The value of a unified value proposition for both change management and project management is one that was explored last week. As complementary disciplines, both change and project management are concerned with the efforts to manage and optimise the process of change so as to increase both the organisational capacity for change and the level of business results achieved by these change projects.
In Prosci’s 2016 Best Practices research of 1120 global projects, 77% of participants integrated change management and project management in some way, although in Asia at 63% this integration was at its lowest compared to other global regions.
With its importance in the contribution to project success evident, the general steps for integrating change management and project management, combined with the advice, reasons, dimensions and process taken by organisations becomes of interest.
From the Prosci 2016 Best Practices research study participants cited 5 dimensions along which integration can occur;
- People
- Processes
- Tools
- Methodology
- Results and Outcomes
Most commonly, for 86% of participants, integration occurred at the people level – teams, resources, roles and/or responsibilities.
In the area of integrating project management and change management processes several different steps were taken. As examples some organisations aligned themselves by having the change and projects collaboratively build change plans, focused on achieving adoption and usage of the required new ways of working, during the initial planning phases. Other organisations had their integrated teams work together on documenting activities such as current state analyses and work breakdown structures. In addition change management tasks were added to project plans or project plans were redesigned to accommodate change management activities. Collaboration across complementary functions was also encouraged with regular meetings between the integrated team and teams from training, business analysis or with functional leads in the business.
In executing an integrated approach several organisations integrated the use of tools that would formerly have been used separately by the project management team or the change management team. 89% of organisations integrated their communications planning tools, with project planning and training plan tools integration following closely behind in popularity.
Further interesting insights from the research were gained when participants were asked in which stages of the project lifecycle were the project management and change management functions integrated. 99% of the research participants integrated the two functions during the implementation phase but only 62% during project initiation. This matters because there is a measurably significant difference to the likelihood of a project successfully achieving its business objectives based upon when change management is introduced.
As the implementation of a combined approach to project and change management increases the effectiveness of project delivery, the opportunity for sustained and meaningful change becomes increasingly possible. Indeed in the Prosci 2016 Best Practices research 72% of participants reported that their project teams considered change management either critical or necessary.
CMC Partnership is hosting a 3-day Prosci Change Management Practitioner Certification Programme.
Delegates will apply the Prosci’s methodology to a real project from their organisation, drawing on Best Practice Research from 4500+ organisations. The course is currently being offered on select dates throughout the months of May and June and will be held at the Holiday Inn Atrium.
Don't miss out. Register your interest today and begin your journey to better change management.
