When the people side of change is ignored or poorly managed, the project and the organization take on additional costs and risks. From this perspective, effective change management is a cost avoidance technique and risk mitigation tactic. Read on to find out what types of costs and risks you can help your organization avoid by applying change management.
Changes ultimately come to life through the individuals who have to do their jobs differently as a result of a project or initiative. Whether the project involves a process impacting 15 people, a new technology impacting 150 or a transformation impacting 15,000, the success of the project is inextricably linked to the success of each of those individuals. Did they get on board, or did they stay on the shore?
Prosci's methodology is the collective lessons learned by thousands of change practitioners and project leaders across the globe. It focuses on managing change effectively and building change competent organizations. Over the 20-year period of conducting comprehensive research studies, including the recently launched 10th study, we have asked participants about the greatest contributors to success. We actively track and report on the top contributors and numerous other topics, examining trends and key themes captured as data, graphs, and charts in a comprehensive research summary.
What would it look like, however, if we blended these findings into a fictional company with a setting, plot, characters, and key theme – the elements of a story? And, what if the key theme was building a change competent organization? That is exactly what we have done with the creation of Finesta Financial.
‘Unpack’ is a word that entered our business vocabulary pretty recently and stuck. It refers to analyzing something by breaking it down into its component parts. Like, “let’s unpack this problem to decide the best approach forward,” or “if I unpack this concept, you will see the underlying logic.” Of course, the word ‘unpack’ can also mean opening and removing the contents from a suitcase or bag. If we think of the Practitioner eToolkit as a virtual change management tool bag, we can imagine opening it to see what it contains.
If you are a change practitioner, chances are you've had several questions about how to begin applying or customizing change management at your organization. There are several resources to help you answer these questions. Here on the Prosci blog is a great place, as is the Prosci Change Management Library. But now Prosci-Certified Change Practitioners can get more specialized support to realize better results: 12 months of live, on-demand support with a dedicated change management advisor. Our aim is to ensure that every client and every practitioner has the tools and support they need to succeed.
Why do we need change management?
As a senior executive, sponsor of change, and Executive Instructor for Prosci Canada teaching change management practitioners, one of the most frequently asked questions I have received is, "how can I get my executives onboard with change management and fulfilling their roles as sponsors?"
Building an enterprise change capability is tricky business. One of the many challenges leaders on this journey face is how to measure progress. Nearly two decades of research on the people side of change provide the foundations for Prosci’s Change Management Maturity Model.
This research-based framework offers a measuring stick for organizational change management progress. This article examines the different aspects of the change management maturity framework and offers insights into how the maturity framework can be used to drive improvement in organizational change capability.