Keep the Change! discusses the basics on how to achieve permanent result after change implementation. Managing change effectively and efficiently is key to success for any business. Companies must be flexible and agile to face changes. M&A (like the recent Oracle-Sun deal), market volatility, disruptions in traditional ways of doing business (crowd sourcing, web 2.0…) and technological advancement are some reasons why business will fail if there are not enough emphasis being put on Change Management.

Consultants Role

There are many textbooks and articles describing the best practices in managing changes. However, because of the uniqueness of your business (what works for Company A will not work for Company B) and the ever-changing market climate, what is relevant at the point of writing is obsolete when you try to apply them (if at all they can be applied readily). There are consultants in the market who are experts in change management that company can employ to analyze current situation of the organization and its business. The consultants are in “helicopter position” to propose suitable framework (policies, processes, toolsets) and road maps to achieve the desired state. Do not use consultants to lead and implement changes because their time should be devoted

at strategic level which leaves little time for actual implementation. Furthermore, entrusting consultants to design, lead and implement the change (end to end solution) has the tendency for people in the organization to get lazy. When the consultant steps out of the organization, the “world” falls apart because the consultant was the one who integrated various parts of the organization into this desired state (new culture, process or capabilities). We should always start a change project with the intention to achieve sustainable improvement over current state.

Culture and Change organization

The culture of change must be built into the organization where everyone embraces change because it beings about new opportunities and challenges. The most important driver for success are the project managers. They must take on the role as change agents in the organization to spearhead all change initiatives. As a powerful change agent, managers must encourage quality (with sufficient planning) and not on the speed of implementing the change. However, there is a balance between speed of delivery and quality. At the end of the day, all stakeholders must reconcile and agree on a common ground (speed or quality). A determined sponsorship from the top management is required to support the work of change agents as they need clearance to cut across the organization to realize the change.

Change Communication

There is always a disparity in knowing-it and doing-it. People I talked to are generally aware of changes but there is inertia in making the effort to change. See the world we are living in? There is nothing wrong resisting changes. Most people resist change because they do not understand it. Communication is vital in a change project. Extra effort should be placed on the communication plan which helps lubricate the path leading to successful change. So, it is the job of the change agent to communicate and educate everyone who are affected by the change (be it a change in process, tools or culture). There could also be a genuine reason why people resist change (besides not understanding it). Perhaps there is really a problem at certain level in the organization that change management team is not aware of.

Change Measurement and Documentation

To measure whether the change was a success, one of the key activities of a change project is to develop metrics and performance measurements plan. I have encountered quite a few cases of change projects that do not have any baseline measurements or the metrics were created as an after thought. Without any form of measurement, how would you determine if the change has been successful? If there is nothing to measure, is there anything that need improvement so that the next change project will be better?

Measurement keeps change under control. The project schedule, cost and scope may be intact according to plan but the quality of the implementation may be suffering because everyone is focused on closure. If quality is left unchecked (and unmeasured), project will most likely be delayed because the desired result cannot be achieved and it is only found out at the later part of the implementation.

Documentations are essential piece for change management. However, we often neglect this important component simply because it is perceived as time wasting and not adding value to the project. This negativity surrounding documentation should be dispelled. Project managers must enforce strict deadline for delivery of documentations before closure of any phase or milestone achievements. Every change in the organization MUST be accompanied by a change in associated documents. Documents should also be tagged as an organization asset with the right process to govern creation, deletion and distribution.

I would recommend assigning owners to each documents and they are each responsible for their sets. The owners are required to organize periodic document reviews with fellow team members or external parties to ensure they are still relevant in current context. The owners are measured on their documents accuracy (which is determined by auditors). This is a self-policing approach that is embedded into the very fabric of the operations.

Sustainable Change

Badly managed change will result in scope creeps, bursting of budgets, undesirable end result (making things worse than before), time wasted (opportunity cost) and/or unsustainable result. Make the change and most importantly, keep the change!

Share with us your experience and views as a change agent or as an employee in an organization undergoing changes?

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 8:06 pm and is filed under management, project management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.