Learn why Change Management is critical for any business undergoing change. While many people will use the term 'Change Management', the discipline still remains a mystery to most people. Watch this 20 minute video and you will be stepped through Change Management, why it exists today and the change process itself. 

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You need your team to work in a new way because you are automating processes with new technology, or you have changed the roles and functions in your team but haven't thought through how that will change your day to day work. Not only that but you haven't thought yet about how your team works with other areas or departments. Now you face spending the next 3 months working out all of the details and getting back on your feet. How could this have been avoided? Through the discipline called Change Management.

In business the main question you ask when looking at introducing something new, is 'how soon can we get this in?'. A better question would be 'how long will it take to get to the end state we are pitching for?'. Another great question is 'what will the return on my investment be'?, even on projects that are mandated from the powers that be. Whether it be changing the way you do things, introducing new products, or modifying existing products with tightening profit margins and decre...

So you have been given a mandate - you have been asked to go ahead and implement a new strategic policy or process and have been provided with an outline. The expectation is for you to go out into the world and deliver the goods. Well it isn't that easy but it is where most projects start. A background paper and some funding.

A lot of projects or programs I start on are floundering for direction. This is just evidence that they aren't adequately scoped. There is no shared understanding of what is to be delivered and if there is a team, they are often confused as they have questions that are unanswered.

That is where I step in and put my 30/60/90 day plans into play. The first 30 days is about the right program set up. Here are my top 3 tips for creating clarity around a project or program:

1) Listen and ask the logical questions: I am the biggest fan of '7 Habits of highly effective people' by Steven Covey, especially the habit of  'Seek first to understand then to be understood'. I...

'Can you just put together a comms plan? That's what change is right?' yep every time. The first thing that is requested and the last thing a Change specialist wants to hear. A change specialist is more than a communications person, but that seems to be the only thing expected. So if you have just hired a Change Manager, here is a quick overview of what they will deliver.

Change activities vary depending on who is impacted, how they are impacted and the culture of an organisation. So a Change Manager will be responsible for conducting an impact assessment - first at a high level based on the high level overview of the change. They will be asking 'why are we doing this?' not to challenge but to elicit messages about the 'why' they can put together. They will also be assessing how to measure the change.

Once the details are known they will deep dive and conduct a detailed impact assessment so they can put together a comprehensive Change and communications plan so the impacted individua...

I saw this picture and it made me laugh because it is so true. Often times we want change, especially if something isn't working and we need a better solution. But when asked to participate in that change, and alter the way we do things it then becomes uncomfortable and then it may not seem as important as it was yesterday.

Thus the importance of the 'why'. Why are we doing this, why are we implementing that - why do we need to change. A great book on this is by Simon Sinek, the author of Start with the Why. The 'Why' for us in change management is 'Because people matter'. It is a the core of why we do what we do. 

What would you like to change? What is your why? Food for thought.