change management

August 11, 2022|Kim's Blog, Management Skills, Strategy|

I have reviewed several books on change management (see the list below) to support those attending training workshops on change management. This free online resource of 70 pages should be added as a valuable resource on change management – The Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) Standard for Change Management and ACMP Change Management Code of Ethics.

The standard describes the knowledge, established norms, processes, tasks and skills necessary for change management practitioners. It was first published in 2014 after a two-year rigorous process led by an international task force. This version is from 2019. The ACMP recognises that it will continue to evolve with the realities of digital transformation, agile development, harnessing of data science, personalization and other disruptive forces.

It is written in surprisingly simple language making it easy to read and absorb. It will be helpful to leaders, change managers and project managers.

Part one covers the standard and comprises 64 pages. The remaining pages cover the code of ethics.

Terms and definitions are listed, including change management: “The practice of applying a structured approach to the transition of an organization from a current state to a future state to achieve expected benefits”.

Key concepts

It summarises some key concepts:

Change is a process – mentioning the initial dip in performance due to an individual’s normal reaction to change
Relationship to strategic planning – which establishes a vision
Types of organisational change – analysis of change variables such as size and complexity and an assessment regarding culture and readiness
Relationship to project management – complementary yet distinct disciplines – with integration across roles and responsibilities, methodology and plan, tools and resources, objectives and outcomes and risks
Organisational change and individual change
Change management roles and responsibilities – change management practitioner, change management team, change management lead, sponsors and change agents
Organizational alignment and change management

Process

Then it looks at the change management process (without mandating particular processes or steps) in detail – with an emphasis on stakeholder engagement before, during and after the change process and the various process groups and inputs/outputs required:

Evaluate change impact and organizational readiness
1. Define the change
2. Determine why the change is required
3. Develop a clear vision for the future state
4. Identify goals, objectives and success criteria
5. Identify sponsors accountable for change
6. Identify stakeholders affected by the change
7. Assess the change impact
8. Assess alignment of the change with organizational strategic objectives and performance measurement
9. Assess external factors that may affect organizational change
10. Assess organization culture(s) related to the change
11. Assess organizational capacity for change
12. Assess organisational readiness for change
13. Assess communication needs, communication channels and ability to deliver key messages
14. Assess learning capabilities
15. Conduct change risks assessment

Formulate the change management strategy
1. Develop the communication strategy (business rationale, principles for communication messages)
2. Develop the sponsorship strategy
3. Develop the stakeholder engagement strategy
4. Develop the change impact and readiness strategy
5. Develop the learning and development strategy
6. Develop the measurement and benefit realization strategy
7. Develop the sustainability strategy

Develop the change management plan
1. Develop a comprehensive change management plan (resources, sponsorship, stakeholder engagement, communication, learning and development, measurement and benefit realization, sustainability
2. Integrate change management and project management plans
3. Review and approve plan with project leadership
4. Develop feedback mechanisms to monitor performance

Execute the change management plan
1. Execute, manage and monitor implementation of the change management plan
2. Executive communication plan
3. Execute sponsorship plan
4. Execute stakeholder engagement plan
5. Execute learning and development plan
6. Execute measurement and benefit realization plan
7. Execute sustainability plan
8. Modify the change management plan as required

Complete the change management effort
1. Evaluate the outcome against objectives
2. Design and conduct lessons learned valuation and provide results to establish internal best practices
3. Gain approval for completion, transfer of ownership and release resources

There are appendices on:

ACMP Statement of Change Management (including a list of knowledge and skill areas)
(Five) Process groups mapped to subject groups (these are great diagrams)
Change Management Code of Ethics (Honesty, Responsibility, Fairness, Respect, Advancing the discipline and supporting practitioners

The document can be downloaded here: The Standard – The Association of Change Management Professionals (acmpglobal.org)