Make Change A Good Thing

  Change Management   Organizational Project Management   PM Network  

Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to implement new best practices that are planned and delivered by well-designed projects? Why is it so difficult for people to accept these changes?

The answer is the power of entrenched culture—or “the way we do business here.” This culture incorporates attitudes, expectations, and the way both internal and external relationships work. Even when an organization aligns the proposed change with a sensible/necessary strategic intent and properly leads and resources the change effort, failure is likely if the power of culture is ignored.

Any new best practice inevitably changes the status quo and the relative power balances within the organization. For example, an organization decides to introduce a portfolio management process to select the best projects and achieve its strategy within its capacity to properly support the work. This initiative increases organizational value but also means rejecting 60 percent of potential projects.

That means 60 percent of the “pet” projects supported by various members of the executive level will be canned. These people may lose power and status, first to the team making the portfolio decisions and second to the executives whose projects were selected. Another group disadvantaged by the selection process—or, more accurately, the rejections—are the …

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