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Recently we’ve talked a lot about the importance of shifting from traditional to Next Generation Change Management. NextGen Change Management is about achieving business outcomes, and utilizing your limited resources to get maximum benefit in the shortest amount of time. It’s a shift from change management “activity” to change management “impact.”
Prospective clients interested in AIM inevitably ask, “What’s included in your Toolkit?” This question always causes us to hesitate, because yes, there is a toolkit; however, unlike some of our competitors, we understand change management, when done right, is really about targeting your organization’s limited resources for the most impact in the shortest amount of time to get to value realization at speed.
We’ve all heard the statistic 70% of all organizational change projects fail. This figure was first reported by Hammer and Champy in 1993 and, unfortunately, recent research confirms the staggering statistic hasn’t changed by much. The ugly truth of the matter is today’s organizations are still plagued by projects that are sub-optimized, if not facing outright failure. “Spotty” implementations are all too common with success in one area but not in all areas impacted by the change.
Operational Excellence programs like Lean Six Sigma have been around for many years and have proven themselves time and time again to be invaluable in identifying areas where business process improvement is necessary. Lean Six Sigma, in particular, focuses on improving performance by removing waste. The five steps in the Lean Six Sigma process are designed to optimize and stabilize business process and design and are abbreviated by the initials DMAIC:
While many organizations hope a series of informational emails from top executives combined with a few half-day training sessions for end users will work to build Target Readiness for an organizational change, these tactics are rarely enough. The fact is, no amount of communication is going to magically make people change their behavior. And while important, end-user training is just one piece of the Readiness puzzle.
The business value in using a disciplined project management protocol, such as Agile or Waterfall, is undeniable. Project management ensures projects are completed on time, on budget and to scope. And with the amount of investments being made on large, complex organizational change at an all-time high, these metrics are critical. But, what about using a change management process? Is there a value there as well?
Last week our blog article, “15 Common Mistakes Made by Leadership During a Change -- and What to Do About Them” examined the most common mistakes made by leadership during a change. But, Sponsors are not the only ones who are prone to making errors. Change Agents, who are ultimately responsible for an implementation, can also make some very damaging mistakes along the way.
Forbes Magazine recently published an online article, “15 Change Management Mistakes You're Probably Making” written by the Forbes Coaches Council. The article lists their take on the most common mistakes made by leaders and their insights on how to avoid them.
You may be surprised to hear us say that being “change adept” requires multiple capabilities, including, but not limited to, a systematic change management methodology like AIM. It’s true. Change management is just one piece of the puzzle!
Have you ever been in a meeting, talking about change management with an important Sponsor, and slowly watch his or her eyes glaze over? Or how about, when you are telling your Sponsor all about the Reinforcement Strategy, Resistance Management and Key Role Map you’ve put together and they suddenly appear antsy and announce they need to move on to their next meeting. Frustrating, right!?
