If change management is so critical to the success of a project, why is it often an afterthought or not done properly? Bettina Pickering and Tony Marr of PA Consulting Group report.

Why do projects fail? A quick Google search on that question throws up a range of possible reasons, including many (“poor user input”, “poor sponsorship”, “under-skilled project managers”, “team-related weaknesses”, etc.) that have little to do with the technology or core subject matter of the projects that failed.

A more detailed look at the question shows that a lack of change management (or its components parts) is often cited in studies by Gartner, Butler Group and various academic institutions as the reason why business change and especially IT programmes fail. What is interesting is that these studies often use different definitions of what constitutes “change management”.

Just as the research providers interpret change management differently, so individual businesses and indeed projects within those businesses have very different definitions of what change management is or should be.

For example, some organisations view change management as a combination of communications, stakeholder management and training while others favour a far wider definition which includes the three components mentioned as well as a selection of the following: organisation design, change readiness, culture change, capability management, benefits management, reward and recognition in a project context, knowledge transfer, leadership development, people transition and team dynamics management.

So is there a single right definition of change management?
Probably not. However, what all of these studies agree on is that all the component parts mentioned above are necessary for a change programme to succeed, whether or not they are grouped under the umbrella of change management.

To what degree and depth these components should be applied will differ from programme to programme and very much depend on the objectives of the programme, the “change” maturity and capability of the organisation and unfortunately the budget available.

However, it is almost self-evident that a programme will be more likely to succeed if it has strong, clear leadership, involves users in defining the solution that will be implemented, explains the rationale for the changes and strives to create an environment into which the solution can be implemented.

Put another way: would you deliberately set out not to do any of these things?

If change management is so critical to the success of a project, why is it often an afterthought or not done properly?
Particularly for technology related projects, change management often seems to be an afterthought. There may be a number of reasons for this: most project resource and therefore management attention on an IT project is technology-focused; there might not be a full appreciation of the importance of change management in delivering a successful project; or the right change specialists might not be involved in the early planning stages of the project.

Often this lack of consideration for change issues is due to the fact that the benefits of change management actions are difficult to articulate and the impacts/risks of not doing it are not immediately transparent to project planners, especially at times when critical decisions about technology platforms, business cases and budget approvals loom large.

In many cases though, projects start with the best intentions and include some elements of change management in their plans and budgets. Along the way, when other parts of the project start to soak up more of the budget, change management is often the first area to be de-scoped without being clear about what impact this will have on the business.

Where does HR fit in the change management process?
Based on the components of change management listed above, HR already has valuable experience in a number of these activities, for example training, organisation design, leadership development, reward and recognition and people transition. These activities have traditionally been seen as an HR domain.

Others such as benefits management, communications and stakeholder management are often covered by other functions such as finance, internal PR departments or project management functions. In some organisations the HR function is the keeper of the change management methodology and toolkit, it assigns one or more HR change management person(s) to each major programme and ensures that project staff receive change management related training.

As discussed before, the first step to building effective change management into a project is to ensure there is sufficient appreciation of the necessary change activities and a budget to fund them. Anyone who plans a project needs to be aware of the importance of change management and the risks of not doing it. HR can play a significant role in embedding a change management mentality within the organisation through making change management training mandatory for all project related and managerial staff.

Ideally, an experienced change manager should take part in the project planning process to assess the level of change management required to deliver a successful project and be able to articulate the additional benefits that might be achieved if sufficient attention is paid to change issues. HR can also provide input early in the formation of the project team to help ensure that it is adequately resourced with people whose skills match those required by the job in hand.

As the project progresses, HR can play a crucial role in ensuring that project managers understand the environment into which their solution will be delivered. Information on user numbers, organisation structures, locations, roles, skill levels and reporting lines can all help the programme to manage its stakeholders and their expectations. It will also be key to defining how things will work in the business once the project has been delivered.

As implementation approaches, HR is likely to be custodian of the systems and information that can help in the effective planning and delivery of user training and the knowledge management systems that can form a key component of ongoing user support.

If the project will impact on people’s reward packages or even if the project staff themselves are being incentivised to deliver on time, HR input can help ensure the right arrangements are put in place, thus sparing the project manager from blushes when their proposed incentive payments prove to be at odds with corporate policies.

Conclusion:
Although HR is well positioned to support change management within an organisation, there are a number of considerations HR directors need to make before offering support. HR will need to have change management specialists on hand to support change programmes within their organisations as adding this work to business partner or centre of expertise staff would take them away from their ‘business as usual’ work.

Most project managers will have at least an awareness of the importance of change management. However, if the HR function wants to ensure that this awareness translates into change management being integral to the planning, development and delivery of the project they may need to go knock on the project manager’s doors so that they are invited to take part from the start.

About the authors:
Bettina Pickering: is a Managing Consultant for PA Consulting Group. Since joining PA in 1997, Bettina has worked across a variety of private sector industries (various manufacturing, chemicals, postal, telecommunications, legal, banking and insurance) and public sector clients (Health and Work & Pensions). Her focus is on managing and delivering Business Transformation projects (in particular HR and Finance Transformation), Business and IT-enabled Change, Corporate Performance Management and Business Intelligence. Her most recent projects included HR Transformation incl. shared services for a law firm, HR Transformation Review for a Retailer and performance management for a health organisation and Change Management for a major UK postal organisation.

Tony Marr: in his nine years as a management consultant, Tony Marr has undertaken a range of consulting assignments, helping clients in both in the public and private sectors, to successfully deliver lasting change in their operations and organisational structures. He specialises in the postal and logistics sectors and most recently has been helping a client to address the communications and stakeholder management issues related to a large-scale IT implementation.