Page 1 of 7 Welcome to the Change Management Tutorial Series Home Bookstore Training Tutorials Benchmarking Webinars Email this page to a friend Roles in change management Change management cannot be done by one person sitting alone in his or her office. Driving successful change requires a system of actors all moving in unison to help employees to understand why the change is happening, get them board with the change and ultimately ensure that they adopt the changes required in their day-to-day work. It is not necessarily easy to get all of the change management pieces moving; but by better understanding the roles that support effective change management, you and your projects will be more successful. This tutorial examines five roles related to change management: Prosci has developed tools to support each of the change management roles. Find out more in the bookstore or call 970-203-9332 to speak with an analyst. Change management resource/team Executives and senior managers Middle managers and supervisors Project team Project support functions Learn why each role is important and what is required of the role in times of change. The tutorial concludes with some observations on the "employee-facing" roles in change management and the "enabling" roles in change management. Change management roles:
Page 2 of 7 Change management resource/team Having dedicated resources for change management was #4 on the list of overall greatest contributors to success in the 2007 benchmarking study. There is a growing body of data that shows a correlation between the success of a change initiative and how well the people side was managed. Without dedicated resources, change management activities will not be completed. Unfortunately, when budgets and schedules are squeezed, change management is pushed to the bottom of the priority list if there are not dedicated resources. 1. Apply a structured change management methodology - instead of operating in an ad hoc manner, approach change management with purpose and intent (read more about Prosci's methodology) 2. Formulate strategy - evaluate how big the change is and who will be impacted to develop a customized strategy 3. Develop plans - based on the strategy work, create a customized set of plans for moving people forward - including a communication plan, a sponsor roadmap, a coaching plan, a training plan and a resistance management plan (read more about the five plans in Prosci's methodology) 4. Support other doers - the change management resource is the coach and the go-to person for the other roles described below Executives and senior managers
Page 3 of 7 In the 2007 benchmarking study, the active and visible participation of the senior leader was cited as the #1 contributor to success. And in the 2005 study it was also #1. And in the 2003, 2000 and 1998 studies it was #1 on the list. Bottom line - their role is crucial to success. Employees want to see and hear the executive's commitment to the change. The authority they provide carries over to other change management actors. Effective sponsorship is a predictor of success or failure on the project. 1. Participate actively and visibly throughout the project - there are three key words here: active, visible and throughout - sponsors must be present and seen by employees 2. Build a coalition of sponsorship and manage resistance - the sponsorship coalition describes the group of managers and leaders who will take the change back to their department, division, workgroup, etc - the primary sponsor must build and maintain a healthy coalition 3. Communicate directly with employees - employees want to hear the business reasons for the change from someone at the top * From the 2007 benchmarking study. Middle managers and supervisors Managers and supervisors are close to the action - it is their teams who must change how they do their jobs for the change to be successful. In any organization there are two types of change constantly happening: 1) top-down initiatives launched by senior leaders (macro-changes) and 2) responses to daily demands from customers and suppliers (micro-changes). Managers and supervisors support their employees through both types of changes. The attitude and actions of a manager will show up in his or her people - whether the attitude is one of support or one of opposition. Based on the 2007 benchmarking study, the five roles of managers and supervisors during change are: 1. Communicator - employees prefer to hear messages about how the change directly impacts them and their team from the person they report to 2. Advocate - if the manager opposes the change, chances are that his or her people will as well - in many cases, the opposite is also true 3. Coach - helping employees through their own personal transitions is the essence of change coaching by middle managers and supervisors 4. Liaison - the role of liaison involves interacting with the project team, taking direction and providing feedback 5. Resistance manager - research shows that the best intervention to mitigate resistance comes from the employee's immediate supervisor
Page 4 of 7 Project team The project team is tasked with managing the technical side of the change. In the end, they are the people who design how things will be done differently than they are today. Without direction and management, the technical side of the project will not move forward. The project team also plays a role in ensuring that change management is part of the project - by providing the appropriate resources (budget and personnel) and time. Change management will be most effective when it is pulled in at the launch of the project. 1. Design the actual change - create the solution that ultimately impacts how people do their jobs 2. Manage the technical side - with tools like the charter, business case, schedule, resources, work breakdown structure, budget, etc. 3. Engage with CM team/resource - work with the change management resource or team to ensure that the technical-side and the people-side of the change progress in unison, provide timely project information 4. Integrate CM plans into project plan - begin change management at the start of the project and weave the change management strategy and plans into the technical-side plans to create one seamless project plan Project support functions Project support functions bring expertise in a particular area - these groups include: Human Resources staff, Organization Development staff, Training specialists, Communication specialists, solution specific Subject Matter Experts, etc. In some cases, one of these project support functions might operate as the change management team or resource. 1. Experience and expertise - project support functions bring experience on past changes that can be applied to the current change 2. Knowledge - each of these groups have specialized knowledge that can help the project team and the change management resource or team 3. Tools - each of the areas bring specific tools that support change management activities - just be sure the tools align with change management best practices A final observation on two different roles In the sections above, we outlined the key roles of the different actors involved in making changes successful in any organization. It is interesting to note that in all of the roles presented in the right hand column, two of the roles have direct contact with front-line employees impacted by the change while three
Page 5 of 7 of the roles do more of their work behind the scenes. Employee-facing roles: Enabling roles: One-to-one interactions One-to-many interactions Why are these the employee-facing roles? Because these are the people that employees want to hear from! Create and implement the plans that are executed by the employee-facing roles within the business Why are these not employee-facing roles? Because employees don't know who they are and don't really care what they have to say! Implications of employee-facing and enabling roles: This is one of the most important takeaways from the discussion about roles. Change managers in organizations - whether they are the project manager, an HR consultant, an OD consultant or from a specialist change management group - must ultimately work through others. They play the role of enablers in most cases, creating easy-to-implement plans and supporting the executives, senior leaders, middle managers and supervisors throughout the organization. Action steps for change managers: 1. Adopt a structured methodology you will use on the projects you support. Prosci has certification, online and hardcopy methodology tools so you can apply the research-based approach using all of the templates, assessments and tools that are part of the 3-phase approach. Read more about Prosci's methodology. 2. Begin making a case for why it is important to manage the people-side of change. The case will need to be made to project teams, senior leaders, middle managers and supervisors - all of the other gears in the roles discussion. Be sure to answer "What's In It For Me?" and connect change management to what they care about - such as meeting financial objectives (for senior leaders) or delivering a project on time, on budget and on target to meet objectives (for project teams). 3. Explain the role that you need each of these groups to fill. Draw on best practices and
Page 6 of 7 research to demonstrate the specific actions you need and the biggest mistakes that are typically made by these groups. 4. Provide knowledge, training and tools. For many of the different actors, applying change management is a new job requirement. You will need to help each of them build their own personal competency for leading change. Prosci offers a 1-day program for managers and supervisors and a 4-6 hour session for executives and senior leaders. Call 970-203-9332 to learn more about these research-based, hands-on programs. 5. Coach them. Whether it is a project team you are working with to integrate change management into the project plan, the division president you are asking to fulfill the role of "great sponsor" or a front-line supervisor you are asking to coach his or her direct reports - you need to be there to provide support and answer questions. You are now the coach for the agents of change throughout your organization. Email this tutorial to a friend Ask a Prosci analyst - find out about best practices and how you can use the checklist in your organization Tools for applying change management: Change management certification ($2100) - 3-day program where you bring a project you are working on and apply all of the assessments and tools as you learn them - taught by former Fortune 500 executives at locations across the U.S. 2007 Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking report ($249) - journal-style report with lessons learned and best practices from 426 participants, presented in an easy-to-use format - reads as a checklist of what to do and what not to do Change Management Toolkit ($349) - hardcopy 3-ring binder presenting Prosci's change management methodology; includes templates, checklists and assessments for managing the people side of change (includes CD-ROM) Change Management Guide for Managers ($189) - tools to help supervisors engage and coach their direct reports through change (includes ADKAR book, Employee's Survival Guide and 10 ADKAR worksheets) Change Management Pilot 2008 ($449) - online tool including Prosci's change management methodology, elearning modules and downloadable templates, assessments, presentations and checklists
Page 7 of 7 Change Management Pilot Professional 200808 ($559) - the content of the Change Management Pilot plus additional benchmarking data and an online version of the Change Management Guide for Managers and Supervisors Change Management: the people side of change ($18.95) - a primer that addresses why manage change, individual change management and organizational change management for anyone involved in organizational change Employee's Survival Guide to Change ($14.95) - a handbook to help employees survive and thrive during change; answers frequently asked questions and empowers employees to take charge of change *** Prosci also offers leadership packages - groupings of products at discounts that offer you some of the most helpful and common combinations of Prosci change management resources Email this page to a friend Email a Prosci analyst or call 970-203-9332 with questions about the methodology, its application, or finding the right resources to support your change management activities. *** Register to receive free news announcements and tutorial releases *** Tutorials Bookstore Benchmarking Articles Training Register Search Other Sites Yellow Pages Home Copyright Prosci 1996-2008 Prosci is a registered trademark. Send comments to a Prosci analyst Contact Prosci email: Prosci email form phone: 970-203-9332 or 800-700-2831 1367 S. Garfield Ave. Loveland, CO 80537 USA