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June22
2017
Embrace change management, build agility
Agility: buzzword or survival skill? In a world where change is the “expectation rather than the exception”, agility stands out as a critical core competency. For many modern organizations, agility is a basic survival skill. So much so that the notion has quickly morphed into a buzzword. It has gained considerable ground in everyday conservations. Everybody talks about agility. But just as happens with seemingly self-evident notions, everyone has a different definition in mind. And just as happens with any buzzword, no one dares to ask what it means. When reality sets in, though, people get caught up in overlapping projects. And the bigger the pressure and workload, the harder the transitioning process proves to manage. There is no receipt that can be applied across the board to “fix” flexibility and resilience issues. But there are some common features agile organizations appear to be sharing. In ...
Written by
Vincent Halluent -
June08
2017
Who's who in Change Management
When it comes to change management (CM), specialists will only take the organization so far. The same holds true for dashboards, organigrams and kick off meetings. It takes more than planning and consultants to make the change happen. The core assumption is that even the “best solution” may fail or even backfire if not adopted and proficiently used by the people impacted by the change. CM is thus a holistic and collective endeavor. It engages the whole organization and should never be conceived of as a set of emergency measures. For any social entity to thrive and adapt in a fast-changing world, CM tenets and skills have to be infused into the whole structure, from top to bottom. “Who should be doing what” is a burning issue. Clearly charting the roles beforehand is crucial to ensuring that transformational efforts are not built on a dialogue of the deaf. ...
Written by
Antoine Wouters -
May23
2017
“We should shift our mindset from what we do to what we deliver. What we do is those activities that generate engagement. What we deliver is ROI and the ability to change as an organization”. Tim Creasey, PROSCI’s Chief Innovation Officer. Have you ever been challenged to justify Change Management value, either to senior leaders and/or project leaders? You certainly do. The most difficult part is that neither of you speak the same language (Creasy, 2014). Communication, coaching and training protocols are change managers’ daily bread. Benefit realization, financial outcomes, impact and risk management are primary concerns for senior leaders (Creasy, 2014; Creasy, PROSCI c). The same goes for project managers who usually emphasize project outcomes, on-time and on-budget delivery. Solving the equation and driving engagement requires a shift in conversation (PROSCI b). It is first and foremost a matter of adding context to the definition of ...
Written by
Vincent Halluent -
May04
2017
Change Management - Foundations (III)
Today’s organizations are likely to be exposed to several cross-functional changes over a very short period of time. You may even have grown familiar with this type of situation. But just how much do you know about Change Management in action? There are many existing approaches to dealing with change. Each stresses on a different aspect of the art of managing in uncertain times, usually overemphasizing one level of change (either individual or project-level activities) over another. PROSCI’s method comprehensively connects the dots by “leveraging change management activities to drive individual transitions”. It is not just an emergency kit in the face of urgent changes but a fully structured method that allows for skills transfers across projects and situations. User-friendly and holistic, PROSCI offers a complete set of processes, tools and research-based assessments that project leaders and business managers can apply to specific projects while diffusing internal CM skills. ...
Written by
Luc De Jaeger -
April18
2017
Change Management - Foundations (II)
Organizations do not change, people do. Change cannot be prescribed on the basis of a new organigram, a new digital strategy or the acquisition of a company. Likewise, no change will ever happen just because it is scheduled for completion at a certain date. Change is not an event. It is a multiphase and multilevel process. Simply put, it requires actions specifically tailored to a given audience at a given time. Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians, among others, have long understood what Change Management is. In these countries, a career path in CM leading to the position of Change Management Officer or member of the Executive Committee is entirely possible. Anyone who needs convincing of this has only to take a quick look at LinkedIn. Latin cultures such as ours in Belgium, France, Spain, are clearly lagging behind. In these cultures, Project Management and Change Management have been conflated. And in ...
Written by
Vincent Halluent -
March28
2017
Change Management - Foundations (I)
Like it or not, we live in a very fast-changing world. Factors driving organizational changes can be either external or internal. High volatility and rapid fluctuation are powerful market trends in a context of digitalization and uberization. Organizations are striving not only to adapt but also to improve performance and maximize customer value. Doing more with less has been the motto for the last years, one that comes with substantial challenges as it puts additional strain on collaborators. Stepping into the unknown and getting everyone on board is not an easy task. Uncertainty breeds anxiety and resistance. Left unanswered, this issue translates into even more risks and costs. Resistance is often cited as one of the top obstacles to project success. A compelling message clearly stating the reasons why the organization has to change may pave the way to success. Storytelling is part of the journey. Crafting a ...
Written by
Luc De Jaeger -
March01
2017
The art of managing in uncertain times.
“We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost.” Stephen Elop, former Nokia CEO, after Microsoft acquired Nokia. If you have ever been responsible for implementing changes, this will certainly resonate with you. Dealing with uncertainty usually involves assessing operational and financial risks - to name but a few. These analyses assist the decision-making process and help reduce uncertainty-related anxiety. But who, in today’s world, can reasonably claim to be able to measure the risks of a financial crisis? Who can measure business operational risks linked to terrorist attacks? Uncertainty produces anxiety and anxiety breeds resistance. The higher the level of uncertainty, the more likely resistances will block any type of transformational effort. As a result, leaders struggle with the tension between the desire to drive change and the risk of alienating people. There is no getting away from this age-old issue. According to a research gathering ...
Written by
Vincent Halluent -
January17
2017
Dealing with change saturation
Dealing with change saturation: people come first. We have all been there. Urgent calls to make changes lead to multiple programs running alongside and dozens of deriving projects piling upon each other. Charting roles and responsibilities turns into a messy process, producing even messier results. Any new initiative pushes previous projects aside. Some get stuck, others simply fall into oblivion. All in all, this casts a shadow on the company’s commitment to effectively implement new changes. Team members develop a wait-and-see attitude and before they even know it, leaders find themselves facing even more trouble: insufficient returns on investment paired with increasing delay. Needless to say, repeated situations of the sort create a poor track record which makes any new transformation more difficult to deal with. Turbulent and exciting in equal parts, the new era we have entered calls for resilient and adaptive organizations. Fear not. With a clear ...
Written by
Vincent Halluent -
March30
2016
Four tips for building Organizational Change Capability
Building change capability takes more than “want to” or an executive decree. Building change capability takes structure and intent. The risk is that we, as a community, get enamored with the concept of change agility, but we do not do what it takes to actually build it. Building a core competency in change is a transformation for many organizations. It is fundamentally altering how changes are managed and executed. Below are four key tips for building organizational agility, derived from some of the most critical mistakes research participants have seen in organizations that get excited about change capability but come up short when the time comes to truly change how they change. With these tips (and the associated mistakes) on your radar, you will be in a better position to transform how change happens in your organization. 1. SECURE ADEQUATE AND EFFECTIVE SPONSORSHIP In all ...