Bridging the gap with effective change management
In the broad context of project and programme management, the term ‘change management' causes more debate, confusion and consternation than perhaps any other topic. The true change professionals (and you know who you are) have seen it all, from perfect projects with happy and satisfied customers to angry board members facing an employees' revolt after yet another sloppily delivered programme. Despite the vast number of consultancies and contractors who focus their careers on the subject, change is often seen as the ‘softer', more intangible alternative to ‘proper' project management.
Having spent several years in both Michael Page's Technology and Change recruitment teams, I've seen both sides of the coin. I've listened to tales of woe from many frustrated IT professionals who, after completing yet another successful project, were dismayed to find the wider business shunning their efforts completely.
In hindsight, the reasons were simple - the IT department and the business simply weren't talking to each other throughout. It's easy to picture the scene - from a purely technical project management perspective, the new ERP implementation was a masterpiece; real career-defining stuff. All of the project's agreed milestones were hit, the budget was under control and nothing spontaneously combusted. High fives and popped corks all round.
However, the accounts department were livid. The new system hadn't taken in to account any of the business' complex financial approval processes, having to resort to a manual work-around made everyone's lives more difficult and the entire supplier base is now complaining that they can't get their invoices paid. One complaint to the FD later and suddenly IT is the enemy; the board feels as though they've been sold a dummy. As usual, the great Neil Young puts it best - ‘you pay for ‘this' and they give you ‘that''.
The missing component here is of course effective change management. The most successful IT leaders I've met all realise that IT implementations don't in themselves deliver real business improvement. The true benefit comes from a fundamental step change in what one of our interim change experts calls ‘The three P's' - people, policy and process. Or, to use a well-worn cliché, bridging the gap between IT and the business.
To many, this will seem like the most obvious thing in the world. However, given the number of technology programmes which still (often very publicly) go awry, something must be getting lost in translation. One theory is that the people in charge of the programmes fail to make a distinction between project management and change management.
Project methodologies such as PRINCE2 are ideal for setting up clear, structured, logical projects and provide a standard set of rules to which everyone can adhere. However, project methodologies fail to legislate for the most unpredictable aspect of any major programme - the people. With an effective change function in place, the business is made to feel like they are part of the programme, rather than victims of the board's latest cost-saving scheme.
Strong change managers will be open, honest and authentic. They will be capable of engaging the business at all levels and will possess many of the same skills that can be found in the best sales professionals. They won't lie to their stakeholders but will instead be highly adept at delivering tough messages to difficult audiences and ensuring that they realise and appreciate the business benefits of new processes and procedures. In doing this, the functionality of the IT department's shiny new system can be turned in to real, well-defined and measurable commercial benefits.
So, you've decided to bring a change manager on board - what next?
For me, sitting down with a CIO to discuss change recruitment tends to follow a fairly linear pattern. Firstly, the CIO launches in to the story so far - having sent her specification for an interim change manager to the HR department's ‘preferred suppliers', she has seen 94 CVs ranging from Oracle developers to the former CEO of IBM; ‘I can't stress this enough, I definitely DO NOT want an IT project manager' she says, wearily.
With that point made clear, we move on to ‘the' job specification. I say this because, with one exception, every change manager job spec I've ever seen has been completely identical to those which preceded it. I'll challenge anyone to produce an example which doesn't contain the phrases ‘stakeholder engagement', ‘as is & to be' and ‘business readiness' at least twice apiece!
Flippancy aside, this is the crucial point at which we have to take a step back from the jargon and formality of a job specification and focus on the desired outputs. When all is said and done, how will you measure the success of this programme? The answer to this question will always dictate how I respond to the brief and exactly whom I will introduce to the client. Like IT project management, change management is a broad and yet highly-specialist discipline; one size does not fit all.
The days of the flashy, all-singing, all-dancing, vanity project are over. As purse strings continue to tighten across all sectors, businesses demand first-time delivery and real return on investment. With cost-saving programmes driving the agenda across all-sectors and employee uncertainty at an all-time high, an expert business change presence on the programme team can truly be the difference between ‘as things are' and ‘the way things could be'.
Dan Kiely is a consultant for Michael Page Consultancy, Strategy & Change.
E: dankiely@michaelpage.com
T: 020 7269 2368
