Manage Project Changes
Change Management processes may include creative marketing to enable communication between change audiences, but also deep social understanding about leadership's styles and group dynamics.
Steps
- Analyze the Problem
- Assess the situation
- Define the problem
- Determine alternative courses of action
- Implement the solution
- Keep out emotion
- Seek continuous feedback
- Seek relevant, objective input
- Control Scope Creep
- "Chunk" the scope into manageable "pieces"
- Evaluate all actions from the perspective of the vision
- Evaluate the need for and the impact of changes
- Have change disciplines in place
- Have key participants involved when evaluating and implementing changes
- Deal with the Change
- Communicate the result
- Determine its cause and impact of a change
- Determine its magnitude
- Determine its priority
- Document it
- Implement the result
- Obtain input/feedback from the key participants affected by it, before and after
- Keeping Focus on a Vision
- Avoid the tendency to digress or procrastinate
- Define priorities with the vision in mind
- Keep communications open
- Remember priorities
- Empower people
- Identify variances to the plan
- Keep the feedback loop open
- Set priorities and follow them
- Take corrective action, whenever necessary
- Overcome Resistance to Change
- Be honest
- Challenge them to determine a better approach than current process
- Communicate – constantly
- Communicate the reasons for change and the alternatives for not doing so
- Empower people to make decisions in their "own world" while seeing the "big picture"
- Encourage people to tackle challenges
- Seek participation for and implementing change
- Play a Role of the Change Agent
- Accept ambiguity
- Believe in the change
- Communicate the need for change
- Initiate change without supervision
- Manage conflict
- Take risk
- Understand the needs and concerns of change targets and sponsors
- Maintain focus on the vision
- Provide leadership
- Provide political, material, and financial support
- Understand the needs and concerns of change agents and targets
- Be open to new ideas
- Communicate needs and concerns
- Have the capacity to try and learn new tools, processes, etc.
- Have the courage to take risks
- Recognize need for change
- Take the initiative in making change
Tips
- Ways to Communicate the Need for Change: You can build a web site, give presentations, hold meetings (e.g., staff, ad hoc), publish memorandums and newsletters.
- Ways to Get People Excited About Change: Address "What's in It for Me" (WIIFM), communicate constantly, empower people, encourage ownership by the people who must change, lead, not just manage and obtain input and feedback.
- Ways to Smooth Transitions: Avoid the tendency to blamem, ensure everyone has the skills and knowledge to make the transition, ensure everyone understands the "cutover" plan, keep the vision in the forefront of everyone's mind, and obtain feedback.
Warnings
- Indicators of Resistance to Change: General atmosphere of cynicism and skepticism "filling the air"High rates of absenteeism and turnover, lower overall productivity, overt destructive acts towards equipment, software, data, people, etc, subtle sabotage techniques from complaining to reverting to "old" ways of doing business.
