COMPEL Glossary / change-network
Change Network
A change network is a distributed group of change advocates and champions embedded across the organization's departments and levels who support AI transformation by communicating key messages, coaching colleagues through transitions, surfacing feedback and concerns from the front lines, and modeling new behaviors in their daily work.
What this means in practice
Unlike a centralized change management team, the network extends reach into every corner of the organization where change must take root. For AI transformation, change networks are particularly important because adoption requires local context adaptation that centralized teams cannot provide. In COMPEL, the design and activation of change networks is covered in Module 3.2, Article 5, where it is positioned as a core component of enterprise change architecture and a key mechanism for moving from theoretical change plans to actual behavior change.
Why it matters
Centralized change management teams cannot reach every corner of an organization where AI adoption must take root. Change networks extend reach through embedded advocates who communicate key messages, coach colleagues, surface frontline feedback, and model new behaviors in their daily work. For AI transformation, where adoption requires local context adaptation, change networks are essential for translating enterprise strategy into department-level behavior change.
How COMPEL uses it
Change networks are designed during the Model stage as a core component of enterprise change architecture within the People pillar. During Organize, network members are identified and recruited. The Produce stage activates the network to support AI adoption across business units. The Evaluate stage measures network effectiveness through adoption rates and frontline feedback quality, and the Learn stage captures lessons about network design for refinement in subsequent cycles.
Related Terms
Other glossary terms mentioned in this entry's definition and context.