What is Change Management?

It might seem like a really basic thing to cover, but the truth is a lot of people, companies and industries still don’t really know what Organisational Change Management is or they have a very theoretic or outdated view of it. 

For my Leading Successful Change students and for my consulting clients, I like to define Change Management really simply:

Change Management is moving people from doing things in one way to doing things in a new way through communications, training and business readiness to realise the business benefits.

So let’s break this down a bit further:

Types of changes

It can be any organisational change - a new process, a new system, a new team structure, a new product, a new service (or a change to a product or service). It could be the move to remote work, the move back to the office, a compliance change, a regulatory change. 

Anything changing in an organisation can be supported by Change Management to help people feel informed, inspired, confident and ready for the change. 

The focus is on people, rather than on the thing that is being delivered (i.e. the solution, which is usually what the Project Manager is focused on). It’s engaging hearts and minds and helping people understand and come on board the journey of the change so they believe in it, support it, and adopt it.

Communications

A lot of people think Change Management IS communications, and that communications is the only thing Change Management is, because it’s what most people see. It’s the emails, posters, websites, briefings, town halls, flyers, showcases and more that are used to help people discover and understand the change. 

Training 

Training is teaching people the hard skills or technical skills they’ll need to do things in the new way (such as user training for a new system), as well as the soft skills or capability they’ll need to do things in the new way and sustain it (for example, for my consulting clients I’ll sometimes provide coaching capability for leaders to help them lead an operating model change). Training can include training sessions, but also FAQs, guides, manuals, demos, and more.

Business Readiness

Business readiness is making sure people have everything they need to do the change and keep doing it into the future. For example, once I was rolling out a new application on mobile devices for field maintenance teams who often had wet or dirty hands in their daily work. This meant it was hard for them to use the touch screen. So a business readiness activity I implemented was to ensure there was a pack of wet wipes in every truck, and more importantly - made it someone’s responsibility ongoing beyond the project to refresh these each month. Business readiness can be user access, pulse checks, feedback, support, tools, checklists, reviews, and more. 

Business Benefits

And here’s probably the most important part of Change Management. Yes Change is about people, but it’s not at the expense of results. Change Management balances people and results. We set and track measures of success not just during the project or change but beyond, too, to ensure the change delivers return on investment in the short-term and long-term. I step through all the success metrics you can use to measure change in Module 5 of my Leading Successful Change program: Measuring Success & Embed. 

Culture and Ways of Working

Lastly, in Change Management we also focus on culture and ways of working, because so often for a change to be successful, these elements need to be improved or consciously created for long-lasting effects. Organisational change is an incredible opportunity to focus more broadly and holistically on the organisational culture as a whole, so we make sure this opportunity isn’t missed.

So there it is, my super simple definition of Change Management. It might seem basic and other people might want to make it more complex but I’m all about democratising change and getting into the hands and hearts of as many leaders, projects and teams as possible rather than withholding it as smoke-and-mirrors in the hands of a hallowed few Change practitioners. And of course, helping women worldwide make the career change to Change Management!

That’s why I’m running my free Change Tools Masterclass next week. It’s the BEST way to get a grasp on Change Management skills easily and confidently, as I’ll be sharing all my practical tools and templates as well as answering your questions when we kick off on Tuesday 11 March. 

CLICK HERE to register your free spot on next week’s Change Tools Masterclass

All my belief, 

Lata xx