As Project Management Professionals, we’re experts at ensuring projects are delivered on time, on budget and meet the predefined scope and level of quality. Our project management methodology also advocates for well-defined project metrics and manages benefits realization. Often, our role entails managing “the people side of change”, which has its own professional discipline known as “Organizational Change Management”.
Far too long organizations have operated using the metaphor from the movie FIELD OF DREAMS, “If you build it, they will come.” Well, the statement is not exactly as it was quoted in the movie and the sentiment is not the answer to ensuring intended project outcomes are achieved. This reality is true whether the project is internal business transformation, a new product, or technology innovation.
Prosci | The Global Leader in Change Management Solutions states, “There is a common denominator for achieving the intended outcomes of your initiative: people. Your initiatives impact how individual people do their work: their processes, job roles, workflows, reporting structures, behaviors and even their identity within the organization.”
We happen to agree with Prosci, which is why we became Prosci ADKAR® Certified. As was stated earlier, as project managers we were already managing the “people side of change”, so becoming certified change managers, better understanding the science behind it, and acquiring the tools and techniques elevated our game to a new level. We’re now better equipped to help our clients enhance change adoption, decrease change resistance and achieve the people-dependent portion of the project’s return on investment (ROI).
Our next 2 blogs will contain more insights on Organizational Change Management. So, stay tuned! Check out our website, subscribe to our blog, or follow us on LinkedIn. If you’re about to kick-off a new project, or perhaps you’re already in the midst of one, and you want to mitigate change resistance and ensure you achieve the people-dependent portion of the project’s return on investment (ROI), contact us today at [email protected] to get started on a change management plan.