Change Management for a Change (eBook)

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION & USING THIS BOOK

“…said the Queen, “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”

Through the looking-glass, C. Dodgson [Lewis Carroll]

Purpose: Why Read this Book?

First, some quick questions:

• Have you ever had to drive or support changes in your organization to achieve some new objectives or just to compete and ‘stay in place’?
• Have you ever wondered why some Programs succeed and some fail to achieve their expected goals?
• Have you ever faced challenges and resistance to your Change efforts – from customers, employees, or even your bosses?
• Have you ever wondered why it takes so long and so much work to get agreement from everyone on making changes?
• Have you ever felt frustration over peoples’ apparent reluctance to accept the changes and move forward?
• Have you ever had difficulty completing a project or program?
• If you have not, Congratulations! You are doing some things very well – even if you are not aware that you are doing so well1. You may still be interested in this book to help others help themselves.

If you have had some of these experiences, you are not alone! In numerous studies going back to the 1990s, most programs that involve change fail to achieve their goals on their first iteration. In general, the larger the scale (people or dollars), the greater the chance of ‘failure’ if failure is defined as simply not achieving the original (tangible) goals and (intangible) outcomes.

The information and processes in this book have helped hundreds of Change efforts achieve success in rapid time, increased productivity and profitability, with people having fun achieving those goals and outcomes.

The purpose of this book is to provide a general reference and ‘go-to’ resource for those involved in Program-based Change efforts.

This book includes three themes: What is Organizational Change Management (OCM) and General Background (Chapters 1 and 2); How do you ‘Do’ OCM (Chapters 3 through 12); and What is Beyond OCM (Chapter 13).

Whether Program- or Project-based, these efforts have a defined purpose with explicit objectives; they have defined start and stop dates2.

This book is designed to offer you some new options, new paths, and new opportunities to find your own best path for leading and evoking change in your organization. Sometimes, it might help by simply reinforcing what you already know and are doing. Some other times, it might help by suggesting that you not do some activities in some situations. Either way, it is intended to be reference book with context and real-world advice.

Why is another ‘Change’ book needed?

There are many thousands of books, videos, workshops, and academic programs designed to help people move through change programs as seamlessly as possible; they can all be helpful. When combined with experienced coaches, mentors, and experts, they can be invaluable. At the same time, there are a limited number of resources that offer help through each phase of the Change effort; there are even more limited resources that offer real-world advice to real-world challenges and problems overall, and those unique to particular parts of the Change effort.

I have been involved with Organizational Change Management (OCM) for decades, from many different roles: Participant, Stakeholder, Entrepreneur, Manager, Executive, Sponsor, Leader, Coach, Consultant, Project Manager, Researcher, Academic, Teacher, and more. I have worked in very small companies, very large companies, in private and public sectors, domestically in the US and globally. I wish that I had had a resource that I could understand and that helped me with my problems at the time, whether I was in the role of executive or consultant or participant. I also wanted a resource that didn’t require me to actually read through the entire book when I needed an answer to my problem now.

This book, in conjunction with others in this series, is intended to address that gap.

Who is the intended audience for this book?

This can be useful for anyone planning, going through, or being impacted by Change in the organization. It may be most useful for those professionals planning a major Change effort, and those planning to support a major Change effort. Its modular approach, “easy-to-find” layout, and “encyclopedia-like” format means that it also serves as a continuing reference source for anyone looking for help in dealing with change in a group setting.

For the Sponsoring Executive and impacted Executives, this is intended to provide an outline of how to ensure that your strategic and operational goals are achieved throughout the Change effort. It includes mechanisms and activities to provide ‘leading indicators’ of success as the Program progresses. There are listings of Business Challenges throughout the Program lifecycle and potential mitigation approaches to minimize risk. Effective OCM speeds benefit realization, lowers risk, and builds competitive advantage for your organization.

For the Participant in Change efforts, including managers and employees who may be involved in future Change efforts, this is intended to provide you with an overview of common activities, opportunities to increase your influence of the Change effort, and to develop your own Change capabilities. It can help you to reduce stress, optimize your time and resource investment, and support you as you make key decisions throughout the Change effort.

For the OCM Consultant, internal or external, this series is intended to provide a detailed look at potential OCM activities, including: a phase-by-phase look at key activities; detailed descriptions of how to measure and leverage the effectiveness of key activities; course-correct as appropriate to keep the Program on track; and advice on dealing with dozens of key business and people-related challenges that OCM typically encounters. This book and its corresponding series are intended to be an over-the-shoulder guide to full-lifecycle OCM as well as a go-to, how-to reference source of actions, applications, and advice that may be key to successful OCM.

For the OCM Change Leader, this series is intended to provide key perspectives on the application of OCM to achieve a successful change. In most OCM efforts, the emphasis is on “system installation” over “program implementation.” As a result, very often the key business and cultural benefits of the program are not achieved. In some of the most successful programs, OCM is considered a strategic function under the Change Leader rather than a project-based activity. In either approach, successful Change Leaders can benefit from understanding the essential approaches, objectives, and outcomes of OCM. Integrating both strategic and tactical OCM in a real-world environment, is the intent of this book.

For the Program Manager, this series is intended to provide both a ‘people-centric’ view of program success and an ‘implementation’ focus on Benefits Realization. This book/series offers a detailed map to measure and monitor the effectiveness of the Change effort, provide ‘leading indicators’ of change, and to more fully integrate the intangible and tangible aspects of Program success.

For anyone interested in Change in a Program setting, this series can show the purpose and activities of OCM and how they can help the organization achieve its tangible goals and intangible objectives in a shorter time, with less risk, and significantly less cost.

How much OCM experience or expertise is needed for this book?

None!

As if we were having a discussion over lunch, this is written in a conversational style that requires no previous OCM experience, training, or education. I will try to explain the concepts in everyday language to better understand. Since this series is very ‘real world’ based upon actual Change efforts, there are many references to situations that might seem unusual or even counter-intuitive to the casual reader. Rest assured that everything in this series is based upon the actual experience and expertise of me and my compatriots in OCM.

For those readers who might still be confused by some of the change- or project-based terminology, Kyle Hanlan’s excellent reference, Practical Definitions for the Working Professional3 may be helpful.

Writing Format

To better communicate a wide range of subjects within an even wider range of context, I am uncomfortable writing in a single style. The subject of ‘change’ is so vast and (by...