Useful sources of change management information

Useful sources of change
management information
Compiled by Melanie Franklin
melanie@agilechangemanagement.co.uk
1

Introduction
As an experienced change management professional, I
coach senior managers in how to define, plan and manage
transformational change initiatives. A consistent theme in
my coaching sessions is the lack of awareness of what is
happening in the change management profession, common
issues, new ideas and examples of success.
2
To save time searching the internet I have summarized some recent findings. I
have explained what I have learnt from each source, so this is a personal view
which I hope you will find useful. Thanks for reading and good luck with your
change initiatives.
Melanie Franklin
Director, Agile Change Management Limited
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/melaniefranklin1/

Overview
There are slides covering the following areas:
• Strategic execution relies on change management
• Importance of project management in effective change
management
• Identifying the return on investment from change management
activities
• Building the capability for change
These sources of information can be used to create a business case to
justify investment in training and development for those sponsoring and
leading change and those who fulfill the role of change champion within
your organization.
agilechangemanagement.co.uk © 2014 3

Strategic execution is the formal term for
making change happen! (1)
http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Publications/WhyGoodStrategi
esFail_Report_EIU_PMI.ashx
This report is produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit in
association with the Project Management Institute (PMI). It
provides useful guidance on how organisations view the trigger
for change initiatives, which result from the identification of new
strategic objectives.
Key statistics:
• Of those surveyed (over 500 senior executives), only 46%
believed that their organisations successfully implemented the
strategic initiatives
• 65% of those who believe they are good at implementing
change have a much stronger financial performance than their
peers
4

It identifies several success factors that make implementation more
likely:
• Leadership buy-in and support
• Good planning
• An ability to manage organisational change
The report contains good advice for leaders on leading a structured
process that identifies these priorities (project portfolio management)
and then letting others get on with their successful delivery, rather than
micro managing their execution.
It defines the importance of having sufficient resources allocated to get
the work done, rather than spreading resources too thinly over too many
initiatives.
Useful quote:
“where you have resources allocated really says what you have
prioritised”
5

My key takeaway from this report is the emphasis it places on
re-categorising the implementation of strategy as a strategic
piece of work and not as an operational task.
This is because operational tasks are somehow seen as less
important, but 56% of those surveyed said that
implementation was seen as operational in their organisations.
Key quote:
“Ensuring a tight linkage between strategy development and
how that translates operationally is a challenge. But in
effective companies they are integrated in a holistic way.
When am I doing strategy and when am I implementing is not
really the question. People should see these steps as part of a
continuum.”
6

Importance of project management as a vital
element of effective change management (1)
http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Publications/Enabling-
Change-Through-Strategic-Initiatives.ashx
This report is produced by the Project Management Institute
(PMI) so it written from the perspective of ensuring that as
part of your change initiative, your organisation has a well
worked out approach to managing projects and programmes.
Useful quote:
“all strategic change in organisations is delivered through
programs and projects and successful organisations lead
change by managing their projects and programs effectively”
7

Importance of project management as a vital
element of effective change management (2)
My key takeaway from this report is the need to develop a
change plan that has a combination of structural processes
and social processes to implement and embed change:
• Structural processes – these establish and reinforce the
behaviours and ways of working needed in the changed
environment and include creation of the organisation
structure and roles and responsibilities that underpin the
change and performance metrics and incentives that define
the levels to be attained in these new behaviours.
• Social processes – these engage people in the purpose and
outcome of the change, provide a wide variety of
opportunities for them to participate in the change and give
them the support needed to understand and accept how the
change affects them.
8

Identifying the return on investment from
change management activities (1)
http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/people-
management/publications/assets/pwc-change-trifecta.pdf
This report is produced by the PWC and examines the
difficulties of measuring the contribution that change
management activities make to successful business
transformation initiatives.
The main point of this report is to drive home the message
that the quality of change management activities is directly
linked to the achievement of the objectives of change
initiatives, which lead to the realisation of benefits which lead
to a return on investment.
9

The report suggests four approaches to measuring the
contribution of change management:
1. Measuring the relative contribution of change management to
project ROI – best practice change factors for managing
change support the achievement of project objectives
2. Retrospectives of similar changes to identify common
investment criteria – uses the experience of others to shape
the change activities but this only works when there is a track
record of successful change
3. Portfolio of change programmes and management systems
tailored to your organisation – creates a dashboard of
measures that gets everyone involved in tracking of progress
4. Organisational readiness measures – where change is seen as
ongoing so measures relate to how much capacity and skilled
resource are available for change in your organisation
10

This is an in-depth report with a lot of good ideas in it. My key
takeaway is that measuring the contribution of different
change activities can help leaders repeat their success.
For each new change initiative, a leader who has measured
the contribution of change in a previous initiative has the
confidence to know when benefits are likely to be realised
from which activities, and what factors to measure to prove
this is the case.
For me, this link between measuring ROI of change
management and increasing leadership confidence in
managing change is a compelling argument, because
leadership capability for change is itself an essential element
of successful change.
11

Building the capability for change (1)
http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Acce
nture_Outlook_Change_Capable_Organization.pdf
This report is produced by the Accenture and is a really useful
practical guide. It gives lots of examples for how to develop
greater capability for managing change within your
organisation.
Key statistics:
• Of the 674 executives surveyed, 50% did not believe their
culture is adaptive enough to respond positively to change
• Only 10% felt their HR and training functions were well
prepared to help build the capability for change
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The report identified 4 elements of change capability:
1. Establish an enterprise wide change network – a balance
of centralised expertise with distributed competence and
awareness across the organisation
2. Develop broader change competencies – create an
academy to develop change skills at every level of the
organisation
3. Create effective change leaders – ensure leaders are
confident in their ability to communicate change,
encourage feedback and incorporate it into the change
4. Asses change fitness – track complex issues including the
pace of change people are experiencing and the factors
which demonstrate how they are coping
13

I think this report, even though it was written in 2010 is
a very useful reminder of the importance of developing
peoples ability to prepare for and cope with change.
My main takeaway was the reminder that capability for
change must not be an after thought. When a new
strategy is being defined or a new product or service is
being launched, the leadership and staff development
need to create new ways of working must be planned
and resourced, just like any other aspect of the
implementation.
14

Keep in touch
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melanie@agilechangemanagement.co.uk
www.agilechangemanagement.co.uk
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/melaniefranklin1/
AgileCM
@AgileMelanie

Useful sources of change management information

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Useful sources of change management information