Organizational Change Management Checklist

Year after year, participants in Prosci's benchmarking studies identify greater recognition of the need for and value of change management as a top trend impacting the industry. While some find themselves in a situation where change management is being requested, many other practitioners are still working diligently to make a compelling case for the need for change management. These practitioners must learn how to effectively "sell" change management to project leaders and executives by directly connecting change management to project and organizational outcomes. Your Business Case for Change Management "The case for change management is inextricably connected to project and organizational success. If you are not talking about achieving results, then you are having the wrong conversation." —Tim Creasey, Prosci Chief Development Officer How do you respond when you're asked, "What is the value of change management?" Do you talk about the importance of communications? Do you talk about training? Do you refer to resistance and barriers to adoption? Or do you talk about project results and organizational success? The bottom line of a business or an organization is the bottom line when it comes to making the case for change management. When you are convincing project leaders or senior leaders about the importance of change management, you must link the work you do managing the people side of change to one thing: results. In the end, change management is a tool for delivering results. Here are four perspectives that will help you demonstrate how change management connects to results and outcomes: 1. The individual's role in successful change Organizational change ultimately comes to life one person at a time. Said another way, the individual is the unit of change. If changes are only successful when individuals do their jobs differently, then a structured approach for supporting individual change is central to projects delivering expected improvement. 2. Data supporting the value of change management A growing body of data shows that with more effective change management, projects are more likely to meet objectives, finish on time and finish on budget. An important "upside" to applying change management is improving the likelihood of success, and the data is quite clear about the correlation. 3. Three "people side of change" ROI factors When projects or initiatives impact how people do their jobs, three human factors directly contribute to or constrain the Return on Investment (ROI) of that project. Prosci's ROI of Change Management Model presents the human factors that define ROI as speed of adoption (how quickly people make the change), ultimate utilization (how many of them make the change), and proficiency (how effective they are after making the change). 4. Costs and risks of poorly managed change When the people side of change is not managed effectively, projects and initiatives experience higher costs and greater risks than when change management is done well. Costs and risks apply to the project and to the organization as a whole. Applying a holistic, structured approach to change management is both a cost avoidance and risk mitigation technique. To Whom Are You Making the Case? You will make the case for change management with numerous audiences in your organization. You may have the conversation with an executive or senior leader who has launched a change and has the authority to ensure that the organization applies change management. You may speak with a project leader working diligently to solve a technical problem, but has not started thinking about the people side of the change. You may speak with a communications professional you will partner with on a particular initiative. Or you may be speaking with an internal consultant tasked with change management on a new project. The important takeaway is that the way you tell the story about the value of change management depends on your audience, their relationship to change, and what they care about. The key to making a compelling case for change management is linking it directly to their concerns and success. Think about the two most common audiences of the case for change management and their specific concerns: 1. Executives and senior leaders Concerns: financial and strategic goals The question you must answer: How can you connect managing the people side of change to meeting financial and strategic goals? 2. Project leaders, managers and teams Concerns: delivering a successful project that improves the organization, on time and within budget The question you must answer: How can you connect managing the people side of change to project delivery? Combining these approaches as needed, you can connect effective change management to financial performance, strategic goals and project delivery. And when you begin to speak the language your audience cares about, you'll be well on your way to building support for change management. The People Side of Change on Their Radar Your goal is to ensure that the people side of change is considered and addressed on the projects and initiatives you support. By creating an Awareness of the need for change management and a Desire to participate and support change management, you have taken the first steps to ensuring change management is applied on the projects that you support in your organization. When you make the connection between change management and results and outcomes, you move change management from a "nice to have" to a "must have," earning yourself a seat at the table in the project success discussion.

Prosci has been publishing industry-leading research and content on change management for more than two decades. Through this research and client feedback, we identified six focus areas where change practitioners need more resources and support. Read on for five tips in each of these areas, along with in-text links to deeper content. 5 Tips for Succeeding in Change Management These tips focus on applying an intentional, structured and customized approach to managing the people side of an organizational change. In Prosci's most recent Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking study, the use of a structured approach was the #2 contributor to success, and use of a methodology correlated with meeting project objectives. The other tip highlighted engaging those in the organization who are the face and voice of change: your senior leaders and people managers. Start early – be more proactive to avoid "fire fighting" and damage control Apply structure – be more effective and efficient, and increase the credibility of the work you are doing Customize your approach – understand your unique situation and adapt accordingly Engage employee-facing roles – prepare, equip and support those who are the face and voice of change in your organization to be successful Focus on the individual – remember that organizations don't change, people do 5 Tips for Managing Resistance Resistance to change is one of the major issues change management addresses. Participants in Prosci's Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking studies consistently reveal that a change-resistant culture is a top obstacle to success. However, change management extends beyond the systematic elimination of resistance. It includes engaging employees and creating a compelling case for the need to manage change proactively. When change management is applied effectively, much resistance can be avoided. A formal and forward-looking approach to mitigating resistance and addressing the root causes of resistance results in better performance. Do change management right the first time – effective change management can eliminate many of causes of resistance before it occurs Expect resistance – do not be surprised by resistance; expect it and plan for it Address resistance formally – incorporate resistance management planning in all phases of your change management strategy and plan development Identify the root causes – make sure that you aren't simply responding to the symptom but really addressing what is causing the resistance Engage the "right" resistance managers – senior leaders and people managers are the right people in the organization to manage resistance 5 Tips for Better Communications Communication is another regularly cited top contributor to success in our benchmarking research. The communication plan is one of the recommended core change management plans in the Prosci Methodology and part of the structured communication effort that begins early in the project lifecycle. Communications should answer the key questions people have during change, such as, "Why is the change happening?" "What are the risks of not changing?" and "What's in it for me?" Doing so creates momentum for change. Structure your efforts – including sequencing messages and creating a formal deliverable Start earlier – even if you do not have all the answers, share what you can and share when more answers are expected Communicate more often – frequent communications are critical to successful change management Answer the questions people have – avoid focusing on the details, and focus instead on the reasons for the change and personal impacts of the change User preferred senders – senior leaders for business messages and people managers for personal messages 5 Tips for Developing People Managers as Change Coaches People managers are some of the most important allies in times of change. They have the proximity to and relationships with employees that are critical for building support and navigating resistance. Unfortunately, many people managers are not enabled with the skills and tools they need to become great leaders of change. Remember, being a great manager and being a great change leader are two different things. People managers must first be on board with a change before they can lead their direct reports through the change. Get them on board – people managers need to go through their own change process before supporting their direct reports Share the role you expect – including high-level and detailed actions Build competencies – appreciate that leading change is a competency that can and must be developed Provide tools – including individual change models, tip sheets and information for fulfilling roles Enable them with support – help people managers succeed at leading change with peer and expert support 5 Tips for Building Organizational Change Management Competency As organizations face more and more change, effectively managing change is becoming an increasingly important strategic capability. However, building an organizational change management competency is a significant undertaking. You are fundamentally changing how the organization reacts to change. When organizations decide to build this competency, they must treat the effort as both a project and a change to be managed. Research shows that successfully deploying change management across and organization—what we call enterprise change management—requires focus and intent. Treat it as a project – building the competency requires a set of planned actions and someone to manage them Treat it as a change – you are asking people to do their job differently; it requires change management to deploy change management Utilize a holistic strategy – actions are needed in the leadership, project, skill, structure and process areas Dedicate a team – a representative team needs to lead the effort to deploy change management Secure sponsorship – like any organization-wide change, deploying change management needs effective and well-placed sponsorship 5 Tips for Addressing Change Saturation Change saturation occurs when there is so much change occurring that it has negative consequences. Given competitive, customer and economic demands, many organizations are facing a point of change saturation--resulting in negative impacts on individuals, projects and organizations. Once your organization begins to consider the overall change load, and the cumulative and collective impact on employees, you can begin to manage the portfolio of change more effectively. Clearly define saturation and its elements – recognize that change saturation occurs when the amount of change (change disruption) is greater than the amount of change an organization can handle (change capacity) Understand why saturation occurs – no one is focusing on the collective impact of the changes taking place Share the consequences of being saturated – individuals, projects and the organization as a whole suffer when there is too much change Manage the portfolio of change – a structured process can help you understand, evaluate and better manage your changes Manage each change more effectively – when a change is managed well, it takes up less change capacity than when it is managed poorly