Peer to Peer Magazine

38 I am a skeptic about the way most change is managed and about the current perceived best practices. Skeptic is probably understating it. If you're not, ask the best Change Manager you know, it might be you, the following question; "How would you run a Change Program to make this organization good at change?" I'd like to share how I think things can be better but first some context setting. The whole subject of Change Management has become a discipline and an industry. This grew out of the perceived and measured failure of large projects. Failure being defined more as, over budget and overdue than, completed and failed. Organizations were concerned that they would fall behind if they were unable to implement product, organizational and operational changes as well as their competition. Enter the Change Manager. Who or what is a Change Manager? Obviously, they're the person managing the change that is occurring. Also, its fair to assume, that most people impacted by the change, including the sponsors of the change, regard them as the person who knows more about getting change done than they do. So, they're change experts. At this point I should probably clarify my definition of Change. For me, it is the umbrella term for the set of activities that make something new happen. As well as its own discipline, it includes project management, planning, stakeholder management, internal communication, financial management and vendor management (when they are part of delivering the change). A good change team will have the right balance of all these skills. I'd caution that Change Management isn't a good way to approach innovation. Another way of thinking about what defines a change is to think about some elements that are always present: There is no change without a Change Curve The people impacted by the change start 1 2 Change Management B Y P A U L D O M N I C K A series of articles based on the following premise: "When we challenge ourselves, we make better choices." In these articles I will explore core concepts that are pervasive in the IT community and the legal IT community and challenge their validity. The articles will be written from the perspective of one who disagrees with the accepted wisdom and is challenging the status quo. The goal being to stimulate reflection by the reader and to give them some tools to help shape their thoughts. While I don't hold all the contrary views expressed, I have found in my professional life that challenging myself shapes how I approach things and leads to better results.

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