Every project undergoes changes which become an inevitable part of the project management life cycle irrespective of the level of planning that may have happened to plan and manage the project. Effective planning can often be marred not only by internal actions but also by factors that may be beyond the control of the project manager or organization. Such changes are often cascading and do not stick at one level or to a single area of business. In such cases, effective change management planning, communication, and managing steps of the change implementation become a key and integral part of the project management discipline - formulating the change management planning process or lifecycle.
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Change management is defined as the set of processes and procedures to accept implement and monitor changes and this often involves communicating about the change, understanding the impacts of the change, and monitoring the steps before and posts the change to ensure smooth and synchronized acceptance across the project/program. Change management primarily involves helping the organization adapt to changes and lay down the plan or roadmap based on the mentioned changes. To summarize, a change management communication plan lays down the steps to define a structured approach to implement business transformation across the project/organization to ensure a positive transition with minimal disruptions to not overwhelm the ways of working across the organization.
Documenting these steps to adapt to change, and defining a solid structure to respond to change is what is defined in the project management process of change management planning. Larger changes or changes in larger projects require a more focused approach to minimize their impact or disruption across the board, while smaller changes demand a less defined approach to maintain business continuity and consistency of delivery. In all of these cases and the required checks and balances, and protocols are clearly outlined in the organization's change management plan template.
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Drafting a change management plan involves thinking through a series of steps following the organization's governance model and general practices. A generic change management plan example involves at the minimum, the following steps:
The first step in defining the change management process is to define the goals expected from the process. Goals provide the baselines or benchmark Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which become quantifiable criteria for evaluating the progress towards these defined goals. Goal setting is also important to accept changes, and transition processes, and understand the impacts of changes that may affect the project/organization.
Establishing a change management team is a direct step to getting buy-in on the changes from the stakeholders. A diverse team representing different organizational functions and working groups will just help disseminate the information related to the change effectively, thereby making it easier to accept changes and minimize resistance to change.
At this step of the change management process, a roadmap is outlined to showcase how the change will be accommodated in the existing plan and gives a view of the changes that may cascade further in the organization. The change management document or plan may be created following the organization's project management processes and can also be visually represented via a Gantt chart or several other project management tools.
Once the plan has been established, it is time to implement the plan thereby expending resources and efforts on the change to accomplish the objectives. It is important to continue the momentum to execute the change with an end in mind to achieve the desired outcomes and objectives.
Every change management process goes through significant resistance and this resistance can be in any form at any time throughout the project lifecycle. It is important that the process outlined provides an impetus for reinforcing the objectives of the change to ensure carrying out the change effectively without derailing progress at any point in time. As a general measure, continuously monitoring progress and adapting to the change established is what yields effective change implementation.
The 5 phases in planning for any change also formulate the cycle of change management and can be briefly described as follows:
These 5 stages formulate an essential part of any change management strategy for any kind of change - big or small usually transitions through these five stages to be effective. An effective planned change example aims to move through from the first stage (pre-contemplation) as fast as possible to the final stage (maintenance).
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At the outset, the objective of any change management process is to effectively handle changes and raise awareness among participating parties on the changes as well as keep leadership informed on adaptability as well as resistance to changes. Change management focuses on the following disciplines in the organization:
Apart from these, change management aims to establish best practices, effectively transition processes and weed out loopholes in carrying out any form of changes - big or small within the organization. All of these are usually documented and maintained in the organization’s change management strategy template or the communication plan template to be taken up and implemented across any of the organization’s projects or initiatives.
Change management is an important area for project managers as changes not handled efficiently can directly affect project baselines thereby derailing project progress and performance.
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Change management planning refers to implementing the outlined approach in the event of a change and it briefly involves following through the below steps:
First, the organization needs to be prepared for the change and the communication for that change needs to be socialized with all stakeholders. The project manager should be able to handle all questions related to the change and support the team through the implementation of this change along with a resolution of all issues encountered when planning or strategizing the implementation of the mentioned change.
Envisioning the change right from the initial CR process through implementation and maintenance of the change is important to ensure the transition due to the change is positive and effective across the organization.
The actual implementation of the change involves putting the first two steps into action. It is the key step where the actual work of including the change in existing processes is carried out and requires sufficient time and effort from the project manager to coordinate, communicate and collaborate with the team and stakeholders to make the transition as smooth as possible
Once the changes have been implemented, it is essential to keep a track of the changes, evaluate processes efficiencies, get rid of any challenges or issues, and maintain changes in the merged ecosystem. Analysis of results is what brings the benefits realization to the project/organization in alignment with the cost-benefit analysis done for taking up the change.
A Change Management Plan Template is a pre-designed document that provides a structured format for creating a Change Management Plan. It includes sections for documenting the purpose, scope, process, roles and responsibilities, timelines, and communication plans. Using a template can save time and ensure consistency in the documentation of change management processes.
As outlined in this article so far, change is inevitable and project managers who prepare for change management or transformation effectively are the ones that can take advantage of the changes or exploit them to the advantage of the project/organization. To do this, a PM needs to have a solid understanding of the key components that a plan must include:
Whatever industry you are engaged in, changes are inevitable and will be a part of the project lifecycle even if the projects are well planned as changes can occur due to external or internal factors. Defining a thorough change management process, and outlining a detailed plan can be most helpful in overcoming challenges, reducing disruptions, and effectively engaging stakeholders in the change process.
Change management planning is an essential part of project management that focuses on creating a structured and methodical approach to smoothly implementing and deriving benefits from those changes. It focuses on transforming and transitioning teams, individuals and organizations to accept, adapt and maintain changes warranted by a business.
There are five broad phases in planning for a change at any level - viz.
Change management strategies include effective ways of working to implement changes thoroughly and track them post-implementation. These include:
