Explore the Levels of Change Management

The Bottom Line of Change Management: Results and Outcomes

Written by Tim Creasey

3 Mins

PROSCI ARCHIVES
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One of Prosci's Executive Instructors, Butch Alligood, came to Prosci following a career in the United States Air Force. Butch often speaks about the BLUF principle of communication. BLUF is an acronym that stands for "Bottom Line Up Front," the idea that by beginning with a concise statement of the bottom line, a conversation or written communication can more quickly get to the point. The BLUF principle applies well to communicating the value of change management. By beginning with the bottom line, your efforts to demonstrate the value and benefit of change management can be more effective.

What is the BLUF for change management? Change management drives project benefit realization and is necessary whenever a project's results and outcomes depend on individuals adopting and using a solution.


Want to learn more about change management? You've come to the right place. 

Start your journey to change success by learning the why and how of change management here


What Is the Bottom Line?

When an organization implements a change, no matter the size or nature or type, the bottom line is to improve the performance of the organization in some meaningful way. The change may be to fix a problem or to seize an opportunity. It may result from customer, competitive or internal pressures. It may be incremental in nature or it may be a radical new way of operating. It may impact a few workgroups or it may impact the entire organization. It may impact behaviors, processes, tools, technology, organizational structures or job roles. But, regardless of the nature of the change, organizations launch projects and initiatives to improve performance—to reach a future state that is better than the current state.

For a change to be successful, performance must actually be improved in the meaningful way intended. Various phrases describe this, including:

  • Benefit realization
  • Value creation
  • Return on investment (ROI)
  • Results and outcomes

The bottom line of change is to realize benefits and create value.

Connect Change Management to the Bottom Line

Prosci has worked to define the value of change management in terms of project success, benefit realization, value creation and achievement of ROI. This shift has had a significant impact on the overall credibility and adoption of change management. However, many practitioners are still facing challenges about the value and need for change management. To engage a project team or senior leader, a change management practitioner needs to be able to directly and convincingly connect change management to the bottom line of the project.

You can make the connection several ways. Here are a few ways that change management directly contributes to the bottom line of the project:

All change is individual

In order for the organization to reach an intended future state, impacted employees must reach their own future states. The cornerstone of creating improvement is individuals doing their jobs a new way. Change management places the necessary focus on where change actually occurs: at the individual employee level.

Poorly managed change increases costs and risk

When the people side of change is ignored or mismanaged, additional costs and risks emerge at both the project level and organizational level. Impacted people exhibit resistant behaviors, morale declines, valued employees leave, delays abound, and inefficiencies result from rework. Change management can help you avoid many costs and mitigate many risks on the project.

People-side factors contribute to or constrain ROI

Three people-side factors  directly contribute to or constrain the project Return on Investment: 

  1. Speed of adoption – how quickly employees get on board
  2. Ultimate utilization – how many employees get on board vs. how many opt out or find work arounds
  3. Proficiency – how effective employees are once they make the transition

Change management enables you to achieve ROI on projects through faster speed of adoption, higher ultimate utilization and greater proficiency.

Data correlates change management with success

Data from numerous sources show a direct correlation between change management effectiveness and likelihood of meeting objectives. Additionally, projects with more effective change management are more likely to finish on schedule and to be completed on budget. Change management effectiveness correlates to project success.

The bottom line of change management is to ensure benefit realization and value creation by addressing the people side of change and by driving required adoption and usage of change solutions.

Having the "Right" Conversation
About Change Management

Attendees of a Prosci webinar were asked if they were having the "right" conversation—one that focuses on change management's contribution to project results and outcomes. While one-third of attendees felt they had the right conversations most or all of the time, the remaining attendees felt they could focus more on results and outcomes. 

When presenting change management to project teams and senior leaders, it's easy to fall back on describing the work you will do as a change management practitioner. Conducting impact analyses, building communication plans, facilitating training sessions—these are all important activities. But they don't focus on what the project team or senior leader cares about.

A conversation that centers on project and organizational success will resonate and connect more with your audiences, and the mindset shift you need to take change management from a "nice to have" to a "must have" in you organization.

The Value of BLUF in
Change Management Communications

BLUF, or Bottom line Up Front, means starting your conversation or communication with the important conclusions. BLUF provides valuable insights for changing how you talk about change management. The bottom line for change is benefit realization and value creation, improving the performance of the organization with a project or an initiative. To use BLUF, the bottom line for change management is how you can directly contribute to project benefit realization and value creation.

By shifting your conversation from what you do to what you deliver (benefit realization through employee adoption and usage) you will be more effective in building the support and commitment you need from project managers and senior leaders. When you introduce change management to a project team or a senior leader, are you starting with the bottom line? 

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Tim Creasey

Tim Creasey

Tim Creasey é o Chief Innovation Officerda Prosci e um líder reconhecido globalmente em Gestão de Mudanças. Seu trabalho forma a base do maior conjunto de conhecimentos do mundo sobre como gerenciar o lado humano da mudança para fornecer resultados organizacionais.

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