Change Management

One of the areas of project implementation most overlooked across the board is organizational change management.  This “soft” area often scares people away, but anyone who has done a major implementation of a complex project will tell you the importance of this.  Every constituent has a WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) attitude, and they see the project through the impact that it has on them.

I was reading some other sites about project management, and they stressed the importance of the PMO or COE (Center of Excellence) in managing the change.  But, a lot of people don’t understand the tangible deliverables of an organizational change management plan.  Some of the typical deliverables include:

1. Implementation readiness – understanding the implications, creating a strategy, and assessing the leadership readiness to support the change
2. Stakeholder management – identifying the stakeholders, lining up leadership support and change agents, capturing risks and benefits, and building commitment
3. Communication – communication strategy, communication plan (audience, medium, message, frequency, author), and execution
4. HR strategy – identification of future state and changes (e.g., new skills needed), pay and performance management, competency development, and staffing plan
5. Team effectiveness – clear project charter, shared vision, and understood business case

E&Y, Accenture, and many of the large consulting companies have build competencies in this area.  In my time at E&Y, I worked with many clients in the data warehousing and performance management areas regarding change management.  It is not easy, but it is very important to get right.