I attended a Webinar on Project Management a few weeks ago when the facilitator, who is a Project Manager and a Civil Engineer by training, said “Project Managers deliver business solutions whilst change managers ensure that the solutions deliver business results”. He certainly captured my attention because I was expecting a dry, technical discussion on PRINCE 2. My excitement was, however, short-lived when the discussion became just that, dry and technical rather than exploring how project & change management are integrated.

I was not terribly disappointed because I basically gate-crashed a webinar whose primary audience was project managers involved in mobile applications development and deployment within financial services in Europe. Towards the end of the discussion, I posed a question to the facilitator regarding his experience regarding integrating project and change management. His response was that many companies (including the Fortune 500s) still struggle to strike a right balance in integrating the two disciplines to achieve optimal results.

Before I dwell on the integration of the two disciplines it is important to provide rudimentary definitions of the two in order to lay the foundation. Project Management entails the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements, and includes the processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. On the other hand, Change Management is about applying a structured process and set of tools for managing the ‘people’ side of change to achieve a desired outcome.

It is a known fact that project & change management are complementary because they each provide focus, processes and tools for moving through the ‘transition’ toward the ‘future’ state. From a project management (technical) perspective, a solution that will address the issue or opportunity must be designed, developed and delivered into the organization. From a change management (people side) perspective, that solution must be embraced, adopted and used by those groups impacted by the solution. The exhibit below is my attempt to demonstrate the integration of the two disciplines:

This exhibit is basically a fusion of PRINCE 2 and the ADKAR aligned Prosci Change Methodology. I have shared this exhibit with various Project Managers in different programmes as part of the Initiation Phase as well as On-boarding and they have been astounded by its simplicity and seamless alignment to the PRINCE 2 project lifecycle methodology. This is where I won them over and this enabled us to be more effective in sequencing work, aligning the timing of activities, reporting and exchanging information which is crucial to the success of the project. What the sharing of the exhibit did was to ensure that both project and change management work-streams spoke the same language in that all project deliverables were succinctly aligned.

Having said that, it is important to state that alignment alone is not sufficient to ensure a successful change initiative. It should rather be regarded as a pre-requisite because change success is a function of many variables, including but not limited to effective sponsorship, demonstrable executive commitment, employee involvement and effective communication, amongst others.

This view is consistent with what John Kotter, the emeritus Professor at Harvard Business School, expressed. He said “In spite of the benefits which come with the synthesis of the two disciplines, most companies are not reporting significant benefits from a project delivery perspective.”

What this means is that as change practitioners it is incumbent upon to ensure that change management is fully integrated with whatever project management lifecycle methodology is being used to deliver change. I am of a view that change management should take a lead in ensuring that the business solutions delivered by project managers are embraced, adopted and utilised to ensure that business objectives are achieved.

Lastly, for the integration to bear fruits, this also means that both the Project Manager and Change Manager have to appreciate the value that each discipline brings to the fore. Most importantly though, is that both need to work in unison across all implementation stages. In other words, Project Managers’ training should include elements of change management and move away from assessing project success based on cost, quality and schedule. Utilisation, adoption and proficiency should form part of the scorecard.