Successfully deploying enterprise change management (ECM) requires organisations to embed change capabilities into their core process, practices, systems and people. This means that change management professionals must work to understand how they can support their organisation to optimally internalise change management best practices, processes, capabilities and competencies.
We call this change management maturity. With high levels of maturity organisations can expect to deliver incremental business performance from the changes they choose to implement and have a higher capacity for increasing the volume of change the organisation can assimilate. Typically Level 5 maturity organisations deliver the expected business results from 65% of their project portfolio, incrementally better than organisations with lower change management maturity levels.
Change competency development requires a culture and skills shift from all levels of the organisation and the responsibility for creating an action plan which ensures this shift can be achieved at the enterprise level falls to change leaders, supported by strong executive sponsorship. These leaders must ensure that the common tools and processes are applied on numerous initiatives as well as cultivating individual competencies in senior leaders, managers and supervisors.
Why build organisational competency to manage change?
Building the organisational competency to effectively implement and manage change is one of the key ways in which you can differentiate yourself from competitors. An organisation which can quickly and effectively react to change with minimal impact on productivity is one which has a definite strategic advantage. When you implement change management practices that consider the people side of change, any resistance to change is mitigated and prevented.
After identifying the importance of building enterprise change management competencies, we have collated 5 key things to bear in mind when building a competency action plan.
Consider change as a project
Deploying change management across an organisation is not without its challenges, nor is it a simple process achieved in a single undertaking. When cultivating change competencies, it is important to give your project a structure, a leader and a team to evaluate, design and deploy the approach.
Prosci have developed the Enterprise Change Management (ECM) Deployment Process which demonstrates the steps necessary for designing a deployment effort. This includes:
- Defining the future state and understanding the vision
- Selecting the deployment strategy and engaging sponsors
- Implementing the integrated plan
When change management is not treated as a project there can be a lot of activity, but very little progress. By considering the deployment of enterprise change management as a project you can ensure the necessary direction is in place to guide efforts and ensure progress towards a future state of change competency can be achieved.
Treat it as a change
Embedding change management competencies into the core of the organisation requires changing the ways in which people work, which means it must not only be viewed as a project but treated as a change too.
Applying change management impacts the day-to-day work of many people in the organisation, and this too should be taken into consideration. Prosci’s ADKAR Model describes five key building blocks of any successful change at the individual level – Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. This is integral to creating a structured approach to the introduction of enterprise change manage as an organisational change. Tools such as communication plans, sponsor roadmaps, coaching and training plans and resistance management processes are invaluable in managing the individual change needed to implement enterprise wide competencies. With each of these in mind you can improve the speed of adoption, utilisation and proficiency of applying change management within your organisation.
Consider a Holistic approach to your action plan
Creating an actionable plan for developing organisational change competencies requires considering the interwoven aspects which must make up the overall strategy. Prosci identify 5 key areas which must be leveraged:
- Leadership
- Process
- Project
- Structure
- Skill
Each of these areas must be given due consideration, and while individually may seem simple, a well-thought out sequenced set of tactics spanning across all areas is essential. A holistic approach to creating a change competency action plan will ensure that any and all progress is both effective and efficient and can be considered long-lasting and sustained.
Secure Sponsorship for the delivery of your action plan
It has already been established that successfully internalising change management practices, processes and capabilities to drive organisational competencies requires having a well-structured action plan for its implementation and development. However, without adequate leadership and sponsorship the success of your enterprise change management project can be called into question.
Focusing on the people side of change, it is important to impact how senior leaders, middle managers, front-line supervisors and employees see themselves in relation to change. This and the considerable effort needed to become flexible and durable as an organisation means your action plan must have more than just a figure head. Instead your sponsorship must be effective, active, engaged and well-positioned. Only then can you ensure your project of change is conceived and launched effectively while also ensuring each project team has what they require to move forward in their work efficiently.
Prosci’s Best Practices research suggests that the more effective the sponsors are at participating actively and visibly throughout the entire project; building a coalition with the key leaders and managers and communicating directly with employees the more successful the change effort will be.
CMC’s Prosci Enterprise Change Management (ECM) Bootcamp workshop is aimed at those charged with developing organisational change management capability. It takes delegates through the steps required to build a compelling case for Enterprise Change Management in their organisations, and shows them how to use Prosci’s Change Management Maturity Model™ to assess and improve organisational change management capability and goals. Delegates are also introduced to a unique and different methodology that enables them to build the skeleton plan for this journey up the change management maturity curve.
Our next 1-day ECM Bootcamps is take place on 25th September 2017 and 4th December 2017 at the Regus Centennial Singapore. To learn more about this workshop and how you and your organisation could benefit click here.
Thinking about learning more about your organisation's maturity score? Download this guide to discover how your organisation's enterprise change management capability can be assessed.
