Project Management and the expectations of PMs are changing –
and by changing, I mean E X P A N D I N G!
For most of my career in Project Management the focus has been on the “Time,
Cost, Scope, Quality” and other basics of solution delivery. Over the last couple of years I've been a
part of extending the goal posts to include and in fact elevate Change
Management within Project Management. While
many will argue that this has always been a part of PM, it is typically under-served,
ignored, or avoided in what I have seen.
My exposure started with a project that I was consulting on
and despite on-time delivery, meeting budgets and scope, it was feeling more
like a failed effort. The project
included multiple roll-outs across a large organization and as the roll-outs continued, adoption and
utilization didn't! Obviously not my problem, because PMs deliver solutions and capabilities – what the
business decides to do with them is not our problem! Or is it? …………. No, can’t be. (Phew - close one!)
Our fearless leader assigned a “Change Manager” to help with
the adoption issue. This began my own
change of heart about the boundaries of Project Management. The Change Manager brought to light the fact
that we were deploying a solution to realize a business benefit and that we weren't being
evaluated on delivering functions or capabilities, it was about the benefits. To address this, the CM and project had to do some back-tracking. We needed to bring along
the people and find out what their concerns, questions, conflicts and fears
were. We identified things like system changes, process changes, and even some role changes within the 'Big' change.
People are apparently complex entities, so this was quite a bit of work that
I won’t get into here, but I can’t argue with the successful results.
In the year that has passed
since that project, I have been further enlightened on Change Management and see
it now as the benefit-critical "people side" of the project. We as PMs already moved processes, systems,
solutions, and technical changes to future states. Producing benefits however, will
continue to be hit or miss (mostly miss?)
until the people are ready to use and sustain them.
Through work that I've participated in to develop and integrate change management practices into Project Management processes, I've identified and collected a number ideas
on how PMs, Sponsors and Change Agents can help with the people side
of the change curve. For some reason I called them
the “Ten Tenets of Change Management” so I’m sure that my faithful readers
(both of you) will identify some more here and I will need to re-name it soon!
I sincerely hope that PMs, Sponsors, and
others moving toward positive change find some value in thinking about and using some of these ideas!
Change Great Things!
Ed Sullivan - PMP
*******************************************************************************
Ten Tenets of Change Management
- Show them the ‘WHY’
- The Vision - what is the future state and why is it better - what happens if we don't change?
- Organizational Benefit - reduced costs, competitive advantage, compliance, cut losses, speed to market, customer satisfaction, etc.
- What's in it for them? - Other benefits more individualized or applicable to their team or department level
- Supporting data - provide data what supports the benefits and desired outcomes of the change
- Maintain communications with honest assessments of progress and authentic behavior
- Provide regular status updates
- Acknowledge the unknowns, risks, possible downsides
- Address the unexpected - respond to new information, results, responses, reactions, findings
- Manage expectations (transition periods, incremental progress, interim benefits, ramp-up time, support needed)
- Understand and respect the past (work done, processes, people, contributions - assume the best decisions were made at the time when they were made)
- Use analogies or stories to connect the change to something the know and relate to
- Demonstrate that you've planned -
- Show timelines, increments, pilots, training, research, comparables, pros & cons, etc.
- Give the change idea credibility by showing a level of commitment and demonstrate it has been thought through by doing the upfront planning work.
- Consider a challenge session where you can preemptively address the concerns and open the dialogue by asking them to challenge the ideas and direction and the 'Why'.
- Highlight the support that exists
- Executives, managers, peers, industry trends, special interest groups
- Reference materials, white papers, articles
- Examples of success and movement by others towards the desired future state
- Connect people with the "Change Agents" - the unofficial leaders and internal support for the change. These people can be there to sustain momentum and support when the PM is not there and after the project is over as it moves towards benefits realization!
- Let them know they are not alone - ask them who else will be experiencing a change.
- Confirm what will be stable
- Identify what is NOT changing
- Explore more specifics about the change and provide comfort by acknowledging the routines, roles, and responsibilities that are stable.
- With the change in a proper context and perspective it is likely to be less overwhelming and allows for more targeted support strategies.
- Acknowledge the feelings
- Letting go, fear, endings, inadequacy
- Let them know they are being heard - listening, paraphrasing, thanking
- Talk to individuals about the 'sub' changes in their terms and how it might impact them.
- Get participation from Change Agents to describe how they are managing the changes
- Guide towards ownership of the change
- Provide choices or options when possible
- Let them set time frames and make commitments
- Let them identify issues, risks, and mitigations
- Recognize their contributions towards the victories along the way
- Prevent backsliding
- Track the progress against goals/plans
- Establish metrics and measurements
- Request status update
- Reward positive movement towards the goal
- Give public recognition to stimulate similar behaviors and movement in others
- Celebrate successes and contributions
- Highlight and reinforce the connection between progress steps and the benefits (the 'Why')
- Identify their strengths in the change
- What will they be really good at and demonstrate proficiency at quickly
- Help them link their strengths to the changing demands in the future state
- See Strengths Finder 2.0 for more ideas about a strengths - based approach
