Description
How to Change HEADWAY
1. Read this description
2. Determine project model
3. Download your WBS |
Timing is everything. For an organization, selecting the right time to make the change is good; understanding how the change impacts all parts of the organization and building a Change Management Plan that is integrated to the overall Project Plan is even better. For many projects, it is assumed that the result will be welcomed, adopted and smoothly integrated by all. Statistics show that more than two thirds of all projects fail. In part, this is a result of the inattention to Change Management planning and integration. Although the stages of Justify, Plan, Activate, Control and End are required in both Change Management and in Project Management, elements beyond the project management process, as it is typically defined, are required within these stages to bring the organization and its people from the old way of doing business to the new way of doing things.
For example, the last time you relocated personally, you likely experienced a process similar to the one described below: First you recognized the need to move, made the decision to move, and looked at various locations and properties. You selected one, moved, and finally adjusted to your new surroundings. It probably took some time before the new place felt like home. Managing change in organizations via projects is very similar. First the organization identifies the need; then it evaluates options, determines the best solution and implements it; then it works in the new manner, taking some time to get good at doing things the new way.
When change is well managed, it feels less challenging to those experiencing it; the success almost always lies in the preparation and the planning of the change and in the execution not only of the technical project management elements, but especially in leading people to make the transition from the old way to the new way of doing business. Although change preparation, planning and execution do not eliminate the discomforts that come with change, they certainly help the organization and its people manage their anxiety about the change. Almost all projects involve people adjusting to change, hence change management in projects is critical to project and organizational success.
Change Management and Action Research
A well managed change significantly increases the likelihood of adoption of the change and focuses the desired results of the project through action research. Action research is the art of doing and learning simultaneously and allowing for the learning to feed back into the action to alter it based on new findings. This requires a high degree of focus and flexibility on desired outcomes, some of which may emerge during any stage of the project. In almost all of your projects, you can anticipate that having an effective change management plan better positions the change for success. You can also anticipate that regardless of how well-planned the change is, events will take place that you were not aware of and that you will have to adjust on the fly. In change management, we cannot anticipate all reactions to change or all behaviors during the loss and in-between periods, hence the concept of action research takes on significantly more importance.
Link to Project HEADWAY
The Change Management Process presented here follows the same format of Project HEADWAY in that it adheres to the Justify, Plan, Activate, Control and End phases with steps and tasks within each stage. When you use Project HEADWAY combined with this Change Management Process, you manage your project with a complete set of processes that afford you and the organization the best chance of project and business success when creating organizational change via projects.
Some of the steps and tasks may have similar titles to those found in Project HEADWAY. Where this is the case, there is an additional dimension within the step or task that is required to ensure that change within the project and the organization is being proactively managed. In other areas, new steps and tasks have been identified. The objective remains the same: to ensure that organizational change management activities are planned, activated and monitored to best position the organization to adopt and sustain the change.
Change Management and the Project Manager
The role of the Project Manager when implementing change is to expand the project plan to incorporate change management activities that will ensure the most appropriate change management for the project at hand. This represents an expansion of the role of the Project Manager in so much as additional activities are required to ensure the completion of the project and the adoption of the change than is apparent under the Project HEADWAY process. The Project Manager plays the role of one of the key change agents in the organization relative to the specific project and systemic change. The Project Manager quarterbacks all change management activities, including those activities that will be carried out by people at all levels of the organization and perhaps by external consultants. This may mean that the Project Manager has part-time or drop-in resources from the Organizational Development, Communication, and Marketing areas of the organization who work with the Project Manager to understand the change management requirements and build in relevant change activities. This may also mean that the Project Manager is coordinating the activities of the organization’s senior people in relation to the project.
A change agent is anyone in the organization involved in implementing the change as a member of the project structure or as a key leader in the organization. This may include members of the Change Management Team and all key leaders in respective areas of the organization directly impacted by the change.
The expansion of the role of the project manager is illustrated below.
PMBOK Integration & SME Advice
Although Project HEADWAY indicates links to PMBOK, Change HEADWAY does not. At the time of this writing, PMBOK does not integrate organizational change management within its project management standard.
Corporate members have access to:
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The WBS in MS Project
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Complete access to task level details
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Advice from Subject Matter Experts
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Direct links to gantthead content that supports the process
Project Size Tips
Change HEADWAY defines small, medium and large projects in relation to the scope and complexity of the project in terms of the degree of impact it has on parts or the whole of the organization and the type of change the project represents. Size considerations for Change HEADWAY do not parallel those found under Project HEADWAY. Change HEADWAY size considerations are based on the magnitude of the change imparted on the organization whereas size considerations in Project HEADWAY focus on the duration of the project and the size of the project team.
Size Considerations: Project Overlay
A small or medium project under Change HEADWAY can be considered a large project under Project HEADWAY. For example, replacing the Human Resource technology system or implementing a Middleware solution is a large project, requiring a large project team under Project HEADWAY. Under Change HEADWAY, the HR project is considered a small change as the replacement system modifies processes utilized by a relatively small proportion of the organization and requires minimal shifts in the way business is done by few people in the organization.
The second example of a small change management project, the Middleware implementation project, has a large impact on a subset of the IT department but drives virtually no business or cultural change in the organization. Neither project represents transformational change as neither drives a cultural change, a line of business change or some other significant change that transforms the organization or a significant subset of it. Both examples represent incremental, developmental or evolutionary change, meant to generate improvements for the organization.
A large project under Change HEADWAY can sometimes be considered a small project under Project HEADWAY. For example, a small project such as a process redesign project initiated within a department may have a far-reaching impact on the organization but require only a small project team under Project HEADWAY. Projects that significantly alter—by adding, removing or changing—core elements of the organization are large projects from a change management perspective. These projects require the whole systems thinking, planning and activating of change management while smaller change projects that are more straightforward need narrowly targeted focused thinking, planning and activating.
Another example of a project considered large under Change HEADWAY but small under Project HEADWAY is the redefining or initiation of a Rewards and Recognition Program. This project requires a small project team but will require considerable consultation, training, behavior expectation setting, motivation and more to help people in the organization progress from the old way to the new way of doing business.
That being said, a large project under Change HEADWAY can also be considered a large project under Project HEADWAY. For example, a large merger or acquisition will require a large project team, a large change management team, many coordinating activities, and many change management activities.
When considering the size of project and the size of change, it is important that you consider the size from the perspective of both the project itself and of the magnitude of the change it imparts on the organization or significant parts of it. To determine the way in which you wish to apply the Change HEADWAY framework, you first need to determine the type of change and the magnitude of the impact it will have on the organization.
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Small. From a change management perspective, a project is deemed small when it represents incremental or evolutionary change. Continuous improvement projects and upgrades such as improvements to products, processes, systems generally represent incremental change. This change can impact the department, the business unit or the organization as a whole; however, the impact and complexity of the change on the organization is not significant in terms of the adaptation required. When change tentacles reach beyond the department, they are easily identifiable and the impact elsewhere is readily known and managed.
The change can be internally or externally driven. When internally driven, the desire is internal improvement for the betterment of the organization. When driven externally, the change is most often undertaken to keep up with the competition or when the organization implementing the change is playing the role of the follower. The small project often has a duration of 2-3 months. For the small projects, change management will often be supported by one organizational change expert whose role is to assess the degree of change to be implemented by the project and make recommendations to the Project Manager regarding change management planning and activities. An informal approach to change management suffices and change management planning and monitoring are usually minimal.
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Medium. A project is deemed medium when it represents opportunistic change. This type of change is most often externally driven and is the result of scanning the external environment for opportunities. Sometimes, the opportunity finds the organization and the change conveniently aligns with strategic possibilities. This change can impact a business unit or may have tentacles of change throughout the whole organization. It rarely impacts only a single department, whereas a small change can impact only the department level. Examples include new systems, new product development, small mergers and new markets. The duration of an opportunistic change can be up to 1 year, but is often shorter as the opportunity must be acted upon quickly to position the organization favorably. The medium project may require a more formal approach to change management and a small Change Management Team of three to seven representatives from the areas of the organization that will be most impacted.]
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Large. A large project implements a change that is transformational or revolutionary for the organization, fundamentally changing its culture, its business or the way it does business. Transformational change is strategically driven and complex. It most often represents the Chief Executive Officer’s direction for the organization with the intent to deeply impact the organization at large. Examples include restructuring, large mergers or acquisitions, and major changes to the core business or the way it is done. The duration of large projects can be 2 to many years. The Change Management Team can be as large at 12 – 30 people. A full-time organizational development expert or team of experts is often dedicated to the project for much of its life; some of these services may be procured externally.
Strategies
The following bullets define the considerations used to recommend how to approach each of the project models:
- Formal. The related activity needs to be conducted, and should be formally documented and included as part of a project or project management deliverable, as appropriate.
- Informal. The related activity needs to be performed, and will usually be documented in some form, but typically is only documented for the purposes of the project team or project manager. This would not be included as part of a formal deliverable, and typically does not require any separate review or approval.
- Consider. The related activity may or may not be performed, depending upon the specific needs and complexity of the project. The project manager or project team member should give consideration to whether or not the activity provides sufficient value to warrant the cost of the performing the activity. The results may be completed informally, or the activity may be evaluated or discussed within the project team without any documentation being produced..
- Not required. The related activity is not required for the project model. The project team is not expected to give consideration to the activity.
Project Size Tips
