Navigating change in 2025: Strategies for project and portfolio managers

Change is inevitable, but the accelerating pace of change makes managing work more difficult. It’s important to understand the specific challenges workers are facing to develop strategies to help cope with change in today’s increasingly dynamic business environment.. To aid in this effort, we’d like to share three key insights from our latest research, outlined in detail in The 2025 Project and Portfolio Management Priorities Report: Managing Work in an Era of Exponential Change.

Change is hurting key business metrics

The increasing rate of change that workers face daily makes it increasingly difficult to adapt and remain productive. This is especially true for project and portfolio managers: survey results reveal that 70% of project and portfolio management (PPM) professionals dealt with more change in 2024 than previous years, and a staggering 98% of respondents said these changes require them to alter their work priorities. 

If those changes had a positive effect on the business, then it might be worth the extra effort. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case. The vast majority (97%) of PPM professionals surveyed said the latest changes in their organizations had an adverse impact on key business metrics, particularly productivity, employee engagement, and profitability. This remains true when we look at the results across job levels and company size, but to varying degrees of intensity. How can we move from seeing change as a challenge to seeing change as an opportunity and planning for it when possible?

Structure and flexibility are needed for proactive adaptability

Respondents at companies with a structured approach to change were 1.5 times more likely to report the ability to adapt more quickly. That structure varies by company size, industry, and other factors, but generally, a structured approach has been tested and uses proven frameworks to effectively tackle change. A structured approach with detailed processes that follow strict governance provides teams the foundation they need to communicate effectively and execute on changes immediately. However, some flexibility is also needed to handle any unexpected impacts of that change.

The research shows that PPM professionals rate standardization and flexibility equally useful, suggesting that organizations want to balance standardization and structure with experimentation and innovation. To further prove their preference for some flexibility, 42% of PPM professionals said they use multiple methodologies for PPM – using the methods that work best for each situation. Balancing structure and flexibility is clearly necessary for managing work in an era of exponential change, with the scales tipped slightly in favor of structure.

Visibility and collaboration are crucial to successful change management

Empowering teams with the right tools to support change management is critical to success. With more than half (66%) of PPM professionals saying they lack the visibility necessary to make timely business decisions, a platform that offers cross-functional visibility in your tech stack is a must-have. Without it, employees struggle to pivot quickly in response to strategic shifts or business changes. By leveraging a tool that makes it easy to view information organization-wide, PPM teams can achieve alignment and respond more effectively to changes.

Collaboration is another key capability. More than half (53%) of PPM professionals said that collaboration would help their organization more effectively adapt specifically to change and disruption. The free flow of information is especially important to help teams stay informed and make timely business decisions, which also helps them adapt to change more quickly and successfully.

Investing in a tool that enhances visibility and collaboration on top of a foundation of balancing standardization and flexibility empowers organizations to create a resilient project management office that not only adapts to change but anticipates it, ensuring long-term success in today’s unpredictable market. Want to navigate change more effectively in 2025? Explore more actionable strategies in The 2025 Project and Portfolio Management Priorities Report to thrive in uncertain times.