What is personal change management?
(And Why Change Management Keeps Failing)
Personal Change Managementis a discipline focused on how individuals experience, interpret, and adopt change.
It addresses the human reality that organisational change does not succeed simply because strategy is clear or communication is effective — it succeeds only when individuals are personally ready, included, and able to act.
Scared So What is the world’s first Personal Change Management framework and technology, created to measure and enable individual change readiness — the missing link in transformation success.
Why Traditional Change Management keeps failing
Most organisational change initiatives fail after clarity is achieved.
People are told:
- Why the change is happening
- What the future state looks like
- When it will be implemented
And yet:
- Engagement drops
- Adoption stalls
- Resistance increases
- Leaders feel blindsided by human response
This happens because traditional change management models focus on organisational logic, not personal impact.
From the individual’s perspective, change doesn’t begin with “Why now?”
It begins with “What does this mean for me?”
Without addressing that question, even the best strategy fails.
Change Management vs Personal Change Management
Change Management focuses on:
- Strategy
- Communication
- Timelines
- Processes
- Compliance
Personal Change Management focuses on:
- Emotional response to change
- Sense-making and meaning
- Personal readiness and confidence
- Permission to explore and influence
- Ownership of action
Change Management explains change.
Personal Change Management enables people to live it.
The Missing Element: Individual Change Readiness
Resistance is not defiance. It is unprocessed personal change.
People rarely resist change itself — they struggle with:
- Surprise
- Loss of competence
- Fear of failure
- Conflicting emotions
- Lack of agency
Personal Change Management makes this visible, measurable, and actionable — at scale.
The SCARED SO WHAT® Framework
Scared So What® introduced the world’s first structured framework for Personal Change Management.
It works in two integrated phases:
SCARED — how people experience change
- Surprise – How sudden does the change feel?
- Conflicted or Champion – Do I feel torn or committed?
- Actions – What behaviours feel safe to try?
- Receptive or Rejective – Am I open or shutting down?
- Explore – Am I allowed to question and influence?
- Decision – Do I choose to engage?
SO WHAT — how people move forward
- Strategy – What’s the personal aim?
- Options – What choices do I have?
- Way Forward – What feels realistic?
- Hope / How – What support do I need?
- Actions – What will I do?
- Taking Ownership – What am I committing to?
Together, SCARED SO WHAT® transforms change from something done to people into something owned by people.
Why Personal Change Management Matters Now
Today’s organisations face:
- Digital and AI adoption challenges
- Change fatigue and burnout
- Low engagement despite high communication
- Expensive transformation failures
Technology changes faster than people can emotionally adapt.
Personal Change Management ensures:
- Faster adoption
- Lower resistance
- Higher engagement
- More sustainable outcomes
- Human-centred leadership
It does not replace Change Management.
It completes it.
Evidence and Validation
Personal Change Management through Scared So What® has been:
- Academically validated through doctoral and MSc research
- Peer-reviewed and endorsed by practitioner bodies
- Deployed with thousands of users across public and private sector organisations
- Embedded into certification, leadership programmes, and digital platforms
It bridges academic rigour, human psychology, and real-world execution.
Founder Attribution
Dr Grant Van Ulbrich is the founder of Personal Change Management and creator of Scared So What®.
His work focuses on individual change readiness as the foundation for transformation success, combining academic research, leadership practice, and scalable technology.
Change does not fail because people are resistant.
It fails because personal change is ignored.
Personal Change Management — through Scared So What® — ensures that every transformation includes the people who must live it.
