Stop Managing Change, Start Governing It

Following 20 years at a large Canadian telecommunications firm, Bruce established the project management consulting firm Solutions Management Inc (SMI). Since 1999, he has provided contract project/program management services, been a source for project management support personnel and created/delivered courses to over 7,000 participants in Canada, the United States and England.

  Change Management  

In my article Leading Change in the Public Eye: Lessons From a Township, I described how our township uses traditional change management practices—communication, engagement and participation—to guide a range of municipal projects.

Those methods work. They help people understand what is happening and why. But as I’ve watched these projects progress, I’ve come to see that managing change is not enough. The real key to lasting transformation is governance.

We’ve built an entire discipline around managing change, yet organizations and communities still struggle to deliver it. Change management has become a practice centered on easing discomfort, building buy-in, and coaching people through uncertainty.

All of that has value, but it only addresses part of the challenge. The deeper issue is that change often lacks structure. Without clear decision rights, accountability and authority, even the best-managed change begins to unravel.

The Myth of “Managing” Change
I’ve worked in environments where every major project had a dedicated change manager, complete with glossy templates and engagement plans. We held workshops, sent newsletters, and tracked adoption metrics. It all looked impressive on paper. But when the dust settled, people were still confused about who was in charge of what.

That’s when it hit me: People …

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