Positioning change
management
The top trend in the field of change management identified by
participants in Prosci's 2007 and 2009 benchmarking studies was an
increased
recognition of the need for change management.
Below are several quotes from participants in the
latest study:
- "Awareness that change management is an important success
factor for project management."
- "Growing recognition of importance [of change
management] to successful ROI."
- "Acknowledgement that the investment in change management at
the front end of a project will pay off in the end."
For some practitioners, change management is now being "pulled" in to
projects rather than pushed on to initiatives. However, many change management professionals are still
in a position where they must justify the value that change management
provides. They are still in discussions where change management is a
"nice to have" rather than a "must have" on major initiatives. This
tutorial presents a logic flow to help you position change management
more effectively on the project and initiatives you support. With the
logic flow presented here, you can hopefully reframe the discussion from
"what is the value of change management" to "what
outcomes (or value)
of the project
depends on people doing things differently, and can thus be enabled by
change management".
The "Positioning change management" logic
flow goes something like this:
- Organizations introduce change
- These changes impact how individuals do their work
- The success of the organizational change (the project objectives
or outcomes) is tied to individuals
doing their work differently
- Change management provides the structure, intent and tools for
encouraging and supporting individuals through their own personal
changes
Organizations introduce change
Each and every day, organizations are introducing change. Today's
marketplace is one where change has truly become the norm. These changes
can take on a variety of shapes and sizes:
- Some are formalized projects; others may be called initiatives;
still others
are called transformational efforts. Each result in change
- Some impact processes; some impact tools and technologies; some
impact organization structure; some impact job roles; some impact all of
these factors
- Some have no budgets; some have minimal budgets; some have very
large budgets
- Some are top-down efforts introduced by senior leaders; some are
grass roots efforts initiated by engaged and empowered employees
- Some are incremental, making small adjustments to how work is done;
some are dramatic, fundamentally shifting how the organization operates
- Some stem from strategic plans; some result from competitive
threats; some result from customer demands; some come from supplier
or vendor situations; some are in reaction to the economy; some are
in reaction to regulatory change
Regardless of the nature, shape and size of the change - they all are
an attempt to move the organization from a current state, through a
transition state, to a future state. And, each change is an attempt to
improve performance - whether through lower costs, increases revenues,
improved service delivery, etc. In the end, the organization is taking
on an effort where the future state is "better" than the current state
or that enables the organization to achieve their vision and enhance
performance.
Organizational states of change
These changes impact how individuals do their work
While it is seemingly easier to think about changes from an
organizational perspective - such as, we are introducing Business Process
Management techniques, or we are implementing an Enterprise Resource
Planning application, or we are reducing waste in the manufacturing process
- in the end change comes to life through individual behaviors,
processes and workflows. The technical side of change can be installed,
but changes ultimately impact how individual employees do their work.
- Some impact a single
employee; some impact small workgroups; some impact departments or
divisions; some impact the entire organization
- Depending on the
change, the impact on individuals work and behavior is different
- The most important
and strategic changes often involve a high degree of "individual change"
Regardless of the source of change, the type of change, or how
formalized the project or initiative is - in the end people will have to
do work differently. Organizational change is not a homogenous blob,
although it is sometimes treated that way. It involves specific
adjustments in behaviors, processes and workflows by individual
employees. Each employee impacted by the change must make their own
transition, from their own current state to their own future state.
Individual states of change
The success of the organizational change is tied to individuals
doing their work differently
The goal of the organizational change is to reach a future state
where performance is better than it had been in the current state.
However, the organization only reaches its future state when individuals
have reached their own personal future states. The success of the
organizational effort is tied directly to how successfully each impacted
employee makes their own transition. Did Andy adopt the change to his
work? Did Becky adopt the change to her work? Did Charlie and Debbie and
Eddie and Frannie make the changes to their work?
For a project or initiative to truly deliver value to the
organization, people must embrace and adopt the change to their own work.
Prosci's ROI of Change Management Model provides three factors of the
human side of change that directly contribute to or constrain the ROI or value
that a project delivers:
- Speed of adoption –
how quickly did they make the change?
- Ultimate utilization
– how many of them made the change?
- Proficiency – how
effective were they in their own future state?
These three factors are tied to the human side of change - the
individual - but are
determinants of the organizational value that is achieved. If speed of
adoption is slower than expected (delays associated with people not
adopting), then the ROI or outcomes will be less than expected or desired. If
ultimate utilization is less than expected (people opt out or find work arounds), then the ROI
or outcomes will be less than expected. If proficiency is
lower than expected (an employee in their future state does not deliver
the intended improvement), then the ROI or outcomes will be less than expected.
There is a growing body of data that shows a direct correlation between
change management effectiveness and the likelihood that a project or
initiative delivers the intended outcomes. That correlation rests on
this fact: that organizational results are delivered when individuals
make their own changes successfully. A perfectly designed process that no
one follows does not deliver value to the organization. A perfectly
designed technology solution that no one uses does not deliver outcomes
or objectives to
the organization. The people side of change is what drives benefits for
the organization when it takes on a change effort.
Change management provides structure, intent and tools for
encouraging and supporting individuals through their own personal
changes
So, the story thus far is: organizations introduce change, those
changes impact how individuals do their work, and the degree to which
individuals adopt the changes to their work determines the success of
the organizational effort. Now we are at a place where we can introduce
change management as the processes and tools for encouraging individuals
to make successful personal changes. Prosci's formal definition of
change management is:
- The application of a set of tools, processes, skills and
principles for managing the people side of change to achieve the
desired outcomes of a change project or initiative
Important elements of the definition: first, there is a
change to the organization that needs to be managed (we just do not
assume that everything will work out). Second, change
management focuses on the people side - the human element - of bringing
that change to life within the organization. Change management is not
applied on projects to keep change management professionals busy. It is
applied to projects because the reality is that changes impact how
people do work, and success comes from people making those necessary
changes.
Conclusion
The logic flow presented in this tutorial helps you shift the
conversation. Rather than starting from a position of "here is what
change management can do" - the conversation starts with several
important realities - that changes are occurring and those changes
impact how people do their jobs. It is no longer a far reach between
change management and realizing outcomes or objectives on projects, because we have made
a stark and direct connection between the people side of change and
achieving results.
Below are several additional tutorials that provide some more
materials about the definition and scope of change management that can
help you better position change management relative to delivering
project results:
###
Email this tutorial to a friend
