One of the greatest challenges of transformational change is getting people to let go of the old ways, and adopt the new changes. Unless this happens, there is no real transformation-- simply stated, if there is no behavior change, there is no transformation.
How closely does your change management methodology link to real project work? If it is divorced from what is viewed as the "real work" of the organization, that's a problem! If project managers view the change management methodology as a responsibility of HR and not part of their own accountability for the project-- yes, you guess it! That's a problem.
One of the great challenges of transformational change is that very often you are confronted with multiple sponsors who each bring their own vision, or "Frame of Reference," to the change. How do you "line up" these individuals so that you can harness the power and influence these authorizing sponsors can offer in a positive way, and overcome potential barriers to change that you may find in your organization-- for example, turf-guarding (hypothetically-speaking, of course....).
What's the end-goal for your enterprise-wide change? That may seem like an obvious question, but it's really not! In our thirty-plus years of change management consulting we've observed a common pattern of "premature project completion" across all types of organizational changes, including enterprise-wide change.
Just how important is sponsor contracting to successful transformational change? Don Harrison, IMA President and developer of AIM (Accelerating Implementation Methodology) will tell you that all failed transformational change can be traced back to poor sponsor contracting with the Authorizing Sponsors.
What falls under the change leader job description in best practice change management consulting? Here's a role description we use in our own change management consulting where we are applying the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) to complex, large-scale changes in our client organizations:
One of the major dilemmas of transformational change is how to get people to adopt the new behaviors. How do you reinforce the change? It was interesting to note, then, that one of the research conclusions that Richard H. Thaler stated in his July 8 New York Times' article on "Watching Behavior Before Writing the Rules" was this simple, yet profound guideline: "If you want to encourage some activity, make it easy."
While many organizations include some of the necessary people-side project management deliverables some of the time, it’s not a consistently-applied change management consulting process. As a result, implementation success is spotty. While attempts are made to either “bolt on” a human “change management” plan at the end of the technical plan, or to run a human plan in parallel, the best practice is a blended plan.
Question: What's one of the first things many organizations do when they embark on transformational change?
Answer: A new vision and values statement.
But is this really a meaningful way to start the transformational change journey?
One of the ironies of implementing a change management methodology across the enterprise is--it requires change management! Even if you see the obvious benefits of applying structure on the people-side of projects, the fact is that you are introducing a new way of operating, and it brings with it all the challenges of implementing any other kind of enterprise-wide change: the need for Sponsorship, reinforcement, readiness, and a sound communication plan. It’s why we say you actually need to use “AIM on AIM.”
