Change Management, a thought provoker!
Business change is complex because of relationships between the business environment, the organisation, its people and supporting technologies. Any change in one of these aspects will have a knock on effect on the others. Yet many businesses underestimate the implications of change.
Cultural change is a case in point. Experts advise that about 80% of the effort and resources required for successful IT-related change are – or should be – deployed on the 'soft' aspects of business change, such as changing behaviours and providing training at the right time; only 20% is required for the IT.
Melanie Franklin, CEO, Maven Training Limited, is experienced in helping clients to accept and adopt change. “Transition to business as usual is the hardest part of any change programme,” she says, “because it is at this point that what has been created ‘leaves’ the structured environment of the project or programme which created it and now relies on the goodwill and the commitment of staff, each of whom will have their own agendas. Naturally, those agendas are not always aligned with those of the change programme,” Franklin advises clients to treat communications associated with any change programme as a project in their own right – and not just as activities to be carried out when there is time. “There’s never enough time!” she says.
By treating communications as a project, the development of a supportive, committed and aligned user base can receive the required resources in a timely way.
According to Bob Black, a specialist change management consultant who works with People Skills and is the author of Learning Tree’s Change Management course, there is only one thing certain regarding Change Management.
“It will always be a challenge to implement successfully and meet the expectations of those affected by the change,” he says.
Black sees a lot of similarities between change management and programme & project management. In both successful delivery and meeting expectations are a constant challenge and success is elusive.
He says, “In both the change and project environments perhaps, just perhaps, there is undue attention to the myth that if only the process/ methodology is “correct” then all will be well.”
Bob advises that when Lessons Learned are reviewed as part of closing out either the implementation of a business change project or any other project, many people are already involved in the next endeavour so are not as focused on the change that has already taken place.
He says, “If focus is placed on the process or methodology then people may erroneously shelve the people issues because we all know what happens if we start to review people and contributions to the change or project delivery.”
“Perhaps one of the most intriguing areas of a new change management programme is the almost unbounded optimism that “this time, it’ll be different,” Black says.
“But this optimism is unfounded. As described by Kotter in his 2002 book ‘The Heart of Change’, lessons learned from previous programmes and best practice application are rarely used as starting points. Instead, organisations add further ill-founded optimism by not developing a robust analysis of the likely sources of dis-ease and resistance of those affected by the change. This means that the change programme is “on the back foot” almost from the start.”
Black advises his clients to take a different perspective for any change programme.
“I strongly recommend them to think through desired outcomes and decide on a balanced people and process approach which can deliver increased opportunities. One key to this is to be able to answer the question “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) for all those affected by the change: before starting the programme!” he says.
One answer to WIIFM, Black suggests, is having clarity regarding training, job impact, coaching and mentoring that will be required to support the change. “This requires clarity around the roles of the change sponsor, champion, and agents and, very importantly, the role expected of line management in supporting the change on a daily basis,” he says.
Franklin agrees: “Great Change leaders can seamlessly move between the motivation and direction required to develop the changes and the development of the appropriate environment or culture that will accept and adopt to the changes.”
Dealing with change and, more importantly, the impact of change is a high priority for all organisations. Working with Esther Cameron and Mike Green and building on the concepts in their book "Making Sense of Change Management" APMG has developed a unique Change Management Certification. This Certification can be achieved through training with an APMG accredited Change Management training organisation and helps organisations and their people come to terms with how change impacts and is affected by:
• the individual
• the team
• the organisation
• the person responsible for leading the change
There is also a five day workshop supported via a mentoring scheme to help people currently running, or about to run, a major change initiative within their organisation.
For further details, and a list of accredited training providers visit:
http://www.apmgroup.co.uk/web/site/QualificationsAssessments/ChangeMgt.asp
