Written by Tim Creasey
5 Mins
Updated: December 19, 2023
Published: March 31, 2022
Although it is sometimes called the soft side of change, managing the people side of a change is often the most challenging and critical component of an organizational transformation. Consider a merger or acquisition. The technical side of the change is certainly complex. You must work out the financial arrangements of the deal, integrate business systems, make decisions about the new organization's structure, and more.But getting people on board and participating in the merger or acquisition can make the difference between success and failure. Why? Individuals will need to perform their jobs differently. The degree to which they change their behaviors and adopt new processes has a significant impact on the initiative. This is why the soft side of change can be the harder side of change. Fortunately, you can apply a structured approach to managing the people side of change and make a big impact on overall success. Change Management Starter Bundle Even when organizational changes meet technical requirements and milestones, they can still fail to deliver results and benefits. What’s missing? Change management. You can start applying change management to your projects today with free resources from Prosci. Download Now Change management addresses the people side of change. Creating a new organization, designing new work processes, and implementing new technologies may never see their full potential if you don't bring your people along. That's because financial success depends on how thoroughly individuals in the organization embrace the change. Change management is the application of a structured process and set of tools for leading the people side of change to achieve a desired outcome. Ultimately, change management focuses on how to help people engage, adopt and use a change in their day-to-day work. When defining change management, we recognize it as both a process and a competency. The change management process enables practitioners within organizations to leverage and scale the change management activities that help impacted individuals and groups move through their transitions. The Prosci Methodology includes a robust, research-based process called the Prosci 3-Phase Process: During Phase 1 – Prepare Approach, we ask and answer: During Phase 2 – Manage Change, we ask and answer: And during Phase 3 – Sustain Outcomes, we ask and answer: At the organizational level, change management is a leadership competency for enabling change within an organization. It is also a strategic capability designed to increase the change capacity and responsiveness of the organization. For senior leaders, change management competency means being able to lead change for the organization, including being an effective sponsor of change and demonstrating commitment to the change, both individually and organizationally. For people managers working with front-line employees, competency relates to effectively coaching direct reports through their change journeys. Although competency varies according your relationship to change, organizations are more effective and successful when they build change management competencies throughout their ranks. Change management is not just communication and training. Nor is it simply managing resistance. Effective change management follows a structured process and employs a holistic set of tools to drive successful individual and organizational change. There are numerous reasons to employ effective change management on both large- and small-scale efforts. Here are three main reasons: It is easy to think about change only from an organizational perspective. When you consider a merger or acquisition, you might focus on financial structuring, data and systems integration, and physical location changes. However, organizational change of any kind occurs one person at a time. That is because an organization-wide change only occurs when Andre, Becky, Carlos and Dharma do their jobs differently. Organizations don’t change, people do. It is the cumulative impact of successful individual change that brings about successful organizational change. If individuals don’t make changes to their day-to-day work, an organizational transformation effort will not deliver results. Poorly managing or ignoring the people side of change has many consequences: Projects also suffer from missed deadlines, budget overruns, rework and even abandonment. These consequences have tangible impacts on project health and the organization. Fortunately, you can mitigate these issues when you deploy a structured approach to the people side of change. A growing body of data shows the impact effective change management has on the probability of a project meeting objectives. Prosci’s Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking studies revealed that 88% of participants with excellent change management met or exceeded objectives, while only 13% of those with poor change management met or exceeded objectives. In other words, projects with excellent change management were seven times more likely to meet objectives than those with poor change management. What may be most enlightening about the research is that poor change management correlates with better success than applying none at all. Prosci research even shows a direct correlation between effective change management and staying on schedule and on budget. Effectively managing change requires two perspectives: anindividual perspectiveand anorganizational perspective. The individual perspective is an understanding of how people experience change.Prosci’s ADKAR Modeldescribes successful change when an individual has: If an individual gets stuck on a building block and cannot progress sequentially through the model, the change will not be as successful. The goal in leading the people side of change is ensuring that individuals have Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. The organizational perspective of change management is the process and activities that project teams use to support successful individual change. If the ADKAR Model describes what an individual needs to make a change successfully, organizational change management is the set of actions to help build Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement across the organization. The Prosci Methodology is based on more than two decades of research and includes assessments and strategy to support targeted change management plans: The change practitioner is like the director of the play working behind the scenes to enable actors on the stage. As a change enabler, the practitioner works to develop the change management strategy and plans while supporting and equipping senior leaders and people managers to fulfill their unique, employee-facing roles. For example, research shows that employees prefer to receive organizational messages about change from leaders at the top of their organization. And they prefer to receive messages about the change's impact on their day-to-day work from their immediate supervisor. The practitioner's job is to enable key leaders and people managers to perform these and other employee-facing roles effectively. During times of change, the effectiveness of senior leaders and people managers in these critical roles will determine whether a project or initiative succeeds or fails. What can you do to become a more effective change leader? Begin applying change management on your projects and build change management competencies in your organization. These are the first steps to ensuring projects deliver their intended results. The people side of change is not the soft side of change, it is the harder side of change. Investing the time and energy to manage the people side of your organizational efforts pays off in the end in terms of your effort's success and avoiding the numerous costs that plague poorly managed change.The People Side of Change
Change Management as a Process
Change Management as a Competency
Why Do We Need Change Management?
Organizational change happens one person at a time
Ignoring the people side of change is costly
Change management increases the likelihood success
Individual vs. Organizational Change Management
Individual Change Management
Organizational Change Management
Change Management Roles
How You Can Effect Successful Change
As an expert and enthusiast, I don't have personal experiences or credentials, but I can provide you with information on the concepts mentioned in the article you shared. Here's an overview of the concepts discussed:
Change Management
Change management refers to the structured process and set of tools used to lead the people side of change in order to achieve a desired outcome. It focuses on helping individuals in an organization engage, adopt, and use a change in their day-to-day work. Change management is both a process and a competency.
Change Management Process
The change management process involves several phases:
- Phase 1 - Prepare Approach: In this phase, the focus is on understanding the goals of the change, identifying who needs to change their behaviors and how, and determining what is needed for success.
- Phase 2 - Manage Change: This phase involves preparing, supporting, and engaging people during the change. It also includes monitoring progress and making necessary adjustments.
- Phase 3 - Sustain Outcomes: In this phase, the focus is on assessing the current state, ensuring the change sticks, and identifying who will take ownership and sustain the outcomes.
Change Management as a Competency
Change management is not only a process but also a leadership competency for enabling change within an organization. It involves building change management competencies throughout the organization to increase its change capacity and responsiveness. Senior leaders need to be effective sponsors of change, while people managers should be able to coach their direct reports through their change journeys.
Importance of Change Management
There are several reasons why effective change management is crucial:
- Organizational change happens one person at a time: Change occurs when individuals within an organization make changes to their day-to-day work. Successful individual change leads to successful organizational change.
- Ignoring the people side of change is costly: Poorly managing or ignoring the people side of change can have various consequences, such as decreased productivity, increased stress and confusion, and negative impacts on stakeholders, customers, and employees.
- Change management increases the likelihood of success: Research shows that projects with excellent change management are more likely to meet objectives compared to those with poor change management. Effective change management also correlates with staying on schedule and on budget.
Individual vs. Organizational Change Management
Change management requires both an individual and an organizational perspective:
- Individual Change Management: This perspective focuses on how individuals experience change. The ADKAR Model, developed by Prosci, describes the building blocks for successful individual change: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement.
- Organizational Change Management: This perspective involves the process and activities that project teams use to support successful individual change. It includes various plans and strategies, such as the Master Change Management Plan, ADKAR Blueprint, Core Plans, Role-based plans, Sponsor Plan, People Manager Plan, Communications Plan, Training Plan, and more.
Change Management Roles
Change management roles are crucial for successful change initiatives. The change practitioner plays a key role in developing change management strategies and plans, as well as supporting senior leaders and people managers in their employee-facing roles. Effective communication from top leaders and immediate supervisors is important during times of change.
Becoming an Effective Change Leader
To become a more effective change leader, it is recommended to start applying change management principles to projects and build change management competencies within your organization. Managing the people side of change is essential for project success and can help avoid the costs associated with poorly managed change.
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