change management

Change Management!1

Organisation

What is change management"Change management is a comprehensive, cyclic, and structured approach for transitioning individuals, groups, and organizations from a current state to a future state with intended business benefits"(1).

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Processes

CultureWay of doing things

(1) "MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONS: A PRACTICE GUIDE", PMI

Change

TodayTomorrow

Changes affect many aspects: people, business processes, organizational setup, culture,... People

Manage changes in a globalized world

• We live in a globalised era in which organisations are merged, acquired or simply change their nature;

• Frequently people from different cultures need to come together and to realize the upcoming change;

• It is neccessary to understand this environment;

• It has to be deeply understood and assessed the reason for the change.

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Who can support the change

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Sponsor

Steering Committee

Program Manager change agent

Project Leader

Project LeaderProject Leader

It is important to understand that changes are possible only if there is a strong sponsorship. The sponsor must be the most influent person in the organization, and must have a direct control over the resources that are affected by the change. For example: The business line manager when the change affect the business line or The CEO if the change is on the company. Other important issues to consider are the resources: changes imply investments and resources and the sponsor needs to assure them.

Good communication is a key

The communcation needs to carry clearly the following items:

• The reasons that have originated the change program and the "sense of urgency";

• The mission of the strategic program;

• The benefits for the stakeholders (customers, employees,...);

• The measurable strategic objectives.

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Manage the transition period

Change needs to be considered a process and part of the company culture, and it cannot be destructive for the business. The implemention of the changes are made gradually. Normally it is neccessary to provide a roadmap, and develop pilot projects.

During this period people need trainings, support and coaching. Even if the program has a solid plan, the program manager needs to take into account of some additional unexpected activities.

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Manage the resitance to change

Even if the change can be "rationally" explained, the implementation will face some human resistances.

Those ones have several causes, as for example the people tend to defend their status quo. Sometimes the resistance cannot be explained due to the human irrational nature.

If the benefits have been properly communicated, and it is not possible to find an agreed solution, then the sponsor needs to be involved to push forward.

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Release the benefits to the business as usual

It is fundamental to establish a good communication when it comes to the realization of the benefits.

The stakeholders need to feel the change and the improvements.

The best way is to relate the identified benefits and the projects status in a matrix.

Once the benefits will be realized, the correlated KPIs can be measured.

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To have more information about strategic program management, please contact:

Daniele Pinto daniele.pinto@gmail.com

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