The Illusion of Control

Will you be in control of your change programme?

Before starting a change programme it is important to put in place the right measures such that, once ground is broken, the leadership team and sponsors have accurate, unambiguous and broadly-based indicators of progress. In this article we share insights to help your organisation establish true control and highlight common issues that may mask the true state of affairs and give the illusion of control.

Many people confuse being ‘on-plan’ with being in control. Yet it is entirely possible to be over budget, or to be late, and still be in control. Conversely, we’ve seen many programmes that are on plan yet out of control.

We talk with senior leaders about change across all points in the change lifecycle. Whether they are planning change, shaping change, in the middle of change or needing to recover a programme that is off track, control is a common point of concern.

The CFO wants to be certain that spend and benefits are aligned. The CEO wants confidence the programme is steering the organisation towards meeting strategic goals. The COO wants to know that business-as-usual won’t be adversely affected. Change leaders want to know that the pace and delivery are sustainable.

Each of these perfectly reasonable demands require a change programme that is fully under control.

Beware the illusion of control

But control is tricky. Organisations often feel in control when in fact they’re working with partial visibility, optimistic assumptions, or outdated reporting. The challenge is knowing the difference between true control and experiencing a false sense of security.

What real control looks like

Real control isn’t about micromanagement or endless reporting. It’s about having the right mechanisms in place so that leaders can make informed decisions, adapt quickly, and keep the programme aligned with business outcomes.

At Partners in Change, we see genuine control in organisations that:

• Listen actively at all levels. Leaders don’t rely solely on formal reporting lines; they tune in to how people across the organisation are experiencing the change.
• Adapt in real time. Plans aren’t treated as rigid scripts but as living frameworks that flex when context shifts.
• Share ownership. Control is not concentrated in a steering group but is distributed among sponsors, programme teams, and stakeholders.
• Share honest, narrative-based progress updates. Ensuring everyone knows the status of change activity – including triumphs and challenges – helps maintain alignment and keeps the rumour-mill in check.

When these activities are in place, leaders are in control because they are close to reality — not just to a dashboard that may not measure the right things at the right time.

Common ‘illusion’ traps: where control feels stronger than it is

There is a handful of traps that we see create a false sense of security. Common ones include:

• The slick reporting pack. Beware the alluring beauty of a highly polished reporting pack! MI appears well managed with data beautifully presented. All of this gives an impression of completeness – of a smooth-running engine performing as planned. But, to the experienced eye, gaps or holes in the approach, reported data points or plan mean vital steps and indicators are missing.
• Being seduced by a sea of green status indicators. A programme dashboard that shows everything on track can be comforting — but sometimes it masks deeper issues: over-optimistic forecasts, hidden resistance, or dependencies slipping under the radar. Even the most effective change programmes encounter issues along the way. Consider a sea of green indicators as cause for suspicion and ask questions until satisfied they represent the truth.
• Overconfidence in process. Having a project methodology in place is useful, but following the process doesn’t guarantee outcomes. A process is only as strong as the behaviours and decisions it shapes, and every organisation is different, meaning adaptation and modification is desirable.
• Limited perspectives. If the only voices heard are those of the programme team, leaders may miss invaluable opinion from the frontline; from employees who are living the change, dealing with real customers hour to hour and whose take on what is happening (and why it is happening) can be a sobering and revealing reality-check for leadership entrenched in the c-suite offices.
• Confusing activity with impact. Busy workstreams, full project plans, and a profusion of reporting can create the illusion of progress, even if real business outcomes are not being delivered.

It is important to say at this point that these ‘illusion’ traps don’t necessarily mean control is lost — but they do mean leaders may be steering with only part of the picture meaning decision-making is not fully informed.

How to build control

To move beyond false comfort and establish genuine control, leaders can focus on three disciplines:

1. Listen hard and wide

Go beyond formal reporting. Encourage feedback from across the business and treat dissent as data, not disruption. Often, the first signs of risks come from unexpected places. For example, concerns raised by those brought in to represent the frontline (future users) can often be downplayed by technicians, dismissing their issues as irrelevant or naive. By maintaining face to face conversations from all stakeholders, senior leaders learn far more than a dashboard can ever show, validating (or not) the sea of green issue discussed above.

2. Shape solutions, don’t lift and shift from elsewhere

Off-the-shelf frameworks and dashboards can help, but they won’t reflect the unique culture and dynamics of your organisation. Real control comes from tailoring tools to your  organisation’s unique circumstances and governance, so they fit the context. For example, reporting dashboards must be tailored to meet the specific needs of your organisation. The detail of what is reported should reflect the views of those making the change happen including any third-party change experts as well as ‘operators’. Each will have unique insights into what really matters.

3. Collaborate to build ownership

Control improves when more people feel responsible for outcomes. That means building a coalition of the willing, involving stakeholders early, pooling ideas, and encouraging co-creation. When more people own the change, leaders can trust what they hear and act with confidence.

Summary – control as confidence

It is important to accept that control cannot eliminate all uncertainty — change is always uncertain. Leaders who are in control have full confidence in the fidelity of the information they receive so that their ability to understand progress and risk, and make consequent decisions, is sound. It is then about making sure the mechanisms to effect those decisions work reliably. 

The organisations that succeed don’t chase the illusion of perfect control. Instead, they create, and then communicate with, clarity, adapt constantly, and collaborate at every opportunity.

These are the hallmarks of control in a complex change environment.