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For mission critical projects which you need to land successfully on time & budget.

It is the process by which you move people from a state of resistance, or acceptance. More specifically to technology, it is the process by which you change from one system to another, or one process to another.

Our managing director has after many years in the field, authored her book, “Build, Excite, Equip.: How to simplify change adoption in your projects”. This forms the basis of the BEE Methodology(c).

In it, and in our courses, we teach you how to practically implement change management as a project manager to deliver change.

Through the phases, Build, Excite, Equip you will plan the change, show the benefits of the change, and then teach people how to take advantage of a change.

You can learn more about the BEE Methodology here.

Organisational change is a touchy topic which needs to be carefully addressed.

Firstly it must be driven and sponsored by the right person to have any chance of success.

Ideally it should be driven by an overarching strategy or roadmap, which the change management strategy can be part of.

It needs to be carefully planned, and communication needs to be managed in such a way as to mitigate any concerns people have.

Organisational change often impacts people’s livelihoods, so expect resistance, questions and people struggling through the change curve.

Many of these topics are addressed in blogs on this website, but feel free to get in touch if you need any advise.

Success can be measured subjectively or objectively.

Subjectively, this can be done through 1-2-1 sessions with sponsors, & stakeholders, or questionnaires to impacted people.

We at Simplify Change have developed the BEE Insights tool which helps us assess and question people across organisations or business units effectively with standardised tests. Also as part of the BEE Methodology we’ve developed the ABC Scorecard system for measurement of change before and after a change is made.

Objectively, it can be measured through ROI calculations made through analysis of data, be it financial, time or process impact driven or through-put.

All of this is part and parcel of what is best practice in change management, as it’s key to selling a change and why it is occurring.

Business change management best practice & agile processes do not conflict at all.

Effectively change management should be thought of as another team member who has a role to play in delivering a project.

Each sprint for example requires actions by a change professional to be delivered correctly, like communication, creation of training material and discussions with stakeholders and impacted parties.

As such a PM should take this into account, as should the rest of the team, and allocate time for these activities if a change manager isn’t part of the team. If they are, even better, as you have a defined person who will help drive adoption of your project!

Many challenges exist in change management, some examples being getting buy-in from senior stakeholders, understanding who is impacted by a particular change or project and also selling or explaining “What’s in it for them?” to your impacted users.

To overcome these is not straightforward and requires:

• Planning and a detailed understanding of a project

• Excellent communication and avenues to communicate to your audience

• Time & availability for people to attend training and information sessions.

All this and more is covered in our training courses and experience days, as well as our strategy creation workshops and coaching series, which aim to give you tools and information you need to practically improve delivery of projects immediately.

In the vast majority of projects people are impacted in the way they work, the systems they use or other ways. Some statistics have said that 70% of projects don’t meet their objectives and fail because a change’s impact on people is not considered.

Change Management is the way people are informed, educated and brought on board a project so they see it as an opportunity not a problem in what they do in their day to day jobs.

As such it is crucial for all projects to focus on change management, and ensure plans are made for informing people how they will be impacted, it is explained what benefits it will bring them, and they are trained as to how to take advantage and best use the change.