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Structure changes that themselves drive change
The first tutorial in this two-part series addressed the change
associated with improvement systems - implementing approaches and
methodologies that create change in an organization. While the large
scale organizational structural changes associated with reorganization
or acquisition activity often utilize change management, structural
changes associated with improvement systems - like creating an office or
team or group to take the lead with a particular methodology or system -
are often ignored. This tutorial presents
• A high level look at
the importance of managing structural changes coming from improvement
approaches
• An introduction to the Change Management Office as an
emerging structure
• A discussion on the change associated with an
Internal Consulting function from special guest author Dr. William
Trotter.
Structural change from improvement systems
When two
divisions are combined or an organization is merged with another - the
people side of change implications are clear. People's behaviors and
processes must change as the formal relationships in the organization
are altered. However, as discussed in the previous tutorial, when the
structure change itself occurs to trigger more change, the people side
is too often ignored. Take two examples of structure changes associated
with improvement systems:
• The organization decides it needs a more
common process for managing projects. A task force is created to examine
how projects are currently managed and the alternatives available in
the marketplace. Once a common approach is developed, the decision is
made to create a Project Management Office to govern the methodology and
its application.
• Performance on the manufacturing floor is
suffering. After an analysis of current performance, the leadership team
identifies that a high level of defects is the cause of eroding quality
numbers. The leaders of the plant create a new Six Sigma Team to begin
searching for and fixing defect problems.
In both cases, part of the
solution to the problem was to create a team or office to oversee a
particular improvement system - project management and Six Sigma
respectively. While the decisions might have been correct, there is
still work to be done to ensure that the newly formed group is
successful. And, it is the people side of change that needs work. Has a
compelling case for the creation of the group been made to employees? Is
there a coalition of leaders that will support the new group and the
work it does? Have anticipated points of resistance been identified?
What specific behavioral and process changes will result from the
creation of the group - and who will be impacted?
Each of these
people side issues must be adequately addressed if the new group is
going to succeed and bring about the change it was formed to deliver.
When the people side of these organizational structure changes is
ignored, the group may be seen as an artifact of some "flavor of the
month" or as a nuisance. Organizations need a methodology and process
for managing the people side of change of these types of structure
changes.
The Change Management Office
The Change Management
Office is an entity that is starting to emerge in more and more
organizations. This group - like the more familiar Project Management
Office - plays a key role in supporting the broader application and
adoption of change management. While creating a group focused on change
management is a major victory in showing an organization's commitment to
change management, there are certainly still questions that must be
answered including: What will the CMO do? Where will it live? What
"people side" issues might emerge related to the CMO?
What will the
CMO do?
While the creation of CMOs is certainly still in its infancy,
we have seen a number of roles and responsibilities begin to emerge.
Not every CMO will have all of the responsibilities listed below. In
fact, you will have to make decisions about the responsibilities of your
CMO based on how change happens in your organization and how the CMO is
positioned. Some of the responsibilities we've seen a CMO take on
include:
• Owning the methodology and processes
• Collecting
lessons learned and continuously improving the methodology
• Acting
as the change management resource on particular projects
• Providing
support for change management resources on particular projects
•
Acting as a sounding board for senior leaders and project teams on
people side issues
• Integrating change management and project
management tools and processes
• Creating a change management
curriculum for different levels and roles in the organization
•
Managing training offerings
• Providing direct coaching to sponsors
of change
• Tracking change management progress
Where will
the CMO live?
Again, because the CMO is a fairly new entity, a
preferred location in the organization has yet to emerge. And, given the
unique nature of each organization - including its history and how
change occurs - there is probably not a "right answer" for where it
should reside. Based on Prosci's research and experience, the most
common places for a change management group or office include:
•
Human Resources
• Project Management Office
• Organization
Development
• IT or IS
• Department of Strategic Planning and
Development
• Department of Transformation
• Department of
Organization Effectiveness
• Directly reporting to the CEO or
President
• Distributed across business units or departments
When
deciding where to put the CMO, consider the following:
• Access to
and visibility into change efforts
• Credibility in the organization
• Historic or cultural implications of different alternatives
•
Adequate sponsorship for enterprise-wide impact
• Ability to liaise
with project managers and teams, training specialists, communication
specialists, leadership development and groups involved with defining
and creating individual competencies
What "people side" issues
might emerge?
The "people side" issues of the CMO are not that
different than the people side issues related to any change - or any
structural change that is supporting an improvement system. People whose
work will be impacted - project teams, managers and supervisors who
will be tasked with coaching employees through change, senior leaders
who will be tasked with sponsoring change - all need to understand why
the CMO has been created and what the implications are to them.
Internal
Consultant Group as a change
The following section was written by
special guest author Dr. William Trotter, Managing Director of the
Association of Internal Management Consultants (AIMC). For the second
year, Tim Creasey - Prosci's Director of Research and Development - will
be presenting a keynote and workshop at the AIMC 2009 Global
Conference.
Establishing and Enhancing An Internal Consulting Group
As A High Impact Change Program
Dr. Bill Trotter, Managing Director,
AIMC
Overview:
Since one of the key goals of the internal
consulting function is to help lead and facilitate the organization's
change programs, it is important to integrate key change management
principles into establishing and further developing their consulting
practice within the organization.
In a recent survey of the members
of the Association of Internal Management Consultants (AIMC), nearly 90%
of these groups had change management as one of their key areas of
practice, which has increased dramatically over the past five years.
Many
of these internal consulting (IC) groups are also involved with more
comprehensive enterprise-wide change management programs, which require a
more rigorous and systematic approach. In addition, a number of our
member IC groups work directly with top management or the "C-suite" to
cultivate a change leadership program and process which will have
maximum impact on the organization.
The rest of this article focuses
on the process for establishing or further developing an IC group
through the use of best practice change management methodologies, across
three phases:
• Mobilizing Support for Developing The IC Group
(Change Preparation)
• Establishing the IC Group (Change
Implementation)
• Sustaining the IC Group (Continuous Improvement)
Mobilizing Support for Developing the IC Group
The process
of mobilizing support for establishing or expanding an internal
consulting group is much like the change preparation phase of any
significant undertaking, involving analyzing the situation and planning
the initiative. This is typically comprised of seven key activities, as
follows:
1. Developing the Case for Action: This consists of laying
out the specific impacts of forming or further expanding the services of
the IC group, including the anticipated benefits, investment and
support system required. It is also important to link to proven best
practices approaches including an internal consulting process model and
performance measurement scorecard (both of which are available through
the AIMC).
2. Assessing Change Readiness: This involves a formalized
assessment of the readiness of both leadership and potential client
organizations to support the IC group and identification of key issues
which need to be addressed.
3. Fostering Stakeholder Engagement:
Then a proactive program to follow-up with key stakeholders needs to be
adopted to clarify any issues identified in the change readiness
assessment and position key constituencies to help ensure success.
4.
Establishing Communications Program: This starts with the development
of an overall communications strategy followed up by a series of
meetings and messages covering the key objectives of the IC group and
followed by periodic progress updates.
5. Developing/Enhancing Key
Consulting Processes: In a start-up mode, it's important to establish
consistent processes for relationship management, internal operations
and staffing/development early on (as described in the AIMC Consulting
Model). In a business development/expansion mode, the relationship
development and management process is particularly important in
cultivating key stakeholders and positioning for success.
6.
Developing Core Competencies Needed for Success: A key success factor in
developing and sustaining an IC group is ensuring that important
competencies are in place. The change management area has become
increasingly important in recent years, with this rising as a critical
service area (now nearly 90% of IC groups surveyed versus just over 20%
five years ago). The AIMC Competency Framework for both individual
contributors and leadership details 14 key competencies for internal
consultants along with a straight-forward self assessment approach.
7.
Formulating a Performance Measurement Plan: As with all major change
initiatives, measuring the performance of the program is critical to
both initial success and longer-term sustainability. The AIMC's Internal
Consulting Scorecard provides best practice metrics in the areas of
financial targets, operating processes, relationship management and
people/culture.
Establishing the IC Group
Effectively
establishing an IC Group focuses on ensuring effective execution of the
program and is similar to the implementation phase of any significant
change effort. This typically involves six key activities:
1.
Managing Client Relationships: Our research indicates that this is not
only one of the most important areas of focus for internal consultants,
but also one that frequently does not receive adequate attention. Key
aspects include implementing and maintaining the stakeholder management
program and communications plan. Here, it is important for the IC
liaison to be viewed as a member of the client's project planning team
and be able to help identify important change management aspects early
on.
2. IC Staffing with Change Management Expertise: A structured
training and mentoring program needs to be in place to provide core
change management skills to the internal consulting staff. Many IC
groups are adopting a more formalized change management training
curriculum for their consultants, and a number have expanded this focus
to include clients and other managers across the enterprise.
3.
Developing Superior Project Management with an Integrated Change
Program: In order to help ensure the success of the projects in which
they are involved, many IC groups have developed project management
methodologies with explicit/structured change management activities.
Here, the IC often assumes the role of coordinating the requisite change
elements of the project and transferring this knowledge to other team
members.
4. Aligning All Consulting Processes with Change Management
Best Practices: This involves an ongoing effort by the IC group to
monitor best practices in change management and embed them into their
consulting processes, including relationship development/management,
program/project management and employee development
5.
Operationalizing the Performance Measurement and Management Plan: The
balanced set of performance measurements mentioned earlier needs to be
integrated into how the IC group manages both its projects and ongoing
operations. Specific techniques, such as client feedback surveys, change
readiness assessments, after action reviews and consultant skill
development tracking should be utilized where possible
Sustaining
the IC Group:
The four activities in this area are focused on
institutionalizing and growing the influence of the IC group across the
enterprise, and are analogous to key continuous improvement activities
in any major change initiative, including:
1. Managing Client
Relationships and Transferring Ownership: This first involves focusing
on developing good ongoing relationships with client organizations
including a proactive role in their planning process and helping to
identify opportunities for improvement. A second key area here is
transferring the ownership for project implementation and associated
change management to the clients and process owners, and adopting an
ongoing coaching and support role.
2. Building Capabilities
Throughout the Organization: This starts with viewing each project as an
opportunity to build project and change management skills into the
organization through the client members of their project teams. In
addition, a number of IC groups have developed a network of gate-keepers
or satellite consulting capabilities in organizations throughout the
enterprise. This provides both additional resources from those closest
to the client organization but also can be utilized as a source of new
opportunity identification.
3. Developing A Supportive Culture:
Here, the increasing involvement of IC groups in enterprise change
management programs provides an opportunity to help influence
leaderships and a broader constituency regarding the need for a
proactive role in anticipating the need for change and establishing
cross-organizational processes to deal with it.
4. Enhancing Change
Skills and Innovation Capabilities: The combination of project team
client training and instituting joint consultant and general
organizational change management courses/curriculum are key initiatives
to build organization-wide change management awareness and skills. A
companion initiative which helps enhance organizational resilience and
receptivity to change involves instituting innovation programs and
associated training.
Summary:
The insights provided by
change management best practices combined with a systematic application
can significantly improve the chances of successfully developing and
enhancing an internal consulting capability. This applies not only to
those groups formally designated as internal consultants, but also any
organization providing advisory services to internal clients, including:
human resources, project management and information technology to name
just a few.
Another key benefit of this approach is that it helps to
maximize the impact of the company's internal consulting investment not
only in their projects, but also to spread key change competencies
throughout the organization. One of the important benefits which
companies cite in establishing IC capabilities is that it increases the
focus on successfully implementing change and helps build capability to
do so.