Change Management and Ownership

Is your plan an infinite best-practice checklist that never gets done?

Change management best practices often read like an almost infinite checklist of actions and initiatives:

Stakeholder mapping, sponsorship models, extensive training programmes, culture interventions, toolkits, pulse surveys, champions networks… the list goes on.

In reality, some of the most valuable initiatives – like properly equipping people managers to handle change – are the ones that never get done.

This is not because they don’t matter (they’re part of a good strategy for a reason) but because no one has the time, budget, mandate, or clear ownership to make them happen.

Last week, I completed a three-day intensive course for my Prosci Change Practitioner Certification.

I asked some fellow participants whether they had seen training for people managers on change resistance and coaching techniques in real-world transformations. I heard they’re usually included in the plan, but they often don’t happen for various reasons.

Executable trumps exhaustive when it comes to planning initiatives

If you have the resources, great. But who benefits from building a huge, beautiful change plan that never gets fully executed?

Maybe we need to be more honest at the start:

·       What can we actually resource?

·       Who is truly accountable?

·       And what’s the smallest set of actions that will drive real adoption?

Frameworks and best practices are incredibly valuable, but perhaps even more key to success are realistic plans, clear responsibility, and disciplined execution.

#ChangeManagement #OrganisationalChange #Transformation #Leadership #ChangeCommunications