2009 edition of Best Practices in Change Management
Participants in the 2009 study identified the trends they had seen in “change management” in their organization. By nearly a two-to-one margin, the top trend was a greater awareness of the need for change management, mirroring the results in the 2007 study. The second most cited trend, again by a fairly significant margin, was the building of change management competencies across the organization. The top ten trends identified by 2009 participants were:1 A recognition of the need for change management
Overall, participants saw a greater understanding of and appreciation for the role of change management. Organizations and project-focused employees saw change management as important and as a needed aspect of any change project. Change management was identified as a key contributor to project success. There was a wider appreciation of the role change management played in contributing to return on investment (ROI) and benefit realization of projects; it was viewed as essential. A number of participants also commented on the growing interest and attention by senior leaders.
What participants said:
“Awareness that change management is an important success factor for project management.”
“Growing recognition of importance to successful ROI.”
“Acknowledgement that the investment in change management on the front end of a project will pay off in the end.”
2 Change management competency building
Viewing change management as an emerging and necessary competency moved up from number five on the trends list in 2007 to number two in the 2009 study. Participants indicated more demand for training and knowledge around change management, as well as more widespread competency building programs. Change management competencies were becoming evident in senior leadership levels and front-line management levels.
What participants said:
“Recognition of managing and leading employees as a leadership capability.”
“Growing awareness of relatively new competence.”
“Appreciation of specific change skills.”
3 Dedication of resources for change management
Participants identified the use of dedicated resources focused on change management as a key trend in their organization. Project leaders were more likely to appoint change management resources to support their change initiative, and change management specialists were being identified and developed within the organization.
4 Use of change management tools
The fourth most-cited trend was a greater adoption of change management tools, processes and methodologies. Participants indicated that change management and its application was becoming more consistent and formalized in their organization. The use of more structured and formal processes was number two in the list of trends in the 2007 study.
What participants said:
“The appetite for a methodology is increasing.”
5 Application of change management on projects
Participants commented that change management resources were now sought out by project teams, rather than looking for projects to support as they had done in the past. Project teams were bringing change management resources on board earlier in the project, during the planning phase, and were considering people-side issues earlier. Several participants indicated that change management had become a requirement and that no major projects moved forward without change management.
What participants said:
“We are being asked to join projects rather than asking.”
“People have started accepting the behaviour change as [a] key ingredient for project planning.”
6 Project management and change management integration
Integration of change management and project management moved down several spots from the 2007 study in the list of top trends. Participants commented on the partnership, alignment and involvement in the planning process that was taking place with the project management and change management functions.
7 Change saturation
As evidenced by other findings in the study, organizations were increasingly facing a point of change saturation. The recognition of this condition and an increasing pace of change were highlighted as emerging trends. One participant noted the “change avalanche” the organization was experiencing.
8 Standard change management approach
More organizations were establishing a standard change management methodology for the entire enterprise.
9 Establishment of a change management group
Some organizations were creating and staffing a change management function in the organization, sometimes called the Change Management Office (CMO). Advances were made in staffing this group which centrally supported change management and change management training efforts. A number of participants indicated they were currently trying to decide where this group would reside in the organization.
10 Management of the portfolio of change
Several participants indicated that their organizations were making progress in understanding the people impact across the multiple projects underway. Participants mentioned steps including managing the portfolio of change, tracking projects, mapping future changes and prioritizing projects based on the change load.
Prosci's 2009 edition of the Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report is the most complete body of knowledge available on change management. The 2009 study is the sixth benchmarking effort Prosci has conducted over the last twelve years. The objective of this study is to uncover lessons learned from practitioners and consultants so current change management teams can benefit from these experiences - it is a forward looking, action-oriented report aimed at improving your change management work.
This tutorial shares the top ten trends in the field of change management. The list of trends in the 2009 study was similar to those in the 2007 study. The number one trend remained the same - but the the number two and three trends in the 2009 study moved up significantly on the list compared to 2007. This tutorial shares the top ten trends and a simple assessment you can use to evaluate how well your organization is tracking with the trends.
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