Change vs. Change Management
What is the difference and why does it matter?
Change and Change Management. On the surface these terms may
seem interchangeable. However, there is a
significant
and important difference between change and change management.
When there is no clear delineation, the result is
confusion and
lack of clarity on what is needed to move an initiative forward.
The better we can separately define and address change and change management, the
better position we will be in as change management
practitioners with a clearer scope
and shared sense of direction
and purpose. This tutorial presents the difference between
change and change management and why it is important to address
potential confusion.
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While change is about
moving to a future state; change management is about
supporting
individual employees impacted by the change
through their own transitions
- from their
own current state to their own future state that has been created by
the project or initiative.
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Is the confusion occurring?
Prosci delivered a webinar on March 9 and 10, 2011 titled
"Effectively positioning change management". During the webinar,
the notion of change vs. change management was introduced and
webinar attendees participated in a poll about confusion they
have experienced.
The graph below shows attendees' experience with confusion of
the concepts of change and change management. Only 10% of participants indicated
seeing the confusion seldom or never, while
57% often
experienced this confusion.
Change is...
At its most basic level, change is a movement out of a
current state (how things are today), through a
transition state and to a
future state (how things will be done). Change happens
all around us - at home, in our community and at work. Changes
can be internally motivated or externally motivated. The change
can be a dramatic departure from what we know or it can be
minor. Changes can be anticipated or unexpected. But in all
cases, the fundamental nature of change
is a movement from the current state through a transition state to a future state.
The notion of these three states of change is prevalent in
change management literature and in other improvement
disciplines. In the change management arena, numerous authors
have used various terms to describe these three states, but the
notion is nearly universal. Even in other more technical
improvement disciplines, the concept can be found - consider the
As-Is and the To-Be notions in process redesign work.
Typically we take an organizational perspective
when talking
about change:
- We are moving to documented and managed processes
from ad hoc processes.
- We are moving to an integrated system from numerous legacy systems.
- We are merging two organizations.
- We are introducing a new product to the market.
- We are
introducing new equipment into the manufacturing processes.
- We
are moving to call center specialists from a generalist model.
Each of these examples has a clear current state and a clear
future state. A project or initiative
in the organization is undertaken to give
structure to the effort of
designing the future state and developing a solution for the transition state.
However, every organizational change ultimately has
individual impacts - the 10s or 100s or 1000s of employees who
have to do their jobs differently when they adopt the
solution. This is the role of change management.
Change management is...
Change management is necessary because organizational change
- moving from an organizational current state to an
organizational future state - ultimately impacts
how people do their jobs
(likely many people).
- The newly documented and
managed processes are executed by someone.
- The new integrated
database will be accessed by someone.
- Employees in the newly
merged organization must work differently.
- The new product will impact how someone does their job.
While change is about
moving to a future state, change management is about
supporting
individual employees impacted by the change
through their own transitions
- from their
own current state to their own future state that has been created by
the project or initiative.
Some employees will rapidly embrace change. Others will be
reluctant. Some will be happy with the change and others will be
upset by it. Some employees will change quickly, others may take
some time, and there may be a group that will not embrace the
change. Change management provides the process, tools and
principles to support the individual transitions precipitated
from an organizational future state.
The connection, then, between "change" and "change
management" can be characterized as follows:
- The changes in our organization create
new future states for
how we operate. To reach those future states, individual
employees have to do their jobs differently. The attainment
of the organizational future state depends on the success of
individuals reaching their own personal future states.
Change management is the structured and intentional approach
to enabling individual employees to adopt the changes
required by projects and initiatives.
The underlying point here is that the
results and outcomes of a project or initiative
are defined by and
depend on employees adopting
the change, so change management is an
essential tool for delivering results and outcomes.
What you can do
Below are several tips for practitioners who may be
experiencing the confusion over change and change management.
1) Identify the
confusion - are you experiencing this confusion with
anyone you are supporting? In your work, have you seen confusion
or lack of clarity about change and change management? If so,
who are you seeing the confusion with?
- Project leaders and team
- Solution designers and developers
- Executives and senior leaders
- Other change management practitioners
- Others
2) Use the states of
change - at both the organizational level and the
individual level - as a way to introduce and position change
management. Start the conversation about the current state,
transition state and future state. And then continue the
conversation to focus on individual current states, transition
states and future states.
Exercise:
Have your audience (project team, senior leader,
etc.) define the future state of the organizational change
on the left hand side of the paper. Then have them define
five specific individual future states that the change will
cause on the right hand side of the paper.
3) Introduce the notion
by asking a simple question - Who will have to do
their jobs differently as a result of this project or
initiative? This is the beginning of the process of segmenting
out the impacted groups so you can address them specifically
from a change management perspective. By asking and helping
answer the question, you are establishing a working relationship
with the project team that provides a solid start for your
change management work.
Exercise:
Prosci uses a framework for connecting people to
business results through a four-column activity. Have your
audience create four columns on a sheet of paper. The first
column is "Project" - have them write the name of the
project. The second column is "Purpose" - have them write
the reasons for the change. The third column is
"Particulars" - have them detail the specific changes to
processes, systems, organization structures, etc. resulting
from the project. The final column is "People" - have them
create a list of the individuals and groups who will do
their job differently after the project.
Once you have effectively positioned change
management and shown the scope of your work (namely, the
individual employees who will have to do their jobs
differently), you are ready to move forward with a structured
approach to change management.
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