Dispelling change management myths

• "Project teams are ultimately responsible for delivering value to the organization through their project. If your project requires people to change the way they do their jobs, then the ‘soft’ side is also your responsibility."
• "The value your project ultimately delivers to the organization is tied to how quickly people adopt the change and how effectively they use the solution - just as much as it is tied to the 'hard' side of the solution design."
• "Research shows that change management directly contributes to projects meeting their objectives and achieving the ROI they expect." ¹
• "Think about a recent project you worked on that did not meet its expectations. Were the root causes related to the 'hard' side of the project or the 'soft' side?"
• "A perfectly designed solution that no one uses is ultimately of little value to the organization."

"I'm working with a Fortune 500 company on a project involving behavioral change, culture and competitive advantage. The company has done everything 'normally required.' They've provided the necessary resources, time, space, and all normal forms of support typically found in a project such as this. We're focusing on what needs to change from a behavioral standpoint. At the same time, we're addressing a very important process that currently runs across all departments and leads directly to the customer. It is a highly visible and important project. However, Myth 1 is definitely an issue. We have progressed in our organizations on the 'soft side' of change. The problem, I believe, is our inability to both understand and address the 'soft side' of change as indicated / taught by ProSci. We have management currently looking at how their behavior directly contradicts most of the valuable investment of resources, time and energy to date. In their mind, they were providing the support and involvement required. Needless to say, they were initially dismayed to realize that they were not addressing the soft side of change. Although they thought they were, they came to see that they were unwittingly allowing the teams to figure it out. From the teams standpoint then, they viewed the managers as uninvolved. It was a powerful learning point for all involved in the project."

"I find in our organization the 'good' project managers/leaders understand that the hard and soft side of the change are two sides of the same coin and both are necessary for success. But, there are still some who only focus on the processes, not on the people and wonder why their project flounders. The most successful project team I've been on had two co-leads - one who focused on the processes and numbers, and the other looked at the 'soft' side of the change. They were practically joined at the hip for 2 years and their good working relationship and shared accountability played a major factor in the project's success."

• "While communication is important, change management does not equal effective communications. Change management also includes sponsorship, coaching, proactive resistance management, training and reinforcement." ²
• "A 2005 study with 411 participants cited communication as the number three contributor to success, behind the role of the sponsor and the use of a structured change management process." ³
• "It is great that you have a communication plan - but make sure you customize messages for specific audiences and think through the right timing, mechanism, content and sender.⁴ Also remember that benchmarking data shows that employees prefer to get change messages from two senders - senior leaders and immediate supervisors." ³
• "You may be telling employees what you are doing, but these are not the only messages they want to hear. The top reason for resistance among employees is a lack of awareness of the need for change - why is the change taking place. Are you answering this question in your communication?" ³

"How often have we thought or heard a phrase such as 'I explained why but they just don't get it!' - 'Why' motivates only when it is very personal and important to the listener."

"I wrote the following Haiku to help me with this myth:
      You want to do what?
      And where when why to who how?
      How can I comply?"

"This tutorial couldn't have come at a better time. I am currently leading a Change Management team in an organization undergoing comprehensive changes in its processes, structure and IT platforms.

My team and I were berated at one Project Steering commitee meeting for taking too long before publishing bulletins announcing the change. Apparently management was unaware that freuent bulletin publication does not equal communication.

Employees actually admitted at various interactive sessions that management's past attempts at "communications" usually involves throwing abstract messages in bulletins which did little to address concerns or issues employees have.

Management simply assumed that since a communications plan was available, all it had to do was to frequently send in bulletins.

Unfortunately, most employees admitted to never reading these bulletins or simply ignoring them, as they prefer to be engaged differently.

The process for developing communications plans should address issues such as the key messages and the preffered sender, and doesn't necessarily have to be in print."

"In change-management, the key words are : Why is-it important/essential to change if possible based on numbers easy (?) to check? Is the change management bringing us nearer from the best practices that our compétiters / customers are using."

"Most of the communication is very economical with the truth, describes the benefits to the organisation and hence the senior and higher management, does not point out the real benefits to people involved/recipients.

One always sees the reference to the 'customer', but in reality the recipients can see that there are no benefits to the customers.

Communication has to be honest, states benefits to the people involved or recipients and the organisation and should include examples of real benefits to people.

Change communications must motivational and not just edicts as the case is in many organisations and should not assume the recipients as morons or simpleton.

People can and will notice the lies, always remember 'you can fool some of the people some of the times, but you can't fool all the people all the times'."

"There are five 'levers' you can pull to encourage effective change - sponsorship, communication, coaching, training and resistance management. These are the tools of organizational change management. Effective change management uses all of these tools in the right mix to achieve the desired outcome. -- in which ever culture you apply. Especially the timing seems very sensitive, even though others in the organization who support employees during change indicate the everlasting unpredictability,such as death of a visionary leader."

• "Just because you are introducing a change does not mean that you are managing the people side of that change. Change management is a systematic approach to accelerate adoption and mitigate resistance." ⁵
• "Change management is the process, tools and techniques for managing the people side of change. It is not sitting around in a circle singing 'kumbaya'. It is a proven management process for leading people through change."
• "There are five 'levers'  you can pull to encourage effective change - sponsorship, communication, coaching, training and resistance management. These are the tools of organizational change management. Effective change management uses all of these tools in the right mix to achieve the desired outcome." ⁵
• "In the same way that you have tools to manage the project side of the change - issue tracking, documentation, work breakdown structures, design processes - there are specific tools you can use to encourage adoption, to mitigate resistance and to manage change."

• "Change management helps to increase the speed of adoption of change, the ultimate utilization of the tools and the proficiency of employees in the future state."
• "Multiple studies show a direct correlation between how well you manage change and whether or not you meet project objectives. If you want to deliver on the potential value of your project to the organization, you need to manage the people side of change." ¹
• "A McKinsey Quarterly article measured the expected ROI and the realized ROI of 40 major projects. They found a significant correlation between the effectiveness of change management and the gap between expected and realized ROI. For the statistically gifted, r² = 0.70 based on the analysis." ¹
• "In an empowered workforce, change can no longer be mandated. Change must be managed - by the senior leaders who initiate and sponsor change, by the front-line supervisors who manage and coach employees impacted by change, by the project teams who manage change, and by others in the organization who support employees during change."

"Often this is an excuse not to spend the funds on change management- so you can use the points under the other 3 myths to prove the ROI - also you can link back to their corporate culture (if it is other than command and control)."

"In a non-change management aware organisation any failed projects are typically blamed on the project content / system. Organisations with no change management history may have difficulty accepting that the change/project management (a people issue) rather than a system/project can be at fault."

Share your thoughts

For the change management myths tutorial series, Prosci wants to hear what you think. Click the link below to provide comments on one of the particular myths, a strategy you used to deal with one of the myths or a general comment. The Change Management Learning Center will update this page, and add your comments on upcoming tutorials. Be sure to bookmark this page so you can return to see what other Learning Center members have to say.

Share your thoughts

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"This is a great article and very true! I spend a lot of time telling out managers that there are 2 parts to change- the process and the people! This article helps to reinforce this thank you!"

"Totally agree with your sharing and point of view. Change management also involves a high level of communication skills and interaction. I found people with negative feelings tends to look for words that they found inappropriate or making them feel uncomfortable."

"At my organization we are finalizing our strategic project plans and the work breakdown structure for our Change Management plans. Some tasks are now being assigned, and we are beginning to see where the need to emphasize the necessity for change in culture and paradigm shifts and the important role that Change Management using the ADKAR model will play. I can certainly agree that major strategic changes do require a high degree of Change Management protocols due to embedded cultures that need to be restructured, re-defined, or simply changed altogether. I enjoyed your articles. Thanks."

"The role of 'taking ownership' should not be underestimated. This will breach role specific potrayment of personnel aiding in task multi-skilling with project success as result."

"I agree that change management is very similar to project management because all project is to get something new, is a transformation. The change need to be managed with leadership."