So, let’s stop treating OCM as a wrapper for training and communications. It’s a critical enabler of high-performing project teams.
