Do You Have the Desire a& Tools to Manage?

DO YOU HAVE THE DESIRE AND TOOLS TO MANAGE CHANGE BUT STILL NOTHING HAPPENS?

by Bronte Jackson

1. Do you have a Change Management Framework – guidelines, tools and templates?
2. Do you have an agreement at Executive level for its application on all upcoming projects?
3. Have you demonstrated the new Change Management Framework, piloted it, reviewed it and reported on its value?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to all of the above, then obviously:

• people are knocking on your door to access and apply it
• all projects are running with adequate change management planning, support and resourcing

But just in case you are not one of the company’s experiencing this, what’s missing and how can you fix it?
 
We recently helped the Head of Human Resources and the Head of the Project Management Office at a higher education institution with this exact scenario. Here’s what we said and how we helped them.
Imagine if one day you get given a wonderful, designer model car (mix-master, pair of shoes). It is a wonderful machine/piece of equipment/foot apparel. It has a lot of built in features that make life really easy, faster, better and help you get to your destination/achieve your goals more efficiently. If only you had time to read the manual/instructions. If only you could work out which bit goes first, what to do when you hear that noise, how to adjust it for that stretch of pathway, what to do if you are gluten free/allergic to leather? If only it operated and fit you exactly the same way that your current car/mix master/pair of shoes did.
In the meantime your tried and trusty old car, electric beater, pair of shoes will have to do as daily life is not getting any slower. As soon as you have time to investigate this great new solution and apply it, you will. In the meantime no one notices what your current car, mix master, pair of shoes are – there aren’t really any immediate consequences for continuing to use them, are there?

• But what if you could get someone from the manufacturer to come out, observe your daily life, what your current issues are and devise a way to practice using your fancy new machine/appliance/foot apparel in your own surroundings? Using your unique challenges, capability and culture?
• And what if the manufacturer worked with someone from your household and coached and mentored them through a few situations where the new tools/equipment were applied and then got together with the other members of the household to share the learnings of how someone just like them learnt to use and apply the new way of doing things? (And found life easier as a result)
• And what if everyone at that time also got the opportunity to practice applying these new tools, receive feedback, share their learning and challenges, and decide what to do next as a household? Would that make using and implementing the new things easier?

 
At MetaPM we understand that the best guidelines and tools are often difficult to apply when a structured approach to managing change is new for an organisation. Time-poor managers, or project sponsors are often given a drivers manual, without any experience of driving a car, and expected to participate in a race, the next day!
To help our client we delivered a practical Change Management workshop to introduce key managers to concepts and tools, and to familiarise them with their organisations change framework. At this workshop they heard from one of their own Project Managers who had applied the tools and guidelines to his project, using our coaching and our training. We designed and provided a forum for business managers to apply tools and collectively reflect on learnings that increased their confidence and provided support. We facilitated the creation of Action plans set up the creation of a community of practice for ongoing support and shared learning. Our client could then effectively oversee and support the use and application of their Change Management Framework to projects.
We understand that to be able to apply these tools and concepts for the first time, partnering and support from experienced change specialists is required to deliver and develop capability, so the owners of the new car/mix-master/shoes can be fully equipped to use them. This is turn enables the benefits to flow back to the business of adopting, managing and implementing change.