Defining Enterprise Change Management

The drivers for Enterprise Change Management

"We've had too many different approaches in too many different places for too long"

In some organizations, enlightened project leaders have begun to adopt change management on the projects that they support. The problem occurs when there are numerous leaders utilizing a wide variety of approaches and tools. Some projects may not have any change management. Others may build only a communications plan. Still others might focus heavily on training but neglect the whole set of tools available to manage change.

This lack of consistent approach does not deliver the benefits that come from an organization-wide approach. There is also a danger of collision of multiple processes, where a single leader or manager is hearing mixed messages from the different change management approaches being utilized.

"We need a common language"

Without a common language, it is hard to have meaningful conversations about change management. Sometimes, there is even confusion over what "change management" actually means. Even if different groups are applying change management, there is often confusion when there is no common language. What one group calls stakeholder management another might call the sponsor coalition. It is hard to problem solve and capitalize on lessons learned when different terminology is being used.

"We can't afford for our important upcoming changes to fail like our past projects"

Benjamin Franklin is credited with the quote: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." This statement holds true when thinking about change management. Many organizations have projects that failed because they neglected the people side of change. Observant leaders and project teams are beginning to recognize that it is the people side, not the technical side, that often derails a project. The "sane" step that many are taking is to bring change management into new projects, especially those with significant impact on the future of the organization.

Read more - Why Enterprise Change Management.

Overcoming these issues

Below are several tactics we have seen for building change management competency in an organization:

• Adopting a common change management methodology for the organization - This is a critical step in building change management competency. A standard, single approach lays the foundation for a common vocabulary, more consistent application and resource sharing. Lessons learned and continuous improvement of change management can now take place within a controlled organizational methodology. Selection of a common methodology also sends a message to the organization about the importance of change management and the organization's commitment to improving how it manages the people side of change.

• Forming a Change Management Office - The creation of a formal structure that oversees change management is another step toward building the competency to manage change. We have seen this formal change management group housed in the HR department, within the Project Management Office (PMO), under a director of strategy or transformation or even inside a particular department that launches many changes like IT. A formal group can support multiple projects and maintain the methodology, tools and training that are utilized by the rest of the organization.

• Requiring change management plans on all new initiatives - Typically by executive decree, this approach requires that change management be applied to every major change initiative in the organization prior to receiving business case approval. We have also seen organizations set an investment threshold (i.e. any project over $500,000 needs a change management plan). Another approach we've seen involves creating a change management risk analysis completed at the beginning of a project, with change management plans required for any project that has a high "people risk" factor.

• Selecting key projects and training the project team - This approach implements change management within the highest profile projects. The selection of key projects is tied to the fact that these key projects are critical to the organization's success and they are the ones that cannot afford the consequences of slower adoption, under utilization or poor results. In some cases, this is an intermediary step toward requiring change management on all projects.

• Institutionalize change management into the training curriculum - We have seen a number of organizations thinking about "managing change" as an individual competency that is necessary in employees throughout the organization and not just at the project level. In these organizations, training programs are established for project team members, executives, middle managers and supervisors. This approach lacks a direct connection to any one project but utilizes educational programs to build knowledge about change management in the organization.

Each of the above tactics have their merits. However, to truly deploy change management in an organization someone must begin thinking about the deployment as a project that must be managed. Managing the project involves both a "technical" side - defining the desired future state and the set of tactics the organization can employ to reach that future state - and a "people" side - building support and buy in for applying change management.

Next steps:

Is your organization looking to deploy change management more broadly? Join us to learn more about Enterprise Change Management at the August 27, 2008 webinar.

• Change management certification ($2100) - 3-day program where you bring a project you are working on and apply all of the assessments and tools as you learn them - taught by former Fortune 500 executives at locations across the U.S.
• 2007 Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report ($249) - journal-style report with lessons learned and best practices from 426 participants, presented in an easy-to-use format - reads as a checklist of what to do and what not to do
• Change Management Toolkit ($349) - hardcopy 3-ring binder presenting Prosci's change management methodology; includes templates, checklists and assessments for managing the people side of change (includes CD-ROM)
• Change Management Guide for Managers and Supervisors ($189) - tools to help supervisors engage and coach their direct reports through change (includes 4 copies of the Employee's Survival Guide)
• Change Management Pilot 2008 ($449) - online tool including Prosci's change management methodology, eLearning modules and downloadable templates, assessments, presentations and checklists
• Change Management Pilot Professional 2008 ($559) - the content of the Change Management Pilot plus additional benchmarking data and an online version of the Change Management Guide for Managers and Supervisors
• Change Management: the people side of change ($18.95) - a primer for anyone involved in organizational change that addresses why manage change, individual change management and organizational change management
• Employee's Survival Guide to Change ($14.95) - a handbook to help employees survive and thrive during change; answers frequently asked questions and empowers employees to take charge of change