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What is Change Management:
a complete guide

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Change Management theory and practice have been around for many years, yet many organisations still struggle with implementing change. While it is commonly cited that roughly 70% of change programmes fail, only recently have organisations started to realise that successful delivery of their programmes is inextricably linked to implementing robust Change Management principles and interventions.

In this how-to guide, we cover what Change Management is and its key principles to boost the likelihood of your programme’s success.

What is Change Management and why is it important?

Change Management, also known as Organisational Change Management, is the practice of effectively engaging stakeholders, maximising adoption efficiency and maximizing benefits through a focus on the organisational, cultural and people aspects of business transformations.

To put it simply, it is the practice of ensuring that people actually start adopting any new initiative. To make this intent a bit clearer, some prefer to refer to Change Management as Adoption Management.

Only once people start using a new tool or process will you see any benefit from your investment.

Key factors influencing the need for Organisational Change Management

So why now you may ask?

For the past few years, the pace of organisational change has increased as organisations adapt to market and consumer trends. There has been a significant focus on digital transformation and technology change, especially including AI and big data.

So not only do people need to change – they need to change faster to keep up with all the initiatives coming their way. However, there will be no benefit on your investment unless people start adopting the new ways of working.

Organisations looking to speed up delivery of new products have turned to new ways of working like Lean Start Up and Agile methodologies. While the first factor was around technology and its impact on people, the second key factor is around process and its impact on teams.

Change Management and the Bottom Line

A proper appreciation of the value of Change Management is still evolving in some sectors and with some senior managers. It is therefore important to be able to make a compelling case for the benefits of robust Change Management interventions. Stakeholders must be in no doubt that these implementations will have a positive impact on business performance or, perhaps more pertinently, that not applying Change Management properly will have a negative effect on the business.

To make it more real, it is helpful to ask people to imagine an organisational programme that requires a budget of say $10 million. A programme of that magnitude would not be signed off without a strong business case to support it, and the business case would need a compelling set of benefits – based on organisational efficiencies, increased competitive advantage or a combination of persuasive factors.

Invariably these benefits will be predicated on the vast majority of the business adopting the new ways of working, at least 90% or more. What happens, however, if adoption rates fail to hit the mark, perhaps topping out at 60 or 70% or worse?

Suboptimal Change Management can occur for a number of reasons: low awareness due to poor communications, lacklustre sponsor behaviours or perhaps an insufficient understanding of how the change would affect the business.

Let’s say you have 65% adoption whereas the business case was based on 90%. Immediately full benefits’ realisation becomes very difficult to achieve, so the programme can only be perceived as a partial success, and in most cases, it is even deemed a failure.

Projected benefits, and ultimately the bottom line, are affected by more than just low levels of adoption. Prosci, founder of the ADKAR® Model, discovered that organisations with immature Change Management interventions overran deadlines, cost more than expected to deliver and failed to meet their objectives.

Choosing the Right Change Management Approach

We previously conducted a survey with 120+ organisations over a 5-year period and found that 30% of projects saw increases in performance directly tied to an effective Change Management approach. Moreover, in large projects the return on investment (ROI) was 6.5 times higher with an effective Change Management approach applied.

Your Change approach defines the phases that your organisation will proceed through in transitioning from today’s current state to your defined future state.

Change Management Models

There are several approaches or models, including Lewin’s Change Management Model, Kotter’s 8 step change theory, Prosci’s ADKAR model (introduced above), and the MIGSO-PCUBED 8E model. It is less important which organisational change management methodology you pick; it is just critical that you pick one.

The 8Es

Our 8E model includes and applies best practice elements to ensure an integrated, end-to-end approach. It is also fully integrated with our Programme Transformation Model to help Change Managers understand where the programme is and to identify any specific needs and challenges.

Using the 8Es, our Change practitioners are able to remove obstacles and rapidly put in place exactly what the programme needs to be successful.

3 Step Change Management Process

Continuing with the 8E model, let’s dive into greater detail on the key steps of the change management process. Similar to how you might consider projects to be managed, a change programme must have clearly defined objectives with a roadmap to ensure it is delivered on time and with lasting success.

Step 1: Build the foundation for change

The first step involves first engaging leadership to identify and define a clear case for change. Then, you must excite the wider team to build commitment and engagement around an envisioned future state.

Once everyone is on board, you and the team should envision around a future state to prepare the organisation for the change. This will align leaders and key stakeholders to build the right foundation and ensure that everyone shares the same vision and objectives right from the start.

Step 2: Manage the change

After initiating your change program, it is crucial to monitor progress and facilitate the transformation throughout the entire programme. To do so, you must first enable incremental change by removing barriers and inefficient ways of working. The role of the Change Manager is very helpful here because they are better equipped to identify these barriers and inefficiencies. Sometimes it is especially helpful to have this role be external because the person will less likely share the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset.

With support for more efficient ways of working, you’re ready to establish processes that all your stakeholders align with, including organisational structure, performance, and even behaviours. As you execute the change, it is important to continuously adapt to deliver wins early and often. This not only helps you to deliver value throughout the programme, but it also encourages the team because they can actually see the benefits.

Step 3: Sustain the change

It is not enough to just deliver the change; you must also ensure that the new ways of working last and that the benefits are sustained. This step involves evaluating the effectiveness of change tactics and making adjustments to evolve stakeholder learning along the way. Lastly, you must embed the desired behaviours into the organisational culture to ensure ongoing and independent delivery.

What is an example of a Change Management process you found to be useful? Watch an overview of how to implement and provide guidance on Change using proven Change Management models.

Where Project and Programme Management are a Science, Change Management is an Art

Project and Programme Management as well as Change Management are areas that have many synergies or could even be called symbiotic. Even the best run Programme needs strong Change Management to drive adoption, and these Change Management interventions are aided significantly if deployed against a background of a well-run project or programme with robust processes and controls.

Project and Programme Management thrive on creating a well organised environment where order is brought about by planning, process and adherence. Change Management looks at the hopes and fears of the stakeholders affected by the novelty introduced and considers: their individual propensity for Change, the culture and hierarchy of their working environment, any neurodiversity and their role. It then creates tailored solutions that help each individual navigate the Change journey.

Every time a Change Manager talks to a stakeholder or group of stakeholders, they are like an artist with an array of potential interventions in their paint box. Because all Change journeys are unique, the artist’s palette will come alive with different colour combinations each time, and therein lies the art.

The best run projects and programmes successfully harness both the science and the art of programme delivery, the rigour of the former tailored into something compelling and personal by the sensitivity of the latter. It is this combination that MP adopts which enables us to deliver projects and programmes on time, fully realised and with high levels of adoption among the workforce.

Explore Additional Resources

Key Principles of Change Management

A successful change initiative requires gaining support from all stakeholders, preparing the organisation, and creating lasting change. To do so, keep in mind these five Change Management principles.

The Change Management
Toolkit

A well-outfitted Change Management toolkit can provide just the boost Change Managers need to rise above the “noise” and ensure their project is a success. That begins with assessing the need for change and building a strong case for adoption.

Driving Value with Change Management Metrics

Understand the how to assess and drive the value of your initiative with Change Management metrics. In this way, you can measure success from both an organisational change and a business point of view by linking your change management benefits to the broader project and business goals.

Thank you for the contributions of James Lewis, Head of Change Management, and the support of the MIGSO-PCUBED Change Management Community of Practice.

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What is Change Management: a complete guide