In order to keep up with the current economic climate and a competitive market, change must become a part of everyday business. Only recently organisations began to recognise the importance of building the competency that will enable them to rapidly manage and successfully deploy change.
Following a study with over 150 organisations, Prosci developed a Change Management Maturity Model which enables organisations to assess their current change management maturity. By doing so, they are able to visualise the progressive journey needed to achieve effective change management.
- Absent or Ad Hoc
At level one, change management is a subsidiary to most projects and tasks. It is only considered as a last resort or as a reaction to poor results within a current project. Those in charge change management will receive almost no training or support from executive level co-workers. - Isolated Projects
Some elements of change management will be visible across select projects within organisations with level two maturity. At this level, maturity within projects is inconsistent, with some projects progressing up the maturity scale and others still at level one. Training is also still at a minimum, with managers and leaders receiving little to no training to effectively coach employees on the change. - Multiple Projects
Within level three, the popularity of structured change management implementation is beginning to grow however only within localised groups in the organisation. Despite signs of change management best practice being evident, there is still no company-wide consensus and approaches and methodologies being used to implement change vary between groups. - Organisational Standards
At level four, company-wide standards have been chosen for managing and leading change. These will be adapted and tailored for projects being introduced. - Organisational Competency
When you reach level five, effective change management will be viewed as a priority for organisation executives and essential for all projects and initiatives. Extensive training is provided company-wide. Not only will the benefits be seen through profitability and responsiveness but the organisation's competitive edge will be heightened.
There is a growing body of knowledge that shows a direct correlation between how well an organisation manages the people side of change and how successful projects and initiatives ultimately are. As an organisation sees examples of failed changes due to poorly managed change and successes due to effectively managed change, there is a greater sense of urgency related to moving up the Maturity Model.
Would you like to learn more about the five levels of change management maturity?
Access your free copy of Prosci's Change Management Maturity Model to delve deeper into the five levels and gain an insight into the steps you can utilise to progress your organisation into the higher levels of change management maturity.
Learn how you can put these levels to use at our next Enterprise Change Management Bootcamp on 28th August.
