As an area of study and application within the organisational environment, enterprise change management is not a new phenomenon. However, its growth from a “nice-to-have” to being a business imperative has been a journey that can be projected well into the future as its adoption and subsequent evolution gathers momentum.
Indeed in Prosci’s 2016 Best Practices research report the development of organizational change capability – moving past a project-by-project approach toward building enterprise change competency - has been elevated into Part One of the research as organisations recognise that the increasing speed of change in their market forces a need for greater change resilience from their people if they are to survive and prosper.
As 2016 draws to an end; the focus shifts towards the upcoming year, presenting new opportunities and challenges. Maximising the potential to grow, expand and extend the impact of change, relies on organisations embracing enterprise change management in 2017 and beyond.
The future development of Change Management trends in 2017
As global leaders in the research and best practice, Prosci is a change management firm with over 20 years’ experience in helping individuals and organisations build and improve their own change management capabilities. With their ongoing research, Prosci, have identified a number of key trends in change management, influencing the progression of the discipline in 2017.
1) Greater awareness and support
As the impact of change management in successfully delivering people-dependant projects and initiatives becomes increasingly more recognised, its position as a discipline grows in both acceptance and credibility. The greater understanding for its value has resulted in the number of organisations recognising the need for change management as a core competency growing into 2017.
Research and studies carried out by Prosci, show that senior support and sponsorship of change management is on the rise, with a greater understanding of how change management drives organisational agility and competitive standing.
For the past 18 years Prosci’s successive Best Practices research has shown every two years that active and visible executive sponsorship of the change, and not just sponsorship of the project, is the #1 reason why some projects succeed when others fail.
2) Greater application
As more and more organisations recognise the benefits of change management and its impact on organisational agility, the uptake rate of enterprise change management across all industry sectors is also on the rise. According to Prosci’s 2016 Best Practices research organisational change management maturity across all regions now averages 2.59 on a scale of 1 to 5, with great variability by geographic region, industry, culture and employee/revenue size of organization.
2017 projected trends see a growth in the number of organisations applying change management considerations. Initially, change management is introduced one project or one agile sprint at a time, but as capabilities mature the development of skills and knowledge results in the increasingly complex and beneficial application throughout transformation programs across the organisation as a whole.
This wide spread adoption provides a common language, benefits measurement framework and toolset which supports further progression. In this way individuals in the organization increase both their capacity for an increased volume of change as well as their personal competency to drive more business performance from each change that they are impacted by.
3) Stronger Internal Change Management Capabilities through training
With a greater awareness and support for change management, Prosci identifies the increased attention and resource devoted to the development of internal capabilities as a key trend of change management in 2017.
This includes the education and training for middle managers in the understanding of change management and the specific requirements of their role in delivering successful change outcomes.
Executive and Senior management also require, and need to be open to, an increased level of education and support, as the essential nature of senior sponsorship in effective change management becomes apparent.
Prosci predict that there will also be an increased uptake in change management training integrated into existing learning and development programs, furthering the internal capabilities and application of change management.
4) Change Management as a Career Choice
In addition to the training of existing staff, the number of change management specific roles created within organisations have been rising and is expected to continue doing so.
With a 10% increase in the number of permanent roles since 2011, the demand for change management practitioners and the continued development of their role will also be seen throughout 2017 and beyond. Prosci believe that the development of these roles will see the incorporation of additional certification, accreditations and credentialing – offering further credibility to the discipline.
In addition during 2016 we have seen the introduction of the “method-agnostic” ACMP Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP) qualification aiming to independently legitimise the profession of change management.
With the widespread adoption of change management and the increasing recognition afforded to its proven methodology, the role of change management in organisational transformation is yet to peak. By projecting the key change management trends relating to the awareness and support; application; training and education; and career opportunities within the discipline into the year 2017 and beyond, it is possible to map out the growing recognition and credibility it is afforded as an organisational core competency and indeed necessity.
CMC Partnership is hosting a three day Prosci Change Management Practitioner Certification Programme.
Taking place in May and June at Holiday Inn Atrium the course provides you with a methodology and toolkit for managing change within your organisation.
