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In the October 2004 edition of this newsletter we
talked about the growing influence of project management
in organisations. We are seeing the
large-scale adoption of de-facto standards for project
management such as Prince 2 and PMI. These
methodologies allow you to manage a project in a logical
way. They are undoubtedly effective but we
also discussed their limitations, especially if they are
used to manage change that involves people changing
their behaviour or ways of working.
If the work we are doing with clients is any type of
measure then there is little doubt, in the last 24
months, that organisations are trying to get the best
approach by attempting to integrate project management
and change management. Drivers include:
- Line executives wanting projects to deliver real
business benefits and to see project and programme
success rates increasing.
- Many IT and project organisations wanting and
needing to be recognised as business transformation
leaders and move away from being 'software and/or
hardware installers'
- People wanting practical guidance on how to build
commitment, create behaviour change and reach project
business cases.
A spokesman from one of our financial services
clients summarised all of this really
well: "We're currently trying to de-risk
our IT change portfolio because we spend very large
amounts of money on IT projects and we want them all to
deliver the benefits. Focusing more on the
people aspects has given us greater confidence that we
can deliver change better and implement our projects
successfully."
If organisations want to close the gap between
project management and change management then at least
two activities need to happen
- Firstly, project managers must become business
change leaders
- Secondly, people implementation processes need to
integrate with project management
methodologies
1. Project Managers must become
Business Change Leaders
The bottom line is that if organisations are going to
motivate and mobilise people to change, project managers
themselves must change. They must adapt to
become business change leaders who are skilled in both
project management and change management techniques (in
the October 2004 newsletter we listed the skills and
activities this would involve).
Developing the skills as business change leaders
definitely benefits project managers as it puts them at
the centre of the organisation's change agenda and
dramatically increases their personal career
value. But it also benefits the organisation
by building the capability of its own people, creating a
higher level of employee commitment to change and, most
importantly, by successfully implementing more change
initiatives.
2. People implementation processes
need to integrate with project management
methodologies
Probably one of the hardest things to manage in
change implementation is the integration of a messy
'contact sport' - involving learning new behaviours,
changing mindsets and giving up well engrained, old ways
of working - with the linear project or business plan
requirements of the organisation.
We have spent a number of years consulting with
clients to integrate PCI into various other
methodologies and we have learned there is no perfect
fit. The key is to build an integrated
approach because that helps most change agents but at
the same time work within an understading that the
change component is more ambiguous, timings might need
to be more elastic and judgements sometimes have to be
made about proceeding to the next phases. Our
generic process - tying change and project processes
together looks like this:
|
Project Management
Phase |
PCI
Actions |
|
Starting
up |
Define
the people scope of the
change
- Understand network of
people impacted
- Build picture of
legacy of past changes
- Analyse levels of
sponsor support
- Analyse impact of
potential solutions on
users
|
|
Initiating |
Assess
readiness and build initial
plan
-
Determine target level of
ommitment required
-
Conduct change assessment and execute
any actions to mitigate low
readiness
-
Determine change portfolio
risks
-
Roll-out early communication and
involvement plans
-
Create necessary levels of sponsor
support for
initiative |
|
Planning
and
Managing |
Develop
people-centred change
interventions
-
Plan and execute detailed
people-centred actions e.g. communications,
involvement and training
-
Execute plans to specification
-
Measure
effectiveness |
|
Controlling |
Review
people milestones and adjust
plans
-
Track commitment levels and resistance
milestones
-
Track behavioural
changes
-
Complete organisational alignment
actions |
|
Closing |
Assess
effectiveness of change
actions
-
Effectiveness of people
actions
-
Commitment and behavioural goals
obtained
-
Impacts on organisational change
capacity
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Zurich Financial Services
introduces new methodology to manage
change
Zurich Financial Services
Group, an insurance-based financial services provider,
has introduced a change management methodology to
provide a better and more cost effective way of
implementing and managing change within its Group IT
function.
Changefirst has provided the
methodology and already trained 53 European
and North American programme managers within Zurich
Financial Services' Group IT function, using its
step-by-step approach.
"Rather than relying on
external consultants to undertake change for us, we
wanted to get a transfer of knowledge so we could equip
our managers with the capability to undertake change
ourselves," said Charlotte Trinler, Zurich's Head of
Organisational Development for Group IT.
Changefirst met with the
senior leadership team at Zurich to explain the benefits
of the PCI methodology, the impact it would have on the
business and how its effectiveness could be
measured.
"This ensured we had the
buy-in from the top at the outset," said Charlotte
Trinler. "Our senior managers saw great value
in the methodology because it is something that people
can immediately apply. Although it is
designed for large-scale transformations, the concept of
people-centred thinking can be applied to even the
smallest change."
The senior leadership team
requested that all programme managers responsible for
key projects in 2006 could initially be trained to
become accredited change managers who can use the PCI
methodology.
To achieve this, Changefirst
ran five-day development programmes in Zurich and in
Colorado Springs, USA. Branded as Drive
Change, these sessions explained the PCI
methodology and included the nature of change, its
critical success factors and required roles, as well as
how to engage people, build their understanding and
commitment, and support them as they undergo
change. On completion of the training, the
programme managers gained a certificate of achievement
and a licence to use Changefirst's materials.
"People in IT, when they talk
about implementation, tend to focus on just the
technical solution," noted
Trinler. "Changefirst's methodology
encourages them to consider people issues and required
behaviours, so they're challenged to think about what
the change will look like and the future state of the
business. This is a real benefit."
To help embed the new change
management ethos, Changefirst ran a one-day session in
Zurich for 35 members of its Group IT extended
leadership team, highlighting the methodology and the
leadership behaviour required in their role as sponsors
of change projects.
Zurich is now establishing a
network of peer support to enable its programme managers
to share information and their experience of using the
PCI methodology. This is likely to include
online support the day-to-day queries, monthly regional
meetings, quarterly conference calls and an annual
conference event.
The company is also gathering
input from the programme managers and the extended
leadership team on how to cascade the change expertise
to the 3,000 staff worldwide in Group IT. The
options include providing mandatory training for
different staff levels and linking the PCI methodology
with project management training.
"We need to cascade this
expertise internally to achieve a critical mass," said
Charlotte Trinler.
Background
notes: Zurich Financial Services is
an insurance-based financial services provider, with
headquaters in Zurich, Switzerland. The core
of its business is general insurance and life
insurance. Founded in 1872, Zurich has a
global network of subsidiaries and offices in North
America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and other
markets, with 55,000 employees serving customers in more
that 120 countries. www.zurich.com
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