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State of the Union for Change Management
As we enter 2009, some 25 years after change management was first
introduced as a formal tool for managing people through change, we are
now seeing a broad adoption within business and government of structured
change management processes. The strength in the deployment of change
management is evident in the overall growth in revenue in change
management products and services, the creation of practice areas by
consulting firms, the commitment by companies to create formalized job
roles and training, and research work that identified change management
as the missing success factor for change. Overall, the deployment of
change management is strong and growing. In this "State of the Union"
address on change management, I share my personal observations and
philosophy, as well as a few of the trends we at Prosci see in this
field.
Observations and philosophy
1. Change management is
both a process and a competency
From the process perspective, more
projects are deploying change management as a structured approach for
managing the people side of change. To ensure consistent use of change
management going forward, organizations also need to "hard wire" the
application of change management by setting investment thresholds that
trigger:
a. a requirement for change management to be applied on
that project
b. dedicated change management resources as part of the
core team
c. an integration of change management activities into
the project plan
From the competency perspective, companies must
recognize that executives and senior managers must be active and visible
sponsors of change on many change programs. They must be able to build
strong coalitions, communicate effectively with employees and remain
active with the project team throughout the entire project. At the same
time, managers and supervisors must be advocates, coaches and change
agents to their employees during the change process. Organizations
cannot assume that the knowledge and skills required to fulfill these
roles already exists. In fact, recent research data suggests that this
competency is not present for a majority of managers and represents a
new leadership skill. Companies and government agencies must make a
deliberate effort to build these competencies into their leaders and
managers.
2. Change management is both organizational and
individual
Organizations that change effectively recognize two
things. First, that managing employees through change is a leadership
responsibility that requires top-down actions to lead that change.
Second, that organizations do not change, people change, one person at a
time. The best change management processes include an effective process
for managing organizational change and a companion process for managing
individual change. It is this partnership or integration of
organizational and individual change that ultimately produces results.
We should never believe that the actions of sponsors, the content of
communications, the knowledge from training or the coaching from
supervisors represents "change management," unless these actions
transform the thinking and behaviors of individuals. We therefore must
utilize models for individual change that will help us guide and assess
the results of our organizational change management work.
3.
Change management success is only measured through business results
I
can never imagine an experienced project manager saying that the end
goal of project management was to manage budget, tasks and resources.
They more likely would say it was to "successfully build the fastest
aircraft, on time and on budget" or "implement the best ERP system to
reduce operational costs." Likewise, we should never think that the end
goal of change management is to implement a set of activities or follow a
recipe for managing people through change. We implement project
management and change management for one reason only - to achieve
business results. If you manage the people side of change, you are
accountable for the objectives of that initiative. You may be
responsible for communications, sponsorship, training, coaching and
resistance management as elements of change management. But you are
accountable for one thing - that the project meets or exceeds its
objectives. As soon as you step away from this final accountability, you
are no longer managing change.
4. Change management is not just a
process for managing resistance
I am often asked why resistance
management is left for the third day in Prosci's change management
certification program. So many managers and change practitioners believe
that they are learning change management so they can better manage
resistance. The reason that Prosci addresses resistance management at
the end of our program is simple: We do not believe that change
management is solely a process for managing resistance. Change
management is a holistic approach to build engagement from employees
around change. Managing resistance is only a small part of that process.
We must focus on the tools and techniques for building enthusiasm and
passion for a change. If change management is reduced to a process for
identifying and managing resistance, then you will tend to focus on
negative elements of change. You will find exactly what you were looking
for. If, on the other hand, you implement change management as a
holistic process for engaging employees, the amount of resistance will
be less and the strength of that resistance will be lower. The adage
that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is as true with
people going through change as with good health. For this same reason
you cannot measure the success of change management by the avoidance of
all of the "bad things" that can happen during change. The better
position, that position of strength, is not focused on threat
mitigation, but rather around capturing the positive energy of employees
embracing change.
5. Change management experts and practitioners
are not doers, they are enablers
I like to use a theatre analogy to
convey this idea. Consider for a moment staging a play. In this play we
will have script writers, directors, stage hands, costume staff,
lighting crews, set crews and finally, actors. Change is akin to a play,
in that many roles are necessary to carry out a fantastic performance.
We also know that the play would likely not be a success if the director
and script writer decided they were going to be the actors as well.
Each person has an expertise and role to play. Great plays utilize the
skills of all cast and stage members. Likewise with change, any person
who is not a sponsor of change or a direct supervisor of an employee
going through change is at best a director, a script writer, or perhaps a
stage hand. Change practitioners must view their role not as an actor
in the spot light, but rather behind the scenes, ensuring that the right
things happen at the right time with the right people involved. This
perspective is not only important for change practitioners to have, but
even more so for the leadership and project team. So often a project
assigns someone to change management and draws the conclusion that they
will carry out all of the necessary roles. They mistakenly put this
person in the role of actor and assume that change management is
"covered." As a change management expert and practitioner, one of your
first tasks is to clearly define the players, identify the actors and
then enable them to stage the best possible performance for this change.
Trends in change management
Enterprise Change Management -
deployment of change management across an organization
More and
more organizations are deploying change management throughout the
organization rather than relying on a project-by-project approach.
Organizations who are doing this well recognize that effective
deployment of change management requires change management. This
statement takes just a moment to sink in, but we must recognize that the
adoption of change management processes and skills within an
organization is a change in and of itself. Therefore, the deployment of
change management must be treated like a project and must utilize change
management as part of that project.
Five elements of a balanced
deployment for change management include:
1. creating strong
sponsorship for change management among business leaders
2.
establishing standardized processes and tools for managing change
3.
creating permanent roles like a CMO or change management group to
support change management and to manage the portfolio of change
4.
offering ongoing training programs in change management for business
leaders, supervisors and managers, employees and project teams
5.
developing project criteria, a gate process or performance measurement
system that ensures the consistent and effective application of change
management across all projects
Integration of project management
and change management
We are seeing a greater intersect between
project management and change management - a very positive trend that is
resulting in the institutionalization of change management. More
Project Management Organizations (PMOs) are taking on change management
responsibilities. More work is being done to integrate change management
activities with project management activities. Project teams are
recognizing change management as a structured process that can be
followed to manage the people side of change. For the first time Prosci
was invited to talk at the 2008 PMI Global Congress, with an
overwhelming interest shown in this topic. This particular shift is
reinforcing the message that project management and change management
are companion disciplines that require effective integration in order
for change projects to succeed.
Need for change portfolio
management and the increase of change saturation
As the amount of
change grows within many organizations, employees are experiencing
change saturation. At the same time, the growth in resources and
expertise in change management is not always keeping pace with the rate
of change. This can result in more changes occurring with a poorer
implementation of change management. The result is compounding business
risks and projects that are not achieving their objectives. Therefore,
we have a growing need for an enterprise view of changes underway in an
organization with a central process for understanding the impact on
groups within the organization and for managing change management
resources. The trend here will be towards a greater effort on managing
the portfolio of change so that business leaders can set priorities and
make investment tradeoffs between competing initiatives.