Managing Change Initiatives: Real and Simple

By Cenred Harmsworth and Dr Jack Jacoby

This book has a simple philosophy that makes it uniquely different in the market.
It makes managing change real, relevant and practical; and
It makes it simple to find what you are looking for.
This book is not intended to be a textbook on managing change, per se, for two reasons: firstly, which practicing manager has the time to read a text book? And secondly, just because its a textbook doesnt mean the answers that managers may have are readily available especially when needed by the manager.
Many organizations not only have internal skilled resources to draw on for the conduct of change projects, but they also have the resources to hire expensive change consultants when needed.
But what about those companies that dont have the internal resources to expertly handle change projects and that dont have the funds to pay expensive consultants? This book addresses this gap.
It also provides invaluable assistance to all managers, since all managers need to manage change; and all change consultants, because there are very few who know it all or have all the answers.
This book does not align itself to any particular school of thought regarding the management of change; however it does draw on the practical experience of professionals in the area - as well as fundamental principles common to many change methodologies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jun 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490757933

Cenred Harmsworth

Cenred Harmsworth Cenred (pronounced “Chenred”) is a highly regarded international management consultant who resides in Australia. He has an enviable track record of successfully managing organisational transformation and change programs across many different market/industry sectors. When it comes to change initiatives - of any size, Cenred knows exactly what will work and what will not work. He holds a master project director qualification with the Australian Institute of Project Management and is a senior member of the Australian Computer Society, where he has been the recipient of their prestigious Award of Recognition. Cenred has advised companies at all management levels on how they best achieve their corporate objectives—by getting the best out of their people through providing a culture of participation and a sense of group and individual fulfillment. Cenred is life counselor, particularly in spiritual matters; has travelled extensively in the East; studied Eastern mysticism; and is a meditation instructor. He also is an award-winning composer and music and video producer. His albums feature prominently on iTunes. Dr Jack Jacoby Jack is an experienced corporate strategist, market planner, organizational analyst, academic, and author of various books. His professional career has been marked by exceptional achievements, including five years spent as director of Ernst & Young’s Management Consulting Practice and a client list of hundreds of notable corporations. His qualifications include a doctorate of business administration (in organizational accountability to shareholders and shareholder metrics and their implications on business planning); a master of business administration and bachelor of arts (sociology and economics). He was the CEO of a five-hundred-staff organisation at the age of twenty-six and has been a strategic and corporate advisor ever since to both government and private organizations. His innovative solutions are many, including being the dounder of the Rhodium business network; dounder Independent Consultant Collaborative (ICC); developed an innovative business planning methodology based on a decision hierarchy process; developed the Shareholder Metrics Concept and Methodology; developed an innovative knowledge management model; founder of the VisionCircle Movement; and founder of the Owner Accreditation Concept. Jack is a conference speaker and author of various articles and books. He was an invitee and participant in the Australian government’s 2020 Ideas Summit.

Book preview

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 About this book

This book is not intended to be a textbook on managing change for two reasons: firstly, which manager has the time to read a textbook? And secondly, just because it’s a textbook doesn’t mean the answer is readily available—especially when needed by the manager.

This book has a simple philosophy:

• Make it real, relevant, and practical

• Make it simple to find what you are looking for

Large organizations not only have internal skilled resources to draw on for the conduct of change projects, but they also have the resources to hire expensive change consultants when needed.

But what about the small- to medium-sized companies that don’t have the internal resources to expertly handle change projects and the funds to pay expensive consultants?

This book is intended to provide guidance and information to three categories of managers:

• Senior managers of medium-sized companies who need to have an understanding of all the critical issues, steps, and methods for the conduct of change by someone in their organization. This book is intended not only to provide them with both an understanding of the elements of managing change, strategies, and methods, but also a checklist to ensure that their designated change manager is doing all the right things correctly.

• Owners and senior managers of small companies who need to manage the change project themselves.

• All middle managers who wish to better understand the practical aspects of managing change.

This book does not align itself to any particular school of thought regarding the management of change; however, it does draw on the practical experience of professionals in the area—as well as fundamental principles common to many change methodologies.

1.2 Why it was designed

Many organizations, both large and small, underestimate the importance of ensuring that all aspects of a project or a new strategy are managed skilfully.

There is a great deal of evidence and research that shows that the chance of success of any business initiative is far greater if the change is managed well.

As an example, it’s critical that a project delivers its designed new process or structure as intended. Yet it’s pointless if people who need to work with or in the new process or structure are unable to use it as intended—despite its actual existence at the end of the project.

It’s equally pointless and dysfunctional (and wasteful) if people impacted by the proposed change undermine it because they don’t understand how it will impact them.

Project failures due to a failure to manage all aspects of the change initiative are endless, and in some cases legendary.

Most significant change projects conclude with an external audit of the project. This is done for three fundamental reasons:

• To ensure that the investment in time and resources delivered the outcome required

• That the processes and methodologies were followed as promised/instructed

• To provide feedback to the organization in order to replicate the things that worked and avoid the things that didn’t.

This book helps managers and organizations tick all the boxes.

1.3 How this book can help you

If you are embarking on any of the types of projects or initiatives listed below, or combinations of them, then you will find this book’s approach of value:

• Implementing a new business strategy

• Implementing a new program of works

• Undertaking a new project—technical or business

• Introducing new systems or upgrading existing systems (often called Enterprises Resource Planning [ERP]). These may include the following:

■ Accounting systems

■ Budgeting systems

■ R & D systems

■ Manufacturing systems

■ Inventory systems

■ Logistics systems

■ Customer interface systems

■ Supplier interface systems

■ Recording systems and protocols

■ Technical systems

• Introduction of new services

• Introduction of new products

• Change in marketing focus and methods

• Change in sales strategy and delivery

• Change in channels

• Change in support systems and procedures

• Change in roles and responsibilities

• Change in organization structure

• Change in business processes

• Acquisition of new companies or businesses

• Divestiture of part of an existing business

• An expansion program for your business

• Audit-activated study

• Business effectiveness review studies

This book will help you prepare for change, structure the change initiative, develop the plan, marshal required resources and budget, establish time frames, manage all people aspects, manage stakeholders, and develop and manage the project office.

Once the change initiative has finished, it will also help you review the project and develop understanding that will assist you with future change initiatives.

1.4 The size of your company/organization

For each topic, an indication is provided of the applicable organization size that this topic relates to.

Bear in mind that this is an indication only, as some organizations experience unusual situations that may make a topic applicable (or not) regardless of its size.

Generally, the topics discussed, and the principles outlined, are applicable to all change projects.

The size of the organization often, but not necessarily always, implies for the change initiative greater complexity, bigger impacts, more people affected, and so on.

Typically and for the purposes of this book, organization sizes referred to are the following:

Small            Fewer than 15 employees

Medium       16–500 employees

Large            Greater than 500 employees

Regardless of size however, it’s a matter of selecting and using what is the most appropriate at the time for your organization.

1.5 How do I best use this book and checklists

WHAT ARE THEY?

This book provides detail for every aspect of managing change. It identifies the key issues related to the topic and provides the how to concisely—mostly in no more than a few pages.

This book can be kept in a range of formats: in an e-book format, printed in its entirety or by select themes, and can be loaded onto a PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone for access whenever and wherever you need them.

HOW IS THIS BOOK STRUCTURED?

Every change initiative or project follows a natural flow.

This flow is reflected in the way this book is structured—starting with planning and finishing with the ongoing monitoring of the change.

The general format may vary between topics to suit the nature of the topic. The typical structure of this book is as follows:

Definition and overview

Provides a definition of terms used and an overview of the topic.

Why is this important?

Explains how the topic will help you in your particular change initiative as well as identifying the implications of not doing it, or not doing it correctly.

When do you do it?

This section gives pointers on when the particular topic should be applied or undertaken.

Things to watch out for

Discusses traps and tips on what to do or not do.

For example, certain changes will impact some employees more than others. If employees are not managed before the change is commenced, then the organization should realistically expect push back by employees and their probable stress. This can be avoided, or at least minimized, but only with considerable forethought and planning.

Resources

Provides guidance related to any requirements that impact people, costs and/or necessary resources. Wherever possible, an indicative timing for when these resources should be deployed is also discussed.

Deliverables

A deliverable is an outcome of the project or any of the milestones within the project that contribute to its completion.

These deliverables should always be identifiable, recognizable, and measurable. Usually, there is some form of agreement between the project’s stakeholders (e.g., different departments or functions within the business) that a deliverable has actually been completed and that it’s now ready to move to the next step in the project plan.

Completion of all project deliverables normally signifies closing down of the change’s project office and moving the monitoring and evaluation parts of the change initiative back into the business.

The activities that generate deliverables are always specified in the project schedule or project plan.

Deliverable does not necessarily mean finished as the deliverable may merely be an outcome that enables another activity to start.

Activities

Activities are those actions in sequence required to perform the topic.

Templates

Templates are sample formats, processes, checklists, or forms that relate to certain topics or parts of topics. These can be used as presented (if they suit your purpose) or adapted to your specific need.

WHEN SHOULD I USE THIS BOOK?

You should refer to this book constantly: before you start a change initiative, while you are progressing through a change initiative, and after you have completed a change initiative.

PRIOR TO STARTING THE CHANGE INITIATIVE

You will need to be aware of what needs to be changed, as your change activities will need to be planned to take you from where you are to where you want to get to.

If you aren’t sure of exactly where you are (i.e., the status or condition of that which has to be changed), then it’s likely that your plan to change won’t recognize sufficiently your current reality.

Not being sure of where you want to get to will guarantee a mismatch between your change initiative (with its costs and investment of time and effort) and the outcomes you thought you wanted.

You will need to know when enough is enough; that is, when you have achieved your change objective and when you can close down the change effort and start monitoring the effects of the change you have just completed.

Bottom line: you must understand your start point and you must be clear on the required final state.

DURING THE CHANGE INITIATIVE

As you progress through your change activities, this book will provide you with guidance, pointers, and reassurance that you are doing the right things in the right order at the right time to/with the right people.

AFTER THE CHANGE INITIATIVE

Monitoring and embedding change is very important.

It’s often said that a project really starts when the project finishes, meaning that only when an initiative is implemented do all the new processes and systems operate as planned.

Since all parts of the change only come together at "go live" or when full implementation occurs, it’s difficult to assess the real operational quality of the change until after the change has been launched. Therefore, postlaunch monitoring and evaluation is very important to the long-term capabilities of the organization.

There may be a psychological adjustment period while employees adjust their work patterns and habits to the new context. Inevitably, while they are still learning the ropes, they may feel less secure and less comfortable compared to when they have a full understanding and control of their new context.

HOW DO I USE THIS BOOK?

You can consider these resources as being similar to a set of recipe cards, where you thumb through the cards and decide which card satisfies your particular need.

If, for example, you’re considering undertaking a change initiative but you’re not sure where to start, or how to build the plan, or how to handle some people issues, then you can refer to the specific material here to get the assistance you’re looking for.

This book provides a pragmatic, realistic, and simple view of the specific area discussed.

HOW DO I KNOW WHICH ARE THE RIGHT TOPICS TO REFER TO?

The topic of each chapter is self-explanatory and can be used

• as one part of a set or sequence of topics,

• to understand or undertake a large aspect of your change initiative, and

• as a stand-alone approach to a specific issue or problem.

There are three reasons you will use the material:

• You are following a change management sequence step by step (i.e., from planning through to implementation and beyond).

• You are only interested in a particular step or topic (e.g., how to prepare a robust communications strategy, how to develop training material, etc.).

• You are stuck and need some guidance on what to do (e.g., one of your employees is not only resistant, but also openly antagonistic about a change and is influencing his peers—and you need to deal with it quickly).

HOW DO I MONITOR THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS BOOK?

The success of your change initiative will be assessed against three criteria:

• Has the change initiative delivered the promised outcome, deliverable, or benefit (i.e., the promise)?

• Has the change initiative been secured with little or no pain to people inside and outside the organization?

• Has the change initiative been undertaken within approved budget and timelines?

If you already know how to satisfy these criteria, then you will probably refer to this book rarely. On the other hand, if you require additional information and tools to satisfy those criteria and this book helps you do that, then it has served its purpose and helped you deliver a successful change initiative.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of this resource should be assessed by its ability to help you when you need it, to do what you need it to do related to your change management objectives.

WHAT OTHER MATERIAL CAN I HAVE ACCESS TO?

There is a lot of material in the public domain relating to change management.

Much of it is couched in consulting speak to convince you that the consultant knows how to do it (and therefore you should hire that consultant) but doesn’t give you enough information about managing change for you to do it yourself—as that would defeat the consultant’s purpose.

With access to the Web now so easy, immediate, and affordable, every consultant wishing to practice in the change management space does so by posting material on the subject to convince the reader that the consultants knows his or her stuff. That means that there is a lot of change-management-related material out there: some of it is wonderful and helpful, and some of it is inadequate and dangerous.

At the other extreme is the academic treatment of change, which is generally thorough and often well-grounded in practical research and theory. Unfortunately, what it boasts in depth and research logic it lacks in practical relevance. It’s a very rare academic book indeed, which can be referred to by practicing managers for a step-by-step application of change management from project conceptualization through to postcompletion monitoring and evaluation. We have yet to see one.

This approach is to provide a practical start-to-finish comprehensive approach to change management that has been developed by two highly credentialed specialists in the management of change space.

WHAT IF I HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR REQUIRE SUPPORT?

You are invited to contact the writers if you have further questions or challenges that you need additional help with:

• Mr. Cenred Harmsworth ([e-mail])

• Dr. Jack Jacoby ([e-mail])

2 INTRODUCTION TO MANAGING CHANGE INITIATIVES

2.1 The basics

WHAT IS MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE?

Management of change is a discipline that enables an organization to manage all aspects of a transition from the current way of doing something to a new way of doing things (i.e., from a current state to a future state).

To achieve this, the practice of managing change uses a range of supporting tools, processes, and methodologies.

These tools and processes are used to

• take a problem or need from concept to delivery;

• integrate the solution into the environments in which the solution must operate;

• understand the resource, time frame, and budget required to affect the required change;

• design, develop, implement, test solutions, both technical and non-technical;

• ensure that roles and responsibilities are well understood by those involved in, and impacted by, the proposed change initiative;

• generate engagement of impacted stakeholders and interested parties;

• communicate to those involved in, and impacted by, the proposed change initiative;

• manage risk;

• design, develop, and deliver relevant training to those who need to operate in the new context;

• refine organizational design when required;

• understand the impacts on the organization of the project and mitigate all negative impacts;

• engender a culture that is positive and supportive of the proposed change; and

• monitor, review, and amend the solution until its performance equals its promise.

Generally, when any of the following initiatives are considered by an organization, it’s common that an effective change management discipline is needed to ensure a smooth introduction of the change and broad adoption of its objectives:

• Implementing a new or changed business strategy

• Implementing a new or changed program of works

• Undertaking a new project—technical or business

• Introducing new systems or upgrading existing systems. These may include the following:

• Accounting systems

• Budgeting systems

• R & D systems

• Manufacturing systems

• Inventory systems

• Logistics systems

• Customer interface systems

• Supplier interface systems

• Recording systems and protocols

• Technical systems

• Sales and marketing systems

• Introduction of new or changed services

• Introduction of new or changed products

• Change in marketing focus and methods

• Change in sales strategy and delivery

• Change in channels

• Change in support systems and procedures

• Change in roles and responsibilities

• Change in organization structure

• Change in business processes

• Acquisition of new companies or businesses

• Divestiture of part of a business

• An expansion program for your business

• Audit-activated study

• Business effectiveness review studies

CHANGE MANAGEMENT: WHY MANAGING PEOPLE IS IMPORTANT

Goals are achieved through people. It’s common within organizations to observe managers who think that all they have to do to change things is to announce the change and it will happen.

Rarely, if ever, is this the case.

What managers are increasingly learning is that most change within organizations affects people. If you change the way a person does their work, or change who they report to, then you are changing the way that person thinks about what they do and who they report to, among other things.

These aspects of a person’s work life are instrumental in shaping the way they regard themselves. It shapes their self-image, their feeling of value and worth, and inevitably, their sense of security. It’s not surprising then that changing a person’s context can have enormous impacts on them. Some people can handle the change and the unknown well, while others are impacted enormously.

When that happens, and if the people being changed don’t understand why you are doing it or how it will affect them, they will respond with some type of psychological reaction—some reactions will be noticeable and some not.

Some reactions will be supportive of the change while other reactions will impede the effective implementation of the change.

However, most of these reactions are unsurprisingly negative, at least initially, and may generate stress in the employee or may trigger serious dysfunctional behaviour—either at work, at home, or socially.

The management of change discipline is intended to help the organization manage these impacts on people. At the most basic level, an effective management of change strategy

• prepares people for an intended change,

• explains the purpose of the change,

• explains how people will be affected by the change,

• explains how people will benefit from the change,

• explains how the work that people do will be affected by the change,

• trains people to be effective after the change, and

• provides ongoing feedback on how the change is performing.

Therefore, an effective management of change strategy should have the following impacts on a change initiative. It will

• increase understanding across the organization,

• increase understanding of the change by external stakeholders,

• decrease resistance to the change—internal and external,

• decrease stress and dysfunctional behavior on change-impacted people,

• increase skill preparedness of change-impacted people,

• increase confidence and cooperation,

• decrease re-work,

• decrease time needed to deal with resistance and objections, and

• lower the time to benefit.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT: WHAT THE RESEARCH TELLS US

The research tells as that when change occurs within organizations, people go through a number of distinct emotions.

If you find out that a change will or might occur and you don’t know the details, your initial reaction is to be worried that it might impact on you. It might make it harder for you, require more skill, more time, cause you to do things you are not confident in doing, work with people you don’t know or like, and so on. It might even make you wonder whether you will still have a job.

That will cause you to worry and to be uncertain. If those worries are not erased quickly, then they will grow into fears and may lead to passive or active resistance.

Resistance to a change initiative may

• require significant effort to eliminate;

• cost the organization time;

• cost the organization money;

• demotivate staff at all levels;

• cause inefficiencies to remain, or remain longer than necessary;

• send the wrong message to staff and stakeholders;

• create a perception of lack of capability of managers responsible for the change by staff and stakeholders; and

• jeopardize future change initiatives by negatively affecting the organization’s culture, making it more change-resistant.

We have even seen cases where staff actively sabotaged change consultants so that they would fail, in order that the change initiative be terminated—all caused by unwarranted fears of what might happen to them and their careers.

If you conduct an effective change management strategy, then you will avoid the negative emotions from festering by initiating effective and timely communications and making access to project information available to all who require it. This might be undertaken by placing project information on the organization’s intranet or through the use of change agents or champions of change whom employees can approach with their questions and concerns.

Most failed projects do so because change management is poorly handled.

If the people who need to change won’t change, then the change desired is the change failed.

REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE VERSUS EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE/CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Change is any planned or unplanned alteration of the status quo in an organism, situation or process. Planned change is an intended, designed or purposive attempt by an individual or larger social system to influence directly the status quo of itself, another organism or situation. (Lippett 1973)

Change involves the crystallization of new action possibilities (new policies, new behaviours, new patterns, new methods, new products or new market ideas) based on reconceptualised patterns in the organization. (Kanter 1983)

The challenge for many managers is to decide whether the change they are contemplating should be gradual (evolutionary, continuous) or radical (revolutionary or big bang).

The other major change issue that most managers grapple with revolves around how does the business continue to operate while the change is happening? Who does what, where, with whom, and when?

The table¹ above demonstrates the ‘ease’ with which things within the organization can be changed. As you move up the columns, the target to be changed becomes harder to change, therefore may take more time, more resources and more money and is probably more complex. Change culture in a large organization, for example, is very difficult to manage, particularly when the culture has been entrenched for many years.

Similarly, changing a large corporation’s vision is equally difficult. This is because a vision is not merely a cute set of words, but rather a whole set of resource commitments and other contracts engineered to contribute to the outcomes promised by that vision. Change the vision and you change all or most of the inter-relationships and commitments within and outside the organization.

The following table illustrates different impacts on the organization from a choice of a ‘Big Bang’ approach or ‘Slow and Steady’ form of change.

As we have noted previously, it’s very important to know what you wish to change. Now we see that it’s equally important to determine how you wish to deliver the change.

2.2 Change management versus a project: what are the differences?

Throughout this book, you will notice many occasions where the change process appears to be very much that of a project. Indeed, certain aspects almost seem to be interchangeable.

This is easy to understand when you consider that in managing change, you are actually managing

• people and other resources,

• you have a budget,

• you have probably been given a time frame or schedule for things to occur, and

• you are managing risks related to the change itself as well as risks that are created as the change impacts other parts of the organization or to external stakeholders.

We can consider a change initiative to be either a project that stands alone—or a subproject that is part of an overall program/project.

The differences are as follows:

Change management fundamentally deals with the people aspects of a project or organizational initiative.

Change management is very much focused on the organization side of a project, inclusive of engagement, communications, and training, yet will also be responsible to managing external stakeholders.

Project management certainly encompasses the people/business aspects, but also may include other aspects, for example,

• the technical infrastructure and processes,

• the logistical infrastructure and processes,

• software design and development,

• technical system development, testing and documentation,

• procurement of goods and services, and

• dealing with external suppliers who are providing software, etc.

A medium to large project may include a change management stream as part of its structure.

In summary, there is overlap between the two concepts. This book takes the view that a change management initiative is a project, and we use the concepts interchangeably. As such, we provide the user with guidance on all aspects of the change initiative as if it were a project—just in case it’s a project for you and you need broader assistance than just the elements that would go with a more restrictive definition.

2.3 Managing change: Kotter’s principles

Professor John Kotter is considered the pioneer of change management. He introduced his eight-step change process in his 1995 book, Leading Change.

These principles are still relevant and adhered to today. Kotter defines change management as the utilization of basic structures and tools to control any organisational change effort.

His eight principles incorporate establishing urgency, forming a change management team, developing a vision for the change, securing buy-in, developing a smooth change path, securing quick achievements, persistence, and changing culture to absorb the change.

2.4 What does success look like when change is managed well?

If you apply all the appropriate processes and techniques from this resource, then success will look like the following:

• Your project, new system, new business initiative, strategy, or whatever the change outcome was will be implemented effectively and successfully.

• Your project, new system, new business initiative, strategy, or whatever the change outcome was will be implemented on time and on budget.

• Your people will feel they know why the change was required.

• The change will integrate effectively and efficiently with all parts of the organization and stakeholder environments that it’s meant to.

• All of your people will feel comfortable they were involved in the change journey and had plenty of opportunity to contribute and make any comments they felt were warranted. There is a feeling of a shared common purpose and desire for the change to happen.

• During the change program, everyone will know what they were meant to do.

• Everybody will be skilled and trained in using the new processes, as well as all the systems that were underpinning your change initiative.

• Consequently, people will feel supported, capable, and comfortable in accepting the new processes and systems, as well as any other components of the change initiative. They will feel part of it, as opposed to feeling like they are standing outside looking in.

• There will be ample and adequate documentation and induction processes for new people who join your organization. This will include information explaining what the change was all about and the benefits those changes delivered. Access to training material on the organization’s intranet (where available and practical) will be made easy, and its use will also be easy and effective (and monitored).

• People will be experiencing a more effective way of doing their work: a better way, a more efficient way, a more meaningful way—with more accurate information available to them.

• Risks will be managed well.

• There will be no rogue issues, or when they occur, they will be managed in a manner that would not impact the project’s objectives, budget, or time frames.

• Information about the change will be readily available and accessible by all who needed it.

• As a result of the change journey, your people will feel they contributed value. This will enhance their self-esteem, enhance their motivation, and will engender a more respectful culture within the organization.

2.5 Managing change: the rules in doing it well

It has been frequently demonstrated that a transformation, program, project, or process improvement activity will stand a far greater chance of success if people know what is going on.

Specifically, that people involved in, or impacted by the change, should know the following:

• How it will affect them

• Why the change is happening

• If and when they will be trained

• That their voice will be heard

• That there is a support mechanism in place when needed

• Who to go to or where to go to get the answers they need regarding the change project.

Therefore, the most important part of managing change is that the people impacted by a change initiative understand the following:

• The change vision

• The benefits that change will deliver to the organization

• The benefits that change will deliver to people, specific roles, and functions within the organization

• Where they can contribute through participation

• Where they can provide feedback

• How people’s issues will be heard and managed

If there is a genuine basis for people to feel insecure, then that needs to be well managed in the planning stages.

There are a number of methodologies/approaches for managing change; however, the basics are effectively the same for all. Successful change programs always incorporate these core elements in one form or another:

1. Ensure that the change initiative is supported by the board of the organization.

2. Ensure that the change initiative has a sponsor that carries significant and sufficient authority and power for the purposes of the project.

3. Ensure that the change initiative has a robust and accountable project governance function.

4. Have a clear and unambiguous vision for the change initiative.

5. Have an effective and powerful strategy to communicatethe vision.

6. Understand well the impacts of the change initiative on all parts of the organization.

7. Understand very clearly the various needs of all relevant stakeholders.

8. Have a robust change initiative plan that has been contributed to by all key stakeholders.

9. Have a keen understanding of all relevant risk issues and have in place strong mitigation and contingency strategies and plans.

10. Have an organization-wide engagementmodel, e.g., that may include change agents and/or champions.

11. Have an effective and powerful communications plan.

12. Have a strategy to maintain change initiative energy and momentum—even when nothing appears to be happening.

2.6 Managing change: the environment of change

The management of change environment covers a number of key dimensions. Each of these dimensions has the ability to enable more effective transformation (change) or, in its absence, seriously compromise a change initiative.

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These environments (or influencers) are critical for the delivery of the following tasks:

Strategy

• Establishes the reasons for change

• Defines the benefits that the change will provide the organization

• Determines how the change will be delivered

• Provides an understanding of the resources, cost, and time that the organization needs to commit to in order to deliver the outcomes specified

Governance

• Provides a strategy to ensure that the change initiative stays on-course by specifying governance structure, people, process, channels/methods and frequencies for reporting progress

• Provides the actual project governance flagged in the governance strategy

Stakeholders

• Identifies all the stakeholders impacted by the project

• Establishes what they want from the change initiative

• Establishes what they don’t want from the change initiative

• Determines how stakeholders want/need to be involved

• Determines how and when stakeholders want/need project elements to be communicated

Transformation

• Establishes a BRD (business requirements document)

• Delivers the BRD

• Monitors the post-go-live impact of the change

Communications

• Determines with whom the project needs to communicate

• Determines how (i.e., which channels) the project needs to communicate to stakeholders

• Determines when the project needs to communicate to stakeholders

• Determines what the project needs to communicate to stakeholders

Training

• Determines what elements of the change require training

• Determines who requires training

• Determines what each type of stakeholders requires and what knowledge and skills need to be conveyed by the training

• Determines how training is to be delivered

• Develops the content for each training module for each type of trainee

• Develops training schedule (who, where, when, what)

• Evaluates training to identify the level of uptake (i.e., the level of effective knowledge and skills enhancement)

• Delivers follow-up training to ensure uptake meets requirements

Support

• Determines what aspects of the change initiative require support before, during, and after implementation

• Determines the best way to deliver needed support

• If relevant, determines the status of data that needs to be migrated to the new environment and determines the data migration strategy

These environments have their own elements, which have been grouped under each of these change-influencing factors.

In order for readers to understand where the topic is in the context of these influencers and environments, each topic will provide a simple schematic that highlights the dimension within which the topic is being discussed.

The schematic that will be used to depict the environment and context is as follows:

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The comprehensive schematic can be depicted as follows:

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Change Management and the Hierarchy of Decision Making

Change impacts the organization in different ways. However, certain decisions within an organization cannot be made in isolation from the parts of the organization impacted by the change. In fact, there is a logical, hierarchical, and simple way of assessing a change’s impact on the organization. The following describes the rationale for such a hierarchy of decision making.

When talking with the shareholders and directors of major corporations, it’s increasingly common to hear them talk of the difficulty they experience in maintaining control over their corporations and, more importantly, ensuring that the corporation delivers that which is expected of it by its owners. The 1980s, 1990s, and 2008 commercial and economic debacles have certainly heightened this level of cynicism and skepticism throughout business circles and have reinforced the urgency that owners and investors have for establishing a more reliable mechanism for better assuring the well-being of their interests.

Throughout the twentieth century, business has experienced much change in the style, content, and emphases of the day, most of which have professed to help business become more effective.

For a range of logical reasons, the focus over the years has been on management, in that it is management who has been perceived as the controllers of corporate destinies. When most business was small and operated with the daily involvement of its owners, this was both a relevant and reasonable perspective to adopt as the distinction between owners and managers was negligible.

However, as the face of industry and the corporate environment changed and matured and the average corporation grew in size and complexity, the corporation saw a significantly changed relationship between owner and manager. No longer are the owners of an organization, particularly of the larger corporations, the same individuals who make the daily management decisions that impact on the performance and destiny of those corporations and its owners.

Equally as important has been the emergence of the manager as leader and visionary of the corporation, when historically it was the owner of the organization who filled this role.

Although this trend is somewhat inevitable with increased commercial sophistication, complexity, and as the world economy emerges into its current globalized environment, the distinction in roles, expectations, and responsibilities between owners and managers has blurred.

However, it’s not uncommon for company directors of medium to large corporations to complain that management has hijacked the company into a direction that is not wholly agreed by the board, even though the board is seen as the final arbiter of corporate policy and direction. Often, boards of corporations, it’s claimed, are seen only as rubber stamps to legitimize the corporate aspirations and commercial interpretations of management.

There are many reasons for this rift and perception. Management is becoming more skilled in what it does and is wholly committed in time and mind to the management of the corporation. Directors, on the other hand, largely as representatives of the owners of the corporation, are generally part-time and don’t have available to them the same depth of information available to management. Strictly speaking, the information is available to directors through management, but is rarely easily accessible.

Management also has at its disposal a range of specialist skills that it draws upon to reach conclusions and formulate recommendations, policies, and strategies that it presents to the board for ratification. It’s difficult, although not impossible, for the board to verify in minute detail the assumptions, calculations, and the conclusions made by management. This is largely because the same resources available to management are not generally available to the directors. A director’s call for a second opinion or detailed questioning on the assumptions and figures presented is perceived by management as a show of no faith in or distrust of management, even though management will concede that it’s the directors’ responsibility to question and probe. The provision of necessary resources to undertake such assessments is a legitimate attempt to redress this anomaly.

The dilemma facing directors is real and difficult. Directors are there to protect and further the interest of the stakeholders and are seen in law as having such a responsibility. And yet they are not always fully in control of the information flows and/or the deliberation process, thereby making their responsibilities not only difficult to execute, but also in certain circumstances high risk.

What then is the appropriate relationship between the owners of a corporation and the managers they appoint to operate it? Is it possible to identify a rock-solid relationship between the two entities that will enable each to fulfill their respective roles and optimize their performances but one that will endure over time and withstand managerial emphases of the moment? How do we delineate the responsibilities between the two entities, and how does such delineation work in an operational context? To whom do we invest the role of leadership of the organization, and what does that mean in a practical and operational context?

Why is the planning process the starting point in delineating the relationships between owners and managers? Principally because it’s within the planning process that the structure, orientation, and commitment to a corporation’s future is made. It’s against this corporate definition and expectation that the corporation’s performance is managed and measured. And it’s against the skill sets identified within the plan that personnel are retained, recruited, rewarded, and ultimately fired. And arguably most importantly, it’s the expected and actual performance of the corporation that attracts or repels investors and financiers.

A corporation is ultimately assessed by what it has achieved and what and how it’s still striving to achieve. The business/corporate/strategic plan, therefore, is the document that encapsulates organizational striving—the source which tells employees, owners, and interested parties how past and current difficulties will be overcome and how future goals will be achieved. Properly written, it should be the definitive reference document for assessing a corporation’s performance against its promises and for assessing its acumen in preempting (and determining) its future.

Those who control the planning process (that is, those who control the reason for planning, the scope of the plan, and approve the outcomes of the plan) are inevitably those who control the destiny of the organization. Owners want a plan that enables their needs to be brought to fruition while managers want a plan that enables them to manage the elements and control the resources.

A Planning Paradigm: Causality and Dependence

In seeking to identify the enduring rock-solid elements of a corporation that remain intact after the rigors and pressures of the